OUR latest trip into the Helensburgh Advertiser's archives uncovers news, first reported 15 years ago, of the discovery of the grave of Moses McNeil, one of the founders of Rangers FC, in a churchyard in Rosneath.

Here's how we covered the story in the Advertiser on January 8, 2004...

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THE final resting place of one of Glasgow Rangers’ founding fathers has been discovered in Rosneath.

Moses McNeil died in 1938 and was buried, unacknowledged and in an unmarked grave, in Rosneath Old Churchyard.

Alone and penniless, he died of heart disease aged 82 and, until now, the only memorial of his passing was a tiny death notice in a Glasgow newspaper.

But after discovering that the man who gave them their name has been lying unrecognised for so many years, Rangers could be set to mark his final resting place and put Rosneath on the footballing map.

Rosneath community councillor Robert McIntyre said that a lot of people in the village were keen to find out more.

“All the people seem to be interested in the story,” he said.

“If I could I would like to develop this to see if it could result in getting something for the youth in the village as there is such a struggle trying to get sport facilities for them.”

It is believed that Moses was buried in the same plot as his sisters Elizabeth and Isabella who he lived with in Clynder many years after deciding to create a football team.

Moses, along with his brother Peter and friends Peter Campbell and William MacBeath, formed Rangers after a walk through Kelvinbridge.

They were so impressed by how much the new sport of football was catching on with Glasgow’s youngsters that they set up their own team which played originally at Glasgow Green.

Moses himself went on to play for Rangers in the Scottish Cup finals of 1877 and 1879, and for Scotland against Wales in 1876, and was presented with a trophy, which still sits in Rangers’ trophy room, in 1876 for winning a half-mile race.

Robert said: “He wasn’t just a good footballer but a good sprinter too, so hopefully this discovery will encourage kids to become more involved in sport.

“It would be great if we could arrange something with Rangers to have a stone placed at his grave.”