1986: The Rangers Revolution

Jeff Holmes

Description

Glasgow Rangers began the year in the doldrums—and they stayed there for a good few months, struggling to make fifth spot in a 10-team league. That was until the dramatic events of Tuesday, 8 April 1986. From that day forward, the Glasgow Rangers changed forever; Graeme Souness saw to that. Fresh from Serie A—which at that time was almost certainly the toughest league in the world—Souness came home to Scotland to become Rangers'' player/manager; he took the club by the scruff of the neck and didn''t stop shaking until he''d made them the best team in Scotland—and by some distance. He reversed the trend of the best Scottish players heading south to ply their trade in England, and encouraged the English trio of Terry Butcher, Chris Woods, and Graham Roberts to head to Ibrox. It was the year Souness gave Rangers supporters back their swagger. With new insightful interviews with the key players, chief protagonists, and those who were at the heart of the turnaround, 1986: The Rangers Revolution tells the full story of what happened at Ibrox in 1986—quite a year to be a Ranger!

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing
• Date de parution: 02 mai 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785312236
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2016
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Jeff Holmes, 2016
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-166-6
eBook ISBN: 978-1-78531-223-6
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Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Foreword by Donald R. Findlay QC
Prologue
New Year, New Hope
Ally’s Dons Goal Jinx
Alex Totten
March: A Vital Month
Ally Dawson
Beginning Of The End For Big Jock
Wallace Out, Souness In
Entering A New Era
John MacDonald
Bobby Russell
Squeezing Into Europe
John ‘Bomber’ Brown
Ticket To Success
Colin West
Another Top Name Checks In
Chris Woods
Season Starts With A Bang
Derek Ferguson
Second Chance For Fleck
Ian Ferguson
Cup Glory For Gers
Mixed Fortunes For Rangers
Scott Nisbet
Euro Heartache For Gers
Epilogue
1986 Results Part One
1986 Results Part Two
Photographs
This book is for my wife, Elaine
Also, for my children, Derek and Carey, and grandchildren Josh and Zac
Acknowledgements
A PROJECT such as this is nigh-on impossible without the help of so many people. To that end, the following have given me invaluable assistance in a variety of ways: Paul Stringer (West Ham United), Andy Hall (Carlisle United), David Mason (Rangers FC), Brian Gallagher, Stan Gordon (Stonefield Tavern, Blantyre), Alex Boyd, Willie Clark, Colin Stewart and Finlay Calum Macaulay.
And a big thank you to Donald R. Findlay QC for a quite magnificent foreword.
Many of the chief protagonists of that era were also only too willing to give up their time either to meet for lunch and chat, or have a conversation over the telephone – so a big thank you to Alex Totten, John MacDonald, Ally Dawson, Colin West, Chris Woods, Ian Ferguson, John Brown, Derek Ferguson, Bobby Russell and Scott Nisbet.
And not forgetting the team at Pitch Publishing, including Paul Camillin, Jane Camillin, Duncan Olner, Graham Hales and all the others who put their heart and soul into making this publication what it is. Thank you.
Publications I found invaluable included Rangers: The Complete Record by Robert McElroy and Bob Ferrier; Rangers: Player by Player , by the same authors; Rangers News ; the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail .
Fifty per cent of the profits from this book will be split equally between the Rangers Former Players Benevolent Club (formerly run by the late Colin Jackson) and the Rangers Youth Development Company – two causes close to my heart.
Introduction
T HERE are a couple of reasons I decided to write this book. The most obvious is to mark the 30th anniversary of the arrival of Graeme Souness as player-manager, an appointment that changed the face of Glasgow Rangers and brought back the glory days after almost a decade of living in the shadows of others.
I started watching Rangers in 1970, and as a ten-year-old boy living in Maryhill I often relied on others to get me to and from Ibrox. Many a time I would walk to the match, though, and if there was enough change left in my pocket, I would get the bus home.
The thrill of going to the game on a Saturday afternoon was the most incredible experience for me, and I was glad I had decided not to follow in the footsteps of the rest of the family and support Partick Thistle.
The European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich was my first taste of a massive crowd and an equally massive occasion. It was the perfect European night, and I’ll never forget the walk home to Maryhill after the game. We were all singing about going to Barcelona for the final. In those days I didn’t have the first idea about where Barcelona was, but on the evening of Wednesday 24 May 1972 I was allowed to stay up late and watch the whole match on delayed transmission, scarves tied round both wrists and my woollen tammy on. It was another magical night.
Fourteen years passed, with varying degrees of success on and off the pitch, and we were floundering a bit when David Holmes and his board made the decision to change the entire mind-set at the club. They dismissed Jock Wallace and brought in Graeme Souness. It was mind-blowing.
I was 25 years old and employed by Scottish Television. I was working on a light entertainment show in the studio at Cowcaddens one day when reporter Jim White walked in. ‘Jeff,’ he called, ‘I’m going over to Ibrox on a hush-hush job, wanna come?’
It was the magic word. As soon as Ibrox was mentioned I was off like a shot. I joined the six-man crew and off we went. In the car, Jim let me into a little secret; Rangers had appointed Graeme Souness as their new manager and he was getting the first, and exclusive, interview. He had become big pals with Souness after filming a documentary on the player while he was with Sampdoria. When Souness was offered the job, he called Jim to give him the exclusive. That was the way it worked.
When we arrived at Ibrox, we were met by caretaker boss Alex Totten who told us Souness was going to be around an hour late. Jim and I chose to wait in the Blue Room while the rest of the crew went off for lunch.
Jim might have been in the Blue Room, but I was in heaven!
Just over an hour later, the door opened and Totten showed Souness in. He had this aura about him, and I stood up – almost to attention! Jim did the introductions and said, ‘Jeff runs a Rangers supporters’ bus and is a lifelong fan.’ Souness smiled, shook my hand and the three of us sat down for a chat, while waiting on the other members of the crew to return from their extended lunch break.
Souness said, ‘If you don’t mind, Jeff, I’ll pick your brains a little,’ and he asked me lots of questions about the supporters, the club, the team, etc. It was all going pretty well until he asked the million-dollar question. ‘How do you think the fans will react if I sign a Catholic?’
Well, he never was one to shirk a tackle!
I grew up a traditional Rangers fan, singing the traditional Rangers songs, and I was very proud of my club’s heritage. Like everyone else in the country, I was well aware of Rangers’ signing policy, and occasionally it would be mentioned in the press when a journalist either decided it was completely wrong or he wanted to stir things up.
But whenever I’m asked a question I always try to give an honest answer, and I said to our new boss, ‘I think it depends on who you sign. If you bring a talented Brazilian or Argentinian to the club, then I don’t think too many people will have a problem, but if it’s Peter Grant or Mo Johnston…’ and the answer tailed off.
He looked at me, smiled, and nodded his head, and a couple of years later, when Johnston was unveiled as a Ranger, I allowed myself a wry smile, a Souness smirk almost, and thought back to that day in the Blue Room.
Jeff Holmes
April 2016
Foreword by Donald R. Findlay QC
I N the spring of 1986, many Rangers supporters were glad to see the back of another season in which they had witnessed Celtic pip Hearts to the league title.
For the eternal optimist, the World Cup in Mexico may have afforded the prospect of some good cheer. After all, Scotland had made it to the finals. The realist readily appreciated that being there was the traditional high point of our international aspirations.
No one, though, would have forecast that a 5ft 4in Argentinian would out-jump the world’s best goalkeeper – albeit God had a hand in the matter, so to speak.
Benjamin Franklin famously said, ‘In this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.’ Had he been a true visionary, he would have added, ‘And another Scottish football season will dawn bringing yet more gloom and doom for the men in Royal Blue.’
These were dark days.
Nine titles in a row for Celtic had been bad enough but to watch championship after championship ending up at Parkhead, Pittodrie and Tannadice was too much to bear, or too much for the Bears. Rangers were in the doldrums and there were more who were truly blue than True Blue. More of the same seemed an inevitability.
However, the darkest hour cometh before the dawn. As a ray of sunshine can brighten even the gloomiest day, as good must ultimately triumph over evil, as the emergence of a hero can raise the downtrodden masses, freeing them from the shackles of slavery – okay, enough of the prosaic.
Graeme Souness arrived on a winged chariot (one last indulgence) from Sampdoria to become the first player-manager of Rangers FC.
For me, the ideal player would be a class act, a hard man and a winner. Such a man strode into Ibrox and things were about to change – they had to change – and change they did.
While full credit is due to Lawrence Marlborough and David Holmes, it was Graeme who not only revitalised Rangers – he was also the driving force behind a revolution in Scottish football.
The old and restrictive wage structure was swept away. He set about reversing the trend of the best Scottish players heading south of the border. Aided by English clubs being excluded from Europe, he was determined to bring the best players into the Scottish game.
While I was, and am convinced, that his best ever signing was Walter Smith as his assistant, I would never have believed, sitting in a half-empty stadium, that I would see Terry Butcher, Gary Stevens, Trevor Steven, Chris Woods, Trevor Francis,