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

[26th of foot 5,849]

It was season 80/81.

 

The competition was the Anglo-Scottish Cup. The first leg at Ibrox finished 1-1. The second leg on a rain soaked evening culminated in a 3-0 deserved victory for the Derbyshire side. Several thousand Bears traveled to Chesterfield and at the end realised things had changed. You must remember, in the previous 20 years, rangers had participated in four European finals.

[Scott7 5,229]

I should have mentioned above that I had never heard of any of the Chesterfield players except Bonnyman, released by Rangers as not good enough. He scored.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Let's not sell ourselves short here. Chesterfield are the reigning anglo Scottish cup champions.

[Gribz 743]

Its interesting to read older posters of that time. Like Frankie mentioned it is slightly too early for me to comment. I do recall a lot of Scottish football in general from 1983/4 onwards even at the age of 4 and 5 but its mainly cup finals, internationals and European games. Between late 70s until Souness came I wouldn't like to comment on the baron spell.

 

But it goes in circles. Once we regained supremacy Celtic then had their horrendous spell between 1991-1998 with the exception of a couple of cup finals one which they lost to Raith. There was then a short period where it seemed to be 2/3 seasons for Rangers at the top then 2/3 for Celtic until 2012.

 

I cant for one minute believe the late 70s early 80s could compare to our last 4 years going through the divisions. It usually takes a max of 7 or 8 seasons for the circle to end so we probably should expect it to take us 2 seasons back in the top flight before we are champions again.

Edited October 8, 2016 by Gribz

[boabie 230]

Its interesting to read older posters of that time. Like Frankie mentioned it is slightly too early for me to comment. I do recall a lot of Scottish football in general from 1983/4 onwards even at the age of 4 and 5 but its mainly cup finals, internationals and European games. Between late 70s until Souness came I wouldn't like to comment on the baron spell.

 

But it goes in circles. Once we regained supremacy Celtic then had their horrendous spell between 1991-1998 with the exception of a couple of cup finals one which they lost to Raith. There was then a short period where it seemed to be 2/3 seasons for Rangers at the top then 2/3 for Celtic until 2012.

 

I cant for one minute believe the late 70s early 80s could compare to our last 4 years going through the divisions. It usually takes a max of 7 or 8 seasons for the circle to end so we probably should expect it to take us 2 seasons back in the top flight before we are champions again.

 

I started going to Ibrox when the Richie, Shearer, Caldow, Greig, McKinnon, Baxter, ........ side were successful. I then had to endure the title going elsewhere for 9 years in a row. But what is often forgotten is, we played some great football ourselves during those years. Probably thankfully , I worked abroad for several years so missed most of the late 70's, early 80's when it would seem from reading here, we were pretty awful. I didn't even know about the Chesterfield match until I read this thread.

I'll agree with you that things go in circles. I've no doubt we will be back on top again in the not too distant future.

[Scott7 5,229]

Sorry, Boabie. Some stones are best left unturned.

[Joe3Carroll 0]

I started going to Ibrox when the Richie, Shearer, Caldow, Greig, McKinnon, Baxter, ........ side were successful. I then had to endure the title going elsewhere for 9 years in a row. But what is often forgotten is, we played some great football ourselves during those years. Probably thankfully , I worked abroad for several years so missed most of the late 70's, early 80's when it would seem from reading here, we were pretty awful. I didn't even know about the Chesterfield match until I read this thread.

I'll agree with you that things go in circles. I've no doubt we will be back on top again in the not too distant future.

 

Thanks for your comment Boabie. It's interesting that you remember good/enjoyable football being played, even during these bad times.

 

Would anyone agree/disagree with Boabie? Was the football good to watch despite the lack of success?

[26th of foot 5,849]

Thanks for your comment Boabie. It's interesting that you remember good/enjoyable football being played, even during these bad times.

 

Would anyone agree/disagree with Boabie? Was the football good to watch despite the lack of success?

 

Rangers won their second treble in season 63/64, just before my time. The next ten years saw Kilmarnock win the league, followed by ra Sellik's nine-in-a-row. I attended Rangers Scottish Cup final victory in '66, a 1-0 replay win. It would be nearly five years before our next cup success, the League Cup victory, again the same score over the same opponents. It's famous for a 16 year old Derek Johnstone heading the winner in front of over 100,000 fans. Those five years were hard to endure; however, the opposition was tough.

 

Both Killie and Dunfermline had reached Euro semi-finals. Sellik won the European Cup in '67, Rangers lost out to Bayern Munich in Nuremberg 1-0 after extra time in the European Cup Winners Cup final, in the same year. Sellik again reached the European Cup final in '70, losing 2-1 to Feyenoord. Rangers lost out to Newcastle United in the Fairs Cup semi-final. The footballing standard was extremely high, and entertaining. I think I am right in stating that Rangers average home attendance was higher than ra Sellik's in nine out of ten of those fallow seasons?

 

Post '70, Eddie Turnbull's Hibs side were a fantastic team to watch, and Rangers/Hibs fixtures would attract huge crowds. Rangers eventually won the ECWC at the third time of asking in '72, beating Moscow Dynamo 3-2 in Barcelona. Our run to the final saw us defeat the French, Italian, Portuguese, and German cup winners. In '73, we met Ajax in the first European Super Cup final, two legs, losing out 6-3 on aggregate. The football in viewing terms remained attractive and comparably successful, picking up a third trophy in 3 years by winning the '73 Scottish Cup, defeating ra Sellik 3-2 in front of 126,000.

 

The comparison between those fallow times and the early eighties would be the latter period was hard watching. Mostly, the team was turgid, and got worse as the season progressed. Remember, the Scottish League cup culminated by early November. We could usually be relied upon to remain spirited until the festive period. I was home on leave January/February '80/81 and managed to see two home games against Morton and Dundee United. Both played on hard pitches on a Saturday and Tuesday evening. Both attendances were under 20,000, both defeats 0-1 and 1-4 respectively, and we were comprehensively demolished in football terms. Out thought, out run, out played, out .............. down and out inside our most modern new stadium.

 

When John Greig vacated the management seat at the top of the marble staircase, Rangers successfully pitched for both Alex Ferguson, and then Jim McLean to take over. Both huge Rangers men, Govan born'bred Ferguson had played for the club, but both returned to Aberdeen and Dundee United and telephoned the club the next day to relate their change of decisions. A panicked approach to Jock Wallace was a face saver. In one hundred and eleven years, Rangers had only had seven managers, no one had ever refused the Ibrox call; suddenly, two men had done so in the same week.

 

The arrival of Souness thirty years past relit a doused flame.

[JohnMc 2,483]

Yes, as has been said above one of the great ironies of Celtic's nine-in-a-row period was that Rangers had one of their best ever sides during that period, contesting two European Finals and winning one of them. It's no exageration to say that Glasgow was as strong a footballing city as any in the world at the time. The other difference between that period and the early 80s was we were competitive then. Celtic had a great side and were managed by a genius, but we were very good too, just not quite good enough. We were arguably watching one of the finest Rangers side in history at the time. In the early 80s we weren't even second best.

 

There's an article to be written about this period and the affect of the baby-boomer generation on Scottish/British football. The post-war babies were in their 20s in the late 60s and early 70s, the peak for footballers. The UK suffered significantly fewer casualities and infrastructural destruction than most of continental Europe during WW2, this must have played a part in the development of the sport. Last half of the 1960s first half of the 70s saw Celtic and Man U win the European Cup, England win the World cup and reach the quarter finals in 1970, as well as Rangers, Wolves, Spurs, Liverpool, West Ham, Chelsea and Manchester City all reach European Finals. Even Linfield and Glentoran reached European quarter finals in this period.

[pete 2,499]

I have enjoyed this thread. It is interesting reading of the different views of that period.