This 20 season period that began with the surprise appointment of Graeme Souness as Rangers first Player / Manager must rank as one of the finest eras in the club’s history. An Edinburgh man, Souness had had no previous connection with Rangers and, indeed, had never played as a professional in Scotland having spent all his career in England and Italy. However, the fortunes of the club were at the lowest ebb in its history so that something dramatic was required.
By 1986, the new majority shareholder in the club was Lawrence Malborough, grandson of former Chairman, John Lawrence. Realising that drastic action had to be taken to restore Rangers to its glory days, he appointed David Holmes as Chief Executive, giving him a free hand to examine the situation at Ibrox and take the required measures. Holmes’ conclusion was that, as a first step, a new manager was required so Jock Wallace would have to go. Following an alarming slump in Rangers’ league positions, this, in itself, wasn’t a major shock. However, his choice of Souness, bringing him home from Italian club, Sampdoria, was.
Many observers wondered if Souness realised what he was letting himself in for when he accepted the job but few realised that Holmes would fund any big money signings that the new manager thought necessary. Rangers was the richest club in Scotland and for too long hadn’t flexed its financial muscles as strongly as it should have. Accordingly, Souness wasn’t so much a breath of fresh air sweeping through the corridors of Ibrox as a hurricane! By the end of his first season in charge, assisted by Walter Smith, lured from Jim McLean at Tannadice, Souness had moved on a total of 15 players, mainly old hands who’d outlived their usefulness to the club.
More importantly, in the longer term, Souness’ new recruitment policy really revolutionised the whole Scottish game, never mind Rangers. He reversed the age old trend of Scotland’s best players moving to England to better themselves and began to buy English players with a proven pedigree. Various factors played a part in this strategy being successful: Souness’ status and reputation in the game ( supported by Gers’ new determination to pay top wages) and the fact that English clubs were banned at that time from playing in European competitions.
His first signing was Colin West, a barely heard of English striker but his next two really made people sit up and take notice at what was happening at Ibrox. First, England keeper, Chris Woods was signed followed by England captain, Terry Butcher. Later that season other experienced names such as Graham Roberts and Jimmy Nicholl would follow but, right from the start, the new policy had been set out. England stars such as Ray Wilkins, Trevor Francis and Mark Hateley would follow in the seasons to come alongside Scottish stars such as Mo Johnston and Ian Ferguson to name but a few. From that first season, with the league flag regained, Souness had indeed turned Rangers around.
The next part of the revolution was when the club acquired a new owner. Lawrence Malborough was re-locating to America and looking to sell his majority shareholding. At that time, Souness was a close friend of David Murray, a millionaire Edinburgh businessman. A successful steel magnate, few Scots would have heard of Murray but once he had bought his stake in Rangers for around £6 million, he became a household name and used his expertise in finance to continue the reconstruction of the club with a view to extending its success both on and off the field.
This plan might have faltered near the end of Souness’ fourth season as manager when he was tempted away by his old club, Liverpool, to become its manager but this didn’t happen due to the fact that Murray immediately appointed Assistant Manager, Walter Smith as the new boss. Smith would bring in his old friend, Archie Knox, then Assistant to Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, to be Gers Assistant Manager. Together the two would oversee the completion of 9-in-a-row League Championships.
Unfortunately, Smith’s team in season 1997 /98 just failed to win the title and create a record 10-in-a-row. Disappointed though the Rangers fans were, they realised how privileged they’d been to enjoy such prolonged success under Souness and then Smith, watching brilliant players like Goram. Gough, Gascoigne and Laudrup strut their stuff on the Ibrox turf. Half way through that season, Walter Smith had intimated to David Murray that he would be resigning at the end of the season so the Chairman was given plenty of time to find his replacement.
His choice was Dick Advocaat, the manager of Dutch side, PSV Eindhoven. Advocaat would be Rangers first foreign manager. A former Holland manager, Advocaat had great experience and, knowing for months in advance that he’d be coming to Ibrox, he had time to examine the playing squad and determine which players would be of use to him and which would have to leave.
“ The Little General” as he was nicknamed, seemed to have decided that he needed a completely new team! Veterans such as Ally McCoist, Stuart McCall, Andy Goram and Richard Gough among others were all allowed to leave but expensive replacements had to be brought in, all at the same time – and that would cost serious money. By the end of his first season in charge, Advocaat would have spent around £30 million. For this money, he assembled a League of Nations of stars. Fellow Dutchmen such as Numan and Van Bronckhorst arrived while Frenchmen like Charbonnier and Guivar’ch were joined by Scots in Hendry and McCann as well as an Englishman in Wallace. A German, Klos, became the new keeper and Amato from Argentina an exciting forward. American Reyna and Ukrainian, Kanchelskis added to the cosmopolitan line-up. Foreigners already on the books from Smith’s time already included Amoruso and Porrini from Italy, Albertz from Germany and Johannsen from Finland. So, Advocaat had a real foreign legion on his hands. The big question was, would they gel?
The question was answered emphatically by the end of that season when The Treble was won followed by The Double the next season. The future looked bright, the future looked oranji – and then Martin O’Neill became the Celtic manager and turned things around at Celtic Park. While Celtic were winning The Treble in his first season, Advocaat’s Rangers were beginning to struggle. This barren season, followed by being well adrift of Celtic in the next season’s league table, resulted in Dick Advocaat becoming Director of Football and the appointment of Hibs’ boss, Alex McLeish as manager.
McLeish had done well at Motherwell before moving on to Hibs but many wondered if he had what it takes to be the manager of a big club like Rangers where second place is seen as failure. In that first half-season, he seemed to supply the answer. His Gers side won the League Cup as well as the Scottish Cup, having beaten Celtic 3-2 in a thrilling final. It was a promising start but things would only get better.
The following season, McLeish would emulate his predecessor by winning The Treble, in the course of which Rangers’ World Record 50th League Championship was won. Nothing stays the same in football though, and, the next season saw Rangers finish with no trophies and very little to cheer up the fans or give them hope for the future. The loss of too many great and experienced players, due to various circumstances, was too big a handicap to be overcome. Club skipper, Barry Ferguson left for Blackburn, days before the season began; former captain, Amoruso was already there. Numan retired, Caniggia went to the Middle East to see out his final playing days and Neil McCann went to Southampton.
The 2003-04 season turned out to be one giant anti-climax for Rangers fans. As stated earlier, before the new season had started, the side lost some of its most vital members from the Treble-winning team, making a successful season a more difficult objective. Their replacements: Capucho, Ostenstad, Emerson failed to fill the void. Only veteran, Henning Berg was deemed a success in the centre of the defence. The lack of silverware put manager, McLeish under pressure from the media and some of the fans.
Still, the great thing about football is that every team has its ups and downs and, it has to be said, that Rangers has fewer downs than most clubs in the world. In preparation for season 2004 / 05, Alex McLeish signed various players and a dramatic improvement was seen in the Rangers team and its fortunes, thanks to a remarkable final day in the race for the League Championship.
In the summer, McLeish had strengthened his side by signing French central defender Jean-Alain Boumsong from Auxerre on a Bosman. The speculation started almost immediately that this was a deal done to make Gers a profit by selling the player for millions at the end of the season despite a 5 year deal having been agreed. Also signed were veteran and former Gers youngster, Alex Rae from Wolves, Marvin Andrews from Livingston, Nacho Novo from Dundee and, on loan from Liverpool, French left-back, Gregory Vignal. Rangers’ most expensive signing was midfielder, Dragan Mladenovic at over a million pounds from Red Star Belgrade.
Apart from Mladenovic who failed to make an impact and was subsequently sent out on loan to Real Sociedad, the others prospered. Despite drawing two of their first five games, away to Aberdeen and Hearts, and losing 1-0 to Celtic at Parkhead, giving Celtic an early lead, Rangers hung in and eventually turned things around. However, before this, various sportswriters had Alex McLeish one defeat away from the sack. The biggest shock came in the January transfer window when the now-idolised Boumsong was sold to Newcastle for £8 million. The fans’ anger was appeased however, when most of the money went on acquiring new players to strengthen the squad.
Boumsong’s replacement was Greek Soto Kyrgiakos, signed from Panathinaikos, Thomas Buffel came from Feyenoord, Thomas Waterreus was drafted in from Manchester City to replace the injured Klos, Boban Djordjic arrived from Manchester United and, the crowning jewel, was former skipper, Barry Ferguson who returned to the club after 18 months at Blackburn. His drive was going to be vital in Gers’ attempt to regain the title – especially since Celtic had acquired Newcastle striker, Craig Bellamy on loan for the duration of the season.
Apart from an early Scottish Cup exit in January at the hands of Celtic at Parkhead, once the newcomers slotted into the side, Rangers never looked back and went on a long unbeaten run. Indeed, their next league defeat would come in April at Ibrox by lowly Dundee United. However, further draws might have damaged the side’s chances of the title irreparably had it not been for Celtic suffering some uncharacteristic defeats. It looked as if neither side of the Old Firm wanted that Championship.
Before the climax to the league season, in March, Rangers took the first trophy up for grabs, the CIS League Cup, by thumping Motherwell 5-1 in what had become known as the Davie Cooper Final due to the fact that the player, who’d been a legend at both clubs, had died almost ten years earlier to the day of the final.
When Celtic won the final Old Firm match of the season at Ibrox after the league split, the title looked to be going to Parkhead with Celtic holding a 5 point lead and only 4 games left. However, they were beaten by Hibs at home in their next game and a 2 point lead gave Rangers some hope, if a forlorn one. Both teams won their next two matches leaving Rangers to go to Easter Road and beat a Hibs side destined to finish third in the table while all Celtic had to do was beat Motherwell at Fir Park to retain their Championship.
On an unforgettable day, Rangers duly beat Hibs 1-0 while Celtic were leading Well by the same score-line – until the 88th minute. Then, the home side’s Aussie striker, Scott MacDonald, scored the equaliser and a couple of minutes later the winning goal, thus sending the title, unexpectedly, to Ibrox by one point. This Championship win was probably even sweeter to the Gers fans than the 2003 title win when one goal had decided the title.
Unfortunately, the following season was one of the worst in the club’s history with Gers only managing to finish third in the league behind Champions Celtic and second placed Hearts. Knocked out early in both cup competitions, only the Champions League performances produced some joy with Rangers becoming the first Scottish club to make it from the groups to the knock-out stages. It still ended with Alex McLeish losing his job at the end of this turbulent season.
The start of season 2006 – 07 was viewed with great optimism by Rangers fans thanks to the installation of the young, successful French manager Paul LeGuen who had guided Lyon to 3 successive titles before leaving the job to take up a media position. Regarded as one of the best coaches in Europe, PLG was expected to transform the floundering club in much the same manner as Souness had done 20 years previously.
RECORD REVIEW
SEASON POSITION P W D L GF GA PTS
1986 – 87 1 44 31 7 6 85 23 69
1987 – 88 3 44 26 8 10 85 34 60
1988 – 89 1 36 26 4 6 62 26 56
1989 – 90 1 36 20 11 5 48 19 51
1990 – 91 1 36 24 7 5 62 23 55
1991 – 92 1 44 33 6 5 101 31 72
1992 – 93 1 44 33 7 4 97 35 73
1993 – 94 1 44 22 14 8 74 41 58
1994 – 95 1 36 20 9 7 60 35 69
1995 – 96 1 36 27 6 3 85 25 87
1996 – 97 1 36 25 5 6 85 33 80
1997 – 98 2 36 21 9 6 76 38 72
1998 – 99 1 36 23 8 5 78 31 77
1999 – 00 1 36 28 6 2 96 26 90
2000 – 01 2 38 26 4 8 76 36 82
2001 – 02 2 38 25 10 3 82 27 85
2002 – 03 1 38 31 4 3 101 28 97
2003 – 04 2 38 25 6 7 76 33 81
2004 – 05 1 38 29 6 3 78 22 93
2005 – 06 3 38 21 10 7 67 37 73
2006 – 07 2 38 21 9 8 61 32 72
This 20 season span can be seen as one of the most successful periods in Rangers’ history. The League Championship was won on 14 occasions, the Scottish Cup 7 times and the League Cup 11. 4 different men managed the club and 3 of them achieved The Treble – a remarkable statistic when you realise that until that era, Rangers had only completed The Treble 4 times. In addition, The Double was achieved on 3 other occasions.
Of course, the highlight of this spell was when Rangers equalled Celtic’s record of 9-in-a-row league titles in 1997. Conversely, the following season was especially disappointing due to the club’s failure to go one better in consecutive titles. In only one of those 19 seasons did Rangers not finish as either Champions or runners-up. That was in 1987 – 88, in Souness’ second season, when the club ended up 3rd. That season saw Rangers lose 10 matches – more than any other season during this time. One of the main factors behind this was, as usual, injuries. The most significant of these was the absence of inspirational captain, Terry Butcher, from November with a broken leg.
Apart from the major disappointment of failing to achieve 10-in-a-row, the other disappointments were those 3 seasons when no trophies were won and the 2 seasons
( 1988/89, 1993/94) when unlucky defeats in the Scottish Cup Final prevented the club from winning The Treble. Indeed, the latter year would have seen Rangers win consecutive Trebles – a feat still to be achieved by any club.
In Europe, Rangers’ performances still lagged behind domestic ones but, in general, improved with a European Cup quarter-final under Souness when eventual winners, Steaua Bucharest knocked Rangers out and, later, with Smith as manager, a virtual semi-final in the new-style Champions League when, again, only eventual winners, Marseille prevented the club from reaching the final. Before the advent of the Champions League and its strict seeding, Rangers were unlucky in that they got tough draws in the early rounds of the competition. For instance, in 1989/90, Bayern were first round opponents and the following season, in the second round, it was Red Star Belgrade who went on to win the trophy! Since the revamp of the tournament into the Champions League, however, things have been made even tougher for those clubs outside the seeded elite.
Under Dick Advocaat, as had been hoped, Gers’ European performances improved immediately. In his first season, in the UEFA Cup, 4 teams were eliminated before Rangers lost out to, yes, you’ve guessed it, the eventual winners, Parma, 4-2 on aggregate. At least Rangers avenged this defeat the following year by knocking the Italians out in the qualifying round of the Champions League.
In Advocaat’s first crack at the Champions League, only a Bayern penalty goal in Munich in the final match stopped Rangers progressing to the next group stage. The following season, again in the last game, at Ibrox this time, a late equalising goal from Monaco prevented Gers from qualifying for the next stage. In Dick Advocaat’s final season in charge, a good UEFA Cup run saw the team reach the last 16, only to lose out to Feyenoord who’d go on to win the trophy. Now there’s a surprise! However, by then, Alex McLeish had become the manager. In season, 2003 / 04, McLeish got his first taste of Champions League action in a group containing Manchester United, Stuttgart and Panathinaikos but once again Rangers failed to progress beyond this stage, a target that was achieved in season 2005/06 when Villarreal knocked Gers out in the round of the last 16.
Despite this, Rangers fans have been rewarded with some great memories of European victories and performances. A list of teams beaten by Rangers or held to a draw, home or away, during this era, should suffice to recall great European nights to all Gers fans who witnessed them: Dynamo Kiev, Gornik, Steaua Bucharest, Cologne, Red Star Belgrade, Sparta Prague, Leeds, Marseille, Bruges, CSKA Moscow, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Parma, PSV Eindhoven, Bayern Munich, Sturm Graz, Monaco, Galatasaray, Kaiserslautern, Moscow Dynamo, PSG, Feyenoord, Stuttgart, Porto, Inter Milan, Villarreal, Barcelona, Lyon, Panathinaikos Hopefully, that list will increase as the years go by and, perhaps, revenge taken for any defeats suffered at the hands of those clubs.
Nevertheless, despite European thrills and tremendous domestic success since 1986, perhaps the aspect of the club’s history that will remain in the minds of most fans are the players who have contributed to our success. In rough chronological order might I remind the reader of some of the legendary players, great personalities and, sometimes unlucky, stars, who for various reasons maybe didn’t quite make it at Ibrox. From far and wide ( over 24 nationalities shown below) they have left their indelible imprint on the memories of Gers fans ever since that Souness revolution unfolded: Chris Woods, Terry Butcher. Dave McPherson, Ally McCoist, Ian Durrant, Derek Ferguson, Trevor Francis, Graham Roberts, Ted McMinn, Jimmy Nicholl, Davie Cooper, Robert Fleck, Avi Cohen, Bonni Ginzburg, Stuart McCall, Gary Stevens, Richard Gough, Trevor Steven, Kevin Drinkell, Andy Gray, John Brown, Mark Walters, Ian Ferguson, Ray Wilkins, Mark Hateley, Maurice Johnston, Nigel Spackman, Peter Huistra, Oleg Kuznetsov, Andy Goram, Alexei Mikhailichenko, Dale Gordon, Basile Boli, Craig Moore, Brian Laudrup, Davie Robertson, Duncan Ferguson, Gordon Durie, Sebastian Rozental, Alan McLaren, Marco Negri, Jonas Thern, Gordan Petric, Oleg Salenko, Joachim Bjorklund, Paul Gascoigne, Eric Bo Andersen, Antti Niemi, Stefan Klos, Lionel Charbonnier, Sergio Porrini, Gennaro Gattuso, Lorenzo Amoruso, Andrei Kanchelskis, Colin Hendry, Barry Ferguson, Claudio Reyna, Neil McCann, Jorge Albertz, Arthur Numan, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, Gabriel Amato, Daniel Prodan, Tugay, Michael Mols, Billy Dodds, Rod Wallace, Kenny Miller, Peter Lovenkrands, Fernando Ricksen, Bert Konterman, Mikael Arteta, Shota Arveladze, Ronald and Frank de Boer, Claudio Caniggia, Zurab Khizanishvili, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Nacho Novo, Dado Prso, Ronald Waterreus, Marvin Andrews, Sotirio Kyrgiakos, Thomas Buffel, Gregory Vignal, Kris Boyd, Alan Hutton, Jeremy Clement, Karl Svensson, Filip Sebo, Libor Sionko, Sasa Papac, Carlos Cuellar, David Weir, Brahim Hemdani, Jean-Claude Darcheville, Daniel Cousin, Damarcus Beasley, Steven Naismith, Steven Whittaker, Kirk Broadfoot, Allan McGregor, Lee McCulloch, Kevin Thomson, Pedro Mendes, Steven Davis, Madjid Bougherra, Mo Edu.
1960 – 1986 ROLLERCOASTER YEARS
This 26 season period was undoubtedly the longest bad spell in the history of Rangers. Having said that, it did have some incredible highs so the definition of “bad” is all relative, I suppose. In terms of the league title, the club had two long barren periods of 10 and 8 years. On the other hand, The Treble was won three times during this era as well as Rangers’ only European success with the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1972, having played in two other finals of this tournament. The rare three consecutive Scottish Cup wins, creating a new record, also took place in this time. Ironically, Rangers did much better in the cup competitions winning the Scottish Cup 9 times and the League Cup on 11 occasions.
The turbulence of the era can perhaps best be seen in the fact that, at the start of it, Symon was Rangers’ third manager in almost 90 years of existence and yet, by the end of it, Graeme Souness was about to become the club’s 8th, with Jock Wallace having had two spells as boss. All the managers’ jobs were made much harder due to the dominance of Jock Stein’s Celtic winning 9-in-a-row in the 60s and 70s and, in the 80s the emergence of Aberdeen under Alex Ferguson and Dundee United under Jim McLean.
During this 26 season period, there seemed to be more competition for the Championship than in the previous history of the Scottish game with no fewer than 6 clubs taking the title. In all, Rangers won the league 6 times with Celtic successful on 14 occasions, Aberdeen, 3 with Dundee, Kilmarnock and Dundee United each winning the flag once. Apart from fewer successes for Rangers than in its history, making matters worse was the fact that, by the 80s, the club wasn’t even making it into the top three placings, never mind runner-up. In the four seasons before the appointment of Souness, the club ended up 4th on three occasions and 5th in season 1985 – 86. Indeed, from 1979 – 80, until then, Rangers were suffering from the worst sequence of league placings in its entire history. Many believed, as Souness, the rookie manager took over, that the only way was up.
Adding to the gloom was the second Ibrox Disaster in January, 1971 when 66 Rangers fans died on stairway 13 near the end of the Old Firm Ne’er Day game. This terrible tragedy, however, was the motivation for the building of the present day stadium that is one of the few in the top category of UEFA stadia, with its 5 star rating.
RECORD REVIEW
SEASON POSITION P W D L GF GA PTS
1960 – 61 1 34 23 5 6 88 46 51
1961 – 62 2 34 22 7 5 84 31 51
1962 – 63 1 34 25 7 2 94 28 57
1963 – 64 1 34 25 5 4 85 31 55
1964 – 65 5 34 18 8 8 78 35 44
1965 – 66 2 34 25 5 4 91 29 55
1966 – 67 2 34 24 7 3 92 31 55
1967 – 68 2 34 28 5 1 93 34 61
1968 – 69 2 34 21 7 6 81 32 49
1969 – 70 2 34 19 7 8 67 40 45
1970 – 71 4 34 16 9 9 58 34 41
1971 – 72 3 34 21 2 11 71 38 44
1972 – 73 2 34 26 4 4 74 30 56
1973 – 74 3 34 21 6 7 67 34 48
1974 – 75 1 34 25 6 3 86 33 56
1975 – 76 1 36 23 8 5 60 24 54
1976 – 77 2 36 18 10 8 62 37 46
1977 – 78 1 36 24 7 5 76 39 55
1978 – 79 2 36 18 9 9 52 35 45
1979 – 80 5 36 15 7 14 50 46 37
1980 – 81 3 36 16 12 8 60 32 44
1981 – 82 3 36 16 11 9 57 45 43
1982 – 83 4 36 13 12 11 52 41 38
1983 – 84 4 36 15 12 9 53 41 42
1984 – 85 4 36 13 12 11 47 38 38
1985 – 86 5 36 13 9 14 53 45 35
The early 60s produced a golden era for Rangers and one of its greatest ever sides. Scot Symon was at the peak of his powers and had created a team that would become Britain’s first European finalists as well as win the domestic Treble, the Double and three League Championships in 4 seasons. This side probably reached its peak in 1963 although it was a year later that The Treble was won with a marginally less talented team. The Rangers squad that completed The Treble was: Ritchie, Shearer, Provan, Greig, McKinnon, Baxter, Henderson, McLean, Millar, Forrest, Brand, Wilson, McMillan, Watson, Willoughby. In that season of the clean sweep, young Jim Forrest, gradually taking over from legend, Jimmy Millar, actually scored an incredible 56 competitive goals!
At the start of the decade the “normal” Rangers team was: Niven,; Shearer, Caldow; Davis, Paterson, Baxter; Scott, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson. However, this was soon transformed into the formation that can still be rhymed off by Gers fans of that era, even today, without thinking: Ritchie, Shearer, Caldow; Greig, McKinnon, Baxter; Henderson, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson.
This team had everything: a great defence, two creative midfield men, two exciting wingers and a striking partnership that has never been bettered by any pairing in a Rangers shirt. In season 1962 – 63, it won the title only losing twice while scoring 94 goals in 34 matches. Rangers won the League Championship in three of the first four seasons of this period, only coming second to the greatest Dundee side in its history. The Scottish Cup was won on three consecutive occasions and, to add icing on the cake, Celtic were totally dominated in their encounters with Rangers. While Rangers’ old rivals were languishing, Jim Baxter was strutting his stuff at Ibrox and giving the Gers fans the time of their lives.
As with everything else in life, all good football things must come to an end and they did – abruptly, at Ibrox, with the arrival of Jock Stein at Celtic Park. Once Stein had turned around the “sleeping giant” of Celtic, the job of succeeding Gers’ managers was going to be made doubly difficult. The Kilmarnock league title of season 1964 – 65, when Rangers came an unacceptable fifth in the table, was the watershed for the club. Part of the reason for that disastrous league standing was obviously injuries to key players, especially Baxter and Henderson who missed more than half that season. In fact, Baxter would be transferred to Sunderland at the end of the season. After that season, Stein’s Celtic would go on to win 9 consecutive league titles with Rangers coming second on no fewer than 6 times to them.
In some seasons, a fine Rangers team would even come second, having amassed more points than in earlier seasons when the club had won the title! Season 1967 – 68 deserves a special mention in this respect. Celtic were the reigning European Champions that season and retained their league title but this Gers side only lost one match ( the last one against Aberdeen at Ibrox) winning 28 out of 34, scoring 93 goals and accruing a massive 61 points – yet still lost out to Celtic by 2 points! It was half way through that season that the club sacked manager Scot Symon and installed Davie White who would only last one full season. In some seasons of this great Celtic run, Rangers would only be one or two points behind the Parkhead team as they retained their title.
Having said that, there was a prolonged stage when Rangers couldn’t win anything. In the four seasons from 1966 – 67 until 1970 – 71, the club failed to win any of the three domestic trophies and during this time manager, Scot Symon, was unceremoniously dismissed. Making up for those dark days when Celtic dominated, were such triumphs as the Scottish Cup Replay win over Celtic in 1966, the League Cup Final win against Celtic in 1970, thanks to the 16 year old Derek Johnstone, and, of course, the winning, in Barcelona, of the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1972.
The beginning of the 70s saw another manager, Davie White, sacked and a new manager in the shape of playing legend, Willie Waddell, who tried to revitalise the whole club by going back to traditional values but using modern methods. The middle to late 70s, that saw the end of Stein’s dominance, became a happier time for the club with the winning of the Championship after a ten year gap, and two Trebles in the following three seasons under Jock Wallace who’d been promoted from coach under Waddell.
With the elevation of captain John Greig to the manager’s chair after the resignation of Wallace at the end of the Treble-winning season of 1977 – 78, everything still looked to be on track. Rangers, under Greig, were effectively 5 minutes away from succeeding in back-to-back Trebles until a late goal at Celtic Park allowed Celtic to snatch the title and the Ibrox club had to be content with winning the two cup competitions. From then on, however, it was all downhill with only the odd League Cup or Scottish Cup win to pacify the fans who were getting more disgruntled as the years wore on, first under Greig, who honourably resigned from his post in 1983, and then again in the second spell of Jock Wallace as the boss.
What was causing even more concern was the fact that Rangers weren’t even coming in second place to Celtic but were also behind Aberdeen and Dundee United. The nadir for Rangers in the 70s came in season 1979 – 80 when the club finished 5th with a mere 37 points, only winning 15 out of 36 matches and losing almost as many – 14. After that, the best the club could manage was two third places while, by the final few years of the early 80s, it was a case of finishing 4th or 5th. In season 1985 – 86, the team lost more league games than it had actually won – a unique but unwelcome Rangers’ record. This was obviously the final straw for the club’s Board which sacked Jock Wallace and appointed Graeme Souness to rejuvenate the entire club.
Despite its relative lack of league success throughout those years, Rangers had still managed to produce some wonderful players who would join the ranks of those others from the club’s inception, becoming legends in their own right. Of the brilliant side of the early 60s, 8 players are currently in the Rangers’ Hall of Fame. Most notably legends such as Jim Baxter, John Greig, Willie Henderson, Davie Wilson, Jimmy Millar and Ralph Brand are revered to this day. While some of the following players span two different decades, from the later 60s, heroes such as Kai Johansen, Colin Stein, Willie Johnston, Alex Ferguson, Dave Smith and Sandy Jardine are remembered. From the 70s, the likes of Tom Forsyth, Alex McDonald, Tommy McLean, Derek Parlane, Derek Johnstone, Peter McCloy and Davie Cooper will never be forgotten. And, even in the barren years of the early 80s, players such as Colin Jackson, Bobby Russell, John McClelland bring back fond memories.
It was during this 26 season period that Rangers experienced the highs and lows of European football. In the European Cup Winners’ Cup, the club appeared in three finals, winning on its third appearance. In the European Cup, Rangers’ best efforts saw them manage to reach the quarter-final stage 3 times. In the Fair Cities’ Cup ( now UEFA Cup) Rangers got to a semi-final and a quarter- final, losing out to eventual winners, Newcastle and Leeds respectively.
Rangers became the first British club to contest a European Final when it reached the Cup Winners’ Cup Final of 1961. Having disposed of Ferencvaros of Hungary, Borussia Munchen Gladbach of Germany and Wolves of England en route to the two leg final, it was unfortunate that their opponents were Fiorentina of Italy. The ruthless, organised and skilful Italians were just too much of a handful for the Ibrox men and took the trophy by winning 2-0 at Ibrox and 2-1 in Florence.
In 1967, a second chance to lift this trophy was given to Rangers but once again they were foiled by a superior side. This time it was the Bayern Munich side of Beckenbauer et al who would go on to become the best team in Europe in the early 70s. Despite the disadvantage of having to play the Germans in Nuremberg in the final with a make-shift strike force, Rangers managed to take the match into extra time before going down 1-0. It was all the more disappointing because a week previously Celtic had won the European Cup and a Rangers’ victory would have made it the first time that the two big European trophies had been won by teams from the same city in the same season. On their way to that final, the team had overcome: Glentoran from Northern Ireland, German cracks, Borussia Dortmund, Zaragossa from Spain and Bulgars, Slavia Sofia.
However, it was a case of third time lucky when Rangers next appeared in that final, in 1972, in Barcelona. Surely, no club could have deserved to lift the trophy more than Rangers. A 3-2 defeat of old foes, Moscow Dynamo seemed a fitting end to a brilliant campaign. On the way to that final, Rangers had had to knock out the Cup Winners of some of the Continent’s most formidable footballing countries. First Rennes of France were eliminated before it was the turn of Sporting Lisbon of Portugal. Then, Italians, Torino fell before revenge was gained over the mighty Bayern Munich in the semi-final. At last Rangers had won a European trophy and the hard way at that!
With the rain pouring down on Parkhead, the Rangers players took the field on one of the most momentous days ever. After 29 games played, Rangers were 5 points ahead of their ancient rivals, the only side that could stop 9-in-a-row. Everybody concerned knew that a win for Rangers would virtually decide the destination of that season’s league flag, Gers’ 9th consecutive one. Beforehand, Assistant Manager, Archie Knox, had told star, Brian Laudrup that this was the most important match in the club’s history – and he wasn’t being melodramatic. Even the Dane realised that without having to be told.
The team’s preparations in the lead-up to the game didn’t augur well. As had happened so many times previously, Rangers had been badly affected by injury. Indeed, Walter Smith confided that, at one point, out of a total staff of 58, an incredible 34 were unavailable to play. Out through injury was Andy Goram, a talisman for the side at Parkhead in the past. Even worse, his deputy, Theo Snelders was injured and so in such an emergency, Welshman, Andy Dibble had to be brought to the club on loan. To make matters worse, captain Richard Gough was struggling with injury and, in any other circumstances, wouldn’t have played but so crucial was this game and so desperate was the situation Rangers found themselves in, that Gough just had to play.
If the team’s defence had been weakened then so had the attack as it lacked Gascoigne, a match-winner and striker Gordon Durie who had been rushed to hospital with appendicitis. This inspired Walter Smith to pull a masterstroke. He brought back charismatic striker, Mark Hateley from Queen’s Park Rangers, where he had gone the previous season, hoping that his presence would inspire the team and improve its chances of success. It was almost as if the big Englishman had been signed for this one game and that it was his destiny.
If all this didn’t have the Rangers fans feeling rather nervous before the game, then the memory of a 2-0 defeat from Celtic in the Scottish Cup the week before at the same venue was sure to do it. The Celtic players who had knocked Rangers out must have felt confident in repeating the feat. This, plus the fact that it was their last chance to prevent 9-in-a-row, meant that the home side would be fired up for the match. They would also want to avoid losing their 4th Old Firm league game that season.
The first half saw a tousy, nervous affair with both teams looking frightened of losing, so high were the stakes. A Hateley looping header had threatened at one end before Andy Dibble had to dive at the feet of Cadete to block the striker’s shot for a corner. Then, Jorg Albertz took a free kick from deep inside his own half, on the left touchline. The ball sailed towards the Celtic box. Hateley outjumped Annoni but both missed the ball as it bounced to the edge of the area. Defender, Alan Stubbs, harassed by Durrant, misheaded the ball backwards allowing Durrant to run on to it and, as keeper Kerr came off his line, lob it over him. The ball bounced a yard from the goal line and Brian Laudrup just got ahead of Malky McKay to bundle it into the net, despite the flailing hands of Kerr who’d got back to his goal.
The nearest the home side came to equalising was when a free kick 22 yards out was flicked up into the air for De Canio to volley towards the Rangers goal. The ball, however, crashed off the bar with Dibble looking beaten. As the teams went in at the interval there was no doubt, though, that Rangers were in the driving seat.
The second half was similar to the first with even half-chances few and far between. Then, in the 67th minute came a flashpoint that could have changed the course of the game. Laudrup, boring through the middle, was chopped down by Malky McKay. While supporting the Dane’s run, Hateley had been tripped. As Laudrup lay on the ground, from a few feet away, Jackie McNamara kicked the ball and it hit off Laudrup’s head. As an enraged Laudrup jumped up, a melee started that even involved Celts keeper, Kerr who had run out of the penalty area to get involved with an annoyed Hateley. The end result was that Mark Hateley got his marching orders from referee Hugh Dallas. However, disastrous as this could have been, Rangers escaped when McKay was sent off some minutes later and the numbers were evened up.
Near the end, Rangers almost tied the game up thanks to an amazing run by Swedish defender, Joachim Bjorklund who seldom ventured into the opposition half. Having dispossessed a Celt deep in the Rangers’ half, on the left touchline, “Jocky” must have had a nosebleed as he galloped up the park, right into the Celtic penalty area. At the perfect moment he laid the ball off to Albertz on the 6 yard line but, as the German turned and was about to shoot, a sliding tackle partially blocked his shot and it went tamely to the Celtic keeper.
When the final whistle went, the emotions of the Gers players and fans couldn’t be contained. Unfortunately, neither could Celtic’s. Volatile winger, Paulo De Canio had to be manhandled to grapple him away from Ian Ferguson whom he seemingly wanted to fight. The Italian wouldn’t give up and continued shouting and gesturing towards the Ranger, apparently signalling that he wanted to break his leg. All that was missing was a Mafia dead fish! As the Gers players went to the tunnel they were pelted by coins from Celtic fans in the Main Stand but, thankfully, didn’t hang around to pick them up as souvenirs of the match that had virtually ensured the magical 9-in-a-row.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL REPLAY: 15th May, 1963 RANGERS 3 – 0 CELTIC
This replay was only needed because of the brilliance of Celts’ keeper, Frank Haffey in the first game. However, it’s safe to say that many Celtic fans in the crowd of over 120,000 probably wished that Haffey had let in even one goal then, rather than have to suffer this humiliating defeat in the replay.
Rangers were forced to make one change from the first match when the injured George McLean was replaced by veteran Ian McMillan. Thus, the side was almost the one that many still believe the greatest in the club’s history: Ritchie, Shearer, Provan; Greig, McKinnon, Baxter; Henderson, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson. Only the injured former skipper, Eric Caldow was absent from that famous line-up.
When it became obvious that Rangers were in top form, especially Baxter and 33 year old McMillan, Celtic’s players and fans probably realised that their side had no chance. Celtic seemed to have no plan to deal with the brilliance of Baxter in particular. It was as if they’d decided that if Slim Jim was in the mood, there was nothing they could do to stop him anyway. The Celtic priority of not conceding an early goal was in tatters when Rangers opened the scoring after only 7 minutes. After a great Henderson run and cross, Ralph Brand merely had to side-foot the ball into the net from 6 yards out.
From then on, the Celtic defence was being continually opened up, thanks mainly to the excellence of Baxter and McMillan in midfield. The speed of Wilson and Henderson on either flank with the pace of Brand and the strength of Millar in the centre made life tough for Billy McNeill and his defenders. Even after that first goal it was obvious that there would be no way back for Celtic.
Rangers simply showed superior teamwork, finesse, inventiveness and directness with every player seemingly playing at the top of his form. By half-time, Davie Wilson had added a second goal and it was a question of how many Rangers might score in the second half. Celts’ hero from the previous match, keeper, Haffey was blamed by many for Wilson’s goal as he’d failed to hold a Brand shot that had bounced away from him only to be turned into the net by the predatory winger.
When the third goal was scored, Haffey would take the flak yet again. In the 71st minute, a Brand shot from well outside the area bounced in front of the hapless keeper to enter the net and finish the match completely. Still, if the scoring was finished, Celtic’s humiliation wasn’t, thanks to cheeky Jim Baxter who relished such situations. For the last 20 minutes, Rangers spent most of the time toying with their opponents and, naturally, Baxter was their tormentor-in-chief. Just as he would later do against England at Wembley, Baxter teased his opponents, taking the mickey out of them as much as possible. His casual passing, his arrogance, his confidence on the ball and his obvious enjoyment of the discomfort of the Celtic players were all exhibited to the full.
Baxter would put his foot on the ball and invite opponents to come and try to take it off him, knowing that if they tried, he’d embarrass them even more. At one point, he even sat on the ball while it was in play, teasing the Celtic players who must have felt that they’d spent the entire game chasing shadows. They probably couldn’t wait to get off the field. Perhaps luckier were the Celtic fans who didn’t have to wait around until the final whistle – and they didn’t! One of the abiding memories of this match was the fact that, with 20 minutes left, the huge “Celtic End” terracing at Hampden that had held 40,000 fans, was deserted, a ghost terracing, the fans having voted with their feet and refused to take further embarrassment. Naturally, the jubilant Gers fans at the other end of the stadium thoroughly enjoyed such a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP FINAL: 24th October, 1993 RANGERS 2 – 1 HIBS
This match was memorable for a few reasons. Firstly, winning the cup created a new record of Rangers winning 6 consecutive domestic trophies. In fact, this would become 7 by the end of the season when the Championship was retained. Fans will also remember the game for two great Gers goals and for yet another McCoist moment. Super Ally was on the bench for this final that was taking place at Parkhead while Hampden was being renovated. This was due to the fact that McCoist still lacked match fitness in his recovery from a broken leg sustained 6 months previously while playing for Scotland in Portugal. McCoist was itching to play in the game but knew that the manager had made the right decision keeping him in reserve should he be needed.
On a mild, sunny day, that belied the fact that it was near the end of October, a crowd of 48,000 watched Rangers dominate the game from the beginning, without being able to convert their superiority into goals. Then, 10 minutes into the second half the breakthrough came thanks to the talent of a rejuvenated Ian Durrant. The flowing move started in Rangers’ half with the ball being passed to Ian Ferguson, just inside the centre circle. He did a quick one-two with Durrant then ran forward before passing it to him again. Durrant made one of his trademark runs right through the centre towards the Hibs defence then slipped the ball to the right to Hateley and continued his run. Hateley’s cute return pass found Durrant running on to the ball at the 18 yard line. As he tried to control it and run, the ball bobbled up but this, in fact, helped the Rangers because as Jim Leighton ran off his goal-line, Durrant showed his coolness by simply chipping the ball over him.
Most thought that the match as a contest would be over but Hibs weren’t ready to give up yet. Minutes later, out of nothing, they had equalised. Deep in his own half, right-back, Gary Stevens took a pass from Gough and rather carelessly attempted a passback to keeper, Ally Maxwell. As the ball bounced up inside the area, Hibs striker, Keith Wright intercepted it before it could be gathered by the Gers keeper. Wright then ran past Maxwell to the left and fired a hopeful cross in front of the rangers’ goal. Unfortunately, Davie McPherson, running back towards goal to cover his keeper, turned the ball into his own net.
Cue renewed pressure from Rangers in an effort to regain the lead as soon as possible. Cue the entrance of the hero. McCoist’s whole career had seemed to be a real life football fairy tale and his entry then on the field was to provide yet another chapter of it. Top striker, struck down by a terrible injury, makes the comeback of a lifetime and scores the winning goal. Sounds like the stuff of fiction but that’s what happened.
A long throw-in from David Robertson out on the left made it into the Hibs penalty box. Hateley and Trevor Steven jumped with defender Kevin Tweed for it but the ball glanced off the defender’s head and continued towards the penalty spot. There, McCoist, surrounded by three defenders, chested the ball down and, with his back to goal did a bicycle kick over his shoulder and shot the ball past the helpless Jim Leighton into the corner of the net. Cue delirious celebrations from Super Ally, his team-mates and all the Gers fans in the stadium. They all knew that McCoist had done it again, had won the cup for them. The real Roy of the Rovers was indeed back!
EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS’ CUP FINAL: 24th May, 1972
RANGERS 3 – 2 MOSCOW DYNAMO
Rangers had lost in the final of this competition twice, in 1960 and 67 so all connected with the club were hoping that this would be third time lucky. The omens were good in that, en route to the final, Rangers had disposed of some very good teams, including old foes, Bayern Munich in the semi-final. Prior to that, French side Rennes had been beaten before Torino of Italy and Portuguese cracks, Sporting Lisbon. Now it was another old foe, Moscow Dynamo that stood between Rangers and European glory.
Rangers couldn’t have asked for a better setting in the Nou Camp, Barcelona, over 20,000 fans had follow followed them there and the team’s preparations had gone well with the exception of injury to regular central defender, Colin Jackson, ruling him out of the biggest match in the club’s history. Still, they had young Derek Johnstone to step back into defence from his more customary striking role so a more capable deputy would have been hard to find.
Ironically, all three Rangers goals were created by defenders: sweeper, Dave Smith made the first two while keeper Peter McCloy made the third. Gers opened the scoring in the first half when Smith, inside his own half, sent a long, raking pass through the middle to be chased by Colin Stein. The big striker got ahead of his marker and half-volleyed a rising shot past the keeper.
Also in that first half, Smith latched on to a Dynamo clearance just inside the opposition half. He controlled the ball, raced forward with it up the right then checked back as he was closed down. Transferring the ball to his favoured left foot, he sent a lovely cross sailing into the middle where Willie Johnston met it to angle a header into the net. With Rangers two up at half-time, the cup looked to be theirs.
Into the second half, the game indeed looked to be all over when Rangers went three up. A typically mighty kick out form McCloy bounced just outside the Dynamo area over the heads of Stein and his marker only to find Johnston ghosting in behind them, unmarked. The wee man took the ball, moved into the penalty box and dispatched the ball coolly into the net.
From then on, Rangers held on to what they had until a few minutes from time. Then, an unexpectedly edgy finish was endured as Rangers’ errors allowed the Russians to score twice only to run out of time in their quest for an amazing equaliser.
At the final whistle, just as Celtic fans had done years previously in Lisbon, celebrating a famous victory, the Rangers fans ran on to the pitch in good-natured spirits. This time, however, the Civil Guard of Spanish Dictator, General Franco decided to get tough and started attacking the joyful fans. Soon, Gers fans were fighting back and the so-called Barcelona riot was in full swing. Due to the commotion on the field, John Greig couldn’t even have the trophy presented to him in front of the fans and was obliged to receive it in the bowels of the stadium. What a pity that Greig’s greatest moment was tarnished in such a manner.
Still, the main thing was that Rangers had, at last, won a European trophy and deservedly so, not only for their display in the final but for their performances in all the previous rounds. When the team returned from Spain, thousands of fans got their chance to acclaim it when they paraded round Ibrox in the teeming rain with the Cup that they hadn’t been allowed to see in the Nou Camp. By then, it didn’t matter.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL: 25th April, 1964 RANGERS 3 – 1 DUNDEE
Some people dubbed this final the “Bert Slater Final” in recognition of the brilliant display by the Dundee keeper who was the main reason for his side staying in this match for so long. Ultimately, though, the real hero of the hour was Willie Henderson. At the time, many spectators believed that this had been the best final in living memory, a real classic. A great Rangers team was trying to complete The Treble and with stars like Jim Baxter, Willie Henderson, Jimmy Millar and Ralph Brand the odds were in Rangers’ favour. Everyone knew that if the likes of Baxter and Henderson turned it on, there wasn’t a lot the opposition could do to combat them.
Dundee striker and Scots internationalist, Alan Gilzean was identified as the main threat to Rangers and, as usual, John Greig was given the task of nullifying this danger man. As usual, Greig succeeded. With only Caldow and McMillan missing from this Gers side that many considered the best in its history, it’s no wonder that Dundee were up against it for most of the game. Even with Baxter not playing at his best, there was enough quality in the team to ensure The Treble would be completed.
Credit was given to Dundee for a gallant performance, making it such a competitive final but, if the truth be told, they never looked capable of actually winning the game. Fighting a tremendous rear-guard action, Dundee only occasionally threatened the Gers’ goal. Meanwhile, the deadly combination of Millar and Brand would show why they’d been the best striking partnership in the country over the previous few years.
Dundee keeper, Bert Slater was instrumental in keeping his team in the match until there were only 90 seconds left on the clock. Time and again he had thwarted Rangers, making three magnificent saves alone in the first half to prevent certain goals. However, in the second half, with Henderson playing a blinder and Davie Wilson looking more like his old self, danger constantly threatened down either wing. This, coupled with the fact that the old “M and B” combination was back to its best, meant that it seemed only a matter of time until Rangers scored.
19 minutes from the end, Rangers opened the scoring with a simple goal. Considering all the exciting moves that hadn’t been finished off until that time, it was strange that the goal should simply be a Millar header from a Henderson corner. The crowd of 120,982 probably thought that it was all over then. How wrong they were! Straight from the kick-ff, Dundee went up the field and equalised! A defender’s punt up the park hit off Greig’s head to go spinning backwards into his own area. There, Cameron controlled it expertly before volleying it into the net. So, after all their efforts at making the breakthrough, within seconds, Rangers players were back where they started.
Sustained pressure from then on saw Rangers bombard the Dundee goal as the men from Dens Park tried to hang on for a replay. Then, 90 seconds from time, a Baxter free kick saw Henderson pick the ball up on the left. Wee Willie buzzed towards goal, cut inside the full back and sent over a perfect cross for Jimmy Millar to head the ball away from Slater. Virtually before the Gers fans had stopped cheering, Rangers scored a third goal. Starting inside his own half, Henderson completed two one-twos with Brand who eventually slipped the ball to Wilson supporting on the left. His shot again was saved by Slater but the parried ball kindly fell for Brand who smacked it off the far post and into the goal. What had looked like a certain replay had turned into a 3-1 victory in the space of 90 seconds.
Rangers had pulled off a great victory at the death, a traditional aspect of the club through the years. Henderson’s match-winning runs at the end had led to many sportswriters calling him the best winger in Europe at that time and few Gers fans would have disagreed with that statement as they watched Bobby Shearer lift the Scottish Cup in triumph.
EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS’ CUP QUARTER-FINAL: 30th November, 1960
RANGERS 8 – 0 BORUSSIA MUNCHEN-GLADBACH
A surprisingly “small” attendance of 38,000 for this match could be explained by two facts: Gers were already 3-0 up from the first leg in Germany and this game was played in torrential rain, making it very uncomfortable for the spectators as well as the players. By the time of the game, Glasgow’s pre-match drizzle had gone – to be replaced by a mighty November downpour! Beforehand, the visitors have voiced concerns about the pitch being “soft” but they needn’t have worried – it turned out more like a swimming pool.
Another worry promoted by the Germans’ coach was that there was too much smoke around Glasgow ( in the days before smokeless fuel or much central heating) so that his players’ breathing would suffer and they’d run out of steam after 70 minutes. Again, he needn’t have worried because they looked out of breath after only two minutes. That’s how long it took Rangers to open the scoring. Jim Baxter slammed a fierce 16 yard shot into the net and the game was over before it had really begun.
It’s safe to say that Gers’ keeper, George Niven was the player who got most of the fans’ sympathy because for most of the 90 minutes he had to stand in the bucketing rain with nothing to do. Rangers simply ran riot, turning in their most effective and entertaining European performance ever. Ironically, playing a clever, close-passing game on a dreadful surface, Rangers were just too good for the Germans and were 5-0 up by half-time thanks to the Baxter goal, an own goal, one from Jimmy Millar and two from Ralph Brand.
In the second half Rangers’ only worry must have been whether or not the frustrated visitors would get nasty and try to boot the opposition off the park in revenge for the thrashing they were receiving. This stemmed from the fact that in the first leg, some of Borussia’s players had got tough and resorted to violent behaviour when they realised that they were a beaten side. However, this time it was all so different. The Germans took their thrashing like gentlemen and Rangers eased up when the score got to 8-0.
Although the Germans had been inept it has to be said that Rangers played very well indeed, none more so than Ian McMillan in midfield. In the soggy, waterlogged conditions, he let his brain rather than his legs do the work as he sprayed passes all over the park and opened up the opposition defence at will. With 25 minutes remaining Gers were 8 up and ended up toying with their opponents rather than seeking more goals. Keeper, Jansen must have been grateful that the bombardment of his goal had seemingly ended.
The final whistle couldn’t come quickly enough for the drenched Germans who must have wondered if this European football lark was worth all the pain. Sportingly, after the match, they acknowledged that they’d been beaten by a very good side. Proof that no ill feeling had been engendered was the fact that in 1962 it was Rangers they invited to open their new ground, the Bokelberg Stadium. To show how much they’d improved the score was 1-1 that day – or were Rangers just being polite guests and not spoiling their occasion?
EUROPEAN CUP 2nd round: 4th November, 1992 LEEDS 1 – 2 RANGERS
When Rangers drew English Champions, Leeds United to see which side would qualify for the newly created Champions League, the tie was immediately tagged with the cliché “The Battle of Britain”. However, in order to avoid any possible “battle” between the rival fans, both clubs decided to implement a ban on travelling fans. The Leeds side was full of star names: Cantona, Strachan, McAllister, Speed, Batty to name a few. Leeds, having knocked out German Champions, Stuttgart, in the previous round, were expected by the English media to dismiss Rangers with ease.
In the first leg at Ibrox, within a minute, the journalists’ views were probably reinforced when a Strachan corner, headed out, was met on the edge of the box by Scots captain, Gary McAllister who volleyed the ball perfectly, high behind Andy Goram. Rangers battled back from this shock start and gradually took control of the match. It was a dour game with few chances created by either side and tension seemed to affect the players’ performances. However, by half-time, the home side had turned the match around to go up the Ibrox tunnel leading 2-1, thanks to an own goal by Leeds keeper, Lukic and a goal poked into the net by Ally McCoist. The second half was largely a non-event with both sides’ defences on top and the creative players being cancelled out. Thus, a 2-1 win made it look as if Gers would have to be at their best in the second match to survive.
By the time of the return leg, the Leeds manager, Howard Wilkinson, his players and especially the English sportswriters were supremely confident, if not arrogant, about Leeds’ prospects of overturning the one goal deficit, thanks to that away goal of McAllister’s. The Rangers players were aware of the opposition’s attitude and were fired up to show everybody in England that, not only was Scottish football better than they realised, but that Rangers were a good team, in no way inferior to Leeds.
A first minute shock was in store again but this time for the Leeds fans. A Goram kick-out was nodded on a couple of yards by Durrant to Hateley, just outside the Leeds’ box. The big Englishman, without hesitating, swivelled and lofted a brilliant shot over Lukic into the Leeds goal to stun everybody. Within a minute, Rangers had cancelled out the crucial Leeds away goal and had taken the heat out of the tie already. Naturally, the Leeds’ reaction was to attack in numbers and with a ferocity that reminded Gers fans that this tie wasn’t won yet. Thankfully, defenders like Gough and John Brown stood firm and when Leeds occasionally did create a chance, Goram was at his defiant best between the posts.
The second half continued in the same vein until a wonderful Rangers’ counter-attack all but finished off the English Champions. A Leeds’ attack was broken up by John Brown, just inside his box. He tapped the ball to Ferguson who moved it forward to Hateley. His clever back-heel found Durrant moving forward. Taking the ball on a few yards, the midfielder prodded the ball forward to Hateley who’d continued his run upfield. He immediately took it out to the left wing and kept running. From 30 yards out, he looked up, saw McCoist making a run at the back post, unnoticed, and curled a precision cross over to him. McCoist’s brilliant diving header went in at the far post with the keeper and defender powerless to prevent it. The joy on the faces of the Rangers players showed that they knew they’d won the tie.
Leeds continued to battle, as all English sides do, but they knew it was in vain. It was simply a matter of pride. Minutes from the end, they finally breached the Rangers defence and scored a consolation goal. But the glory went to Rangers who had just beaten, deservedly, the English Champions, home and away and gained new respect for the club.
SCOTTISH LEAGUE: 11th May, 1991 RANGERS 2 – 0 ABERDEEN
Unlike the fans of most clubs, Rangers fans, in the course of the lives have had numerous great days to remember but even for Gers fans this match that decided the league that season will always be one of their fondest memories. It was a wonderful climax to what had been a season full of ups and downs. In the first half of the season, skipper, Terry Butcher had been transferred after a fall-out with Graeme Souness. Then, the brilliant defender who would have replaced him, Oleg Kuznetsov from Dynamo Kiev, was crocked in only his second game for the club and would be out with his cruciate ligament injury for the next year! To top it all, leading the table from Aberdeen, with only 4 games left, Rangers lost their charismatic manager.
Abruptly, Graeme Souness had left to take the vacant manager’s job at his old club, Liverpool, allowing Walter Smith to be appointed and steer Gers to another title win. At least, that was the theory! An amazing 3-0 defeat at Motherwell in the penultimate match meant that Aberdeen were now top of the league on goal difference with only one game to play – at Ibrox. Suddenly, a draw would see the Dons crowned as Champs.
On a hot, sunny day, Ibrox was full to bursting, with only a small contingent of Aberdeen fans interrupting the sea of red, white and blue. The atmosphere was tense, electric, expectant. Those who had been at the Kiev match a few years before thought that the mood was exactly the same as it had been then with the huge Rangers crowd ready to urge the side on to a famous victory.
Having lost their manager, many thought that the home side could be up against it and that the momentum had switched to Aberdeen. To make matters worse, injuries were taking their toll on Rangers. Captain Richard Gough’s inspiriational presence would be missing and true blues like stalwart, John Brown could only play thanks to pain-killing injections. Indeed, before the end of the game, Brown’s Achilles tendon would have snapped, young Tom Cowan would have suffered a broken leg and a clearly unfit Ally McCoist would have had to come off the bench to contribute in the latter stages of the game. It was a case of the walking wounded gritting their teeth, showing the true Rangers spirit and hobbling off with the spoils.
Early in the game a Gary Stevens cross was slung into the Aberdeen box and Mark Hateley, in his first season at Ibrox, leapt up for it with typical power and determination, crashing to the ground with the young Dons keeper, Michael Watt. Many later surmised that this had been an intentional ploy to test the keeper’s mettle and let him worry about what was in store for him throughout the rest of the match. If so, it would pay off before half-time.
Still, the first real chance of the game fell to Dons’ midfielder Van de Ven who broke through the middle with only keeper Chris Woods to beat. Tension perhaps got the better of the player and, instead of netting, his weak shot went straight into the arms of the Gers keeper. It was a miss that the Aberdeen players would rue an hour or so later. The game thundered on without any other real opportunities being created. Then, near the interval, came the moment that would be the start of Mark Hateley’s legendary status.
For once, Mark Walters had found himself way out on the left hand touchline, 30 something yards from goal. He curved a wicked, pacy cross into the heart of the Dons’ box where Hateley, rising above Alex McLeish and the keeper, bulleted the ball into the net. Ibrox went berserk, as did most of the Rangers players. They had taken the initiative, they were now in the driving seat in the Championship race and could only throw it away. With the fervant backing of the Ibrox crowd, that wasn’t likely to happen.
Another Hateley goal in the second half seemed to put the final nail in the Aberdeen coffin. In a sweeping move, a Mo Johnston shot was parried by the keeper but, as it bounced away from his diving body, there was Hateley, like any good striker, following up the shot, to clip it into the Dons goal and virtually bury the visitors. As you would expect Aberdeen had to throw caution to the wind and go all out to get a goal that would give them some hope of snatching a draw. Normally, this would lead to the opposition creating chances as they became exposed. However, by now, most of the Gers players were dead on their feet. Those who had begun the game injured were struggling to keep going, others had been injured during the match while those who were fit had expended all their energy trying to compensate for the injured.
Although the last 10 minutes was a struggle the side fought for each other and managed to prevent Aberdeen from making any real chances that might have given them some hope and allowed them to put more pressure on the Ibrox side. So, when the final whistle was blown to signal that Rangers had retained their title, it was a mixture of relief and joy that enveloped Ibrox Stadium. New manager, Walter Smith, paraded the trophy with his players some of whom hirpled around and one, “Bomber” Brown enjoyed the moment on crutches – a graphic reminder of the blood, sweat and tears that had gone into winning that season’s Championship.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL: 5th May, 1973 RANGERS 3 – 2 CELTIC
This was a momentous match for various reasons: it was the SFA’s Centenary Final, it was attended by a member of the Royal Family for the first time – Princess Alexandra – and Gers’ opponents were Celtic who had just pipped them for the League title by one point. No wonder over 122,000 fans packed into Hampden.
This final was a feast of football fit for a King, never mind a Princess. A typical full-blooded Old Firm contest, the play raged from end to end and took various twists and turns throughout the 90 minutes. In a see-saw match, Kenny Dalglish put Celts ahead when he thundered a shot into the net from just inside the box. However, after pressure at both ends, it was Rangers who got the next goal, equalising before half-time.
Left back, Willie Mathieson sent a pass up the left side for Alex McDonald to collect. The midfielder somehow bustled his way past a defender before getting to the goal-line where he sent over a dangerous cross that was met by the head of Derek Parlane about 8 yards out in the centre. The striker’s downward header into the corner gave the keeper no chance. In the second half, Rangers seized the initiative and went 2-1 up thanks to the pace of Alfie Conn. Winger, Quinton Young, in his own half, sent a long pass through the middle. The ball was missed by Johnstone and his marker but Conn pounced on it. He outstripped Billy McNeill as he raced towards the Celtic box, eluding a last gasp, despairing tackle by the Celtic captain. As a defender closed in on him and the keeper came out of his goal, Conn slid the ball past him and into the net.
From then on, the game ebbed and flowed with Celtic desperate to get the equaliser. Eventually it came about thanks to a George Connelly penalty. There could be no disputing the award as a Deans shot was entering the net only to be palmed away by a desperate John Greig on the line. At that point, it was touch and go as to which side would get the winner but when it came, the scorer was the player least likely to have been nominated by the fans as the match-winner.
Way out on the left, Tommy McLean took an in-swerving free-kick. As ever, he flighted the ball perfectly to the spot where the rising Derek Johnstone out-jumped his marker to head the ball for what should have been the winning goal. Fate, however, took a hand and the ball bounced off the left hand post. Not only that, but it trundled across the goal line before hitting off the other post. Thankfully, as it came out, it was a Ranger who was on hand to put it into the net but not one of the usual suspects. This time, it was defender, Tom Forsyth, of all people, who had followed the cross in and seemingly, with great difficulty, managed to scrape the ball into the goal from all of 6 inches with his studs. The way Forsyth ran off in celebration you could have been forgiven for thinking that he’d blasted the ball in from 30 yards! It must rank as the shortest cup-winning goal in history – but big Tam didn’t care. Everybody knew, even then, that he’d won the trophy for Rangers. So, for the first time ever, the grand old trophy ( the world’s oldest) was handed over by a Princess to the King of Ibrox.
THE POST WAR ERA
When official league football started after the War in season 1946 – 47, Rangers began where they had left off prior to the conflict – by winning the Championship. Here is the league record for the years from 1946 – 47 until 1959 – 60:
SEASON POSITION P W D L GF GA PTS
1946 – 47 1 30 21 4 5 76 26 46
1947 – 48 2 30 21 4 5 64 28 46
1948 – 49 1 30 20 6 4 63 32 46
1949 – 50 1 30 22 6 2 58 26 50
1950 – 51 2 30 17 4 9 64 37 38
1951 – 52 2 30 16 9 5 61 31 41
1952 – 53 1 30 18 7 5 80 39 43
1953 – 54 4 30 13 8 9 56 35 34
1954 – 55 3 30 19 3 8 67 33 41
1955 – 56 1 34 22 8 4 85 27 52
1956 – 57 1 34 26 3 5 96 48 55
1957 – 58 2 34 22 5 7 89 49 49
1958 – 59 1 34 21 8 5 92 51 50
1959 – 60 3 34 17 8 9 72 38 42
In these 14 seasons, Rangers won the Championship 7 times, in a post-war age that had seemed to usher in fiercer competition than at any time in the history of the Scottish League. Proof of this can be seen in the fact that, in that era, Hibs won 3 Championships, Hearts, 2, with Aberdeen and Celtic one each. During this spell, Rangers also won the Scottish Cup 5 times, the newly-founded League Cup twice as well as 6 Glasgow Cups and 6 Glasgow Charity Cups.
In the first three seasons of this period, the club’s consistency can be seen in its points total of 46 for each of these seasons. However, in one of those seasons, that total was only enough to finish second! That season, 1947 – 48, saw the greatest team in the history of Hibernian win the title and, indeed it was this side only that denied Rangers the title in 3 of the first 7 post-war Championships. Rangers may have had the brilliant “Iron Curtain” defence but Hibs won their titles due to the “Famous Five” forward line of: Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull and Ormond.
Rangers’ famed “Iron Curtain” defence was given the credit for many an Ibrox triumph but it has to be remembered that the side also contained attacking brilliance in the form of Waddell, Thornton, Gillick and Duncanson. The nickname was an allusion to the term used by Winston Churchill to describe the Soviet Bloc at that time. The expression seemed so appropriate for that Gers’ defence as it was similar in that its individual parts held together as a unit making that unit incredibly difficult to penetrate. The formidable defence, renowned for its meanness, consisted of: Brown; Young, Shaw; McColl, Woodburn, Cox. With injuries perhaps less frequent at that time, this was the defence that played in most matches over a period of seasons. All of those defenders looked as if they had come from the same mould – strong, physical, fit, determined and committed. Every one of them was captain material and, every one of them, at some point, captained Rangers as well as Scotland in some cases. Two – Brown and McColl – would go on to become Scotland managers.
Keeper Bobby Brown still ranks as one of Rangers’ greatest goalkeepers. Athletic and brave with superb reflexes, he was a tough man to beat. In front of him, was a true Colossus, George Young who could play at right-back or centre-half. Jock “Tiger” Shaw was Young’s full-back partner on the left. His very name tells us everything about the indomitable spirit and physicality of the player. Wing-halves, Ian McColl and Sammy Cox also had that toughness and ability to tackle but they were technically superior players, especially McColl, compared to their colleagues in defence. The final crowning piece in that wonderful defensive jigsaw, at centre-half, was Willie Woodburn. So brilliant a central defender was he that the immortal George Young had moved to right-back to accommodate him in the side. Mobile on the ground and peerless in the air, Woodburn was the rock around whom the others rallied.
This era saw Rangers create another couple of “firsts” for the club. In season 1946 – 47, Rangers became the first team to win the newly instigated League Cup by beating Aberdeen 4-0 at Hampden. Two seasons later, Rangers became the first to win what became known as The Treble by succeeding in all three National competitions. In that season’s League Cup section, Gers had had to knock out reigning League Champions, Hibs, Celtic and Clyde just to get into the second round! Raith Rovers were beaten comfortably in the Final by 2-0. To complete The Treble, later on, the Scottish Cup was won by beating Clyde 4-1 in the Final. The Rangers squad that won Scottish football’s first Treble was: Brown, Young, Shaw, McColl, Woodburn, Cox, Waddell, Duncanson, Thornton, Gillick, Williamson, Rutherford, Caskie, Findlay and Rae.
Another landmark of this period came in season 1949 – 50 when a Scottish Cup triumph against East Fife meant Rangers’ third consecutive Scottish Cup, a feat seldom achieved. It was the second time the club had managed this, equalling the achievement of Queen’s Park who had managed it in the earliest days of the competition. Amazingly, in all three finals, the Iron Curtain of Brown, Young, Shaw, McColl, Woodburn and Cox took part along with attackers Thornton, Duncanson and Rutherford. Talk about consistency! Nowadays, Rangers would be pushed to field the same 9 players in consecutive games!
The middle 50s saw a bit of a hiatus as old age and illness crept up on Bill Struth causing his Rangers sides to be less than consistent. A “lowly” 4th place finish in season 53 – 54, the worst Rangers’ placing since the disastrous season of 1925 – 26, meant it was the right time for the 81 year old Struth to resign. The following season led to new manager, Scot Symon’s team finishing third as he became acquainted with the rigours of managing the giants of Scotland. Symon, a former Rangers’ wing-half, had virtually been chosen by Struth as his successor thanks to a promising managerial career that had seen him transform East Fife while there for 6 seasons before taking Preston to the English Cup Final in his only season at Deepdale.
Symon reinvigorated the club. Following a third place in his initial season, he guided Rangers to 3 Championships out of 4 after that. His team came second in that spell in season 1957 – 58 only due to the greatest Hearts side in that club’s history. With stars such as Dave McKay, Alex Young, Willie Bauld, the Tynecastle team only lost one league game and accrued an amazing 62 points out of a possible 68, scoring 132goals in 34 matches! Still, coming behind such a fine Hearts side wasn’t the worst aspect of that season. That came in October 1957, when Celtic beat Rangers 7-1 in the League Cup Final at Hampden, to this day, the worst defeat suffered by Gers at the hands of their greatest rival.
In the meantime, Symon was letting many of the “old guard” go while signing younger players, many of whom would go on to make their indelible mark on the club forever. Among those he signed in the 50s were such great names as: Don Kichenbrand, Max Murray, Jimmy Millar, Alex Scott, Davie Wilson, Ian McMillan, Bobby Shearer and Eric Caldow.
It was Symon who was in charge to see another milestone in the club’s history with the emergence of European football. On October 24th, 1956, Rangers’ first ever European Cup game took place at Ibrox against French Champions, Nice. A crowd of 65,000 watched the home side win 2-1. However, it took a third match at a “neutral” venue, Paris, before the French, somewhat luckily, overcame the Scots Champs.
Rangers’ next foray into Europe was slightly more successful the next season. This time the French Champions, St Etienne, were dispatched in the first round before the mighty A.C.Milan proved to be far too good for Rangers to handle. However, by season 1959 – 60, Rangers seemed to have got the hang of the European lark and even managed to reach the semi-final.
Belgian aces, Anderlecht were routed 7-2 on aggregate, followed by Czechs, Red Star Bratislava, 5-4 before a third game at a neutral venue – Highbury, this time - saw Rangers dismiss Dutch Champs, Sparta Rotterdam. The last four standing were reigning holders Real Madrid, Fairs Cup ( now UEFA Cup) holders Barcelona and German cracks, Eintracht Frankfurt. When Rangers pulled the Germans out of the hat, the final, at Hampden too, seemed within reach. It was an illusion. The Germans were far too skilful and sophisticated for Rangers, running out 12-4 winners on aggregate. However, even this very good German side couldn’t live with the legendary Real who cuffed them 7-3 in the Final. A lot would have to be learned if Europe was to be conquered.
If the 50s ended disappointingly in Europe and, domestically, with a third place in the league, then the early 60s would usher in a golden period for the club. For the meantime, Rangers would have to be content with the Scottish Cup won in 1960 by beating a very good Kilmarnock side, managed, ironically, by Willie Waddell.
WORLD WAR TWO
When Britain went to war with Germany in September, 1939, Rangers topped the league by one point after 5 matches had been played. Due to Government edict, the remainder of the league programme was scrapped and the Scottish Cup suspended for the duration of the War. Eventually, in place of the league, the Scottish Regional League – Western Division was instigated. This consisted of most of the biggest clubs in the country apart from Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and Dundee, due to geography of course. Rangers won this particular competition in season 1939 – 40 before another version of the league was devised the following season.
Due to complaints from Hearts and Hibs about their reduction in revenue caused by the lack of games against the Old Firm in particular, they were admitted into the new league which was split north to south. Thus, only Aberdeen and Dundee were missing from the clubs who had competed for the league title prior to the War starting.
In each of the 6 seasons of this Scottish Southern League, Rangers won the title. Although these are not considered “proper” league championships, it has to be said that they were the competitive equivalent of the official pre-war league. Naturally, the life of clubs all over the country was disrupted as players joined the army to fight the Nazis or worked in war-related industries. Rangers, like all the other clubs, lost players to the Services. For instance, brilliant striker and future Assistant Manager, Willie Thornton, didn’t play a game for two years while he was in the army. He actually won the Military Medal for bravery during the Allied invasion of Sicily. With such disruption, the rules allowed clubs to field “guest” players. This could be utilising a player who was temporarily stationed near a club for a spell or working in a “reserved occupation”. In fact, the great English winger, Stanley Matthews turned out twice for the club and even won a Glasgow Charity Cup winner’s medal!
The Government had introduced certain rules under which football would be allowed to continue in order to maintain the morale of the population. For example, at first, matches were only supposed to take place in “safe” or “neutral” areas ie. away from big centres of population, for fear of air raids. The illogicality of this soon became apparent even to politicians and this was revoked. The crowds in the bigger stadia were to be restricted to 15,000 and 8,000 for smaller venues but even this rule was relaxed as the War continued.
The pay of professional players was limited, by Government order, to £2 per week so those who weren’t in the Services had to find work to aid the war effort and add to their wages. Thus, many Rangers players ended up working in the shipyards, engineering works or munitions factories near Ibrox.
Unfortunately, the Second World War years are not counted in the official records of Scottish football. Some Rangers players saw out the last of their great careers during this period while others were just starting out on a memorable one. It should still be remembered, however, that whichever league competition was in operation for that period, Rangers won it.
SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP FINAL: 26th October, 1963 RANGERS 5-0 MORTON
Second Division, Morton had amazed everybody by even getting to the Final so nobody really expected an upset in this match although this Morton side had been undefeated until that stage of the season. The underdogs started well and the Rangers defence had a few shaky moments but once they got into their stride there was no doubt as to the eventual outcome of the game.
The most surprising aspect of the first half was that there was no scoring. Rangers’ plan of getting the ball to wingers Henderson and Watson ( standing in for the injured Wilson) whose job was to send in low crosses, had worked although with no goals stemming from this. Low crosses were the order of the day due to the fact that, at centre-forward, Jim Forrest, only 19, instead of legend Jimmy Millar, was playing. Forrest lacked Millar’s aerial ability so these tactics recognised this fact.
Meanwhile, Morton’s danger man was striker, Alan McGraw so John Greig had been delegated to take care of his threat. Greig did a fine marking job on McGraw who didn’t get a scoring chance until late in the game and by then it was too late. Scot Symon’s team selection had created the situation where Forrest, up front, would be partnered by his cousin, Alex Willoughby, another teenager. The pair had played in the same side right through their careers and here they were playing in their first Cup Final together. Not only that but they were to share all the goals between them!
In fact the move for the first goal in the 7th minute of the second half was started by Willoughby and finished by his cousin. Willoughby’s pass to Henderson down the wing saw the wee winger cut the ball across the face of the goal for Forrest to back-heel it into the net. After this, it was merely a question of how many Rangers would score. The second again came from Forrest who blasted home a cross from the left wing this time. The third was a Willoughby goal, having taken a lovely pass from his cousin to set it up. It looked like this would be the final score until Gers scored two more goals in the last two minutes, both by Forrest from cut-backs by each winger. Looks like manager, Symon had planned everything perfectly.
Despite the score-line, Morton’s players hadn’t disgraced themselves and learned a valuable lesson prior to their promotion at the end of that season. Most of the sportswriters gave their opinion that so brilliant had been the Rangers’ performance in that second half that no team in the country could have lived with them. Meantime, Jimmy Millar showed what a great Ranger he was by being the first to congratulate the prodigy who’d taken his place and scored 4 goals in the process. It had been a memorable match for the cousins who had surpassed all expectations.
THE IBROX DISASTER
On 2nd January, 1971 Rangers suffered the most tragic event in its near century of existence when the Ibrox Disaster took place. The terrible accident happened after the Old Firm match that had ended in a 1-1draw. 66 Rangers fans were killed and another 145 injured when spectators were leaving by Stairway 13.The deaths were caused by suffocation, inability to breathe, rather than crushing. Initial speculation had suggested that when Jimmy Johnstone had scored the opening goal for Celtic with 2 minutes of the game remaining, many fans had started leaving the Copland Road terracing. A Colin Stein equaliser, a minute later, caused those leaving to turn back, only to be met by other fans streaming down the stairway thus causing the accident.
This explanation, though still voiced by some, was quickly proved to be a myth. It was established by an enquiry that the accident was unconnected to events on the field, that it had happened after the game had finished and that the probable cause was that half way down the stairs, a fan stumbling, had resulted in others doing likewise, causing a chain reaction. In the crush, the steel barriers dividing the stairway buckled and collapsed, causing more fans to fall over. It was said that the crowd had started falling over like a pack of cards. Unfortunately, the solid wooden fencing on either side of the stairs didn’t give way, thus making it impossible for the fans to escape by moving on to the grass embankment at either side.
There had been three previous accidents on Stairway 13, the most serious being in 1961 when 2 fans had died. The others in 1967 and 69 had ended with dozens of people being injured. In each case, fans stumbling on the stairs had triggered the accident. After the 1961 accident, the design of the stairway was improved to increase and strengthen barriers and the side fencing. Unfortunately, it was probably those well-intentioned alterations that contributed to the scale of the 71 Disaster.
Ironically, most of the 85,000 crowd that day left Ibrox unaware of the terrible tragedy that had just occurred. However, in the coming weeks, various events would be held to mark the event. A Memorial Service was held at Glasgow Cathedral and a requiem mass at St Andrew’s R.C. Cathedral. Each service was attended by players and officials of both clubs. Later, a benefit match at Hampden was played to raise money for the support of the victims. An Old Firm Select played a Scotland side and 81,405 fans turned up.
The Ibrox Disaster caused the authorities to examine more closely the condition of football grounds and various regulations would be imposed in the future. The immediate aftermath for Rangers was that Ibrox Stadium’s capacity was reduced to 65,000 but, in the long term, Rangers would almost totally rebuild the ground to make it as safe and comfortable as possible.
This match at Hampden generated the biggest crowd for a game out-with the final of the competition. No wonder the attendance was 143,570 for this semi was a match-up between two great sides: Rangers, the current Scottish Champions and Hibs, who, by the end of the season, would have snatched the title away from the Ibrox men by two points. Not only that, but it was to be a fascinating contest between two contrasting styles of play. This was the showdown between the Rangers’ “Iron Curtain” defence and the Hibs’ renowned “Famous Five” forward line, to this day, the greatest that Hibs has ever produced.
In the first 7 post-War Championships, these two fine teams would do battle, with Gers winning 4 titles to Hibs’ 3. Thus, the huge crowd might have expected a classic – and they got it. The game at the start went according to the script with Hibs doing the majority of the attacking. Time and again, speedy winger, Gordon Smith, would dash down the right wing only to be foiled by full-back, Jock Shaw and that’s if he managed to circumvent the redoubtable Sammy Cox first of all. On the few occasions on which he did succeed in eluding both brilliant defenders and put one of his great crosses into the box, the imperious Woodburn was on hand to head the ball away from danger or control it before sweeping it out to an attacking Ranger. On the other side of the park, Hibs had even less joy. Future Scotland manager, Willie Ormond was finding it hard going against the current Scotland captain George Young. Tricky though he was, Ormond just couldn’t find a way past Man Mountain, “Corky” Young.
The other Hibs attackers, Johnstone, Reilly and Turnbull, were a real handful but the members of the “Iron Curtain” especially Ian McColl and Willie Woodburn were gradually winning the battle for supremacy. It was the proverbial irresistible force meeting the immovable object indeed! However, there was much more to this game than that particular contest. Rangers had a fine assembly of attacking talent too. Waddell and Rutherford on the wings were a real danger to any side made even more lethal by the promptings of Gillick and Duncanson, not to mention the prolific striking of Willie Thornton. Indeed, all of those players presented a goal threat to the confident Hibs team and eventually the match had an exciting ebb and flow to it.
In the second half, the outcome was certainly touch and go. At one point, only a marvellous and quite breath-taking save from Gers’ keeper, Bobby Brown, prevented the Easter Road men from going ahead from a pile-driver of a shot by Gordon Smith. The longer the game went on, the more it became evident to the massive crowd that a single goal might settle the affair. This duly arrived, thanks to the tried and trusted pairing of Waddell and Thornton. After yet another Hibs’ thrust had been repelled by the “Iron Curtain”, in a lightning quick counter-attack, Willie Waddell burst down the wing as only he could. Having surged past a couple of Hibs defenders, it was as if he knew instinctively where his pal, Thornton, would be. A tremendous cross was delivered and with a flash of the Thornton head, the ball nestled in the back of the net. The old double act had produced the goods again when it mattered.
Despite renewed Hibs’ attacks until the final whistle, Rangers defended their lead confidently and that solitary goal was indeed the match-winner. Rangers had reached the Final without conceding a goal. However, it took a replay against Morton before a 1-0 win saw the Scottish Cup return to Ibrox in the first of three consecutive triumphs. The following season, this great Rangers side would win the first ever Treble, wresting the title of the country’s best side away from Hibs once again.
SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP SEMI-FINAL: 27th February, 1978
RANGERS 5 –2 FORFAR ( A.E.T.)
In any list of memorable matches, one against Forfar would be a strange selection but this game undoubtedly deserves to be included. The side from the lower division was expected to be “easy meat” for the Glasgow giants but, in reality, they turned out to be tough as old boots! Gers fans should have expected as much because their player/manager was one Archie Knox who’d eventually be Rangers Assistant Manager.
From the start of this semi-final, Rangers struggled to put their passes together whereas the Forfar players showed no nerves at all. With nothing to lose except their anonymity, they got stuck in and showed the fans that they were no respecters of reputations. Then, against the run of play, in the 24th minute, Rangers scored! A McLean cross was knocked back by Gordon Smith for Johnstone to head into the goal. Everybody sat back and waited for the avalanche. It didn’t come.
Instead, a minute before half-time, Forfar equalised when a Brown 20 yarder dipped past keeper, Stewart Kennedy. It didn’t come as a shock because, previous to this, Forfar had had a goal disallowed for offside and a reasonable penalty claim turned down. The second half started like the first one with Rangers seemingly unable to shake off their lethargy and Forfar looking dangerous. Then, Rankin dispossessed McLean and set off on an 80 yard dash beating off two tackles before slamming the ball past Kennedy to give Forfar a dream lead.
The Loons had only 30 minutes to hold out for a famous victory. Rangers’ manager, Jock Wallace, tried something different by hauling off Cooper and putting on another striker in the form of Derek Parlane. It was either an act of desperation or inspiration but the eventual result decided which. With 7 minutes left, Rangers were on the verge of their worst defeat ever, eclipsing the infamous Berwick one. Then, substitute Parlane scored one of his most vital goals when he headed in a McLean cross to save the day – or at least, prolong it.
With 30 minutes extra time, it looked like the balance of the tie had swung away from the part-timers. And so it proved. The wee team had run themselves to a standstill while Gers’ superior fitness and skill eventually paid off. Tommy McLean was the player whose skill made the difference in that extra period, making all 3 goals. First, he skipped past 3 defenders in a 40 yard dribble that ended with a precision cut-back for Johnstone to net. Then, he slipped a beautifully-weighted pass through to Alex McDonald who skelped a dipping shot from 20 yards into the goal. Finally, he set up Parlane again for that player’s second in what had turned out to be a spectacular substitute appearance. The newspapers next day were using headlines like “ 7 Minutes From Shame”. What would they have printed if it hadn’t been for Derek Parlane and Tommy McLean?
Rangers went on to play and beat Celtic in the Final but most would have agreed that little Forfar had given the Ibrox men the hardest match in the tournament.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL REPLAY: 27th April, 1966
RANGERS 1 – 0 CELTIC
This match proved to be one of Rangers’ most unexpected, but grittiest triumphs, ever in this tournament’s final. The Celtic team that faced them would win its first League Championship since 1954, beating Rangers by 2 points. Thanks to the emergence of Jock Stein as its manager, Celtic had been turned around and the following season would see the greatest one in its history. In the meantime, Stein’s side, having already won the League Cup, was going for The Treble. To make Gers’ task even harder, in their previous meeting, in the Ne’er Day match, Celtic had demolished Rangers by 5-1 at Celtic Park. At least Rangers had the consolation of having Scotland’s Player of the Year in John Greig to help them combat the irresistible Celtic team.
The great Rangers side of the early 60s had been broken up by now with the loss of Baxter being the greatest blow. Nevertheless, Ritchie, Greig, McKinnon, Henderson, Wilson and the veteran, Jimmy Millar still appeared. In the first match and in the replay, manager Symon played the legendary centre-forward Millar as a midfield player, his original position. The gamble paid off as Millar was one of the stars of the match. The first game had been a tousy, grim affair with chances few and far between and Rangers holding out, against the superior attacking abilities of Celtic.
In the replay it was more of the same with Rangers only making one change in personnel – George McLean for prolific Jim Forrest at centre-forward – with Gers doing more attacking than previously. A crowd of 126,000+ had watched the first match and for the floodlit replay it was over 98,000 who witnessed a brave Gers side defy the odds. Then, in the 70th minute, Henderson picked up the ball on the right wing, around the half way line. He passed inside to Greig who made progress before releasing a pass to Willie Johnston playing through the middle in this match with Wilson on the wing.
Johnston went past 2 defenders, got to the goal line and swept the ball across the face of the goal. The ball was scrambled away but only as far as Henderson rushing in from the wing. His shot at goal was somehow knocked out but not to safety. For, the inrushing Dane Kai Johansen collected it, took it a couple of paces forward and then from 20 yards unleashed an unstoppable shot behind keeper, Ronnie Simpson.
Behind that goal, the Rangers fans went berserk with ecstasy. They had grabbed an advantage but with 20 minutes to go, could the team keep it? As expected Celtic piled on the pressure that became relentless. The Rangers goal survived one scare after another and the Gers fans seemed to be collectively biting their nails. After an eternity, the ref blew the final whistle leaving the fans delirious at a hard-won and totally unexpected victory. Match winner Kai Johansen became the first foreigner to score the winning goal in a Scottish Cup Final and the first Scandinavian to even collect a winner’s medal. That night he became a Rangers’ legend. It was Rangers’ 19th success in the tournament but little did the celebrating Rangers fans realise that it would be their last trophy of any kind for another 4 years as Celtic went on to win the League title for 9 years in a row.
This victory gave Rangers their biggest win over Celtic in almost 30 years and posted notice to the Champions that Rangers intended to grab their title back by the end of that season which they duly did. To achieve this aim, Souness had signed striker, Kevin Drinkell from Norwich for £500,000 to support McCoist and England international right back, Gary Stevens from Everton for double that amount. Halfway through the previous season, fellow England star, Ray Wilkins, had been brought from PSG. However, the biggest boost to the Ibrox side’s chances of winning the title was the return of Terry Butcher who had broken his leg the previous November. Gers fans were hoping that their skipper had fully recovered from his injury and that they’d see the old Butcher once again.
Considering the romp that this game was to become for Rangers, it started disastrously when a McAvennie shot put Celtic into the lead in the opening minutes. The home fans at that point began to wonder if it was going to be one of those days. As it turned out, it was – one of those days that no Rangers fan who was at Ibrox would ever forget.
The tide turned quickly when, after bouncing like a pinball inside the crowded penalty area, the ball was prodded by Butcher back to McCoist, lurking on the edge of the box. He swiftly dispatched his low shot through a forest of players just inside the right hand post to equalise and put the home side on the front foot for the remainder of the half. Before the whistle, one of the best goals ever at Ibrox in an Old Firm game was scored by veteran Wilkins when he volleyed the ball in from outside the penalty box, giving Celtic keeper, Ian Andrews, who was making his Old Firm debut, no chance.
The second half started with Rangers scoring early on this time. A cross from Durrant on the left was helped on its way with a back header from McCoist. As the ball dropped under the bar, Kevin Drinkell jumped on the goal-line with the Celtic keeper, without touching him. Incredibly the ball went into the net and McCoist was credited with the strike. Some Celtic defenders claimed that Andrews had been pushed although the keeper himself made no protest but the referee decided that no offence had been committed. It was the one goal of the match that could genuinely have been seen as the fault of the rookie keeper. However, afterwards, Celtic fans, looking for someone to blame for the disaster, made Andrews the scapegoat and his career at Parkhead never really recovered from the debacle.
Worse was to come for Celtic when a fourth goal arrived thanks to another Old Firm debutant, Kevin Drinkell. Mark Walters, on the right, took the ball up to Mick McCarthy, did his famed double shuffle and sent over a perfect cross for Drinkell to head against the balance of Andrews into the top right corner of the goal. Soon, Rangers fans were in dreamland when the fifth was scored. A ball through the middle of the Celtic defence found McCoist running in on goal. Celtic skipper, Roy Aitken slid into the tackle, fouling the Gers striker for a certain penalty. However, before the ref could blow, Walters had latched onto the loose ball and swept the ball into the net from 10 yards out.
The majority of Ibrox was in ecstasy, especially when the fans looked at the scoreboard and saw that there was almost 30 minutes left on the clock. Rangers fans started dreaming of bettering the infamous 7-1 defeat by Celtic over 30 years previously however it was not to be. They had to be content with watching the side dominate the opposition and make them look distinctly uncomfortable while being unable to add to their tally. Manager Souness, wanting to enjoy the moment even more, took himself off the bench to participate in the latter stages of the match. By now, he had come to realise how much victory over Celtic meant to the Gers fans and how much the scale of such a win counted.
For many of those Rangers fans this victory was the most enjoyable Old Firm game in living memory. They savoured it for weeks to come knowing how much it had distressed the Celtic fans. A bonus even came when their arch-enemy, Peter Grant, admitted in a newspaper that it had been his most humiliating experience in a Celtic shirt. Little did they all know that in the next Ne’er Day match at Ibrox Rangers would beat their old rivals 4-1, making it a great home double for the Ibrox side that season.
SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP FINAL: 24th November, 1996 RANGERS 4 – 3 HEARTS
Poor Hearts! In the previous final between the two clubs 6 months previously, it had been Brian Laudrup who had destroyed them. This time, it was to be Gers’ other genius – Paul Gascoigne! Having said that, this victory probably meant more to Ally McCoist than any other Rangers player as it meant that his two goals would see him equal a Gers’ record of over 30 years standing when his tally for League Cup games would match Jim Forrest’s. Super Ally would also be collecting a 9th winner’s medal for this competition.
With Hampden yet again out of action, the match was played at Parkhead and Rangers started the game with an attacking whirlwind. The first goal came from Brian Laudrup, cutting in from the right, past a couple of defenders, before threading a pass to McCoist on the 18 yard line. Without hesitation, he smacked the ball low just inside the right hand post.
More Gers’ celebrations occurred soon after this when Albertz slung over a corner kick from the left. The high, outswinging ball was headed back across the area by Gordan Petric to Moore on the 6 yard line. His goal-ward header was nodded into the net from a couple of yards by McCoist who had nipped in ahead of the keeper. The match looked all over, with most of it still to be played. However, perhaps with memories of their previous humiliation, Hearts were not for surrendering. They fought back, aided by the fact that some Rangers players had obviously thought that the game had been won and had started showboating and playing rather too casually. A Fulton goal before half-time might have been the wake up call some Gers players had needed. McCoist, furious, had his own method. Near the interval, he raced half way up the field to give Gazza a push on the back followed by what looked like a choice mouthful.
Apparently, in the dressing room the arguments raged between various team-mates, annoyed that a commanding lead had been allowed to be reduced. Soon after the re-start, the situation worsened when a suspiciously offside-looking John Robertson goal tied the game. Seemingly, at halftime, the wayward genius, Paul Gascoigne had strolled into the VIP lounge and downed a double whisky before running out for the second half. Jock Wallace, famously, had once rubbed whisky onto the heads of Gers players before a big final in order to invigorate them but obviously Gazza thought that a waste and used the spirit in a more traditional way.
Nevertheless, it worked. In the final 20 minutes it was Gazza whose talent rescued Rangers to secure the trophy. From just inside the Hearts’ half, he took a pass and started to run directly at the opposition defence, straight up the middle. The defenders, knowing what he was capable of, backed off. Unfortunately for them, they backed off too far and from 22 yards out, Gazza stroked his shot into the bottom corner of the net. Indeed, his ability and coolness allowed him to pass the ball into the goal.
A few minutes later and he had done it again. This time, he received the ball out near the left touchline and beating two opponents, cut inside. His run took him to just outside the box where he completed an exquisite wall pass with Charlie Miller whose touch had opened up the goal for Gazza, sending him into the penalty area. Once again, the Geordie genius simply passed the ball into the goal before the despairing tackles of the Hearts defenders could get to him. Gascoigne had won the game for Rangers but what had inspired him? Had it been McCoist – or that glass of the water of life?
A late Weir consolation goal proved no threat to Rangers’ lead and when the whistle was blown, the celebrations started with Paul Gascoigne, no doubt, being at the centre of them – this time quaffing the obligatory Champagne. He had certainly earned it and probably no player was happier than Ally McCoist.
1920 – 1939 REACHING THE PEAK
Despite the tragic death of manager, William Wilton at the end of season 1919 – 20, the next season saw Rangers forge ahead under new manager Bill Struth who had already made a name for himself as the trainer at the club. He retained the Championship that had been won by Wilton’s side and in the 20s Struth built some of Rangers’ greatest teams by his unerring ability to spot a player of quality and be able to make use of his talents to create a brilliant team. The 20s and 30s saw Rangers ensconced at the pinnacle of Scottish football. Throughout this era, Struth introduced players to Ibrox who would go on to become legends but, by the end of it, when those players were hanging up their boots, he had made sure that future legends such as Waddell, Thornton, Shaw and Woodburn were already at the club to take their place.
RECORD REVIEW
SEASON POSITION P W D L GF GA PTS
1920 - 21 1 42 35 6 1 90 24 76
1921 – 22 2 42 28 10 4 83 26 66
1922 – 23 1 38 23 9 6 67 29 55
1923 – 24 1 38 25 9 4 72 22 59
1924 – 25 1 38 25 10 3 76 26 60
1925 – 26 6 38 19 6 13 79 55 44
1926 – 27 1 38 23 10 5 85 41 56
1927 – 28 1 38 26 8 4 109 36 60
1928 – 29 1 38 30 7 1 107 32 67
1929 – 30 1 38 28 4 6 94 32 60
1930 – 31 1 38 27 6 5 96 29 60
1931 – 32 2 38 28 5 5 118 42 61
1932 – 33 1 38 26 10 2 113 43 62
1933 – 34 1 38 30 6 2 118 41 66
1934 – 35 1 38 25 5 8 96 46 55
1935 – 36 2 38 27 7 4 110 43 61
1936 – 37 1 38 26 9 3 88 32 61
1937 – 38 3 38 18 13 7 75 49 49
1938 – 39 1 38 25 9 4 112 55 59
Of the 19 titles up for grabs during this period, Rangers won 14 of them. Indeed, twice, a single Championship win by another club ruined what would have been the first nine-in-a-row. In the worst season in Rangers’ history, when the side finished 6th Celtic won the title while a win for Gers would have seen 9 consecutive Championships won by 1930 – 31. Equally, if the greatest ever Motherwell side hadn’t won the title in 1931 – 32, Rangers would have done 9-in-a-row by 1934 – 35. Ironically, Rangers came second that season having accrued more points and scored more goals than the previous two seasons when the title had been won. A glance at the goal for column above, will show the attacking potency of these Struth teams. In 7 seasons, the side topped the century mark and twice managed to score an incredible 118 goals in 38 games. As well as this, on two occasions only one defeat was suffered in the entire league campaign. Significantly, each decade ended the way it had started – with a Rangers’ Championship victory.
In this era of unprecedented success, the greatest “blip” in the history of Rangers must be examined. By finishing 6th in 1925 – 26, Rangers recorded its worst (still) league position but, amazingly, the club had won three consecutive Championships prior to this and would go on to win five consecutive titles after this disastrous season. So, what happened in 1925 – 26?
No need to call in Inspector Morse. One word – injuries! In 38 league matches, 13 defeats were inflicted on Rangers and, in most cases, injuries were the obvious factor as every section of the team suffered. At one point or another, every player missed games due to injury but, worse than this, was the fact that key players, in fact, international players, were out for months at a time. The title-winning side of the previous season had basically been: Robb; Manderson, McCandless; Meiklejohn, Dixon, Craig; Archibald, Cunningham, Henderson, Cairns and Morton. Every one of those players played in at least 31 of the 38 league games apart from Craig who only managed 21. However, during the following terrible season, vital components of the side were unavailable and not just for a few games but for months and sometimes concurrently.
The entire spine of the team was missing at the same time. Goalkeeper, Robb was out as were Meiklejohn at centre-half and left-back McCandless obviously affecting the solidity of the defence. Also, the lack of attacking players like Morton, Cairns and Archibald blunted the side’s threat, not to mention the absence of ace centre-forward George Henderson who had scored 27 league goals the previous season but who only managed to play 13 matches in 1925 – 26 yet still scored 7 times. Throughout that league campaign, an unheard of total of 26 players had been used. Proof of the effect injuries can have can be seen by the fact that Rangers with basically the same players won the title for the next five seasons.
Also, in this period, as you might expect, the success rate rose in the cup competitions especially the Scottish Cup. When Rangers beat Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final of 1928, it broke an incredible 25 year drought when many had begun to believe that the club was “jinxed” in the competition – even under the management of Bill Struth. Jinx or not, from then on, the Scottish Cup appeared regularly on the Ibrox honours list. Indeed, after that win, Rangers won the Cup 5 times in the next 11 seasons.
In fact, it was at this time that Rangers won the Scottish Cup for three consecutive years – a feat still very difficult to achieve. In 1934, St Mirren was vanquished, a year later Hamilton and in 1936, old foes Third Lanark. In the initial days of this competition, before professionalism, when they were the top dogs, only Vale of Leven and Queen’s Park, twice, had managed to do this. Rangers superseded both by achieving it three times, the last being in the early 60s. It’s an accomplishment that Celtic has never managed and the only other club to do it was the Alex Ferguson Aberdeen side of the early 80s. During this inter-war period, the club also won the Glasgow Cup 11 times and the Glasgow Charity Cup 10 times. Remember, that’s all there was to play for in those days.
As might be expected, some Rangers’ records were created then. The 1927 – 28 side was the first Gers one to win The Double. The team of 1929 – 30, did the “ Clean Sweep” of League and Scottish Cup with the Glasgow Cup and Glasgow Charity Cup added for good measure. In the Charity Cup Final against Celtic, it had finished 2-2 after extra time. Not only were the sides equal on goals but also on corners ( a common method used in those days to determine a winner) So, a coin was tossed and Davie Meiklejohn called heads, correctly, to take the trophy back to Ibrox. In case this method of winning should detract from Rangers’ wonderful achievement, the Ibrox side repeated the feat in season 1933 – 34 – without the aid of a tossed coin this time!
That season was perhaps the high water mark for the club. In September, 1933, Rangers in effect became the unofficial British Champions when they beat Arsenal home and away. The “Bank of England” side, Arsenal, were the aristocrats of the English league – the mirror image of Rangers in Scotland. This tremendous Gunners side, managed by the legendary Herbert Chapman, were in the middle of a three-in-a-row run of English Championships and obviously were a formidable team. Nevertheless, Rangers beat them 2-0 at Ibrox and then a week later, 3-1 at Highbury. It was one of those results that had all Scots, especially those who lived in England, purring with pride and holding their heads up high. During the 30s, Rangers formed a great relationship with Arsenal and in the 6 games played, won 3, drew 2 and lost only one.
But, apart from dominating the winning of trophies, Rangers fans were enjoying visiting Ibrox at that time due to the plethora of wonderful players acquired by Struth over the years. Some of Rangers’ greatest legends graced the hallowed turf during those years. In the 20s it was Davie Meiklejohn, Alan Morton, Bob McPhail, Dougie Gray and Jimmy Fleming among others while in the 30s immortal names such as Jerry Dawson, Torry Gillick, Jimmy Simpson, Alec Venters and Jimmy Smith played for the club.
SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP FINAL: 25th October, 1987 RANGERS 3 – 3 ABERDEEN ( RANGERS won 5-3 on penalties)
In the late 80s, Rangers had many terrific jousts with Aberdeen but this final must rank among the greatest in terms of thrills and the wonderful football played by both sides. Holders of the trophy, Rangers knew that they’d be in for a tough match to retain it but circumstances had conspired to make their task even harder. A week prior to this game, the Old Firm match at Ibrox had seen Terry Butcher and Chris Woods sent off along with McAvennie of Celtic thereby being suspended automatically from their next game. Thus, Rangers would be without the two most important elements in their defence. An unforced change in the Rangers’ line-up was the presence of John McGregor. However, the real shock was that Souness wanted the big centre-half to play in midfield and mark Dons ace, Jim Bett.
On the plus side, Richard Gough had been signed from Spurs earlier in the month so he would become a rock, like Butcher, at the core of the defence. Nearly 72,000 fans turned up at Hampden to witness the occasion, little realising that they would be treated to one of the best finals ever in this competition. From the start, the match ebbed and flowed with both teams attacking and the play raging from one end to the other.
The first shock, though, came when the Dons scored against the run of play, thanks to a Jim Bett penalty, the former Ranger slotting the ball past deputy keeper Nicky Walker, a hold-over from the Jock Wallace regime. Rangers stormed back however and their equaliser also came from a set play. A free kick had been awarded just outside the Aberdeen box in a central position. Wing ace, Davie Cooper decided to have a go. Although he scored many throughout his career, this kick must rate as the hardest and most accurate he ever scored with. His left foot fairly blasted the ball, rising round the Dons’ wall, whizzing past Jim Leighton, hitting the stanchion at the rear and bouncing back out. Leighton probably only saw the ball on its way back out so fierce a drive had it been.
Rangers again had the ascendancy and pressed for another goal. Before half-time it arrived, thanks to Ian Durrant who’d been having the game of his young career at that point. From a throw-in on the right, Durrant completed two one-twos that saw him dart into the Dons’ box. Skipping beyond defenders, he gleefully skelped the ball past Leighton in a way that summed up the joy with which he played the game in those days. Although they had the lead now, Gers knew that Aberdeen would come at them with renewed determination.
In the second half, this is exactly what they did and their pressure paid off when they scored two goals to go 3-2 in the lead and look like taking Rangers’ trophy from them. As Rangers continued to press for an equaliser, their attacks began to look more and more desperate but everybody knew that they would not give up. It became a case of wondering if the Aberdeen defence, superbly marshalled by Miller and McLeish, could hold out. Then, late on in the game, a long punt from the Gers’ half was sent into the centre of the Dons’ area. Graham Roberts, who’d gone into the area for a corner previously was still up there and his leap for the ball ensured that it would bounce kindly for Robert Fleck who smacked it into the net. As extra time loomed, nobody was objecting to the thought of another 30 minutes of thrills such as they’d been privileged to experience until then.
In the extra time period, the game kept to the pattern of the first 90 minutes with chances going abegging at either end although Rangers missed the best of them. Before extra time, a Willie Miller challenge on John McGregor had seen the Gers man stretchered off and sub Trevor Francis was causing the Dons some bother on the right flank. He would play a vital part in the Gers’ victory to come. Right at the death a great opportunity was spurned by Fleck and the dreaded penalty kick decider was triggered.
One after another, superb penalties were converted. The one that was scored by Trevor Francis probably had Gers fans hearts in their mouths as they watched his two step run up before he slotted it coolly away. Then, with Rangers leading 4-3, Welshman, Peter Nicholas, blasted his kick over Walker’s bar. The Gers fans behind that goal at the Mount Florida end danced with joy. Now, if Ian Durrant scored, the game would be won. Durrant calmly placed the ball, ran up confidently and capped a memorable display by placing the ball well out of Leighton’s reach to win the trophy. As the youngster turned in triumph he was swamped by his celebrating team-mates. On the terracing the Rangers fans showed their joy but probably only later, realised what a wonderful match they’d actually witnessed. Winning might be everything but it’s always better to do it in style.
FRIENDLY: 28th November, 1945 RANGERS 2- 2 MOSCOW DYNAMO
Rangers’ exciting 2-2 draw with Moscow Dynamo must still be one of the most talked about matches in the history of the club – and it was only a friendly! The ( then) Soviet side had been making a post-War tour of Britain and causing a sensation with its brilliant performances. By the time it had reached Glasgow, it had played three games, remaining unbeaten ( 2 wins and a draw) despite taking on Arsenal, Chelsea and Cardiff.
As proof of how seriously the Soviets were taking their tour, with all the prestige associated with it for their country, a day or so before the game at Ibrox, a delegation from Dynamo turned up at the Stadium to speak to Bill Struth, wanting specifically to know what the Rangers team would be that would line up against them! For a start, they didn’t want George Young, who’d been out injured, to play ( who could blame them?) as they claimed he wasn’t eligible. Ditto, Jimmy Caskie as they claimed he was actually still an Everton player. Caskie was excluded and he had to wait a couple of days to play his first game for Rangers in the league. The use of substitutes was also agreed upon and it must have been obvious from all this just how seriously the visitors were treating this “friendly”.
The Soviet team’s displays in Britain had generated tremendous publicity and it was no surprise that a massive crowd of 95,000 turned up at Ibrox, during the day, in midweek, to see the “mysterious Russians”. Later, stories would abound of kids who had “dogged” school to see the match and of workers who had absented themselves from working in the shipyards or factories to make it to the game. It turned out to have been worth it as, for years, thousands of proud fans boasted that they had been there.
With this match, that crowd and Rangers’ players got a taste of the future although organised European football was a decade away still. The Russians were athletic, powerful, well-drilled, supremely organised and technically very competent. Whether it was these qualities or the fact that Dynamo players had presented their rather embarrassed opponents with bouquets of flowers prior to kick-off, the away team seized the initiative from the start. A free kick in the third minute hurtled past Jerry Dawson and when the tourists went two up early on, it looked like curtains for the Gers side. The home team, in unfamiliar horizontal stripes, seemed to be really up against it but gradually started to make their imprint on the game. A chance to get right back into it was spurned when Willie Waddell had his penalty kick saved by the legendary keeper “Tiger” Khomich, second only to the later Lev Yashin in terms of Soviet great keepers. However, Rangers kept pressing and got their reward near half-time when Jimmy Smith pulled a goal back.
In the second half, it was similar to the experiences awaiting future Gers teams in European competition. Jerry Dawson was virtually a spectator as Rangers pounded the Soviet defence, seeking a deserved equaliser. They refused to let frustration get the better of them and battled on. It was a hard enough task without the visitors indulging in a bit of “gamesmanship” or cheating, as the locals put it. At one point during the second half, Dynamo had substituted a player – the only problem being that as his replacement came on to the pitch, he didn’t go off! In those days before the fourth official ( yes, that’s what they do!) it would have been easier for such an action to go unnoticed. Thankfully, Gers’ character, Torry Gillick, perhaps wondering why his side seemed to be outnumbered all too often, actually counted the visitors and realising that they had 12 men on the park, informed the ref.
Once the situation had been rectified, the match continued as before and eventually Rangers got the reward for their determination when Billy Williamson was unceremoniously brought down inside the box. This time it was George Young who took and converted the penalty. Thus ended the scoring – but the legend was just starting. The Rangers side that day was: Dawson; Gray, Shaw; Watkins, Young, Symon; Waddell, Gillick, Smith, Williamson, Johnstone.
Everybody seemingly left Ibrox happy – the fans, the players and the management of both clubs. Honour had been satisfied all round. Afterwards, the visitors were effusive in their praise of Rangers. The Dynamo doctor said: “ Rangers are the fittest athletes we have ever played against.” I suppose they had to be when they had been up against 12 men for a while! Meanwhile, the Dynamo trainer also praised the Ibrox club by saying: “ Rangers are easily the best footballers we have met in Britain.”
Who could have realised then that Moscow Dynamo would be a name associated with one of Rangers’ finest hours nearly 30 years later?
EUROPEAN CUP 1ST ROUND: 30th September 1987 RANGERS 2- 0 DYNAMO KIEV
This match is considered one of the most memorable of the period by Gers fans not only because of the side’s performance and the result but the atmosphere inside Ibrox that night. When Rangers had drawn the Soviet champions in the first round of Europe’s premier tournament, few gave them much of a chance of eliminating the Ukrainians. After all, the Kiev side was practically the Soviet national team, full of class players known throughout Europe. Few could have imagined that, in years to come, two of them would actually play for Rangers – Kuznetsov and Mikhailichenko.
In the first leg in Ukraine, watched by 100,000 fans, Rangers had defended superbly and kept the deficit to 1-0, the goal having been scored by Mikhailichenko. As Gers hung on, it was obvious that another goal would probably have put the tie beyond them. While this was happening, thousands of Rangers fans were biting their nails at Ibrox, watching the game live on huge screens transported to the stadium for that one match. At the end of the game, most thought that Rangers had a fighting chance but that the dreaded away goal could be the decisive factor.
To negate this possibility in the second leg, manager Graeme Souness showed his cunning and ruthless streak as well as his professionalism and desire to win. He reckoned that the biggest threat of an away goal would come from the Soviet team using its pace down the flanks on the counter-attack. Normally, a manager might order his players to close down the opposition’s space to prevent this. Maybe Souness did this in his team talk but he certainly made sure that the physical space was denied the visitors by ordering his ground staff to reduce the width of the pitch by 5 metres. Aware of the Soviet propensity to invoke regulations to the letter whenever necessary, Souness checked the UEFA rule book first to ascertain exactly what could be done. He ensured that everything was done according to UEFA rules. However, when the visitors arrived at Ibrox to see that the pitch had been narrowed from the one they’d trained on the evening before, they were horrified and annoyed. The inevitable protests to the UEFA observers came to no avail.
Thus, Souness had won the first battle off the field but could his side do it on the park? Since the first leg, Souness had added another weapon to his attack – Trevor Francis, the experienced English striker who had been the subject of the first million pound transfer in England years before. Signed from Italian club, Atalanta for a mere £75,000, the veteran forward’s skill and cunning would be a valuable addition to the Gers attack.
On the Saturday prior to this match, Rangers had thrashed Morton at Ibrox 7-0 with McCoist and English strike partner, Mark Falco both getting hat-tricks. This augured well for Rangers’ confidence but the home fans knew that there was no comparison between the men from Greenock and Kiev. A full house of almost 45,000 fans turned up at Ibrox on a mild autumnal evening to watch events unfold.
It was obvious from before the match that the Rangers fans were up for this game judging by the constant singing and the roar that greeted the emergence of the sides from the tunnel. That was only a precursor. Once the game had got underway, the stadium seemed like bedlam. The noise was cranked up when the home team scored in the first half. Playing well and pressing the Soviet side, Gers eventually got that stroke of luck that too often deserts them in such games at Ibrox. Keeper, Chanov, trying to throw the ball out to start an attack, merely succeeded in hitting the ball off the back of his central defender, Kuznetsov. Maybe the constant din had affected him, causing him to make such a mistake. Anyway, the ball landed at the feet of McCoist who slipped his pass inside to Falco for the Englishman to tap the ball into the empty net. The tie was now all square.
For the rest of that half and the start of the next one the Ibrox crowd increased the volume until the atmosphere was so electric that even hardened campaigners like Butcher, Souness, McCoist and Francis would later say that they’d never experienced such noise at any time in their careers. The volume, however, reached its peak when Rangers scored a second goal. A Trevor Francis cross was knocked back across goal by Falco, returning the earlier favour, to McCoist who headed past Chanov. It wasn’t Super Ally’s greatest header as it seemed to have been misheaded, going the opposite way from intended but, perhaps due to that, wrong-footing the keeper. Still, it was one of the striker’s most important headers as Gers fans knew that, at that point, Rangers were through to the next round.
Naturally, Kiev also knew that one goal would put them through so they attacked the home side with renewed fervour. The final 20 minutes became some of the most nail-biting in Gers’ European history. The tension was palpable but the crowd kept roaring, encouraging the players to keep it going and ensure that the Soviets didn’t get that vital away goal. When the final whistle was blown the deafening roar of joy seemed to split the night sky. It signified one of the club’s finest hours in Europe.
In the next round, Rangers disposed of Polish Champions, Gornik, but, by the time of the quarter-finals in March, when they were drawn against eventual winners, Steaua Bucharest, changes in team personnel saw them just miss out on a 2-3 aggregate score. By then, skipper Terry Butcher had broken his leg and strikers, Falco and Fleck had been transferred. Newcomers such as John Brown, Mark Walters and Ian Ferguson, who’d made a big impact, were ineligible and McCoist had even had keyhole surgery on his knee days before the first leg in Rumania. It was another case of what might have been. Still, Rangers fans’ greatest memory of that campaign was the night Dynamo Kiev were eliminated at Ibrox.
SCOTTISH LEAGUE: 25th May, 2003 RANGERS 6 – 1 DUNFERMLINE
With the Old Firm equal on points and goal difference, but Rangers top of the table due to having scored one goal more, both sides went into their final matches knowing that they had to win – and by as many goals as possible. Celtic would be bidding to end their season with a trophy while Rangers were hoping to secure the club’s world record 50th League Championship. Celtic were away to Kilmarnock and logically shouldn’t have been expected to score as many goals as Rangers playing the Pars at Ibrox. Still, having just suffered a defeat in the UEFA Cup Final that week, the Parkhead side would be giving it everything to compensate for their disappointment. Nothing would be taken for granted.
On a lovely warm, sunny day the Rangers players showed from the start that they were up for this vital match and that nerves would play no part in the proceedings. It only took two minutes for the home side to open the scoring thus cranking up the already considerable volume of noise inside Ibrox already. Ronald de Boer set Caniggia off on a run and the Argentinian’s delicate pass threaded into the box, found Michael Mols. He controlled the ball and sent his shot in the opposite direction from the one all the defenders had been expecting. When the ball hit the post before entering the net the whole of Ibrox went bonkers!
However, before celebration mode could get into full swing, Pars’ Dair sent a 22 yard shot screaming behind Stefan Klos for the equaliser. Now it seemed that Rangers were back to square one but how would this affect the players’ spirit? It didn’t. Just 5 minutes later, the lead was regained when the determination of Ricksen saw him go into a sliding tackle which led to the ball rebounding to Caniggia, only 8 yards from goal. He calmly passed the ball into the net. Meanwhile Celtic had taken the lead at Rugby Park.
In the 29 th minute Rangers’ third goal only happened because of the determination and skill of Lorenzo Amoruso. He chased a lost cause out on the far side of the goal-line and kept the ball in play. Not only that, but he then sent over a great cross to the 6 yard line where Shota Arveladze sent his diving header into the goal. Rangers were in the driving seat again. However, by half-time, Celtic had gone 2-0 up so the sides were all square once again.
In the second half, Rangers surged forward looking for as many goals as they could to ensure that Celtic wouldn’t snatch the title from them. Then, ironically, in a breakaway, the unsung hero, keeper Klos, saved the Gers’ title hopes. A Brewster 22 yard shot was blasted with accuracy towards the Gers’ goal. It had goal written all over it – until the German keeper threw himself to his right and miraculously palmed the ball away to safety.
As so often happens, within a minute of this escape, Rangers had scored their 4th goal. A pacy, curling McCann free kick was met by de Boer whose header fairly rocketed into the net. By now Celtic were 3-0 up on Killie so, again, it was as you were at the start of this dramatic day. Then, minutes later, the pendulum had really swung in Rangers’ favour when a Neil McCann dribble saw him cut the ball back a few yards from the goal-line for Steven Thompson to bundle the ball into the net. Cue delirium in the stands. Rangers were now ahead on goal difference having scored this, their 100th league goal of the season.
When the news reached the stadium that Celtic had missed the second penalty that they’d been awarded, the fans truly believed that the title was theirs but three minutes later Petrov scored Celtic’s 4th goal and again everything seemed to hang in the balance. However, one minute from the final whistle a great run by McCann was halted when he was fouled inside the box and a penalty awarded. Who would take the vital kick that would surely tie up the title? Young Spaniard, Mikel Arteta, in his debut season, stepped up to do the necessary. He seemed to calmest man in the stadium as he ran forward and slotted the ball confidently away. Everyone knew then that the 50th Championship had been won.
However, the game at Rugby Park was still in progress. By now, Celtic needed two goals to take the title and there were only a couple of minutes left. Nevertheless, Gers fans listened nervously on their radios until the whistle was blown and then one of the greatest celebrations in Rangers’ history could commence. Not only had the side won the game and the title, they had won it by playing wonderful, exciting football that had contributed to a day that no Rangers fans would ever forget.
1900 – 1920 THE GRADUAL ASCENT
The birth of the twentieth century saw the infant Rangers grow into adolescence. Queen Victoria died in January 1901 and with her the Victorian age. In football terms, Rangers had already left that age behind as it became a more professional and financially successful club making great strides. In this 20 year spell, Rangers won the league championship 7 times but the Scottish Cup only once. Indeed, this trophy would elude the club in a manner that led many to believe Rangers had a Scottish Cup “hoodoo”.
As successful in the league as Rangers was, it was still outdone by the club that had already become its greatest rival – Celtic. This period was a golden age for Celtic. Not until the advent of the Jock Stein era in the 60s would Celtic enjoy such a prolific haul of trophies. In this span of 20 championships, Celtic would finish Champions 11 times while winning the Scottish Cup 6 times, an equally impressive proportion considering that the Scottish Cup was suspended for the 4 years of the First World War. Helping Celtic to this success were some of its legendary players such as Jimmy Quinn, Patsy Gallacher and Jimmy McMenemy.
It was in an article in the sports journal, “ The Scottish Referee” in April, 1904, that the term “Old Firm” was first used to describe the relationship of Rangers to Celtic and, indeed, both to the rest of Scottish football. Few perhaps suspected even then that both clubs would dominate domestic football not only over the first 20 years of the new century but for ever more. In those 20 league championships, on only two occasions did a team other than Rangers or Celtic win the title – and that was near the start of the era. In 1902 – 03, Hibs won the title and the following year it was Third Lanark. In 1901 –02 Hibs had also won the Scottish Cup but who could have guessed that over a hundred years later the club would still be waiting for its next Cup triumph? And Rangers thought that a hoodoo in the Scottish Cup was their problem!
RECORD REVIEW
SEASON POSITION P W D L GF GA PTS
1900 – 01 1 20 17 1 2 60 25 35
1901 – 02 1 18 13 2 3 43 29 28
1902 – 03 3 22 12 5 5 56 30 29
1903 – 04 4 26 16 6 4 80 33 38
1904 – 05 2 26 19 3 4 83 28 41
1905 – 06 4 30 15 7 8 58 48 37
1906 – 07 3 34 19 7 8 69 33 45
1907 – 08 3 34 21 8 5 74 40 50
1908 – 09 4 34 19 7 8 91 38 45
1909 – 10 3 34 20 6 8 70 35 46
1910 – 11 1 34 23 6 5 90 34 52
1911 – 12 1 34 24 3 7 86 34 51
1912 – 13 1 34 24 5 5 76 41 53
1913 – 14 2 38 27 5 6 79 31 59
1914 – 15 3 38 23 4 11 74 48 50
1915 – 16 2 38 25 6 7 87 39 56
1916 – 17 3 38 24 5 9 68 32 53
1917 – 18 1 34 25 6 3 66 24 56
1918 – 19 2 34 26 5 3 86 16 57
1919 – 20 1 42 31 9 2 106 25 71
The new century had started in the same manner as the previous one had ended – with Rangers Scottish Champions. Victory in the 1901 – 02 season had made it four in a row, stemming from that great side that had won its title by winning every match. The Rangers side around that time would normally have been: Dickie; Smith, Drummond; Gibson, Stark, Robertson; Campbell, McPherson, Hamilton, Speedie, A.Smith. However, after this, Hibs, Third Lanark and then Celtic on six consecutive occasions prevented Rangers’ winning the title again. The nearest the Ibrox club came was in 1904 – 05 when it was runner up to Celtic having been beaten by them 2-1 in a play-off game.
One of the most significant Rangers’ championships undoubtedly was the victory in season 1910 – 11 for this prevented Celtic achieving 7 in a row titles and halted, albeit temporarily, Celtic’s domination of the Championship. Rangers went on to win three successive titles before Celtic came back at them winning the next four.
Rangers’ performances in the Scottish Cup were also leaving them in Celtic’s wake. After winning the trophy in season 1902 – 03, it would be another 25 years before the Scottish Cup was lifted by a Rangers’ captain. However, in this period, the club did add 7 Glasgow Cups and 7 Glasgow Charity Cups to its list of honours.
In May, 1914, occurred one of the most significant events in Rangers’ history although few, then, realised this. The club’s trainer of 17 years, Jimmy Wilson died. A modest, quiet-spoken man, he had been a devoted and diligent servant to Rangers and was much mourned. Nevertheless, the life of any club goes on and Wilson’s replacement would eventually turn out to be the greatest manager in the club’s history – William Struth.
Struth had been a professional runner before becoming involved with football as the trainer of Clyde. He was a stern disciplinarian and considered a tyrant but well respected by all the players. His drive and ambition was vital in helping manager William Wilton battle against the dominance of Celtic during the First World War and eventually they succeeded.
Wilton and Struth’s finest season came in 1919 – 20 when Rangers won the Championship losing only 2 matches out of 42 in the league while scoring 106 goals and conceding only 25. To reinforce just how successful the club had become by then, its average crowd was 30,000 and a record income of £50, 946 had been amassed. Then, at the end of the season, tragedy struck when manager William Wilton died in a freak boating accident. Having just won the Championship, Wilton had been enjoying himself with some friends on a friend’s boat moored at Gourock pier when a violent storm blew up. So dangerous did the boat’s situation seem to be in the heaving Firth, that the occupants of it decided to evacuate and get to the safety of the land. One by one, the party had jumped from the yacht’s mast on to the pier, not an easy task in the heavy swell, when Wilton left the boat last. Unfortunately, he lost his footing and fell into the raging waters of the Clyde. His companions could do nothing to help him and he drowned while the storm swirled around the steamer port.
Wilton’s death stunned all of Scottish football but Rangers were fortunate that their first manager’s successor was already at the club. Struth became manager and the continuity at the club wasn’t broken thanks to the fact that Struth had already built relationships with his players and knew exactly how Rangers worked, along with his vision of how it should be in the future. The elevation of Struth signalled the start of the longest period of sustained domination in the history of Scottish football.
During the First World War, the authorities had decided that football should continue as normal – or as normal as possible with many players enlisting to fight in the trenches. As the war dragged on, year after year, the players who hadn’t enlisted to fight, had to work in war-related industries. The Old Firm came in for some criticism that not enough of their players had joined the army but the ones who distinguished themselves in action countered that stance. In addition, William Wilton and Bill Struth did sterling voluntary work at the nearby Bellahouston Hospital, tirelessly working with the wounded soldiers who had been transferred there. In the case of those players who did their bit on the field of play rather than the field of battle, jobs were generally found for them that were near their club’s ground, limiting the amount of disruption for the duration.
Ironically, it was during these war years that players started to join the club who’d go on to be the backbone of the brilliant Rangers teams of the 20s that dominated the league championship as no other had done before it. Legends such as Tommy Cairns had already signed just before the Great War but Bert Manderson and Andy Cunningham came to Ibrox in 1915 while Tommy Muirhead and Sandy Archibald joined them in 1917. It was sad to see the last of the great Victorian Rangers retiring when Alec Smith went in 1915 after 21 glorious seasons with the club. He was the last of the Rangers players who had played at First Ibrox to go. When great players leave, they always seem irreplaceable but, as has always been the case at Ibrox, they are usually replaced though never forgotten. Within a few years, Smith’s left wing berth would be filled by another who’d become even more revered than him – Alan Morton.
LEAGUE : November 19th, 1898 HIBERNIAN 3 - 4 RANGERS
Season 1898 – 99 was the one in which Rangers set its world record by winning every one of its league matches, 18 in all. Having won ten in a row, the tricky trip to Easter Road was next in line to see if the Gers’ winning league run could be kept going. In future years, when some of the Rangers players looked back on this match, they all agreed that this had been the vital one, the one where the eventual record could have been so easily lost. Pride, ambition, team spirit and sheer desperation were perhaps the qualities that pulled this result out of the fire that day at Easter Road.
In front of 10,000 fans, Rangers amazingly found themselves 2-0 down after only 22 minutes and, to most, a win from this starting point seemed the stuff of fiction. Rangers had been playing their neat, short-passing game to no avail as the Hibs defenders had coped very well with the Gers’ attacking forays using this method. New tactics were needed and Rangers changed to a more direct style with long ball passing and early delivery of crosses into the box used to discomfort the home defence. This obviously bore fruit because a minute from half-time Rangers’ first goal was scored by Miller.
This same pattern was repeated from the start of the second period and, within a minute, Rangers had equalised through the great Alec Smith. Most fans might have thought that the two goals either side of the interval might have deflated the home side thoroughly, leading to a collapse of confidence and an easy win for Rangers. Most would have been wrong! As if annoyed with themselves at having thrown away a two goal lead, the Hibs team attacked with renewed vigour and went ahead again through Gemmell who had scored the previous two goals. This unlucky player must have been one of the few over three separate centuries who scored a hat-trick against Rangers and still ended up on the losing side!
However, Rangers showed equal determination and their onslaught brought its reward when R.C.Hamilton scored the equaliser. In such circumstances, most teams might have settled for an honourable draw in a great game but, this time, both sides were desperate to score a winner, especially Rangers. One minute from the end of the contest, it happened when Rangers were given a penalty and the chance to extend their winning run. Reports of the penalty incident describe a Hibs defender as grabbing Campbell by the collar and throwing him to the ground in the style of a wrestler. Well, it was a man’s game in those days! It should be noted that, at that time, the penalty line extended across the pitch. Perhaps that’s one of the laws that football could revert to in an effort to reward attacking play.
Anyway, imagine the pressure that Neil was under as he sought to win the match with his penalty kick. In true Rangers’ spirit, he kept his cool and slammed the ball into the net, well away from the Hibs keeper. Maybe he wasn’t to know it at that point but that turned out to be the pivotal moment in securing the perfect league season when Rangers 100% record was set for all time.
1890 – 1900 FIRST SUCCESS
At the end of March, 1890, a delegation of football club administrators met in a Glasgow hotel ( hotels seemed to be popular for important meetings in those days!) to discuss the setting up of a Scottish League. Of the 14 established clubs invited, only Queen’s Park and Clyde declined to attend. A league was already flourishing in England so the Scots saw this as the way forward for the game. Amateur aristocrats, Queen’s Park, wanted no part of this as they foresaw (correctly) that it would lead to ( horror of horrors) professionalism! This indeed happened three years later. Rangers President, John Mellish and Match Secretary, William Wilton represented the club at the meeting.
Naturally, that inaugural league season of 1890 – 91 created all sorts of firsts, the main one being Rangers’ first league championship which the club shared with Dumbarton after 18 matches and a play-off game. That season Rangers won 13, drew 3 and lost only twice, to Celtic and Dumbarton. The side scored 57 times and conceded 25 goals.
Rangers’ first-ever league match was at Ibrox on 16th August, 1890 where 4,000 fans watched the Gers beat Hearts 5-2. Ironically, the “honour” of scoring Rangers’ first league goal went to a Hearts player, Adams, before goals from Kerr(2) McPherson and Hugh McCreadie completed the route. The Rangers side that took part in that memorable opening match was: Reid; Gow, Muir; Marshall, A.McCreadie, Mitchell; Wylie, Kerr, H.McCreadie, McPherson, Hislop.
It was 21st March 1891, however, before the first league clash of Rangers and Celtic. The venue was Celtic Park and perhaps, fittingly, the game ended in a 2-2 draw in front of 12,000 spectators. Rangers’ scorers were Hislop and A.McCreadie. Unfortunately, in the return league joust in May at Ibrox, Celtic won 2-1.
Thankfully, that defeat didn’t cost Rangers the Championship at the end of the day. Dumbarton had set the pace in the title chase from the start, building up an early lead in the course of which they defeated Rangers at “fatal Boghead” as it had become known, due to the dreadful playing conditions and the prowess of the home team at that time. By April, a win for “the Sons of the Rock” at Ibrox would have seen them crowned the first Scottish Champions. However, with 12,000 Rangers fans willing their side on, the Gers managed to beat them 4-2 and, with only two matches left, suddenly Rangers had pole position needing only 3 out of a possible 4 points to snatch the league.
Unfortunately, the first of these vital hurdles was at Ibrox against Celtic who, not for the last time, made life difficult for Rangers by winning 2-1 thanks to a goal near the end of the match. Now, Rangers needed to beat Third Lanark to merely tie with Dumbarton for the title. Despite being badly hit by injury ( nothing changes, does it?) the Gers side performed like men possessed winning 4-1 to equal Dumbarton’s total points.
This was a situation that the new league’s founders hadn’t envisaged and there were no rules in place to deal with such an eventuality. Therefore, a decision was made to have a play-off match at First Cathkin, home of Third Lanark. In front of 10,000 excited fans, Rangers lost a half-time lead of 2-0 and ended up only drawing. What to do now? The league’s organisers were moving further into uncharted territory. When the League Committee met to discuss the situation it took the Chairman’s casting vote to decide that the first Championship should be shared. The wisdom of Solomon had been invoked and it was only justice that both clubs had the honour of being Scotland’s first League Champions. Strangely, the next season, Dumbarton went on to win their next but last title while Rangers had to wait a while longer before eventually adding another 49 to their haul.
RECORD REVIEW
Apart from the first and last seasons of that first decade of the League Championship, success eluded the Ibrox men in the title challenge. Of those ten Championships, Rangers won 3 while Celtic managed 4, Dumbarton 2 and Hearts 1. Below is the table showing Rangers’ performances during those ten years.
SEASON POSITION P W D L GF GA PTS
1890 – 91 1 18 13 3 2 58 25 29
1891 – 92 5 22 11 2 9 59 46 24
1892 – 93 2 18 12 4 2 41 27 28
1893 – 94 4 18 8 4 6 44 30 20
1894 – 95 3 18 10 2 6 41 26 22
1895 – 96 2 18 11 4 3 57 39 26
1896 – 97 3 18 11 3 4 64 30 25
1897 – 98 2 18 13 3 2 71 15 29
1898 – 99 1 18 18 0 0 79 18 36
1899 – 00 1 18 15 2 1 69 27 32
RANGERS' EARLY RESULTS
With no organised league football in Britain until 1888 in England and 1890 in Scotland, the only competitive matches played were in the cup competitions of both countries. Indeed, until the SFA changed its rules to prevent it, Rangers was also a member club of the English F.A., taking part in the F.A. Cup and only losing out to Aston Villa by 3-1 in the 1887 semi-final. So, apart from these competitions, and the Glasgow Merchants’ Charity Cup, clubs played a series of “friendlies” among themselves.
Rangers’ path to greatness wasn’t a meteoric one that immediately challenged the football establishment of the time. Rather it was a slow and gradual improvement by which the young club gained the respect of the “giants” of the time and the fans of the game in general. Indeed, Rangers only won one trophy in its first 18 years of existence – the Glasgow Merchants’ Charity Cup. In fact, it took the club until May 1885 before it recorded its first victory over the aristocrats of the Scottish game, Queen’s Park.
Before then, Rangers had appeared in two Scottish Cup Finals, losing both in controversial circumstances. The club’s first appearance came in the 1876 / 77 season when Vale of Leven ( then approaching Queen’s Park in stature) needed three games to beat them. The same side also denied Rangers in the 1878 / 79 Final. Rangers’ luck in the other local competition wasn’t much better with only one victory out of five appearances in the final of the Glasgow Merchants’ Charity Cup. This win in 1879 was the club’s only silverware in this period of its development. The players who brought the club its first honour deserve to be remembered:
G. Gillespie
T. Vallance A. Vallance
J. Drinnan H. McIntyre A. Steel
D.Hill C.McQuarrie W. Struthers M.McNeil P. Campbell
Nice to note that two of the club’s founders were part of that first successful side.
Even the advent of a new cup competition, the Glasgow Cup, didn’t result in success as the team’s only final came in season 1887 / 88 with Cambuslang winning 3-1. As for friendlies that were the staple diet of any season, Rangers had good and bad seasons. By 1877 / 78, Rangers were able to take on and beat the “big guns” such as Vale and Dumbarton with only a win against Queen’s Park eluding them. A new development at this time was the chance to play matches against English clubs that were far more established than the majority of Scottish ones. In the following years, Rangers managed, on various occasions, to beat or draw with the likes of Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa, Sunderland and Bolton. The only two English sides they couldn’t take anything from were Everton and Preston, the latter known as The Invincibles due to their phenomenal record. This great side inflicted two terrible defeats on Rangers in different seasons. In both cases, the scoreline was 8-1 with one game at home and the other away.
In this era, perhaps the most significant “friendly” took place near the end of May in 1888 when Rangers obliged their newest Glasgow neighbours, Celtic, by providing the opposition to them in their first game, on their own ground, First Celtic Park. Unlike the early Rangers’ philosophy, Celtic’s management wanted to make a major impact on the Scottish scene immediately and had set about this by signing some of the best players of the day such as James Kelly of giants, Renton. They had also poached half of the Hibernian side that had won the 1887 Scottish Cup as well as lured some professionals from English clubs. In front of 2,000 spectators, Celtic won their inaugural fixture 5-2. However, Gers’ revenge was swift as in the next season they beat the Celts 9-1, on their own ground too. After that initial match, both clubs’ players and officials celebrated amicably with food and drink. Cordial relations between the opponents seemed assured. Who could have guessed that over the next hundred years and more these clubs would become the world’s deadliest football rivals, continually vying for domination of the Scottish game?
THE FOUNDING OF THE RANGERS
Before the advent of cinema, radio, television, video and such like, entertainment in Victorian times was altogether simpler. If you didn’t like reading or going to the theatre, then sporting activities, much encouraged by Victorian moralists, might be the only other pastime available to you. But, in those days, even sporting options were more limited compared to nowadays. Therefore, it’s ironic but understandable, that the founders of The Rangers Football Club were, in fact, keen rowers.
The four youngsters who formed Rangers, although all students in Glasgow, were actually from villages along the Gare Loch in Dunbartonshire. Their names were Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath. Dedicated rowers, they followed their pursuit on the River Clyde as it meandered through Glasgow. They were all fit youngsters, under 20, with Moses being the youngest at only 16 years of age. However, their sporting enthusiasm was to be channelled in another direction in 1872 thanks to the proximity of Fleshers’ Haugh on Glasgow Green to the River Clyde. It was this area of the Green that had become reserved for teams playing the relatively new sport of football.
The decade before had seen the formation of the English Football Association and since then, the popularity of the new sport had been growing apace with clubs springing up all over Britain. In Scotland, since 1867, Queen’s Park had established itself as the dominant force north of the border. In fact, the four “boys” who founded Rangers had watched Queen’s Park play and had been mightily impressed. This, in conjunction with watching other sides such as Eastern play on Fleshers’ Haugh, inspired them to form their own club in February 1872.
In Victorian times, the name “ Rangers” conjured up romantic images of fearless, heroic adventurers whose derring-do had advanced civilisation in the United States. The Texas Rangers and, from an earlier period in American history, Rogers’ Rangers, exemplified heroic deeds. However, when Moses McNeil proposed that The Rangers be the name of the new club, he had no such notions. It was already the name of an English rugby club that he’d come across and the impressionable youth just liked the sound of it!
Having found a name, the next step was to find a team. So, team-mates had to be recruited to the cause. Naturally, family and friends seemed the obvious solution. Peter Campbell’s brother, John and the McNeils’ older brother, William, were enlisted along with others who were mainly teenagers. Indeed, William’s career as a fledgling Ranger can be attributed solely to his possession of a football. Apparently, when looking for players for their new club, some of the teenage founders thought that William was already “too old” to become a member. However, through a family work connection, a Mr McDonald from a company based in Buchanan St. had donated a football to William. So, when he was rejected, maybe for the first ( but not last time) was heard the expression “It’s ma baw!” William McNeil’s attitude was that it was his ball so if he wasn’t going to get a game the others could find their own ball.
Despite this slight problem, the club was formed and a subscription was taken among the members to accrue the necessary funds. Having said that, an amicable solution to the dispute must have been found as eventually William proudly took his place in the Gers’ first ever line up.
With youthful enthusiasm, training was instigated three nights a week. The players might have been physically fit and strong but did they have the skill to kick a football? ( a question posed even nowadays about some sides.) After two months of concentrated effort, The Rangers were about to find out. So, in May, 1872, the first Rangers side took the field against Callander on Fleshers’ Haugh. It contained four “guest” players – yet another McNeil brother, Harry, and Willie McKinnon both of whom played for the mighty Queen’s Park. They were joined by two players from the Eastern club, Willie Miller and John Hunter with a W.Bell making up the numbers. Thus, four McNeil brothers and two Campbell brothers made up more than half the side.
Only the four players guesting from established clubs changed to take part in the match while the others simply played in their every day clothes. The lack of a team uniform must have made the art of passing even more difficult than it seems to be for some sides nowadays. The tough game ended in a 0-0 draw and such was the normal brutality of the game in those early days that Willie McBeath had to spend the following week in bed recuperating after his torrid time in the battle that had been that first Rangers’ contest.
Shortly after this, office bearers were elected and a few more games arranged against local opposition. Rangers remained unbeaten and recorded their biggest victory ( 11-0 ) against Clyde ( not the same club that plays to this day though) The score for this match however wasn’t the most significant thing about it. Rather it was the fact that it was the first appearance of Rangers in the famous “light blue” jerseys. This description is a bit of a misnomer as the shade of blue has always been closer to royal blue. Apparently, the football hacks had started to call the team “ the light and speedy blues” due to the young side’s physical attributes but this was shortened to the “light blues”. Another factor was that when Rangers played the Vale of Leven in the 1877 Scottish Cup Final, the opposition wore dark blue jerseys and so supporters cheered the Gers on as the “light blues”. Who knows? But for this, the club might have gained the nickname The Royals!
Nevertheless, it was in 1873 that The Rangers became a “proper” club. The first general meeting of the club was held that year, office bearers elected and all aspects of the club from training to regular fixtures arranged in a more organised fashion. Still, it was the enthusiasm and love for the game of the McNeil brothers, Peter Campbell and Tom Vallance that provided the drive for Rangers throughout those early years.
Without a ground of its own, Rangers had to play on Fleshers’ Haugh which, as part of Glasgow Green, was a public park. Many a day the dedication of Peter Campbell must have been tested as he acted like those German tourists with their towels on the sunbeds by going to the Green well in advance of kick-off to lay claim to the most suitable part of it for football to ensure The Rangers had a pitch to play on. Who can blame him if, occasionally, he paid a young boy to “watch” the pitch for him until all the players arrived on the scene?
In March, 1873, eight clubs met in a Glasgow hotel to constitute the Scottish Football Association. Unfortunately, the newly formed Rangers club was too late to apply for membership and thus missed competing in the inaugural Scottish Cup, won, predictably, by Queen’s Park. It must be remembered that with football in its infancy, the Scottish Cup was the only show in town as there was no other form of competitive football. With football leagues not yet having been devised, clubs played each other in a series of “friendlies”, with all their players being amateurs.
So, in 1873-74, with no involvement in the Scottish Cup, Rangers had to be content playing other local clubs in friendly matches. It is known that Rangers played teams such as Havelock, Star of Leven and Rovers among others ( none of them members of the SFA) but the details of most of these games went unrecorded or have been lost in the mists of time.
What we do know is that the following season, in October 1874, Rangers’ first competitive game took place against Oxford in the Scottish Cup with the Gers winning 2-0, thanks to goals from Moses McNeil and David Gibb. The players who had the honour of recording the club’s first competitive win were: John Yuill, Tom Vallance, Peter McNeil, William McNeil, William McBeath, Moses McNeil, Peter Campbell, George Phillips, James Watson, David Gibb and John Campbell. Unfortunately, Rangers were knocked out of the Cup in the next round, 0-1, after a replay, by Dumbarton who, along with Queen’s Park and Vale of Leven, were considered the giants of the game at that time.
Still, the club was up and running although, throughout season 74/75, due to its short existence and the fact that its games were played on a public park, Rangers couldn’t play any of the established S.F.A. clubs in friendlies. It was a good season, nevertheless, with Rangers playing 12 matches, winning eleven and drawing one while only conceding one goal in the process. The young Rangers were on the march. It would only be a matter of time before the likes of Queen’s Park would have to condescend to play them in matches outwith the Scottish Cup.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL: 4th May, 2002 RANGERS 3 – 2 CELTIC
Nothing beats winning a Cup Final. Well, nothing beats it unless your opponents are Celtic. Then, the only thing that can top that is if it’s done by a last minute goal. That’s why this game will be fondly remembered by so many Rangers fans. – and possibly manager, Alex McLeish too. He had joined the club the previous December and had already won his first trophy – the League Cup – after having knocked Celtic out in the semi-final. This game would see him win the second of the two trophies available to him when he became the manager.
On a hot, sunny day, the scene was perfect for an Old Firm Scottish Cup Final as League Champions, Celtic attempted to complete The Double. On the other hand, under McLeish, Rangers had yet to lose to their greatest rivals so a hard-fought game was expected. It was a typically robust, quick and exciting Old Firm encounter with the play flowing from one end to the other. The first chance came to Rangers when Amoruso should have scored, having out-jumped Balde, but his header flew over the bar.
Then, at the other end, a Thompson corner was headed back across the penalty box by Balde for John Hartson, a yard from the goal-line, to nod into the net. This only served to increase the Rangers’ pressure on Celtic and, before half-time, the equaliser had arrived. A long pass upfield by Barry Ferguson, having a great game, was chased by Peter Lovenkrands. Just inside the Celtic penalty area, Mjallby and Sutton both jumped with the Dane to head the ball but Mjallby mistimed it and his weak header landed behind Lovenkrands. Like a flash, Lovenkrands pounced on the ball, took one touch and lashed the ball low just inside the right hand post with the despairing dive of Douglas in vain.
Although the game ebbed and flowed, Rangers were the more dominant side and, just when they were looking superior, in the second half, Celtic scored again. A Lennon free kick on the left swirled into the box where giant, Balde out-muscled Amoruso to leave himself a free header from point blank range. Rangers would have to re-invigorate themselves and come from behind again.
Inspired by skipper Barry Ferguson who was leading by example, they tried to hit back. A rasping Ferguson shot from over 20 yards out looked net-bound only to swerve away and crash off Douglas’ right hand post. At this point, Gers fans could have been forgiven for thinking that it just wasn’t going to be their day. The Rangers players, however, didn’t think that for a moment as they continued to get the upper hand over their rivals. They seemed to know that it was only a matter of time. When Balde clumsily fouled Amoruso just outside the penalty area, the situation looked tailor-made for a Ferguson free kick at which he had become rather adept throughout the season. The skipper fired his shot over the Celtic wall, into the top right hand corner giving Douglas no chance whatsoever. At that point, it looked like the tide had turned and that there could only be one winner of this final – Rangers.
Still, despite almost constant pressure, Rangers couldn’t find that decisive goal no matter how many times they surged towards the Celtic goal. Then, with one minute left on the clock and extra time looming, Amoruso set McCann free down the left wing. The little winger made some progress before sending over a perfect cross into that dangerous area between the keeper and his defenders. Lovenkrands, of all people, managed to get in front of his marker, Chris Sutton, to nod the ball downwards, into the far side of the goal. Everybody knew at that moment that he had won the Cup for Rangers. There was simply no time for the tired-looking and dispirited Celts to make a comeback.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL: April 17th 1909 CELTIC 1 – 1 RANGERS
This was the replay of the Final 7 days before and became known as the infamous “Hampden Riot” match. In the first game the sides had drawn 2-2 and Rangers, aggrieved, felt that the trophy should have been theirs already. With Gers leading, Celtic were awarded a dubious equaliser when a cross was collected by Harry Rennie in the Rangers goal. With the powerful Quinn rushing in on him, Rennie swivelled to avoid being bundled into the goal, as was allowed in those days. He succeeded but the referee, J.B.Stark, adjudged that he had carried the ball over his goal-line. In the dressing room afterwards, Rennie, known for his utter honesty, was in tears, not because of his error, but distraught at the referee’s mistake that had cost his team the cup.
In the week leading up to the replay, it became known that Celtic Secretary, Willie Maley, wanted the replay to be played to a finish. The Rangers’ Board, however, had never considered the matter as they had realised that the SFA’s rules for the Scottish Cup stated that only after a third replay could extra time be played. After the game, the two captains, Hay of Celtic and Stark of Rangers, claimed that they’d had no instructions from their clubs regarding the playing of extra time.
When the match finished 1-1, all would have been well if only all the players had left the field immediately, as usual. Unfortunately, 6 or 7 Celtic players and a couple of Rangers players lingered after the final whistle. Nobody knows why but it was as if they were expecting extra time to be played. This caused many in the 60,000 crowd to believe likewise. When it became clear that there would be no extra time, the spectators’ bewilderment turned to ire as they decided that the two clubs intended to arrange a second replay in order to maximise their profits.
Perhaps for the only time in Old Firm history, rather than fight each other, both sets of fans united to fight the “money grasping” authorities, as they saw it. Feeling exploited and cheated of a result, the fans rioted. The pitch was invaded, barricades torn down, then bonfires set alight on the track. The goalposts were uprooted, payboxes set on fire, hosepipes cut while the police were being stoned and kicked. Only when the police reinforcements arrived were the rioters quelled and eventually dispersed. Now that’s what I call a riot. Think of the media hysteria nowadays when a few coins are thrown at a game! Having said that, there were some lurid and exaggerated headlines used at the time - “ The Day They Burned Down Hampden” being one of them.
Afterwards, the SFA proposed that a replay take place outside of Glasgow ( how the residents of the chosen venue would have loved that!) but the offer was declined. Tom White, speaking on behalf of Celtic and Rangers said that the clubs were united in their opposition to another match. Consequently, The Scottish Cup and its accompanying medals were withheld to show the SFA’s disapproval of the crowd’s misbehaviour and as a warning regarding the conduct of fans at future finals.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL: 14th April, 1928 RANGERS 4 – 0 CELTIC
This famous match became a turning point in the Scottish Cup history of Rangers, breaking as it did the “Hampden Hoodoo”. Despite years of league championship domination, for 25 years Rangers had failed to win the Scottish Cup, on 5 occasions faltering in the final itself. A then record crowd for Britain of 118,115 turned up at Hampden to see if they could break this sequence of disappointments – and against their greatest rivals too!
The first half was typical of most cup finals – a tense, nervy affair. Celtic had a slight advantage in that they had elected to play with the “Hampden Swirl” in their favour. The blustery conditions and the importance of the occasion certainly didn’t help either team to produce smooth, silky football. The one moment of brilliance came quite early in the game when Celtic almost went ahead. A Connolly volley was net-bound when Gers keeper, Tom Hamilton, saved the shot ( and perhaps the day) when he threw himself to the side and parried the ball away. Although it went to MacLean, the fact that his angle was tight and he was probably still gob-smacked by that save meant that his effort was hit into the side net.
With the sides basically cancelling each other out and Celts’ ace scorer, Jimmy McGrory being kept quiet by Davie Meiklejohn, it was inevitable that the teams would go in at half-time with the score blank. Most spectators seemed to be of the opinion that the first team to score would probably go on to lift the trophy.
Just after four o’clock, Rangers’ moment of destiny arrived. A trademark Alan Morton run down the left wing saw him put over a beauty of a cross that was skelped past John Thomson by Jimmy Fleming. With the brilliant Celtic keeper stranded it fell to his captain and right-back, Willie McStay, to retrieve the situation. However, the only way he could do that was by fisting the ball away. There was no doubt that it had been handball but there was a doubt whether or not the ball had crossed the goal-line before the Celt had punched it out.
While the Gers players protested, looking for a goal, the referee, Mr Bell pointed to the penalty spot. Afterwards, the ref bravely admitted that the ball had been a couple of feet over the line but that he had hesitated at the time and thus given the penalty. His mistake produced the tensest moment in the career of Davie Meiklejohn. Everybody in the huge crowd knew immediately just how vital this penalty kick was, that it was a turning point not only in this match but also perhaps in the history of Rangers. Few would have changed places with Meiklejohn, especially the other Rangers players.
Normally, Rangers’ penalty kicks were shared between Bob McPhail and Andy Cunningham – two prolific strikers. However, in such vital circumstances, in those days, the team captain would probably take the responsibility for the onerous task. Unfortunately, club captain, the absent Tommy Muirhead had been injured earlier in the season, so Davie Meiklejohn was deputising. An uncompromising centre-half wouldn’t have been most fans’ choice for the skilful business of penalty taking. However, in that situation, perhaps it was more vital for the kicker to have the necessary mental strength rather than the ability to kick the ball like a forward.
Davie Meiklejohn was the very man for the situation. He knew that he couldn’t ask any of his team-mates to put themselves on the line so his courage and determination to do his duty as he saw it, to take the burden onto his own shoulders, saw him step up to the spot. He later admitted what a frightening prospect it had been, knowing how much had rested on him at that moment. “ I saw, in a flash, the whole picture of our striving to win the Cup.”
When he blasted the ball past John Thomson, it was as if everyone in the stadium knew that the “hoodoo” was over. Not only had Meiklejohn been relieved of the immense pressure, it was as if the entire Rangers team had been too. 13 minutes later, Bob McPhail crashed in a second goal then a mere 2 minutes after this Sandy Archibald lashed in a shot from long-range before finishing the scoring near the end of the match. In truth, the game had ended with that penalty kick. The normally ebullient Sandy Archibald was apparently quite speechless after the game. He played over 600 matches for Rangers and helped win 13 Championships but no achievement ever affected him as much as that Scottish Cup victory.
After the presentation, Meiklejohn stated, “ We have done it at last. We can do it again.” His conviction proved correct as the club went on to win the Cup 5 times in the next 8 years. His penalty is still thought of as one of the seminal moments in the history of Rangers. The side that recorded that historic victory was: T.Hamilton; Gray, R.Hamilton; Buchanan, Meiklejohn, Craig; Archibald, Cunningham, Fleming, McPhail and Morton. To Rangers fans they were the equivalent of “The Wembley Wizards”. The following Monday, the side clinched the league championship at Ibrox by beating Kilmarnock 5-1 thus becoming the first Gers team to achieve The Double.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL REPLAY: 12th May, 1981 RANGERS 4 – 1 DUNDEE UNITED
This performance, in a time when Rangers were in the doldrums, stood out like a diamond in a dung-heap. The first match had been a dire affair with neither side deserving to win the Cup but, for the replay, Rangers produced a scintillating performance. The reason for the difference could be attributed to one player – Davie Cooper. Manager, John Greig had dropped Cooper and Derek Johnstone for the first game but recalled them for the replay, hoping that those two great forwards could conjure up something special to take the trophy. It was Davie Cooper who turned on the magic in one of the best displays ever seen in a Cup Final.
Hardly had the crowd taken its place at Hampden when Gers took the lead. Following some untidy and incompetent defending, just outside the United penalty box, the ball was gathered by Cooper. He latched on to it and controlled it by using his thigh before racing into the box chased by a defender. As the keeper came off his line to block the danger, Cooper calmly chipped the ball over him and watched as the ball trundle into the goal, just inside the post. Already the boring 0-0 deadlock of the previous Saturday had been broken.
Things got even better for Rangers, thanks again to their mercurial winger. This time, a free-kick, just outside the box, on the left was taken by Cooper. His pacy, swerving cross into the box was missed, for once, by the head of Johnstone and his marker. However, coming in from the back post was Bobby Russell who half-volleyed the ball high into the goal from an acute angle but close range. The Cup seemed to have been won already.
Soon, Rangers were three up thanks to magician Cooper. He collected the ball near the centre circle and his instant control allowed him to beat one defender before moving forward with it, taking it away from two other opponents. At the right moment, he released his devastating pass inside the full back, into the path of young John McDonald who ran on to it, unchallenged, and slipped the ball past the United keeper.
A United goal before half-time might have given them some hope but a come-back was never really on. Throughout the second half Rangers remained tightly in control and a 4th goal finished the job completely. Once again, Cooper sent a brilliant pass through the middle that opened up the United defence for John McDonald. Having outrun his marker, he got the ball just outside the penalty area, knocked it into the box ahead of himself, then reached it before the onrushing keeper to place it low in the corner of the net.
Young McDonald might have scored two of the goals but everybody knew that the real hero of the game had been Davie Cooper, putting on a performance that had mesmerised the United defenders and the spectators alike. It proved the often-made point that, if Cooper played well, Rangers had a chance of beating any team. At that time, Cooper was the jewel in Rangers’ crown who, for once, got the necessary support from his team-mates on that memorable evening at Hampden. He WAS a kind of magic!
SEASON 1898 / 99
In 1890 the Scottish League was founded and in its first season, the title was won by Rangers ( shared with Dumbarton) However it wasn't until near the end of that first decade that saw the club win its next Championship. In fact, not only did Rangers win the last two titles of that era, the club created a unique record that, by its very nature, can never be beaten and nowadays, is unlikely even to be equalled. Astonishingly, in season 1898/99, the team won every one of its league games. Admittedly, at that time, teams “only” played 18 matches but even nowadays very few sides win 18 games in a row. This tremendous team scored 79 goals and only lost 18. The previous season had seen the side come second in the league, losing only twice while the following season, when the title was retained, a solitary match was lost. In fact, from February 12th, 1898 until January 1st, 1900 Rangers had gone undefeated, winning 31 out of 35 league games. In that perfect league season, many qualities were necessary to achieve such a fantastic feat: skill, fitness, determination, a touch of luck when required and, above all, a great team spirit that produced the required self-belief.
In the course of that campaign, Rangers even managed to inflict on Hibs the worst league defeat in its history – 10-0. What made this result all the more remarkable was the fact that, earlier in the season, it had been this Hibs side who’d come closest to beating Rangers. At Easter Road, at half-time, the home team was 2-0 up but eventually lost 4-3 to a never-say-die Rangers side.
Here’s how that 100% league championship was achieved with the players who became immortal because of it:
THE RESULTS OF THE LEAGUE PROGRAMME OF 1898 – 99
HOME AWAY
CELTIC 4-1 4-0
HEARTS 3-1 3-2
THIRD LANARK 4-1 3-2
ST MIRREN 3-2 3-1
HIBS 10-0 4-3
ST BERNARDS 5-2 2-0
CLYDE 8-0 3-0
DUNDEE 7-0 2-1
PARTICK THISTLE 6-2 5-0
THE PLAYERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE GAMES
PLAYER POSITION MATCHES
M. Dickie Goalkeeper 18
N. Gibson Right Half-back 18
R.G.Neil Centre Half-back 18
R.C.Hamilton Centre Forward 18
A. Smith Outside Left 18
D.Crawford Right / Left back 17
J.Campbell Outside Right / Left 16
J.Miller Inside Left 16
J.McPherson Inside Right 15
N.Smith Right Back 13
D.Mitchell Left Half-back 13
J. Drummond Left Back 5
J.Miller (Elgin) Left Half-back 5
A. Sharp Inside Right 4
J.Wilkie Inside Right / Left 3
J.Sharp Outside Right 1
Having put so much effort into winning all their league games, it was perhaps inevitable that Rangers would fail in the various cup competitions that season. Having beaten Dumbarton and Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup Finals of the previous two seasons, it was Celtic ( who else?) who beat them 2-0 in the 1899 final thus denying the club three consecutive Scottish Cup triumphs – a feat seldom managed even nowadays. Celtic also defeated the Gers in the Glasgow Charity Cup Final while Queen’s Park beat them in the Glasgow Cup Final. Still, I don’t think many Rangers fans would have been too distraught having won every league game that season. The club even made a handsome profit of £1,200.
Apart from three league titles, 5 Glasgow Cups and 2 Glasgow Charity Cups, the most momentous achievement by Rangers in that decade was its first Scottish Cup Final win and, to make it even more special, in the first ever Old Firm Scottish Cup Final. After 21 years of chasing the “Blue Riband” of Scottish football, the Ibrox side finally succeeded when Celtic was defeated 3-1 at Second Hampden in front of 17,000 fans. Rangers’ first Cup winning side deserves to be remembered:
Haddow
Smith Drummond
Marshall A.McCreadie Mitchell
Steel H.McCreadie Gray McPherson Barker
SCOTTISH LEAGUE: May, 1999 CELTIC 0 – 3 RANGERS
This triumph was a memorable match for various reasons: it was the first time that a Rangers side would clinch the League Championship at the home of their greatest rivals, the side played brilliantly, humiliating Celtic on the pitch and, as a bonus, the misbehaviour of the Celtic fans off the park made it one of the most disastrous days in that club’s history.
Rangers started confidently and before long were looking threatening. Then, the first goal really gave them the impetus to go on and dominate proceedings. Deep in his own half, Tony Vidmar pushed a pass to Albertz in the centre circle. The big German slotted the ball out to the left wing for Gio Van Bronckhorst to run on to. He raced forward before releasing a precision pass into the box that was perfectly weighted for Rod Wallace to run on to. Without breaking stride, he fired the ball across the face of the Celtic goal and there was Neil McCann, on the 6 yard line, stretching out a leg to steer the ball into the goal.
Later in the half, things started to look really grim for the home team when their French defender, Mahe was sent off by referee, Hugh Dallas. This seemed to increase the incredibly hostile atmosphere inside the stadium as aggrieved Celtic fans realised that this could be a nightmare of a game unfolding. Worse was to come when Rangers were awarded a corner at the “Celtic End” of the stadium. As Van Bronckhorst prepared to take the corner he was pelted with coins from some fans nearby. Ref, Dallas went across to protect the player and, for his pains, he was hit by a coin on the forehead causing blood to flow. Thus, the game was held up while Gers players surrounded the ref and he received treatment for his injury.
From the delayed corner, Riseth, at the back post, appeared to pull Tony Vidmar over and Hugh Dallas bravely awarded a penalty. Albertz duly took the kick calmly among the bedlam and slotted the ball low into the corner of the net before running off in celebration followed by his delirious team-mates who suspected that the title had been won. Nevertheless, before half-time, a couple of Celtic fans had invaded the field, seemingly trying to get to ref, Dallas. Thankfully, they were escorted away by the police before they could reach their intended victim. Even at the interval, though, the mayhem continued when a Celtic fan, in the upper tier of the North Stand, seemingly fell over onto the fans below in the lower deck. Luckily, only his pride was badly injured!
The second half was a much more calm affair as both teams seemed to have accepted their respective fate although eventually Wallace and then Riseth were sent off in separate incidents. Then, near the end, a pass out of defence from Colin Hendry found Jonatan Johannsen inside the Celtic half. The Finn slipped the ball first time infield and forwards to Neil McCann who only had the last Celtic defender right behind him. As Marshall stretched out a foot to try and intercept the pass, he missed it and quick as a flash, McCann was on his way, scurrying towards the goal with only the keeper to beat. His 20 yard, unchallenged run, took him into the box, past the diving keeper, enabling him to sweep the ball into the empty net, right in from of the ecstatic Rangers fans. A mock huddle by the Rangers players on the final whistle and Celtic’s humiliation was complete as the title went to Dick Advocaat’s new Rangers side for the first time.
EUROPEAN CUP : 16th September, 1959 RANGERS 5 – 2 ANDERLECHT
If Scots fans had ever really believed that the European Cup had been devised to promote friendship and understanding between countries via the medium of football, then this first round match at Ibrox would certainly have changed their opinion. You could have been forgiven for thinking that the Scots and Belgians had always been deadly enemies rather than allies in the previous two World Wars so violent was the behaviour of the visitors to Ibrox.
An 80,000 crowd had turned up at the Stadium to view another step in the European education of Rangers, believing that they were in for a treat of skill, technique and artistry. Instead, what they got was blood and guts – unfortunately, it was the home side’s blood and guts the visitors seemed to be after. Rangers fans might have thought they’d become aware of Continental trickery in previous games against the likes of Ac Milan, St Etienne and Nice but the Belgians further opened their eyes.
Whether the Anderlecht players had arrived at Ibrox with that malign intent is open to question. What may have sparked off their disgraceful behaviour might have been the fact that within 3 minutes they were 2 goals down and looking as if their participation in that season’s competition was already over! They seemed to lose all self-control from that point on and indulged in all kinds of skulduggery, cheating and mayhem. It was as if they’d been studying from the Argentinean manual of dirty tricks! Their intimidation knew no bounds but with tough characters in the Gers side such as Bobby Shearer, Harold Davis, Willie Telfer and Jimmy Millar, their tactics were never going to succeed.
Although the game was refereed by Leo Horn, one of the world’s top officials, a man who’d referee European Cup Finals as well as Scotland v England matches, the Belgians it seemed were allowed to get away with “murder” as the locals would have said. They were penalised 12 times in the opening half hour and by the end of the match they’d racked up an astonishing 28 fouls as opposed to the disciplined Gers’ 13 fouls. Mr Horn’s leniency and the Belgians’ conduct often brought long and sustained bouts of booing from the huge Ibrox crowd, especially when Anderlecht had a goal chalked off and their players surrounded Leo Horn manhandling him in a way that even future Manchester United players would never have dreamt of.
Despite the absence of injured winger, Davie Wilson, Rangers still looked to be a balanced attacking force with stand-in, Andy Matthew playing on the left wing, opposite the brilliant Alex Scott on the right. Indeed it was Scott and the reliable Jimmy Millar who’d got Rangers off to the best possible start with two quick goals before the antics of the visitors had started to send the game downhill.
Two minutes into the second half, the game looked to be finished when Rangers scored their third goal. At last, ref, Horn had awarded Rangers a penalty that was taken by Andy Matthew, usually a reliable penalty-taker. His fierce shot was blocked by Anderlecht keeper, Meert, but, unfortunately for the Belgian, the ball bounced off him and up for Matthew, following up his kick, to head past him into the net. Perhaps the only moment of light relief in the entire match came when Rangers' tough wing-half, Harold Davis ( a veteran of the Korean War) lost his temper with Belgian Joseph Jurion. Jurion actually wore glasses in those days before Health and Safety reared its head. Still, this guy must have been very short-sighted to have had the nerve to take on Harold. After Davis had cleared the ball away he was sent crashing to the ground. This was bad enough but then Jurion elected to kick Harold while he was still on the ground! Davis was a fair player and a gentleman (despite his "iron man" image) but that was the last straw. He could take no more. He got up and, seeing the look on his face, the terrified Jurion wisely decided that discretion was the better part of valour - or, to put it another way, he didn't want a "doing" so he made a run for it. The astonished crowd was then treated to the sight of one scared Belgian being chased half way up the park by an enraged Scotsman. Thanks to his sense of injustice, Davis, not known for his pace, covered the ground like an Olympic sprinter. Fortunately ( for Jurion) just as Harold caught up with the hapless Belgian, he saw the absurd side to the whole situation, pulled up and burst out laughing. What the Belgian burst out with has not been recorded! Jurion must have been one of the few players who messed with Harold Davis and got away with it - sort of!
Whether or not it was the effect of the Belgians’ guerrilla warfare tactics taking its toll on the Gers players or perhaps some complacency due to their three goal lead, the fans were soon in for a shock. Through Stockman and de Waele, Anderlecht scored two goals and suddenly the entire tie was looking in jeopardy! Thankfully, Rangers recovered from this unexpected turnaround and pushed forward again to try and regain their superiority. Late on in the game, two goals from Sammy Baird, one another penalty, saw a more realistic scoreline of 5-2.
After such a war of attrition, the fans wondered what the return leg would be like. The answer was simple – exactly the same. Despite more intimidation and brutal tactics that even the Anderlecht management and Belgian Press apologised for afterwards, Rangers won that match 2-0. Poor Alex Scott was sent crashing into the boundary wall in the second half, had to be taken off with blood pouring from his head but bravely returned soon after, with his head swathed in bandages, to help his club progress to the next round.
Perhaps this was the tie that made Rangers players and fans realise, in more than one way, just what future European competition would be all about!
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL: February 17th, 1894 CELTIC 1 – 3 RANGERS
For 21 years, Rangers had chased after the Scottish Cup but twice before had failed at the final hurdle. This was their first final in 15 years and they couldn’t have wished for a tougher obstacle to their ambitions – Celtic. The team from the East End were the current Scottish Champions and, by the end of the season, would have retained their title. Naturally, this and their greater experience made them favourites to take the trophy at Second Hampden. Having said that, Rangers had managed to beat Celtic in their previous three encounters including giving them a 5-0 thrashing at Ibrox earlier in the season so maybe the result wasn’t as foregone a conclusion as some fans at the time believed.
On the debit side for Rangers was the fact that it had only been seven days since they had vanquished Queen’s Park in the semi-final replay, winning 3-1 and the fact that one of their players who had missed that match would also be absent from the final itself. David Boyd, by trade, was a ship’s carpenter so both his workplaces were obviously near each other. Due to a freak accident, he fell 20 feet into the hold of a ship he was working on. Such is fate. His injuries caused him to miss the biggest triumph in Rangers Scottish Cup history to that point.
Maybe the fact that the continuous rain that had been falling for over a day, making it a truly miserable afternoon, caused the attendance to be only 17,000 fans. But for this, the first Old Firm Scottish Cup Final would surely have generated a far bigger crowd. Of course, the clubs, in those days, hadn’t yet been nicknamed “The Old Firm”. That would come later once they had taken an inexorable grip of Scottish football.
In a typical Rangers v Celtic game, there was much effort and determination with little to choose between the sides in a hard-fought match. It was no surprise when the teams went in at the interval with the score at 0-0. A key feature of Gers’ clean sheet had been the stout defending of the Gers’ full-back combination of Nicol Smith and Jock Drummond. Smith, in particular, had been outstanding in dealing with Celts’ Scottish international winger Sandy McMahon.
In the second half, with more of the same being expected in the dreadful conditions, with the pitch becoming heavier, Rangers’ fitness and stamina started to tell and Rangers’ skipper, Davie Mitchell, stepped up to inspire his side. His energy going forward and brilliant passing that probed Celtic’s defences eventually breached their goal. 15 minutes into the second half, it was Mitchell’s cleverly taken free kick that was volleyed into the Celtic goal by Hugh McCreadie. Rangers were on their way. Then, in the 65th minute, a wonder goal seemed to put Rangers firmly in the driving seat.
John Barker took a pass just inside the Celtic half and set off in a mazy run the like of which Davie Cooper would have been proud of. He surged down the left wing, taking on one Celt after another desperate Celt as they tried to make sure he couldn’t drive in on goal. They all failed. As he cut inside, looking to shoot, he had to muscle defender Reynolds out of the way before slamming a fierce shot home from close range. Rangers had one hand on the Cup!
3 minutes later, it appeared that they had both hands on the trophy when that great striker John McPherson crashed in a third from 20 yards with his explosive right foot. However, as always, Celtic didn’t give up. They hadn’t become Scottish Champions by lacking team spirit. What turned out to be a consolation goal was scored 15 minutes from time by Willie Maley although the Rangers players, despite their comfortable lead, still disputed that the ball had crossed the line while in the hands of their keeper Haddow.
When the final whistle went, it was the proverbial “dream come true”. Although they’d already won the league title three seasons previously, Rangers had at last fulfilled their ambition to win this, the most prized of trophies, at that time. Such was the joy of Rangers players, past and present, that former player, Donald Gow, who had signed for Sunderland the previous October, sent a congratulatory telegram saying “Good Old Rangers”. To mark the achievement, all the players received a win bonus of just over £3 while Nicol Smith and Robert Marshall also got wedding gifts from a grateful club.
SCOTTISH CUP SEMI-FINAL, 1976: RANGERS 3-2 MOTHERWELL
When Gers took on this Motherwell side at Hampden, they knew that it would be no easy task to overcome it to reach the Final. This 'Well team would end up 4th in the league and had already knocked Celtic out of the Cup thanks to an incredible 3-2 win at Parkhead, having been 2-0 down at half-time! Thus, Rangers didn't have to be warned by manager, Jock Wallace that their opponents would be formidable. The way the match started suggested as much.
'Well took command from the beginning and Rangers couldn't seem to get going, showing none of their usual rhythm or fluidity. Motherwell were defending brilliantly when necessary and their tactic of hitting Gers on the break with crisp. precise movements was working perfectly, one of their strengths being the pace of strikers, Pettigrew and Graham. By the end of the first half it was obvious that they had out-thought and out-fought Rangers - to be two goals up! 8 minutes from half-time, McLaren had given 'Well the lead and, if that wasn't bad enough, a minute from the interval whistle, Pettigrew added a second by rushing away from the Gers defence and chipping the ball over the diving McCloy, before running on to it to slide the ball into the empty net.
At the start of the second half, it looked like Gers had the proverbial mountain to climb - in fact Mt Everest! For most of the half it must have seemed exactly like that - until they were rescued by their brilliant striker, Derek Johnstone. The Lanarkshire side managed to hold on to its lead until the final quarter of the match and, by that time, most fans had installed them as favourites to win the trophy, never mind this tie. Then, Rangers were thrown a life-line by referee, J.P.Gordon who awarded them a penalty kick.
This came about when Jackson, deep in his own half and near the left touchline, punted a ball up the left channel for Johnstone to chase ( he could "chase" in those days!) He outpaced a defender just before the ball entered the Motherwell penalty box, near the left-hand side. By now, the keeper, Rennie, had come out, diving at the feet of DJ but, making no contact with the ball whatsoever, he sent the big striker tumbling forward. Despite the protests from 'Well's players, and fans ( for days!) television evidence showed that the ref had got it right. It had been a foul and it had taken place inside the box. Alex Miller (now Liverpool coach) calmly stepped up and stroked the ball into the net. Game on!
The equaliser was "created" by an unexpected source - Gers keeper Peter McCloy. One of the Girvan Lighthouse's famous mammoth kicks-out soared into the night sky and bounced into the opposition's penalty box with Derek Johnstone, once again, giving chase. DJ then out-jumped the keeper and nodded the ball into the goal. Simple but effective!
By now, the tide had turned in Rangers' favour and the confidence could practically be seen draining away from the Motherwell players. With only 2 minutes left, from the half-way line, Jardine punted a free kick into the heart of the 'Well penalty box. As it landed, it was missed by Parlane and two defenders but Johnstone, running in behind them, got to it before the keeper, chested it down and away from him and gleefully tapped it into the net from a yard out.
Rangers had snatched victory in the dying minutes of this momentous tie. Furthermore, it had been achieved by spirit rather than consummate skill. It was that kind of Rangers spirit that would see the side win the Final, defeating Hearts, and complete The Treble for 1975/76.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL, 1877: RANGERS 2-3 VALE OF LEVEN
By 1877, Queen's Park and Vale of Leven were the equivalent of the future "Old Firm" with each club competing against the other for the honour of being Scotland's premier club. In fact, in the Scottish Cup campaign of that season, Vale had become the first Scottish side to beat Queen's Park by knocking the Hampden men out of the tournament in the quarter-final. This was the formidable team that Rangers had to take on in its first Scottish Cup Final. Most observers reckoned that it would be "no contest" believing that Vale of Leven would be too powerful and experienced for the young Rangers.
Like experts the world over, they turned out to be wrong! It took three matches before the destination of the trophy could be decided with Rangers fielding the same side on each occasion. In preparation for the first match, Rangers trained with an intensity and desire that eclipsed all that they'd done before. This was their big chance to win the club its first trophy. On 17th March, the Final, played at Hamilton Crescent, was watched by a record crowd of 12,000 with many spectators supporting the Gers as under-dogs. By showing courage, determination and no little skill, an honourable 1-1 draw was achieved thus ensuring an even bigger crowd (14,000) would turn up for the replay to see if the "upstarts" could repeat this feat or go one better.
Rangers again played well and had a one goal lead until a last gasp equaliser denied them their first Scottish Cup. The teams agreed to play extra time of 30 minutes ( believed to be the first time ever) but this was never completed due to a disputed Rangers "goal" ten minutes from the end of the agreed time. In those days, the goals had no nets and a well-known Glasgow surgeon, standing close behind the goal, claimed that the ball had hit off him and rebounded into the arms of the keeper! Instead of a winning goal, the referee decided that the Rangers' shot had not crossed the goal line and while protests were being made by both sides, the crowd encroached on to the pitch with its two factions arguing whether or not it had been a goal. The spectators refused to budge from the field of play and the ref had no choice but to abandon the game.
A week later, the second replay, this time at Hampden Park, drew a near record crowd of 15,000. Talk about giving the public what it wants! No doubt the crowd expected some fireworks ( but not of the Ricksen kind) - and did they get it! In a bad-tempered game, Gers held a lead mainly due to the brilliance of their keeper, Watt, before Vale eventually overcame them, winning 3-2 among flying boots. A protest later by Rangers was turned down by the SFA and the Cup went west.
Still, those three matches had been good for the young club. In those days, Rangers were the David to the Goliaths of the established clubs who were now forced to look on Rangers with a new respect thanks to the three matches by which it had enhanced its reputation, showing bravery, athleticism and fearlessness that augured well for the future.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL, 1996: RANGERS 5-1 HEARTS
This match came to be known as "Laudrup's Final" but, in the run up to it, many might have suspected that it would be Gascoigne's. In his first season at Ibrox, Gazza, a few weeks earlier, had almost single-handedly won the game that had clinched 8 in-a-row Championships and his performances that season had been so brilliant that he had already been voted the sportswriters' Player of the Year. As if to show that there was more than one superstar in the Gers side though, Brian Laudrup, instead of Gazza, was the player who showed the magic that had made him a hero of the Rangers fans.
A tough game had been expected but it became one of the most one-sided in recent Scottish Cup Final history as Gers players dazzled Hearts in the Hampden sunshine.The first goal that put Gers on the road to victory came from the Laudrup / Durie combination that was to destroy Hearts that day. A couple of one-twos between them ended with Laudrup taking a chip from Durie and smacking his shot past the Hearts keeper. It was a goal fit to win any cup - but there were 4 more to come! Amazingly the teams went in at half-time with that having been the only goal scored despite Gers' superiority. However, in the second half, the floodgates opened after a blunder by keeper Rousset let a half-cross, half-shot by Laudrup squirm between his legs. Next, after a fine Laudrup run and cross, came a brilliant volley from Durie making it 3-0. Although Hearts scored the next goal, a comeback was never a remote possibility and another Durie goal confirmed that. After an amazing dribble from Laudrup through the Hearts defence, the great Dane slipped a pass to Durie who ran past the stranded Hearts keeper and prodded the ball into the empty net. Durie memorably completed his hat-trick when he ran through the middle to meet an exquisite Laudrup cross to guide the ball home.
So, Gordon Durie scored a rare Cup Final hat-trick but still wasn't the Man of the Match. That honour belonged to Brian Laudrup who had shown his complete range of skills throughout the game, scored 2 goals and made the other 3. Not a bad day's work! Even Gazza must have admired it!
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL, 1996: RANGERS 5-1 HEARTS 