BrahimHemdani 1 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 (edited) I was going through some old stuff at the weekend and came across a folder with the team photos from 1960-61 to 1967-68 (one missing 1963-64) which adorned the walls of my bedroom as a child. I’m going to start with this one of the 1961-62 line up because it is the only glossy photo, the rest are newspaper cuttings. It is stamped on the back “RECORD COPYRIGHT RESERVED” but hopefully it will long since have passed into the public domain. [/img] In those days, the big pre-season friendly, was the First Team v the Reserves and you can see the large crowd it drew. Another reason to start with this one is that the players are not named so you can have some fun trying to put names to faces. (I've played about with it endlessly on Imgur and this is the best size I can come up with that isn't just a small thumbnail or so big only half the picture appears. If Zappa or anyone else in admin can make it a bit bigger that would be appreciated.) The trophies won the previous season are displayed: League Championship (32nd time) League Cup and the Reserve League Cup. The 1961-62 Rangers finished second in the League on 51 points (2 for a win back then) from 34 games in the old 18 team First Division, behind champions Dundee on 54 points. However, we won the League Cup, the Scottish Cup and the Reserves won everything there was to win: Reserve League Championship, League Cup and Second XI Cup. Rangers defeated Hearts 3-1 in a League Cup Final Replay after drawing the first match 1-1 (Jimmy Millar). The regular forward line of the day: Scott, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson broke the Hearts with goals from Jimmy Millar, Ralph Brand and Ian McMillan in the first 21 minutes. At that time the European Cup was a straight knock-out competition for champions only with all matches played over two legs. In the First Round Rangers defeated Monaco 3-2 home and away. The French described our performance beneath the ramparts of Prince Rainier’s palace as “Magnifique”. The second round posed a strange “cold war” problem. The draw sent Rangers to East Berlin to play Vorwarts (pronounce Vorverts) and Rangers returned with a 2-1 victory. However, the Allied Authorities refused Vorwarts visas to travel and it was decided that the game would be played in “neutral” Malmo; actually it was played twice! The first match on November 22nd, 1961 was abandoned at half time due to fog with Rangers leading through a goal from 17-year-old Willie Henderson. The replay kicked off at 9.00 am the following morning and Rangers won 4-1 for a 6-1 aggregate, to bring forward a Quarter Final against Standard Liege. Eric Caldow pulled out of the away leg with an injured toe, 30 minutes before the kick off and was replaced by 19-year-old Bobby King. Teenagers Willie Henderson and John Greig were the right wing pairing (outside right and inside right). Rangers went down 4-1 in a mud bath before a “tempestuous, partisan crowd” (well, what would you expect?). Willie Henderson had been chosen to play again in the second leg ahead of Alex Scott whose fitness was in doubt; but Henderson got caught up in traffic on his way to the ground from Airdrie and did not arrive at the Stadium in time to strip for the match. Rangers won 2-0 but went out 4-3 on aggregate. As a 15-year-old, 28 clubs wanted to sign Henderson, “Manchester United and Aston Villa being the most persistent”; but he signed for Rangers on his father’s advice at age 16 and spent the next 12 years at Ibrox playing 478 times and scoring 36 goals. He won his first Scottish Cup medal in Rangers 16th Scottish Cup triumph when we defeated St Mirren 2-0 in front of 127,940 spectators who paid £17,980 (excluding stands!) at Hampden on 21 April 1962, the first of a three in row cup victories and my own first Scottish Cup Final. This was the legendary Rangers line up of the day: Ritchie, Shearer, Caldow; Davis, McKinnon, Baxter; Henderson, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson. Four of our lads: Eric Caldow, Jim Baxter, Alex Scott (who was still selected for Scotland although he had lost his place in Rangers team to Henderson) and Davy Wilson, played for Scotland in the famous 2-0 win over England at Wembley. Wilson and Caldow (penalty) scored the goals for Scotland, to give us our first British International Championship since 1951. Ian McMillan scored Rangers 5,000th league goal v Raith Rovers at Ibrox on the 14th of October 1961 and I was there! The season ended with an incredible and highly successful three-match tour of Russia: defeating Moscow Locomotive 3-1; Tbilisi Dynamo 1-0; and drawing the last game 1-1 with Kiev Dynamo. Thousands of fans swarmed over the tarmac at then Renfrew Airport to welcome the team home. According to Professor Graham Walker Between 10 and 15, 000 flooded into the precincts of Renfrew Airport to salute the team on their return that June evening, with thousands more stuck in traffic jams on the roads from Glasgow. The fans indeed swarmed on to the runway. One journalist proclaimed that the ‘No conquering army ever received a more vociferous homecoming’, while the late James Sanderson, then a journalist for the ‘Scottish Daily Express’, called it ‘the greatest homecoming of any sportsmen to Scotland – bar none!’ (Rangers Standard) [/img] If this has been of interest I'll publish one season every couple of weeks or so for the next few weeks. Credit: The above account is drawn from Rangers - The New Era (sic) by William Allison, published in 1966. Edited April 7, 2014 by BrahimHemdani Picture of Triumphant Return from Russian Tour June 1962, comment from Professor Graham Walker & Credit James Allison 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 I remember the Russian tour well, Baxter was in the Army so couldn't go and his place at left half was taken by Greig. The number of fans at the Airport to welcome them back was reported to be 10,000. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted April 7, 2014 Author Share Posted April 7, 2014 I remember the Russian tour well, Baxter was in the Army so couldn't go and his place at left half was taken by Greig. The number of fans at the Airport to welcome them back was reported to be 10,000. Well remembered! I have a photograph in a book and will try to scan. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
compo 6,147 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 I can remember watching the rangers playing at helenvale park in the old combination league 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
amms 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Brilliant BH, I look forward to the next one. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted April 7, 2014 Author Share Posted April 7, 2014 Brilliant BH, I look forward to the next one. That's very kind, the response hasn't been overwhelming so far, so I wasn't sure if folks were interested in what happened 50+ years ago. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted April 7, 2014 Author Share Posted April 7, 2014 Picture of the triumphant return from Russia in June 1962 now edited in along with comments from Prof Walker. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy steel 0 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 I would gently suggest that expecting a strong response to anything this morning, other than a thread announcing Ally has quit, is perhaps a trifle optimistic. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilledbear 16 Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Picture of the triumphant return from Russia in June 1962 now edited in along with comments from Prof Walker. I think we were the first team to tour Russia undefeated, this was the reason for the welcome. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrahimHemdani 1 Posted April 7, 2014 Author Share Posted April 7, 2014 I would gently suggest that expecting a strong response to anything this morning, other than a thread announcing Ally has quit, is perhaps a trifle optimistic. Quite so, Andy; I had held it back as I was having a problem with the pictures and thought it might be a good time to take folks minds off yesterday's fiasco but I'm sure your right. I don't want to get off topic in this thread but since you mention it "We are treating it as a major cup final," said McCoist. " by playing four injured players and bringing on another. Please do not respond in this thread, about yesterday's game! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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