Help With an Article - The Football Pink - Rangers in the 80s

[26th of foot 5,841]

The equation of Rangers decline from '78 to the arrival of Souness in '86 relied on a number of variables, both constant and random. The redevelopment of the Stadium was a constant over five seasons. It was paid for by the Rangers Pools, the biggest in the UK. Wallace's resignation in '78, after his second treble winning season was a surprise, it remains a subject of continued speculation. Clearly, Waddell prioritised the redevelopment of the stadium and as thus, stymied Wallace's European ambitions. Remember, in Greig's first season(78/79), we won both cups, lost the league in the penultimate game at ra Piggery, and reached the European Cup quarter finals. Brian Clough thanked Rangers for easing Nottingham Forrest's progress because we eliminated successive favourites, Juventus and PSV .

 

After several seasons of finishing fourth/fifth, and regularly picking up the League Cup, thus securing European football; Lawrence Marlborough had succeeded to be majority shareholder. He wanted to relocate to Lake Tahoe and pass the club on to someone prepared to take it forward. He installed David Holmes as CEO, and demanded the club be successful to make it a more attractive sale. Souness arrived from Sampdoria, stunning all of Scottish and British football. We signed England's keeper, Captain, and our season ticket sales tripled.

[Oleg_Mcnoleg 50]

Yes I do have some notes on the detrimental effect to Rangers that other clubs success had, namely Aberdeen and Dundee Utd. It's interesting that Scottish clubs did so well (comparatively) in European competition around this time, following on from success in the 70s. No coincidence that the national team also enjoyed some successful WC qualifying campaigns too?

 

Thanks from the suggestion, I'll take a look.

There was a funny time in European football when some of the smaller teams were doing well at the expense of the traditional powerhouses. It wasn't just Aberdeen and the Dundee sides in Scotland. Ipswich, Villa and Forest had good spells in England; Malmo and St Etienne got to European finals; Barca only pipped Fortuna Dusseldorf to the cup winner's cup, etc.

[JFK-1 1,675]

There was a funny time in European football when some of the smaller teams were doing well at the expense of the traditional powerhouses. It wasn't just Aberdeen and the Dundee sides in Scotland. Ipswich, Villa and Forest had good spells in England; Malmo and St Etienne got to European finals; Barca only pipped Fortuna Dusseldorf to the cup winner's cup, etc.

 

Pre Bosman when they could virtually hold players prisoner even after their contract had expired.

[Big Jaws 570]

Tried to post this last night but my internet went down so apologies for it being late. There is truth in what you are saying Mack. Yes Greig was manager, the team were ageing, Jock Wallace took over and then finally Souness from 86'.

 

However for the enquirer its a complicated story that doesn't quite fit into nice neat decade size packages. Rangers won the league in 74-75 which we hadn't managed to achieve in 11 years even with players many bears regard as legends. A main factor that shaped the late 70's early 80's was that in Jan 1971, 66 people lost their lives on staircase 13 of the old East terracing. The Club researched stadia extensively while it also cut the Ibrox capacity. The first phase of redevelopment began in 1978 with the demolition of the East terracing and took 3 years to complete the project. That's 3 years out of the 5 that John Greig was manager. During that time crowds dwindled for two reasons one was the further reduction of capacity as the terraces and stands were demolished and rebuilt and inconsistent form from an ageing team. The rebuilding project had an initial cost estimate of £6mil which eventually totalled £10mil. I'm convinced this hampered both Greig and Wallace when he returned. By 1986 with finances returning to a normal levels Souness was appointed player manager. He won the league in his first season and again in 88-89 season which began a run of 9 consecutive titles.

 

74-75 Rangers

75-76 Rangers

76-77 Celtic

77-78 Rangers

78-79 Celtic

79-80 Aberdeen

80-81 Celtic

81-82 Celtic

82-83 Dundee United

83-84 Aberdeen

84-85 Aberdeen

85-86 Celtic

86-87 Rangers

87-88 Celtic

88-89 Rangers

96-97 Rangers *9

 

 

As to how did we feel and do we have any good/bad memory's? There are many but here is one.

 

In 78-79 season which I regard as the same era you are enquiring about, after 5 games domestically of which we hadn't won any and only scored two goals in the process we were tied with the great Juventus in the European Cup. We returned from Turin with a 1-0 defeat. Juventus had 9 of the Italian squad from the 78' world cup with players like Zoff, Gentile, Tardelli, Cabrini, Bettega and Causio etc no one held out any hope of getting anything from the return leg. However that night things just seemed to click into place and we comprehensibly dismantled them with something like 70% possession. We didn't just beat them we totally ripped them apart in every position beating them 2-0 on the night 2-1 on aggregate and as far as I'm concerned that rates as one of the finest Rangers performances I've ever seen.

 

From my perspective we knew there were major changes taking place in and around Rangers/Ibrox and that in time both the team and stadium would begin to match up.

[JohnMc 2,482]

For me, there were two matches that were signifiers of the era. The first was the 1982 Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen. We'd already won the League Cup that season but it was another fase dawn and our league form wasn't good as we finished a distant 3rd, ten points behind 2nd placed Aberdeen. Aberdeen hammered us in the final, it was 4-1 after extra time but that suggests the first 90 minutes were close and they weren't.

 

But it wasn't just the result it was the sides too. Aberdeen had exciting young players like Leighton, Miller, McLeish, Strachan, Cooper, Simpson and Hewitt with Eric Black on the bench. Rangers bench had Tommy McLean on it, he was 35 at the time. The starting 11 included stalwarts of the great 70s Rangers sides Sandy Jardine and Alex Miller, both were fit and talented but well into their 30s and passed their best, our young players were John McDonald and Gordon Dalziel and it was clear even then that neither was international class, unlike Aberdeen's young players.

 

That match signified the passing of a baton from Rangers to Aberdeen. Aberdeen had finished only 2 points behind champions Celtic in the league and were clearly building an exciting young team. We did have some good players in our side, Bobby Russell, Davie Cooper, Jim Bett and John McLelland all started the match and were international class players but the players around them simply weren't. That Aberdeen side went on to beat Real Madrid to win the Cup Winners Cup they qualified for beating Rangers. They also won the league twice whilst Rangers struggled to finish fourth.

 

Fast forward to August 31st 1986. A new Rangers side were playing Celtic at Ibrox in the first Old Firm match of the season. Souness had become manager a few months before and had signed Terry Butcher, Chris Woods and Colin West from the English league. Butcher in particular was one of the finest defenders in the world at the time and Souness (sorry, as an Everton fan this might hurt) was one of Europe's best midfielders and had been Scotland captain going into the summer's World Cup (in the days when Scotland qualified for tournaments).

 

But the season hadn't started too promisingly. Opening day defeat to Hibs was followed by a close win at home to Falkirk then defeat at home to Dundee Utd. We beat Hamilton away before welcoming champions Celtic to Ibrox having won only two of our first four matches of the season.

 

Celtic had a good side, they'd won the league on the final day of the season a few months before, in a time when the league was genuinely competitive and three or four sides went into it with realsitic expectations of success. They were unbeaten going into the match, winning every game except one, a draw with Aberdeen. They were the form side and the champions.

 

Rangers won the match 1-0. A suberb finish from Ian Durrant set up by a sublime run and assist from a revitalised Davie Cooper. It wasn't just the result though, it was the manner of the performance. We went toe-to-toe with the champions and we outplayed them. Our side now had four genuinely international class players in Souness, Cooper, Woods and Butcher alongside exciting young players like Ally McCoist, Ian Durrant and Derek Ferguson.

 

We'd had a few false dawns over the previous 6 years, but this felt different, and that's not just with hindsight. It was clear even then that Durrant was a class above above any other young player we'd produced in a couple of decades. McCoist, a player who didn't look like he'd make it at Ibrox before that season was suddenly scoring for fun and, probably most importantly, Davie Cooper a veteran of the side, a player gifted with incredible close control and power, responded to the improvement in squad and attitude to produce his defining season. He was immense, unplayable at times, drawing defenders out of position to create space for others to exploit, creating chances and looking like he was actually enjoying football again.

 

That was the day I believed we could win the league again. We laid down a marker that day. By the end of the seaon Alex Ferguson had left Aberdeen and Davie Hay was sacked as Celtic manager. We won the league that season and the League Cup and most tellingly changed Scottish football for seasons to come. Now we can debate whether ultimatley that change was for the better now, but at the time it certainly was.

[Frankie 8,172]

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to help Joe...

[26th of foot 5,841]

On reflection, there was one important factor in the 78/79 season often forgotten. Quite simply, it was a truly horrendous winter. The snow fell thickly on Hogmanay and remained on the ground for the next ten weeks. There was a Partick Thistle/Albion Rovers Scottish Cup tie postponed in excess of twenty occasions. From the middle of March until early May, three fixtures a week was the norm, I think Rangers played a dozen games in the last four weeks, the Scottish Cup final took three games before Rangers vanquished Hibs 3-2. Further, I remember Rangers sending the reserve squad up to Pittodrie for two games on the one day. The first at 11am was the reserve League Cup final, the second at 2pm was a reserve league fixture.

 

Talking of snow, our European Cup second round game, second leg at PSV's grouns was late November. We had drawn the first leg at Ibrox 0-0. PSV had NEVER been defeated at home in Europe. They had a wonderful side, including the Van Der Kirkoff brothers. I attended the game on the open terrace amid snow flurries. It was 2-2 going into the last quarter, the play had lengthened, but PSV were slowly dominating. Tommy McLean won the ball in the center circle, looked up as PSV's defence closed up on the offside, a deep running Bobby Russell ran through the back four as Calemero released a 40 yard diagonal pass. It was a foot race between Bobby and the PSV keeper, the Ranger won and passed the ball into the net from 30 yards to make it 2-3. We saw the ball coming towards us on that terracing, and we danced in the snow before the ball crossed the line.

[boabie 230]

 

Talking of snow, our European Cup second round game, second leg at PSV's grouns was late November. We had drawn the first leg at Ibrox 0-0. PSV had NEVER been defeated at home in Europe. They had a wonderful side, including the Van Der Kirkoff brothers. I attended the game on the open terrace amid snow flurries. It was 2-2 going into the last quarter, the play had lengthened, but PSV were slowly dominating. Tommy McLean won the ball in the center circle, looked up as PSV's defence closed up on the offside, a deep running Bobby Russell ran through the back four as Calemero released a 40 yard diagonal pass. It was a foot race between Bobby and the PSV keeper, the Ranger won and passed the ball into the net from 30 yards to make it 2-3. We saw the ball coming towards us on that terracing, and we danced in the snow before the ball crossed the line.

 

That was one of my best euro trips abroad that match. We were brilliant and it took me about a week to sober up.

[Little General 80]

On reflection, there was one important factor in the 78/79 season often forgotten. Quite simply, it was a truly horrendous winter. The snow fell thickly on Hogmanay and remained on the ground for the next ten weeks. There was a Partick Thistle/Albion Rovers Scottish Cup tie postponed in excess of twenty occasions. From the middle of March until early May, three fixtures a week was the norm, I think Rangers played a dozen games in the last four weeks, the Scottish Cup final took three games before Rangers vanquished Hibs 3-2. Further, I remember Rangers sending the reserve squad up to Pittodrie for two games on the one day. The first at 11am was the reserve League Cup final, the second at 2pm was a reserve league fixture.

 

Talking of snow, our European Cup second round game, second leg at PSV's grouns was late November. We had drawn the first leg at Ibrox 0-0. PSV had NEVER been defeated at home in Europe. They had a wonderful side, including the Van Der Kirkoff brothers. I attended the game on the open terrace amid snow flurries. It was 2-2 going into the last quarter, the play had lengthened, but PSV were slowly dominating. Tommy McLean won the ball in the center circle, looked up as PSV's defence closed up on the offside, a deep running Bobby Russell ran through the back four as Calemero released a 40 yard diagonal pass. It was a foot race between Bobby and the PSV keeper, the Ranger won and passed the ball into the net from 30 yards to make it 2-3. We saw the ball coming towards us on that terracing, and we danced in the snow before the ball crossed the line.

 

Talking of snow, the quarter final home tie against Cologne was postponed on the Wednesday and played on the Thursday, Rangers had asked for volunteers to clear the pitch.

[Little General 80]

There were some really bad buys as well, Gregor Stevens, Dave Mckinnon, Sandy Clark.