BAXTERISM BEATS COMMUNISM Rangers v Red Star Belgrade 1964

 

CHAPTER 4

RANGERS V RED STAR BELGRADE 1964

BAXTERISM BEATS COMMUNISM

● European Cup 1st Round Replay

● Wednesday 4th November 1964 ● Kick-Off 7.30pm

 

   B  A  C  K  G  R  O  U  N  D

 

█ A FIRST DATE █

 

• A PLAY OFF

Given their dominance in their respective Leagues, Rangers and Red Star had become regular participants in the European Cup but this tie was the first time they had been paired together. In the first leg at Ibrox Rangers triumphed 3-1 but Red Star won the second leg 4-2. There was no away goals rule in European competition and a play off at Highbury was required.

 

█ RANGERS 1963-4 █

 

• DOMESTIC BLISS

Domestically, Rangers won a historic Treble. Unfortunately they had the misfortune to draw Real Madrid in the 1st round of the European Cup who were still fielding the likes of Di Stefano, Puskas and Gento. Rangers gave an impressive account of themselves at Ibrox, only to be caught out five minutes from time, following a thrilling interchange of passes between Puskas and Gento, rounded off by the Spaniard. However in the second leg, Real demolished Rangers 6-0.

 

• NEW FACES 1964

Wilson Wood was in the mould of Harold Davis, a tireless worker and resolute defender. The most significant changes were upfront, Jim Forrest was the new centre forward and a prolific goalscorer especially against Continental opposition, the key to his goalscoring was his speed to get in a shot. On the left wing Willie Johnston had taken over from Davie Wilson. The youngster was very fast, a fantastic dribbler and fine crosser of the ball. Though not the tallest, he had a fine leap and was also a regular goalscorer. He would seem to have everything going for him, but his weaknesses were a slightly individualistic style and a somewhat fiery temperament. Overall this was a very attacking Rangers line up. Given that Eric Caldow and Dave Provan liked to attack, much would depend on the ring of steel provided by Greig, McKinnon and Wood.

 

   P R E – M A T C H  B U I L D  U P

 

█ 2 DAYS TO GO █

 

• RED STAR V FIVE STAR

Following a poor start to the season, Rangers had just hit top form. A League Cup win over Celtic was followed by a seven goal rampage against St Mirren. Clyde had been put to the sword 6-1 at Ibrox over the weekend, curiously 14 of Rangers last 15 goals had come in the second half. 

Rangers trained as usual on Monday morning and afterwards the sixteen man squad wearing identical roll neck sweaters flew to London Airport from Renfrew. Unfortunately Willie Henderson was not in the party, he was booked to go into hospital after the team left for treatment on a bunion on his big toe. Nevertheless, he hobbled to Ibrox to wish his teammates ‘all the best’, before hobbling on to Hospital. Both teams had been booked to stay at the five star Mount Royal Hotel in London just off Marble Arch.

 

█ RED STAR BELGRADE 1964 █

 

• WHO ARE THE OPPONENTS?

 

Red Star Belgrade                          

The Yugoslav Olympic Team          

The Yugoslav Army Team              

The Yugoslav International Team

The Workers of Belgrade                

 

All five and not particularly helpful to Red Star’s cause. Dr Alex Obradovic bemoaned to Hugh Taylor of the Daily Record that, “With the Olympic Games and other international commitments, I haven’t seen my players for thirty days.” Five of their players had played in the Tokyo Olympics in the summer where Yugoslavia been narrowly beaten 6-5 by eventual gold medallists Hungary. Here was a club official entitled to complain about ‘international call ups’. 

Red Star were a relatively young club. Officially formed by students of Belgrade University in 1945, they were quickly adopted by the ruling communist party as the team of the ‘Belgrade Workers’. In 1948, they won the Yugoslav Cup and in 1951 the League Championship and from that point they dominated the domestic football scene in the 1950’s. They competed in their first European competition in 1956-7 and supplied the nucleus of the 1960 Olympic gold medallist Yugoslav Football team and the national team that dominated the initial European Nations Cup that ran from 1958 to 1960. Red Star was not run as a ‘company’ but operated as a sports club administered by a committee. 

In the early 1960’s, Red Star suffered a bleep in form but came back to the fore with a 1964 League and Cup double. To neatly coincide with the opening of their stunning new 90,000 capacity stadium.

 

• A METAPHOR FOR LIFE – A PHOENIX FROM THE FLAMES

Just 25 years earlier Belgrade had suffered appalling devastation at the hands of the Nazis. On one day alone, Palm Sunday 1941, 25,000 men, women and children were killed in a 300 bomber blitz. (So don’t anyone lecture me about Dresden and Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris.) Tens of thousands more suffered the most horrific atrocities at the hands of their Nazi occupiers and local collaborators. Namely those Croatians and Bosnians who set up their own branches of the SS and actively worked with the Nazis to murder and persecute the Serbs especially in those parts of Yugoslavia where Serbs were in the minority. 

After the horrors of war, Belgrade began rebuilding from the ruins and the newly formed club became a metaphor for a city being rebuilt. Life was of course tough and austere in those post war years but Red Star’s successful ‘joie de vivre’ brand of football brought a smile to the passionate footballing public of Belgrade and to Serbs further beyond.

 

ZVEZDA JE ŽIVOT, OSTALO SU SITNICE

RED STAR IS LIFE, THE REST IS UNIMPORTANT

 

In other parts of the Eastern Bloc and Yugoslavia was probably the most liberal, fans often shied away from clubs sponsored by governments but Red Star were the best supported club in the country.

 

• DOCTOR, DOCTOR

Officially they were managed by former Red Star legend, Mitic but the real power rested with Dr Alexander Obradovic. He was the previous Red Star manager but currently serving a one year suspension for ‘bribery’, so Red Star appointed him as their ‘physio’. Dr Alex further outlined to Bill Brown of the Evening Times that due to Yugoslav Olympic calls on their players, Red Star had played just once in thirty five days and matters had not been helped by injuries to their excellent pair of forwards Dragoslav ‘Sekki’ Sekularac and Selimir Milosevic.

 

• ANYONE FOR A FERRERO ROCHET ?

At 8 o’clock on Monday evening, both teams assembled in the hotel lobby to head off for a reception hosted by the Yugoslav ambassador at the Embassy. Bill Brown was most impressed with the good atmosphere between both sets of players at the hotel. He noted that, “Sometimes East European teams were as retiring as Scot Symon when it came to mixing with foreign newsmen,” but the Yugoslavs came across as a friendly, happy bunch. They even asked the journalist to pass on their best wishes to Willie Henderson in hospital. Seemingly both camps agreed that the last thing either wanted was a toss of the coin to decide who would go through into the next stage should the match be drawn.

 

~10/10 Bill Brown!

In the event of a draw, Brown suggested the best of ten spot kicks. A better format than a coin toss and perhaps even than five kicks then sudden death format. In that it makes the shootout into a collective team effort but obviously not quite so exciting.

 

• STOP PRESS GAIR HENDERSON IMPRESSED WITH RANGERS

Rangers recent fine run of form had caught the eye of their old critic and Evening Times scribe, Gair Henderson. He was most impressed and predicted a win against, “Tito’s Toppers.” (sic) He felt that the reorganisation of the team with Jim Baxter switching to inside left and Eric Caldow to left half had made all the difference. A fortnight ago he would not have put, “a Yugoslav dinar,” on a Rangers victory but was now convinced that Rangers would win.

 

• ELSEWHERE…

 

~Denmark Morton Are Formed

‘Denmark’ formerly ‘Greenock’ Morton fielded five Danish players in their away game to Hearts on Saturday. Part of the Danish contingent included two players by the names of Kai Johansen and Erik Sorensen.

 

~Arsenal Visit Scotland

The Play Off hosts Arsenal travel in the opposite direction to Rangers beating Dundee 7-2 in a friendly at Den’s Park.

 

█ TUESDAY █

 

• MORNING AND AFTERNOON

Contrary to Arsenal’s announcement on Monday that neither team would be training at Highbury, both teams were allowed to train there and to use Arsenal’s impressive indoor gymnasium. Rangers trained in the morning at 10.30am and Red Star in the late afternoon at 5.00pm. Arsenal also invited the players into their trophy room to look at the club’s memorabilia and trophy collection. There is a picture in the Daily Record of Eric Caldow looking quite fascinated by Arsenal’s pennant collection from overseas opponents.

• VIĆS, TIĆS AND JIĆS

Red Star announced their team and it seems that unless you had an –ic, at the end of your surname, you needed a very good football name to be selected. It read as: Vlada Dujković, Vladimir Durković, Zivorad Jevtić, Slobodan Škrbić, Milan Čop, Vladimir Popović, Zvezdan Čebinac, Vojislav Melić, Zoran Prlinčević, Borivoje Kostić and Dragan Dzajić.

 

• 1962 AND ALL THAT

Red Star’s captain was Vladmir Popović and alongside Durković, and Melić played for the Yugoslav team that reached the 1962 World Cup semi finals in Chile. Indicating the task that faced Rangers yet it could have been a lot more difficult.

 

• THE AWESOME ABSENTEES

Facing Red Star could have been considerably trickier had this trio been available for selection.

 

~The Amazing Sekki

Red Star’s best player who made a massive contribution to that 1962 World Cup campaign would not be playing. Namely, the wonderfully talented if temperamentally volatile Sekularac or Sekki, as he was known at home. The twenty seven year old was rated as possibly the best inside forward in Europe despite having already been suspended twice during his career for a combined total of three years. (Each suspension running for eighteen months.) With a bag full of tricks, like Jim Baxter, Sekki could run a game entirely on his own and after the 1962 World Cup Juventus of Italy tried to buy him for £150,000. Unfortunately for the neutral, he was still recovering from a serious knee injury.

 

~ And Friends

Other injured absentees were Selimir Milosevic with one of the hardest shots in European football and regular goalkeeper, Mirko Stojanovic. His replacement the eighteen year old Dujković a more flamboyant, acrobatic if less reliable custodian.

 

• PLACE YOUR BETS

John Banks, a fearless Glasgow ‘layer’ renowned for generous prices chalked up these odds :

Over 90 minutes. 8-13 Rangers Win. 5-4 Red Star Win. Rangers to win the tie 10-11

Any of the following to score a goal : 6-1 Brand, 4-1 Millar, 2-1 Forrest, 7-2 Baxter, 5-1 Johnston.

 

• MINGLING

 

~Confident Rangers

Bill Brown was happily mingling in the Rangers camp and spoke with a Rangers director who wished to remain anonymous. The director was delighted with the recent rediscovery of form and was very confident of progress to the next round. He put the marked improvement down to the improvement of Jim Baxter’s all round play, the return to form of Forrest and Millar, Caldow’s steadying influence and the ever improving young Willie Johnston.

 

~Pessimistić Red Star

Dr Alex was less optimistic regarding his team’s chances. He lamented that Red Star had been unable to play a competitive game for so long that he’d lost touch with the Olympic contingent until their recent return. He was also aware that Rangers had played before at Highbury and expected Rangers to have the crowd on their side.

 

• PREPARING FOR THE INVASION

Roy Peskett of the Daily Mail reported that Arsenal had already sold roughly 6,000 reserved seats for the game almost entirely to Scottish fans. The Highbury spokesman told him, “Nearly every personal and telephone inquiry has come from a Scottish accent.” Box office manager Fred Jeeves (Jeeves – how splendidly Arsenal!) stated, “By mid-afternoon (Monday) we had sold nearly £5,000 worth of reserved seats. Rangers have always been a tremendous draw at Highbury, but this has eclipsed anything we have had for a neutral match other than in the Cup.” 

And to give credit to Arsenal, their pricing policy was very fair. A seat in the Grandstand at Ibrox for the tie against Red Star was priced at 15/-. Arsenal priced the equivalent seats in the upper tiers of the East and West stands at the same price. With the seats in the East Stand lower tier at a bargain 10/-, because if you ask me, they provided the better view.

 

~Is That All You Take Away?

Red Star had requested a slightly smaller allocation of 200 tickets. No doubt the Yugoslav Embassy would be closing early on Wednesday evening.

 

   M  A  T  C  H  D  A  Y

 

█ MEDIA AND MULTINATIONALS █

 

• MEDIA INTEREST

For those fans unable to travel south for the tie, they had the consolation of being able to listen to a Radio broadcast and best of all the final twenty minutes of the game were to be broadcast live on BBC television.

 

~The Going Rate

For the first leg at Ibrox Scottish Television offered Rangers £500 for non-exclusive rights to film the match and present edited highlights up to a maximum of fifteen minutes on their Wednesday night Scotsport show.

 

~Viewer #1

Willie Henderson writing for the Daily Record had a radio and television installed in his hospital room.

 

• Multinationals Are Here

A picture appeared in the Glasgow and London evening newspapers of Jim Baxter preparing at a deserted Highbury sporting a pair of Adidas trainers. (Sambas?) The first time I’ve spotted a Ranger in London wearing branded sportswear. Not only was this Jim setting the trend again but also a reflection of how the German company was targeting top players from across the world to endorse their footwear and of course when the media were present, receive plenty of free advertising.

 

█ KEEPING UP APPEARANCES █

 

• THE 31ST

Eric Caldow, Davie Wilson and Bobby Shearer had each made thirty European appearances, these three stalwarts were no doubt keen to see who would take the lead upon the selection of the team. The former had demonstrated a remarkable determination to recover from an injury which would have forced many other professionals into retirement.

 

█ WEST END █

 

• THE BLUE ARMY

Once again, Rangers travelling army arrived from day break onwards and as tickets were freely available, so the numbers following on were even far greater than for the journey to White Hart Lane. Fans had become more used to travelling to London with Rangers and back in those days with the Tartan Army and met at various rendezvous points. The West End tourist locations of Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Soho were to be transformed for the day.

 

Certainly the latter’s then reputation for debauchery and sleaze brought in hundreds of curious ‘blue’ tourists during the afternoon when the pubs closed. Given the size of the following, workers in the West End must have thought there was an international being played later on in the day. With their colour and songs the tourists actually became something of an attraction themselves with their vibrant noise and colour and I’m sure Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square heartily approved of the Union Jacks on display. As evening closed in, the fans moved towards Leicester Square Underground station to make the short six stop journey on the Picadilly line to Arsenal station.

 

█ OH TUCKET █

 

• TASTEFUL

Emerging from the underground station, Rangers fans were greeted by programme sellers. Alas, this was not a convenience for the supporters but another counterfeit programme scam. The offering was an eight page issue produced by Tuckets. But credit where it is due, the front cover was actually better than the official programme’s. Tastefully printed in red, white and blue and it had a large photograph of Rangers in action. Interestingly, the three pirate programmes from North London have become quite collectable and are worth much more than the genuine articles.

 

   M A T C H   R E P O R T

 

RANGERS : 1 Billy Ritchie  2 Davie Provan  3 Eric Caldow (C)  4 John Greig  5 Ronnie McKinnon  6 Wilson Wood  7 Ralph Brand  8 Jimmy Millar  9 Jim Forrest  10 Jim Baxter  11 Willie Johnston.

Blue shirts with a deep white V. White shorts. Red socks with a white top.

Eric Caldow is both captain and now the Ranger with the most European appearances.

 

RED STAR : As announced.

Red and white striped shirts with red collar. Black shorts to avoid a clash of colours. White socks.

 

Referee : K Dagnall (Bolton).

Linesmen : Mr E Press (Staines, Middlesex) and Mr A Oliver (Leigh on Sea, Essex).

Under Competition rules, no substitutes allowed.

 

Dry and chilly.

 

FIRST HALF 

Rangers kick towards the uncovered Clock End, Red Star to the North Bank. 

4 mins : RANGERS GOAL DISALLOWED

John Greig makes a run, the Red Star defenders back off him. Unchallenged, he passes to Jim Forrest who sweeps home. The celebrations begin, Rangers banners and flags are raised but it’s disallowed, seemingly for offside. A chorus of boos rings around north London.

 7 mins : Popovic shoots from twenty yards out and the ball bounces awkwardly in front of Ritchie. The goalkeeper saves well.

 12 mins : GOAL 1-0 RANGERS :

Brand floats across a corner to Jimmy Millar (carrying a neck injury) instead of firing in a bullet header he cushions a gentle header to Jim Forrest’s right boot. Defender Cop makes a desperate lunge to keep Forrest's shot out but it deflects in to the goal via his boot. A chorus of ‘Easy Easy’ goes up from the Rangers support.

Jim Baxter who until then had been struggling starts to find his range.

24 mins : ANOTHER RANGERS GOAL DISALLOWED

This time it’s Ralph Brand who is disappointed. A certain Glasgow bookmaker breathes a sigh of relief almost as loud as the boos from the Rangers fans. 

28 mins : Jim Baxter brilliantly picks out Forrest, but the striker shoots weakly and straight at the goalkeeper. Missing a great opportunity to double his and Rangers tally.

29 mins : Cebinac draws out the Rangers defence and finds Melic who smashes the ball against the upright. 

This signals a Red Star comeback into the game. 

Ralph Brand makes a series good incisive runs but wastes a great opportunity supplied by Jim Forrest. 

35 mins : GOAL 2-0

This time Jim Baxter picks out Brand who fires at the Red Star Keeper. He manages to keep the ball out but Jim Forrest is on hand to collect the rebound and score. 

45 mins : The star of the first half for Red Star is their flamboyant young ‘keeper who entertains the crowd with his acrobatics and shot stopping. For Rangers it is Jim Baxter, Red Star give him far too much space and having found his range he runs the game. Performing his repertoire of passing, dummying, feinting and dribbling. On the eve of half time the pair conjure a truly magic moment. Baxter lets fly, a certain goal but somehow the young goalkeeper plucks the ball away. 

HALF TIME SCORE : RANGERS 2 RED STAR 0

 

CHEER LEADER

Some players when not selected prefer to keep their own counsel when watching a match. Sadly it too often masks a desire for their team to lose, so that they can get back in the first team. Not so Bobby Shearer, he shouted himself hoarse urging on and encouraging his teammates. 

Willie Allison observed him at the match, “That was Shearer. He withheld nothing in an age when self is, alas, becoming more important than club.”

 

Bobby memorably summed up on a number of occasions what Rangers meant to him when he said,

“To be a Ranger is beyond price.”

 

SECOND HALF 

Red Star improve but their slow build up and spraying of passes sideways lacks penetration. 

The Rangers defence is solid and in goal Ritchie when called upon is reliable. 

Jim Baxter continues to display his various tricks.

73 mins : GOAL 3-0

Baxter finds Ralph Brand who scores and leaps high in to the night air. Upset Red Star players appeal for offside. John ‘6-1 on Brand’ Banks dare I say it, takes a very large breath of air and gulps something considerably stronger. 

77 mins : GOAL 3-1

Cop heads home a Cebinac corner, through a cluster of defenders. 

Red Star leaving it late throw everything into a final effort to claw their way back into the tie and Rangers are forced deeper. The goodwill at the hotel is forgotten as some tough challenges fly in, particularly from the desperate Yugoslavs. Kostic and Skrbic are booked for Red Star, Provan for Rangers. 

Jim Baxter’s composure and distribution is enough to buy Rangers sufficient time and possession to take the sting from their determined opponents. 

FINAL SCORE : RANGERS 3 (Forrest 2, Brand) RED STAR 1 (Cop)

Attendance : 34,428

(100 more than Arsenal’s average home league gate from their 8 League games that season)

 

   P O S T   M A T C H   R E A C T I O N

 

█ QUOTES AND ANALYSIS █

 

• THE BOSSES

Dr Alex, “I never felt Rangers could play as well as that. They were brilliant.” 

At London Airport Symon was approached by an Evening Times journalist. Initially he told him that he was too busy to talk, but then relented with this statement, “I have no complaints about the match at all. It was an excellent game.”

 

• VIEWER #1

The Daily Record had a picture of a bespectacled Willie Henderson earnestly watching the game. Like everyone else he was mesmerised by the performance of Jim Baxter. Although the televised coverage only lasted for twenty minutes he commented, “I did see enough to know that Jim Baxter had the kind of game every player dreams about.” Willie was not too surprised as he felt that the great showman loved to play in front of a London crowd. 

He probably spoke for many fans watching at home when he ventured that, “The only thing that was wrong was that we didn’t see enough. I saw one live Rangers goal and a flashback to Jim Forrest’s first. But what a pity we didn’t see the second.”

 

• THE CHAIRMAN

Rangers chairman John Lawrence waxed lyrical. 

“Our play, like that against Red Star of Belgrade, in the European Cup play-off at Highbury, reflected the intense pride in the colours when the odds looked all against us. The Austrians (who were scouting their opponents for the next round) said afterwards that they were completely taken aback by the fervour, devotion and non stop drive of our players.” 

“The memorable display of our boys at Highbury, where they rose to the utmost heights of individual and combined skill, and their ability to super-impose their will on the Red Star by their sheer pace and purpose must make us face any undertaking with assurance. Assurance yes, but never over-confidence or bombast. Because we always treat our opponents with the greatest respect.”

(Chairman’s Message, Rangers v Rapid Vienna programme, November 1964)

 

• THE PR MAN

Willie Allison felt that Red Star failed to produce the zeal and skill that they had shown in Belgrade.

 

• THE BOSS

Scot Symon’s overriding emotion was pride, “With a sense of pride we watched our boys win 3-1 in a match that showed how we are never stronger than when the call is insistent.” (Scot Symon in the Wee Blue Book 1964-1965)

 

• BORBA AND THE YUGOSLAV MEDIA

Politika surmised, “The defeat come because the defence line of Red Star could not hold the pressure of Rangers from the tenth to twenty fifth minute of the first half. Rangers deserved their victory. They were the better team.” 

Similarly Borba concluded, “Rangers deservedly won the match because our champions gave a poor display in the first half when the Scots held all the initiative. Red Star used a wrong kind of defensive play, leaving its slow and complicated forward line to do something.”

 

• THE LONDON MEDIA

The Evening Standard was thrilled with Baxter’s performance. Although they suggested that his inconsistency in form had counted against London clubs from trying to buy him in the past.

 

• THE SCOTTISH MEDIA

Like their London counterparts, they also lavished praise on Jim Baxter, though there was a feeling that Rangers would need to improve if they were to win the trophy. They gleefully pointed out the misfortune of Bookmaker John Banks who lost a monumental £12,000 on the evening. The Brand goal alone cost him £2,000 and the hapless bookmaker revealed that things could have been much worse as a lot of money had been invested on Jim Baxter making the score sheet.

 

█ THE MORNING AFTER █

 

• BACK AT HIGHBURY

The following morning twenty one fans appeared at Highbury Magistrates. Of them eighteen were fined and three were remanded on bail. Of the eighteen, most had been arrested for the pilfering of drinks from off licences and bars. Two men from Corby were fined £3 each for drunk and disorderly, using insulting behaviour and climbing on to the pitch at half time shouting and waving their arms. 

In a memorable exchange with the magistrate, one of the men explained, “I was just celebrating the win.” 

To which the magistrate replied, “It’s a bit early to celebrate at half time.” Fair play, the Beak knew his football. 

The Evening Times reported that during the hearings, Detective Sergeant Blake of the Met had informed the magistrate, "The police in Glasgow are so inundated with matters arising from this match that they are accepting no more calls.” 

A night in the cells was probably preferable to the fate that awaited Rangers fans travelling on the overnight train from London to Glasgow. Carrying hundreds of fans it broke down at Carlisle. It was meant to arrive in Glasgow at 07.50am but did not turn up until 10.30 and not only was it uncomfortable vis-à-vis a night in the cells, the fans also missed work the next day. However a railway spokesman reported that that the fans had been well behaved during the journey.

 

-THE BOYS IN BLUE V THE BOYS IN BLUE

Of the three remanded on bail, one had previous convictions. The other two were charged with breaking into a shop, stealing tea cosies and items of women’s and children’s clothing. They were apprehended by two of the bluest (not the Vice Squad) policemen in London. The two policemen were Rangers fans and members of the City of Glasgow Police who came down to watch the game. Upon leaving the ground, they heard the sound of breaking wood and investigated. They informed their London counterparts who secured an arrest. The pair (the police that is) were commended by the magistrate. The other pair were fined £40 each and given a conditional discharge for twelve months. The magistrate, Mr Frank Milton did not consider their offence to be anything more than over exuberance, concluding, “This was quite an unpremeditated crime brought about by the exhilaration of victory and not drunkenness.”

 

   T A L K I N G   P O I N T S

 

█ BAXTERISM █

 

• DEFINITION

“Flamboyance, living life to the full. A sense of fun, excellence and may the devil take the hindmost.”

 

█ IT’S A HARD KNOCK LIFE █

 

• THE STINGING SIXTIES

Contrary to the image of the 1960’s as a peaceful, law abiding era, a read of newspapers from that era suggests a society considerably more violent and brutal than today. Murders, violent robberies, knife and axe attacks plus assorted random acts of delinquency filled the papers everyday. 

The young adults were products of war time and post war austerity and society was much tougher. We’re talking about the children of the 1940’s and early 1950’s whose homes had no electricity, no hot water and outside toilets. 

Young people had far fewer leisure activities and often joined gangs and fought each other as it was something to do. The ‘clip round the ear’ was an acceptable punishment by school teachers, parents and police officers. Young people were brought up to be tough, not to complain and to sort out problems themselves. An oversensitive youngster was derided as a ‘softy’. Be it in London or Glasgow, football fans were nothing more than excited enthusiasts.

 

~EG Mods and Rockers Next Day In London

The events in London on 5th November for various Guy Fawkes celebrations are a case in point. On this night 138 people were arrested for incidents at Trafalgar Square and Hampstead Heath. At Trafalgar Square 98 youths were arrested as they battled with the police and threw fireworks at them. At Hampstead Heath, 40 more were arrested as mods and rockers clashed violently.

 

~Or Glasgow Gang Culture

And then again, the mods and rockers were cherubs compared to Glasgow’s thriving culture of youth gangs. Glasgow gang culture dated back to before the turn of the Century and new gangs sprouted up all the time. Frequently gang disputes were settled with knives, swords, knuckle dusters, bottles, clubs, coshes and especially the ubiquitous ‘malky’. The malky frazer rhyming slang for razor of a cut throat variety left permanent and ugly disfigurement to the face.

 

█ RANGERS V THE BRITISH ARMY AND JIM BAXTER! █

 

• BLUE V KHAKI

Another Army team Rangers regularly played, was the British Army from 1953-4 until the early 1960’s. In the days of national service, the Army could put out a formidable XI of young professionals doing their stint. Rangers hosted the games but the Army fared rather well. Their victorious team in 1956 included a future England trio of Alan Hodgkinson, Bobby Charlton and Duncan Edwards plus that terrific welsh winger later of Spurs, Cliff Jones. The Army’s 1960 team included none other than Jim Baxter. However when compulsory national service ended, the Khaki pool of talent dried up and the games ceased.

 

█ RATINGS WARS █

 

• THE RADIO TIMES

Radio and now television had woken up to the huge potential of broadcasting football. Regular radio coverage began with BBC’s Sports Report in 1949 which included match reports and Sports Special was introduced in 1955 to carry live commentaries.

 

• THE TV TIMES

Television realised the staggering potential of broadcasting football when Wolves hosted Spartak Moscow in the early 1950’s. Only the Coronation had ever attracted a larger Television audience and subsequently Match of the Day first aired in 1964. Initially the BBC was reticent about broadcasting football as it felt a need to broadcast edifying if not necessarily popular programmes. By the mid 1960’s it had become ratings orientated, football delivered and became an important part of the schedules. It also encouraged more people to buy TV sets and the BBC in turn would generate more licence fee income.

 

• THE TV STARS

The upshot was that the footballer started to evolve into a television personality and celebrity as the star of the ‘show’. Though I would suggest that clubs had not yet woken up to the potential value of their product.

 

█ RANGERS BRAND OF PREPARATION █

 

• MORNING

Symon was happy to delegate to Davie Kinnear to organise the morning training. Though Symon was never spotted in a tracksuit, he would turn up from time to time to ensure everything was running smoothly. 

In turn Kinnear encouraged the senior players to take a lead. The importance of senior players was a cornerstone of Mr Struth’s philosophy. Actually even today it isn’t such a bad idea, the experienced senior pros are able to pinpoint what areas needed to be addressed on the field and the most effective way of doing so. A number will have their eye on a future career in coaching so will have given thought to new and innovative ideas. It’s also good motivation, a cynical older pro can hardly moan about the training if he’s suggested it. 

The morning began with a warm up followed by shooting practice. After the warm up the goalkeepers were excused to practice on their own which made sense. Shot stopping, collecting crosses etc… made far more sense than practising their heading. The remaining outfield players would then work on various areas that were considered to be most relevant at that time.

 

• AFTERNOON

After Lunch, a few of the players would go back to Ibrox for extra training in the afternoon, entirely optional it was originally the idea of Ralph Brand. They would mainly focus on ball work between themselves. The regular attendees were Ralph Brand, Davie Wilson and some of the younger players. Elsewhere, Billy Ritchie would also supplement his morning’s goalkeeping practice with gym work. 

Symon despite not exactly being the most visible on the training ground was immediately aware of this extra work and quietly encouraged it.

 

• BRAND VALUE

Ralph Brand was one of the first players to take his diet seriously. Avoiding fried food, he based his diet around lots of vegetables and healthy foods such as yoghurt and wheat germ. He was also fascinated by tactics and discussed them daily with his fellow ‘Edinburgh’ travelling companions Jimmy Millar and John Greig.

 

   P  O  S  T  S  C  R  I  P  T

 

█ RANGERS AND JIM BAXTER 1964-5 █

 

• THINGS CAN ONLY GET WORSE

Things were really starting to look up for Rangers and they defeated Celtic in the Scottish League Cup Final. 

However, in the next round of the European Cup Rangers faced Rapid Vienna and half a dozen Austrian internationals. Taking a slender 1-0 lead from the first leg to Austria, Rangers won 2-0 in Vienna and Scot Symon rated it as Rangers greatest victory in Europe. Unfortunately it came at a massive price. Having tormented the Viennese defenders in one of his finest displays on an ice rink of a pitch, Jim Baxter was victim of a ‘dubious’ challenge in the final seconds of the tie and broke his right leg. Rangers were edged out of the competition by the cosmopolitan and expensively assembled Inter Milan in the next round (quarter finals) by 3-2 on aggregate despite winning the first leg, 1-0 at Ibrox. 

That victory was just about the last thing Rangers got right that season as the wheels came off with defeat in the Scottish Cup quarter finals and a dismal fifth place finish in the League. Kilmarnock managed by Ibrox legend Willie Waddell secured the title on a thrilling final day of the season. 

Jim Baxter was not the same player when he recovered from injury and when he next asked for a pay rise, the board called his bluff and he reluctantly left to join Sunderland in Summer 1965 and double his weekly wage. Given that a number of illustrious careers had either recently or were about to draw to a close simply through age (eg Davis, McMillan, Shearer, Brand, Caldow) it was time for Scot Symon to go back to the drawing board and design and construct a new team.

 

█ RED STAR BELGRADE 1964-5 █

 

• NO BETTER IN BELGRADE EITHER

Red Star’s season wasn’t much better either. Their arch Belgrade rivals, Partizan recorded a League Championship and Cup double.

 

█ THE EUROPEAN CUP 1964-5 █

 

• THE ITALIAN JOB

For Rangers there was the scant consolation of being eliminated by the eventual winners. Not only had the cup returned to Milan (this time to Inter not AC) and the San Siro, come to mention it they played the final there too as Eusebio’s Benfica also fell victim to ‘Catenaccio’.