Dougie Bell (1985 to 1987)
One of the last signings made by Jock Wallace during his second spell as manager, 25 year old Dougie arrived at Ibrox in August 1985 just in time to be registered for the opening rounds of the 1985/86 European competitions.
The transfer fee of £125,000 paid to Aberdeen was recouped immediately as both Robert Prytz and Ian Redford ended their Gers careers. Prytz returned to Sweden to sign for Gothenburg (£130,000) whilst the late Ian Redford made a return to Tayside, a bargain £70,000 signing for Dundee United.
Dougie was an exciting player, an extremely skilful midfielder capable of relieving the pressure by undertaking lung bursting box to box runs. He possessed excellent close control and his use of upper body strength and elbows made him difficult to dispossess.
An extremely fit boy with a good range of passing ability, Bell had started his senior career with St.Mirren after representing various sides in his hometown of Cumbernauld. Initially bypassing the Reserves, manager Alex Ferguson had enough faith in the youngster to throw him straight into the first team. Although Ferguson would soon depart Paisley after an acrimonious split, he did not forget about Bell and Dougie would soon join a talented squad of young players inherited by Ferguson at Pittodrie.
It proved to be a period of unprecedented success and Dougie secured 3 Premier Division Championship medals to add to his 2 Scottish Cup winners medals earned in 1982 (at the expense of Rangers) and 1984. Sadly for Dougie, he missed the 1983 ECWC and Scottish Cup Finals due to injury but was back in the Dons side for their Super Cup victory over Hamburg towards the end of that year (playing in both legs).
The arrival of Jim Bett at Pittodrie cast doubts on Dougie’s place in the side and long time admirer Jock Wallace made his move.
Dougie went straight into the Rangers starting line up and made his debut on 17th August 1985 during a 3-1 victory versus Hibernian at Easter Road in a midfield containing Bobby Russell, Ian Durrant and wide man Davie Cooper (a certain Gordon Durie scored the Hibs goal that day). Although he performed well under Wallace, injuries would hamper Dougie and he struggled to enjoy a prolonged run in the team, often playing a handful of matches before having to sit out again. He was, however, in the starting XI as Celtic were comprehensively beaten 3-0 at Ibrox on 9th November 1985. As was fairly typical of that era, Rangers followed this up with league defeats to Hearts and Dundee as we struggled to find any levels of consistency. Dougie played 29 times for his boyhood heroes during that debut season and was red carded on his return to Pittodrie in February 1986 for fighting with Jim Bett (who was also ordered off).
The arrival of Graeme Souness as manager did not quite spell the end for Bell but opportunities were becoming more infrequent and it was clear from the outset that he would not feature long term. Dougie’s best run in the side came as a result of injuries and suspension to Souness and he would appear in 12 out of 13 league matches between October and December 1986, primarily filling in on the right side of midfield. During this time he scored his one and only first team goal for the Club coming a 3-0 win over Hibernian at Ibrox. Although sent out on loan for periods of that season, Dougie certainly played his part as the Championship returned to Ibrox for the first time since 1978 and he never once let an appreciative Souness down.
Dougie would go on to play for a number of clubs on both sides of the Border and in more recent times turned out for Rangers in ‘legends’ games along with 1980’s teammates John MacDonald and Bobby Russell. Even in those matches Dougie displays the combative nature that was evident throughout his career.
In April 2023, some 40 years after Aberdeen's triumph in Gothenburg, it was confirmed that Dougie would finally receive a medal in recognition of his significant contribution to that ECWC success. Bell, Alex Ferguson and Archie Knox were three of six to receive the additional medals secured from UEFA.
by Rick Plews
