Bill Struth Years During the Second World War (pinched from DTB)

[Guest bluebell12]

A bit of history which was never counted.

 

 

All in all Rangers won 25 out of the 34 domestic trophies up for grabs in the WW2 and they came about as follows:

 

1939-40 - Regional League Western Division.

Scottish Emergency War Cup. - Dundee Utd were beaten 1-0 in the final attended by 90,000.

Glasgow Cup - Queens Park were defeated in the final by three goals to one.

Charity Cup - Rangers won this 7-2 on corners after a 1-1 draw against Clyde.

The semi final at Ibrox saw a delightful 5-1 demolition job of Celtic. A Grand Slam of minor proportions.

 

1940-41 - Southern League

Southern League Cup - Two matches were required to defeat Hearts at the final stage. A 4-2 win in the replay after a 1-1 draw.

Charity Cup - Three nil v Thistle

Two Cups were lost at the final stage this season. The Glasgow Cup to Celtic at Ibrox 1-0 and in the Summer Cup Hibs pipped the light blues 3-2 in the final. The quarter final home leg produced a staggering 5-5 draw against Hamilton after a 3-1 win in the first leg.

 

1941-42 this was another lesser Grand Slam season of sorts - Southern League; although it did include a severe 8-1 drubbing at Easter Road

Glasgow Cup - Clyde were thrashed 6-0 in the final after the team had defeated Celtic by the odd goal in five in the semi.

Southern League Cup - Twenty years after their last final encounter, Morton stood between Rangers and a trophy and a Gillick goal was all that separated the sides.

Charity Cup - Clyde again were the final opponents and it was won by a much tighter margin of 3-1.

Summer Cup - A revenge of sorts was taken on Hibs but only by the toss of the coin after the match finished all square on goals (0-0) and corners (2-2) Not the best way to win I suppose.

 

 

1942-43 - Southern League, including a rather jolly 8-1 Ne'erday battering of Celtic.

Glasgow Cup - Thirds beaten in the final 5-2.

Southern League Cup - won 11-3 on corners against Falkirk after a 1-1 draw during the match.

The Charity Cup was lost at the first hurdle with Clyde exacting a wee bit of revenge for the previous season, winning 2-1 at Ibrox.

The Summer Cup saw St Mirren heading off into the Paisley sunset with the trophy, beating Rangers 1-0 in the final. In the Q/F 1st leg Rangers won 4-1 at CP and the second leg saw another emphatic Rangers victory, this time by four goals to nil. So that was two 8-1 victories over Celtic in the same season. Which is nice; nice, nice, nice.

 

 

1943-44 - Southern League

Both the Glasgow and Charity Cups were won and both finals were against Clyde by margins of 2-0 and 2-1 respectively.

Hibs beat Rangers in the Summer Cup final by six corners to five after a 0-0 draw before 63,000. There were 90,000 at the Old Firm semi final when Rangers beat Celtic 4-2.

 

1944-45 - Southern League

Southern League Cup. Motherwell were beaten by the odd goal in three in the final in front of 70,000. There was a pretty astonishing 87,000 against Queens Park in the previous round. No doubt Celtic apologists will be telling us that Bill Struth got the entire Rangers support, jobs in the shipyards, too.

Both the Glasgow and Charity Cups were retained and this time Celtic were the final protagonists on both occasions. So another lesser Grand Slam had been achieved.

 

 

1945-46 this was something of a mixed bag of a season. The Southern League was won and so too was the Charity Cup. A Thornton brace against Third Lanark bringing home the bacon.

Clyde beat Rangers in the Glasgow Cup at the semi final stage by four goals to three. Aberdeen then defeated Rangers 3-2 in the Southern League Cup final before 135,000 at Hampden to record their first national trophy.

The SFA then asked that the cup be returned so that it could be competed for as the last trophy of the wartime era; The Victory Cup. There were 61,000 at Ibrox to see Falkirk in the Q/F 2nd leg. Then 90,000 rolled up to watch a 0-0 Old Firm semi final draw and 50,000 turned up for the 2-0 replay stroll. Hibs who were by now far and away Rangers strongest challengers domestically awaited in the final and 100,000 witnessed a 3-1 Rangers win. The trophy is still in the Ibrox trophy room to this day.

 

 

Nice to see a couple of 8-1's in there.

[Guest Dutchy]

A remember thinking that years ago after seeing the records, but the reason I thinnk it doesn't count is because no team played with all the players they started a season with during the war years.

 

Or something like that I read many years ago. Like players where constantly on loan to however they were nearest to.

[GovanAllan 0]

Certain teams (won't mention nhames) count goals scored in that period in their history, but funnily enough rewrite history on goals scored against.

[Guest bluebell12]

Certain teams (won't mention nhames) count goals scored in that period in their history, but funnily enough rewrite history on goals scored against.

 

Interesting. Think i'll do a wee bit of research on that one.

[der Berliner 4,304]

On a sidenote, I found a few bits of info on this period and one said ...

 

Admittedly, much of Rangers' success can be attributed to the fact that most of their players worked in "essential industries" during the War and, consequently, were available for selection on Saturday afternoons.

(Ian Morrison, Rangers, Hamlin P.G.Ltd., 1988, p. 30)

 

It does not go on and say anything about the strengths and weaknesses of other teams.

[Guest bluebell12]

On a sidenote, I found a few bits of info on this period and one said ...

 

 

(Ian Morrison, Rangers, Hamlin P.G.Ltd., 1988, p. 30)

 

It does not go on and say anything about the strengths and weaknesses of other teams.

 

I'll need to get the full info up for this. They were trying to say that Rangers players were conveniently in jobs which stopped them from going to the war. Load of mince. There is a list of the Rangers players at the time who served in the different regiments, Army, Navy and Air. That would say to me we won them without a full first team.

[GovanAllan 0]

Interesting. Think i'll do a wee bit of research on that one.

 

I'm sure it's the 8-1 BB they have it down they scored goals but no mention of the 8 scored against them.

[GovanAllan 0]

I'll need to get the full info up for this. They were trying to say that Rangers players were conveniently in jobs which stopped them from going to the war. Load of mince. There is a list of the Rangers players at the time who served in the different regiments, Army, Navy and Air. That would say to me we won them without a full first team.

 

I was always told we couldn't count them because not all the teams took part the league was split into north & south because of travel restrictions during the war.