Jim Forrest (1962 to 1967)
One of the great goal-scorers, Jim netted an astonishing 144 goals in just 163 first team appearances during his five years at Ibrox, winning one League Championship and two League Cup medals in the process.
Famously scoring 4 in the 1963 League Cup Final against Morton, his cousin Alex Willoughby netted the other in a 5-0 rout in front of 105,907 fans at Hampden.
At his peak, Jim was absolutely lethal. Netting 57 times (30 x League, 3 x Scottish Cup, 18 x League Cup, and 6 x European Cup) in 50 matches during season 1964/65, it remains a Club record.
For a period of his Rangers career, there are many who consider Jim to have been the most devastating finisher of them all.
However, along with strike partner George ‘Dandy’ McLean, Forrest paid the ultimate price for the teams humiliating Scottish Cup defeat at the hands of Berwick Rangers in 1967. Disgracefully discarded in the immediate aftermath, neither would play another competitive match for the Club. It was a decision that beggared belief at the time and, more than 50 years later, it still evokes the same disbelief and commentary. The 1967 European Cup Winners Cup Final would see Rangers reliant upon a centre half leading the front line as a direct consequence of, surely, the ultimate in knee-jerk reactions.
Forrest had arrived at Ibrox from school in 1959 and was soon scoring regularly for the Reserves. His first team debut came on 17th November 1962 when Falkirk visited Ibrox on league business. Strike partner Jimmy Millar would score twice in a 4-0 victory.
The young centre forward would find himself in the Gers line up from the start of season 1963/64 and within a month had experienced two Old Firm games. The first competitive match of the season had seen Rangers travel to Parkhead on League Cup duty and Jim would score twice in a 3-0 win. The return tie at Ibrox produced the same scoreline with Forrest once again on target. It was the start of a tremendous season for Rangers, Scot Simon achieving the Treble for the one and only time as Gers Manager. In Jim’s first full season in the Rangers first team he was an instant and unquestionable success.
In March 1967, two months after the Berwick defeat, Forrest headed South where he joined Preston North End. Perhaps unable to shake the hangover of his abrupt Ibrox departure, he failed to replicate his scoring exploits in England and soon returned to Scotland with Aberdeen. He would go on to have five enjoyable years at Pittodrie, four of which were with Willoughby who had left Rangers a couple of years after Jim.
The cousins would later turn out together for Hong Kong Rangers after Jim had experienced a spell in South Africa with Cape Town City. A final move to Texas would see Jim and his family settle in USA before eventually returning to Scotland.
Jim remained a massive supporter of Rangers throughout his life despite leaving Ibrox in those less than favourable circumstances. His dignified approach towards the subject was something to be greatly admired. “I’ve no real regrets, I played for who I wanted and there’s not many people wh can claim to have done that” said Jim.
In recent yesrs, there has been a growing clamber among the fan base of that generation for Jim to be included within the Rangers Hall of Fame. It will come as a surprise to many that he is not. It would seem inconceivable that Forrest will not be included in the near future.
On 27th September 2023, Rangers announced that Jim had died at the age of 79.
by Rick Plews
