Memories of the bygone days of yore.

[boabie 230]

I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread inviting Rangers fans to post their memories of matches from days gone by. I've several and would hope to find the time to get them down for posterity. My memory isn't what it once was and I have to say that confirming some of the details of the game online became a real trial and proved the fact that Wiki should never be used as a point of reference. I'll go with the little brain cells I have left and state that Wiki Rangers have got this one wrong, the game was played away from home.

 

Hibs v Rangers , 30 January, season 1964/65. 

 

This one sticks in my head for several reasons which I'll explain as I go along.

Firstly, it was my birthday. Back then I didn't miss many Rangers home matches, in fact very few games anywhere and usually headed to them crammed in the back of my grandads Gas Board van, sitting on top of old valves, scrap metal and tools. This time though, my dad having passed his driving test the week before and him having borrowed his pals van we made the trip from the south side of Glasgow through to Easter Road. I remember it being unsurprisingly, a cold day. Just then the vans oil warning light came on forcing a stop at a petrol station to buy a can of oil.

Near to Calderpark Zoo, just before we got on to the dual carriageway heading east we saw a long haired guy with his thumb extended and dad asked if we should pick him up. The fella climbed into the rear, thanked us and didn't stop talking for the next hour. He was a student of some kind but that's about as much as I could make out. 

Somewhere on the journey we stopped to get something to eat and the student followed us in to the greasy spoon. Maybe he'd forgotten his wallet, suffered from Paisley Disease or similar, but I know my dad paid for the 3 lunches. 

Back in the van our guest bummed yet another cigarette from dad just as the oil warning light lit up again leading to the purchase of another pint of engine oil.

Heading along Princes Street the student said he'd reached his objective. We stopped. He thanked us before leaning over through the window to ask dad what time he'd be going back to Glasgow as it would save him time and trouble if he could cadge a lift with us for the return journey. Dad told me to cover me ears before blasting him with something along the lines of, " We've gave you a bleep bleep lift. You've smoked all my bleep bleep fags, ate all my sons bleep bleep sweeties. Ponced a bleep bleep meal. You haven't shut your bleep bleep mouth the whole bleeping journey talking a load of bleeping rubbish and you have the bleeping nerve to ask for a bleeping lift back ?!!  Bleep off ya bleeping bleeper ! "

We drove off just as the oil warning light woke up again.

The game itself was unremarkable.  We lost 1-0 to the team who'd finish 4th in the 18 team league, one place above Rangers. That season was one of the very few where neither us nor Celtic finished in the top 2. Celtic finished in 8th place that season. We did however win the League Cup beating Celtic 2-1 in the final thanks to two goals from Jim Forrest . I was at that match too - thanks be to God !

Another 2 pints of oil were added to the engine before we reached home. The following day my dads mate was able to report that all the oil did not blow up the engine. But it was a close run thing. 

The faulty oil warning light was repaired later. 

I've no idea what became of the student .                                

[Scott7 5,168]

I was at that one too. Churchill’s funeral and Henderson and Baxter back from injury. 

 

Hearts must have been playing in the west because the Evening Despatch jambo writer reported the A8 eastbound traffic solid with Rangers ‘buses, cars, lorries and vans all the way from Maybury to the Newhouse roundabout.

 

I can see this topic running on and on.  I’ll be back tomorrow when I’ve decided which one to bore you with.

[Gonzo79 13,623]

Great to hear about these matches from the 60s.  Same goes for the 70s.  

[boabie 230]

Just now, Gonzo79 said:

Great to hear about these matches from the 60s.  Same goes for the 70s.  

I'm useless with computers so have to make posts "live" rather than type out an article or whatever, save it somewhere else and then go back to copy and paste onto a site such as this.

I thought about one covering our run to Barcelona but It would be very lengthy and have to be made in one go so I'll leave it until I've a day with nothing else planned.

[Scott7 5,168]

It was a good time, the yore. Plenty of memories, mostly triumphal, especially Cup Finals, the Dundee epic, Kai, Ian Mccoll’s swansong, but I think I’ll wait for Compo’s recollections of Meiklejohn, Morton and McPhail.

[Frankie 8,150]

Love reading these kind of threads!

[Yorkie Bear 508]

Would you believe it! Boabie’s tale of yore happened to be my first ever Rangers game.

 

My uncle (a Hearts supporter) had agreed to take me and my cousin (we all lived in Edinburgh). We were getting a bit concerned that we would not be there early enough (I suspect my uncle had gone for a pint or two). Anyway eventually we set off, me and my cousin resplendent in our new scarves, and got there in time. We stood on the terracing opposite the stand in what seemed to be a huge crowd.  I think Hibs scored around in the first half half time and while those around us talked of a Rangers comeback, it was not to be. After the match we visited his future father in law who lived near Easter road. I remember my uncle unveiling our scarves, much to the amusement of the father in law.

[boabie 230]

YB -   " We stood on the terracing opposite the stand in what seemed to be a huge crowd. "

That's what I was on about when mentioning Wiki. Hibs wiki have the game at Easter Road with a crowd of 43500. Rangers wiki have it at Ibrox with under 19000 attending.

As said, I'm rubbish with computers and it takes me ages to work things out or check details.

There's always been a decent crowd at that fixture any time I went through to Edinburgh.

[boabie 230]

Manchester United v Rangers.  [Friendly] ,  9 March 1974.

 

I was in the third year of an engineering apprenticeship and a few guys in our factory started talking about heading to Manchester to see this game.

Both Man U and us had free weekends having been knocked out of cup competitions.

Talk got around to action and 6 of us met at The Iron Horse, Glasgow on the Friday night. Pubs shut at 10 pm back then so strong quick elbows were a necessity to ensure as much alcohol as possible could be shifted prior to throwing out time. Carry outs were bought and we boarded a bus just after 11 pm to head south. The journey was a bit of a blur and one of the few things I recall it was  Gibby sitting in front of me handing over an opened McEwans Heavy can. I took a swig only to discover he'd been using it to pee into....... these things happen.

My next memory is of being at the main train station near to Piccadilly and it being daylight. We'd each taken a small grip with our "good" clothes to change into and wear that evening at the pub, disco, whatever. These we dumped in left luggage lockers at the station before heading out to explore the town. There couldn't have been anything exciting about Manchester because pretty soon we found ourselves walking towards Old Trafford.

Not far before we reached the stadium we saw a delivery truck outside a pub and a couple of guys lifting beer kegs, etc from it. Our offer to assist was accepted and the owner then invited us to take a seat at a table in front of a large fire before handing us a free pint. We managed maybe 3 pints before the doors got unlocked and Bears started spilling into the place. Before long the bar was packed and a guy asked us if he could borrow one of our chairs. Somebody got up and the fella stood on the chair before removing a painting hanging above the fireplace. I kid you not, it must have been about six feet by four. A couple more beers and we made our way to the stadium, only to find queues at the turnstiles which were all closed. Maybe half an hour later I turned around to see one of the funniest sights I've ever seen ---- an almost paralytic wee bear head down, carrying a flag on a stick staggering towards us. He looked up saw the queues  and shouted, "CHARGE !!" before running straight at the doors closing the turnstiles.

Eventually we got in to the Paddock End of the ground and the place began to fill. The crowd disorder that day has been well documented so I won't spend too much time sensationalising it here. One thing that really tickled me though was a Bear running on to the park to head off a couple of United fans who'd began to run towards our end. All got grabbed by the police, presumably for a night in the jail. Our man began making two finger gestures which he continued right around the track and up the tunnel. He got one of the biggest cheers of the day for his trouble.

Memory says we went 1-0 down then 2-1 up. United equalised before Parlane scored the winner from a penalty.

That evening was a nightmare.  After changing into our "good" clothes we went seeking entertainment but got sadly disappointed. Due to the reported disorder nowhere would allow us in. We tried umpteen bars and clubs but the second a Scots accent was heard entry was barred. We must have floated around for 2 hours before tiredness of the legs and feet forced us into a late night picturehall. "The Abominable Doctor Phibes" and some other load of shit if you're at all interested.  After that we got on a local bus and took a return journey to and from goodness knows where just so we could sleep for an hour or so.

Around 6 am at the bus station they started herding us onto any bus heading to Glasgow. It didn't matter what bus or company you were supposed to be travelling with, Glasgow ?? -- just get on that one there son !.

Home in Glasgow. Some sleep. Back to work Monday and wait to see what the future brings us.             

[Frankie 8,150]

Haha!  I'd imagine some of the stories from the UEFA Cup Final in 2008 may well mirror that of yours 34 years previous...