Season 1973/74 by Alistair Aird There was an air of expectation around Ibrox Stadium ahead of season 1973/74. Victory in the Scottish Cup – only Rangers’ second domestic trophy success since 1966 – and the long unbeaten run in the league the previous season had some suggesting that Jock Wallace’s side were all set to call a halt to the hegemony that Celtic had when it came to annexing silverware. More importantly, the experts opined that the league championship, absent from the Trophy Room since 1964, could be snatched from Celtic’s grasp as they sought to make it nine league title wins in a row. Alas, it wasn’t to be, and the campaign will be remembered as one of the most frustrating in the club’s history. After losing 2-1 against Hibernian in the semi-finals of the Drybrough Cup, the quest for the League Cup got underway with a 3-1 win over Falkirk at Ibrox. Joining the Light Blues and the Bairns in Section One were Celtic and Arbroath, and this would be the first season in which both the section winner and runner-up would make it through to the knockout stages. Goals from Alfie Conn and Derek Parlane maintained the winning start when Rangers travelled to Gayfield, and that set everyone up for the first Old Firm clash of the season at Ibrox on 18 August. Both sides had won their opening two matches so were tied at the top on four points. And it looked as if it would be status quo as an enthralling match entered the final 10 minutes with the score deadlocked at 0-0. If anything, Rangers had been the better of the two sides, but Wallace’s side were undone by a quickfire double, Bobby Lennox and Harry Hood delivering hammer blows after 82 and 85 minutes. A last-minute goal from Ally Scott proved scant consolation in a match that was marred by a five-minute hold up to allow police to address disorder in the crowd. A comfortable 3-0 win over Arbroath followed and going into the next instalment of the tribal rivalry, both Celtic and Rangers were all but assured of a place in the next round. But Rangers would go into the draw as group winners following a superb 3-1 win at the home of their greatest foes. Bobby Lennox’s goal separated the sides at the interval, and the Rangers players retired to the dressing room feeling fortunate only to be one goal behind. Lennox and Jimmy Johnstone had struck the frame of the goal for the hosts, but Jock Wallace worked his magic and Rangers scored three times without reply after the break. Alex MacDonald, Derek Parlane and Alfie Conn were the men that scored to thrust Rangers to the top of the section. That victory should have provided the launchpad for the season ahead, but rather than rise, Rangers crashed and burned. They lost three of their first six league games, and all three defeats came at Ibrox. A goal from Jimmy Johnstone – who had been ordered off in the League Cup encounter at Parkhead – gave Celtic victory in the season’s third Old Firm encounter, and a fortnight later, Hearts came to Govan and won 3-0. But the most humiliating loss came on 13 October when East Fife left Glasgow with a 1-0 win. After six games, Rangers had scored just three goals and were languishing in FOURTEENTH place in the 18-team top flight. But a 3-1 win over Dundee United at Tannadice kicked off a run that saw Rangers reel off eight wins and a couple of draws in their next 10 league games. That run propelled the Light Blues up to second place, and when Wallace’s side faced leaders Celtic at Parkhead on 5 January, they were six points behind with a game in hand. But they couldn’t maintain the momentum. Bobby Lennox proved once again to be the thorn in Rangers’ side when he scored the only goal of the game three minutes shy of the half-hour mark. This was Celtic’s fourth win of the season against Rangers. Back in December the sides had been paired together in the semi-finals, with Jock Stein’s side winning 3-1. Harry Hood scored a hat-trick. After losing the league game, Rangers were inconsistent at best. They contrived to lose 3-2 at home to Arbroath at the start of February, and 15 days later, were dumped out of the Scottish Cup by Dundee. The match was played on a Sunday as the miner’s strike and other such crises led to a floodlight ban. A crowd of 64,672 graced the slopes of Ibrox, but the majority went home dissatisfied and disillusioned. Writing in The Glasgow Herald, Ian Archer reckoned the 3-0 defeat was ‘the most ruinous Scottish Cup loss since that dark afternoon at Berwick seven years ago.’ Jocky Scott opened the scoring for the visitors and John Duncan added a double to effectively end the season for Rangers. Grim times indeed. Although Wallace’s side won nine of the 13 league games that remained after the Dundee debacle, the damage had already been done. They finished third in the table, five points adrift of champions Celtic and one worse off than runners-up, Hibernian. Rangers’ league form at Ibrox had been woeful. They won only nine of the 17 fixtures played there and scored only 32 goals. In comparison, Celtic and Hibernian only lost once on home soil and scored 51 and 46 goals respectively. There was no solace in the European arena either. Returning after their one-year ban, Rangers comfortably saw off the Turkish side Ankaragucu 6-0 on aggregate in the opening round of the European Cup Winners’ Cup. But they would fall at the next hurdle, losing to a very accomplished and efficient Borussia Monchengladbach side. Drawn away from home first, the home side listed Berti Vogts, Juup Heynckes and Rainer Bonhof in their starting XI. And it was Heynckes who opened the scoring after 22 minutes in bizarre fashion. Lukas Ruup, the Borussia number nine, collided with a photographer and was off the pitch when Peter McCloy rolled the ball out preparing to start a Rangers attack. But Ruup returned to the field of play, took the ball and passed to Heynckes who scored. There was uproar in the Rangers ranks, but the Belgian referee was unmoved, the goal stood. It was still 1-0 at half time, but the second half was one-way traffic and only a superlative performance from Peter McCloy prevented Rangers from shipping more goals than they did. McCloy saved a Bonhof penalty kick but was powerless when it came to stopping Heynckes and Ruup making the final score 3-0 to the hosts. Rangers were effectively out of the tournament, but they put on a spirited performance in the return leg at Ibrox. An early goal from Alfie Conn gave them hope of a miraculous comeback, and although Henning Jensen restored parity on the night just short of the half hour mark, further goals from Colin Jackson and Alex MacDonald suggested that that miracle may well happen. But the tie was killed stone dead after 75 minutes when Jensen scored his second goal of the night to give the Germans victory on aggregate. They thrashed Glentoran 7-0 over two legs in the next round before exiting the tournament when they lost 2-1 to AC Milan in the semi-finals. Season 1973/74 was yet another miserable, trophyless campaign for Rangers. Of the 24 domestic honours available since they defeated Celtic to win the Scottish Cup in 1966, the Light Blues had won only two of them. In contrast, Celtic had claimed 16 trophies and were now on the cusp of an unprecedented ten league titles in a row. But times were changing, and the pendulum of success was about to swing back towards Ibrox, with Jock Wallace moulding a side that would dominate in Scotland for the latter part of the 1970s.
