John McClelland (1981 to 1985)
John McClelland arrived in Scotland on 19th May 1981 having already experienced Club Football in Northern Ireland, Wales and England. A John Greig signing, his £90k transfer from Mansfield Town to Ibrox was by far the biggest move of the 25 year old's career.
Although John could play at left back, he had the ideal physique for his preferred central defensive position and with Tom Forsyth and Colin Jackson coming towards the end of their own Gers careers he was identified as a future long term replacement.
An injury sustained on a pre-season trip to Sweden in preparation of season 1981/82 resulted in a frustrating start to McClelland’s Rangers career. His competitive debut came in the 3-1 league cup section win over Raith Rovers at Starks Park on August 26th, 1981. He would feature in 3 more games before his ongoing injury forced him out until the New Year. This resulted in him missing the league cup final victory over Dundee United. He returned to the starting XI on 17th March 1982 during a 0-0 draw at Cappielow and would stay in the side for the remainder of the season. The highlight of his first season after returning from injury was a Scottish Cup Final appearance but it would prove to be a disappointing afternoon at Hampden as Rangers lost heavily to Aberdeen after taking the game into extra time.
The season would end on a high for John who was selected to represent Northern Ireland during the World Cup Finals in Spain. He would play in all 5 matches as NI defied the odds to qualify from the Group stages, famously defeating the host nation before being eliminated by an outstanding French side.
With the arrival of Craig Paterson from Hibernian in July 1982 for a Club record transfer fee of £225k, there was optimism that the new defensive partnership of McClelland / Paterson could provide the foundations for a more serious title challenge. However, Paterson would himself struggle with injuries during his first season in Glasgow and so the pairing was somewhat stop start. John would appear in 56 of a possible 57 fixtures and was now a firm favourite having been installed as Rangers captain. The league campaign had faltered badly with a fourth place finish, some 18 points behind surprise Champions Dundee United. Two further Hampden final appearances would be achieved but that first winners medal proved elusive.
By March 1984, John finally got his hands on a major trophy when the league cup was secured during a hard fought 3-2 win over Celtic at Hampden. It was McClelland who climbed the famous stairs to lift the trophy as new manager Jock Wallace looked on. The league campaign had finished similarly to the previous year with Rangers occupying an unacceptable 4th place but the return of Wallace mid season had provided some optimism. John had featured in all league matches scoring goals in victories over St.Johnstone and Hibs at Ibrox. There was to be no third successive Scottish Cup Final appearance, Dundee defeating Gers 3-2 at Ibrox in a replay with John scoring one of our goals.
Season 1984/85 proved to be John’s final one at Ibrox and it started well whilst he was in the line up. He appeared in 11 of the first 12 league matches with Rangers suffering just one defeat. The League Cup was again secured, this time with a victory over Dundee United on a soaking day at Hampden. But all was not well with McClelland, a contract dispute had led to him being stripped of the Captaincy, and it was Craig Paterson who lifted the trophy. It was abundantly clear during the celebrations that a major rift had developed and less than two weeks later McClelland would be sold to Watford for a record £265,000.
His final appearance for Rangers came on this day 38 years ago ona memorable evening as Inter Milan were defeated 3-1 at Ibrox. Trailing 3-0 from the first leg at the San Siro, John was played in a far more offensive role which surprised the Rangers support as much as it did the Italians. He caused mayhem throughout the night as Rangers came close to pulling off a stunning comeback.
In all, John made 153 appearances scoring 8 goals.
He also featured for Leeds United during their Championship winning season of 1991/92 before later returning to Scotland with St. Johnstone, briefly managing the Perthshire side.
by Rick Plews
