Season 1981/82 by Alistair Aird The Scottish Cup win in May 1981 had ended what was a largely disappointing season on a high note. Would it be a foundation upon which a tilt at the title could be built? There didn’t seem to any reason why not. The squad that toured Scandinavia ahead of season 1981/82 still contained personnel that had helped Rangers win the Treble in 1978. Added to that were the likes of Jim Bett, Colin McAdam and John MacDonald, and the ranks were bolstered further with the addition of John McClelland. The Northern Irishman came from Mansfield Town and made his debut in a 4-1 win over IFK Trelleborgs on 20 July. Wins over Oland (5-0) and Karlshamn (10-0) were chalked up before the tour concluded with a 1-1 draw against Hvidovre IF in Denmark. John MacDonald was the star man, scoring seven goals in the four games played. Home friendlies against Ipswich Town and Manchester City followed before the serious business got underway. Terry Butcher was in the Ipswich XI, but it was self-confessed Rangers fan John Wark that stole the show with a couple of goals in a 2-1 win for the side from East Anglia. But two days later, Derek Johnstone and Willie Johnston were on the scoresheet as preparations were concluded with a 2-0 win over the blue half of Manchester. The domestic season started with the League Cup which once again reverted to a sectional stage rather than knockout rounds. Rangers were drawn in Section 2 alongside Morton, Dundee, and Raith Rovers. And despite drawing the opening game in Greenock 1-1, Rangers racked up five wins after that to comfortably progress to the last eight. Among those five wins was an 8-1 hammering of Raith Rovers at Ibrox. Ian Redford scored four of the goals, and he would have another decisive contribution to make before the competition was concluded. Three days after the sectional ties were completed, the league action got underway. A Tommy McLean penalty kick was enough to earn a 1-0 win over Partick Thistle at Firhill, but he missed from 12 yards a week later when Hibernian twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Ibrox. That was followed by another draw against St Mirren before Celtic won the first Old Firm clash of the season by two goals to nil at Ibrox. The Celtic match was preceded by the opening of the Govan Stand, but the new patrons were subjected to a painful afternoon. Celtic won comfortably thanks to goals from Tom McAdam and Murdo McLeod and the early signs suggested that this would be another league campaign that would be blighted by inconsistency. And that proved to be the case. Rangers won four, drew four and lost two of their next 10 league games. In that run was a 3-3 draw at Parkhead, a 2-2 draw at Broomfield and a 2-0 loss at home against Partick Thistle. A certain Maurice Johnston was among the goals for the Jags. The New Year started with a 1-0 win over Celtic at Ibrox. Jim Bett grabbed the only goal of the game with 19 minutes to go, coolly despatching a penalty kick after Davie Cooper had been fouled by Pat Bonner. Suddenly, Rangers looked to be back in the title race as the win cut the gap between them and Celtic to five points with 20 games still to play. But at that point, inconsistency came to the fore again. A 2-0 home win over Dundee United marked a third successive league victory, but that run was halted by a 1-1 draw against Hibernian. The performance was ‘mediocre’ according to Jim Reynolds of the Glasgow Herald, and that coupled with a 2-0 midweek defeat against Thistle knocked Rangers off the rails again. John Greig’s side won eight of the last 17 league games. Aberdeen inflicted three heavy defeats in that spell – 1-3 at Ibrox and 1-3 and 0-4 at Pittodrie – and Celtic won the final Old Firm match of the season 2-1. To sum up the feeling among the support at that time, the attendances recorded for the last two home league matches were 6,000 for a 3-0 win over St Mirren and 8,500 for a 4-0 win over Dundee. Gordon Dalziel scored a hat trick in the latter match. That run also featured four draws to take the season’s total of drawn matches to 11, and when one considers that Rangers finished 12 points adrift of champions Celtic and 10 behind runners-up Aberdeen, turning some of those draws into victories may well have made a difference in the final reckoning. As it was, Rangers finished third for the second successive season. Hopes of a deep dive into the latter stages of a European tournament were thwarted too. In the opening round of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, Rangers drew Dukla Prague from Czechoslovakia. Ahead of the first leg in Prague, the home coach, Ladislav Novak, talked of his side needing to score at least two goals. Even then he was less than confident that would be enough to survive in the return leg in Glasgow. In the end, Novak didn’t get two goals, he got three. The home side broke the deadlock after only 30 seconds, although Peter McCloy should have done better with a 30-yard shot from Petr Rada. He tried to make amends as the game wore on, though, and he was desperately unlucky to concede again early in the second half. McCloy denied Ladislav Vizek and Jan Kozak from close range but was powerless to prevent Frantisek Stambachr forcing the ball over the line. Zdenek Nehoda scored a third goal for the hosts with a header with 16 minutes to go. A miserable night was compounded when Tommy McLean was ordered off. Thus, to progress, Greig’s side had the proverbial mountain to climb. To do so they would need an early goal at Ibrox, but despite dominating the opening exchanges, it was the visitors that scored first. It was another goal that could be attributed to a goalkeeping error too, Stambachr’s shot eluding Jim Stewart. If it wasn’t ‘game over’ before that it was now. Goals from Bett and John MacDonald did nothing other than put some semblance of respectability on to the aggregate score. Stewart had started the season in possession of the gloves, but McCloy had come in against Raith Rovers in the League Cup after Stewart turned his ankle in training. Stewart then came back in but lost his place again when McCloy was selected for a 2-1 league win over Hibernian on 7 November. The veteran McCloy looked set to keep hold of the number one jersey too, but he got injured and Stewart was back in goal for the League Cup Final against Dundee United at the end of November. Rangers had made heavy weather of making it to the final. Brechin City were beaten 4-0 at Glebe Park in the first leg of the quarter final, but only 5,000 fans turned up to Ibrox for the return leg. ‘Voyager II will find more atmosphere on its journey around the galaxy’ opined Chick Young in the Evening Times as a Rangers side showing seven changes from the one that had lost against Celtic in the league four days earlier won 1-0. St Mirren provided the opposition in the last four. Rangers led twice in the first leg at Love Street, but a goal from Frank McAvennie and a penalty from Ian Scanlon saw the match end 2-2. It was therefore all to play for at Ibrox three weeks later. St Mirren edged ahead on aggregate when Scanlon scored from the spot again after Stewart was adjudged to have brought down McAvennie. But Rangers got a penalty of their own with 21 minutes to go. Jim Bett scored, and both sides were now pushing for a winner to avoid extra time. In the closing minutes, Stewart did superbly to twice deny Jimmy Bone the decisive goal, and moments later, John MacDonald popped up to settle the tie, controlling a free kick from Davie Cooper before turning and firing the ball past Billy Thomson. The final was a repeat of the 1981 Scottish Cup Final, with Jim McLean’s Dundee United providing the opposition. United, winners of the competition in the previous two years, were looking to become only the second team to win the League Cup in three successive seasons. The fact they didn’t hinged on a decision by a gentleman called Harry McGunnigle. Mr McGunnigle was the standside linesman, and when Paul Sturrock lashed a shot into the net 10 minutes into the second half, he raised his flag. He felt that John Holt had been in an offside position and interfering with play, and the referee, Eddie Pringle, awarded a free-kick to Rangers. United, leading 1-0 at the time, were understandably aggrieved as there seemed little wrong with the goal. Rangers got a boost from the decision, and with 16 minutes to go, John MacDonald was fouled on the edge of the box by Paul Hegarty. Up stepped Davie Cooper, and he used his wand-like left foot to curl the ball beyond Hamish McAlpine to restore parity at 1-1. Derek Johnstone then struck the frame of the goal as Rangers chased a winning goal, but, with extra time looming large, they got it with only two minutes left on the clock. Substitute Ian Redford latched on to a loose clearance and executed a beautiful lob from the edge of the box that outfoxed McAlpine. Rangers were winners of the League Cup for the eleventh time. The Scottish Cup proved elusive, though. A 6-2 win over Albion Rovers at Ibrox got the campaign underway – a young David McPherson scored his first goal for the first XI from the penalty spot – and home wins over Dumbarton and Dundee took Greig’s side into the semi-finals. Their opponents at Hampden were Forfar Athletic. The final was surely a formality. But Forfar proved everyone wrong and put on what Alan Davidson of the Evening Times called ‘a stuffy display’ to nullify Rangers. The 0-0 draw meant a replay was required the following Tuesday, whereupon Rangers made amends. Derek Johnstone, who had missed the first game, opened the scoring after 10 minutes, and further goals from Davie Cooper and Jim Bett ensured that the Light Blues made it into a seventh successive Scottish Cup Final. Standing in the way of a domestic Cup double were Aberdeen. Seven days before the Hampden showdown, the Dons had won 4-0 at Pittodrie in the league, but it was Rangers that hit the front in the final. After 15 minutes, Gordon Dalziel slung in a cross, and John MacDonald stooped to send a diving header beyond Jim Leighton. But a speculative shot from Alex McLeish eluded Jim Stewart after 33 minutes, and when neither side could muster a goal in the second half, extra time was required. In the additional half hour, Rangers wilted. Shorn of the services of the redoubtable Sandy Jardine, who had suffered concussion after a clash with Doug Rougvie, Greig’s side conceded three goals. The 4-1 defeat at Hampden marked the end of an era. After making 779 appearances for Rangers, Sandy Jardine left the club and joined Hearts. Colin Jackson – 603 appearances – signed for Morton, while Tommy McLean – 543 appearances – joined the coaching staff. The squad that Greig had inherited from Jock Wallace was being broken up. Save the few minutes Tam Forsyth got in his testimonial match against Swansea City, from the XI that faced Aberdeen in the 1978 Scottish Cup Final, only Peter McCloy, Bobby Russell, Davie Cooper, and Derek Johnstone would play an active part in season 1982/83. This was very much a time of transition for Rangers, but transition and tolerance don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand. As much as the supporters knew that personnel changes would be required, they perhaps naively thought that would happen seamlessly and success and silverware would still be forthcoming. Alas, that wasn’t the case and one of the most doleful periods in Rangers’ history was dawning.
