Season 1975/76 by Alistair Aird The triumphant season 1974/75 ended with Rangers going global. After hammering Viking Stavanger 5-0 in Norway on 17 May 1975 – Alex MacDonald scored a hat-trick – Jock Wallace’s side played matches in Vancouver, Christchurch, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adeliade and Perth as part of an eight-match ‘world tour’. Five of the matches were won, one was drawn and two were lost. Stewart Kennedy, an ever-present in the title-winning season, missed the start of the tour along with Colin Jackson and Derek Parlane, the trio having been picked in the Scotland squad for the Home Internationals and a European Championship qualifier against Romania. Unfortunately for Kennedy in particular, the hangover from the chastening 5-1 defeat against England at Wembley would be a long, lingering one. When the competitive action got underway, Sandy Jardine scored a hat-trick as Airdrie were beaten 6-1 at Ibrox in the League Cup. It was a game in which FOUR penalty kicks were awarded. Jardine scored the first of them after 17 minutes before Airdrie’s right-back, Paul Jonquin, did likewise to restore parity 16 minutes later. Goals from Stein and Parlane had Rangers 3-1 ahead at the break, and Jardine added to his own tally when he fired in a left foot shot a minute shy of the hour mark. The Rangers right back was then felled in the box by the Airdrie goalkeeper, David McWilliams, but was injured in the process. Alex Miller proved a dependable deputy by scoring the penalty, and Jardine rounded the scoring off with a minute to go with another kick from the penalty mark. By the time Rangers faced Celtic at Ibrox on 30 August in their first-ever Premier Division fixture, they had topped Section One, but they were made to work hard for their place in the quarter finals. Despite beating Clyde home and away, two draws against Motherwell (1-1 at Ibrox and 2-2 at Fir Park) gave the Lanarkshire side an outside chance of pipping Rangers at the post. But goals from Johnstone and Young ensured that that wouldn’t happen. Focus could now turn to Celtic, and remarkably, the same two players – Johnstone and Young - scored the goals at Ibrox to launch Rangers into the Premier Division era with a win. Hilda Waddell, wife of General Manager Willie, unfurled the league flag, but it was the visitors who led at the break courtesy of a goal from Kenny Dalglish. But Johnstone equalised 10 minutes after the restart with a vicious volley, and Young produced a fine finish too, the winger cutting inside and beating Peter Latchford with a left foot shot. Rangers were reduced to 10 men three minutes later when Alex MacDonald was ordered off – referee Ian Foote reckoned the flame-haired midfielder had kicked out at Danny McGrain – but they held out for the win. That should have been the launchpad for the games that followed, but Rangers won just three of their next nine league games. In that wretched run was a 3-0 thrashing against Ayr United at Somerset Park, a home defeat against Hearts and a 1-1 draw against Celtic at Parkhead. The latter came six days after the two had battled it out for the League Cup at Hampden. Wins over Queen of the South and Montrose had taken Wallace’s side through to the Final, and the first leg of the Treble was secured when Alex MacDonald scored with what would become a trademark diving header. But as good as it was to see the trophy bedecked in red, white, and blue ribbons, the run of indifferent results in the league continued. Defeats at Easter Road and Pittodrie meant that Rangers had lost five of their first 15 fixtures, but the 1-0 defeat in the Granite City on 6 December would be the last time Wallace’s side tasted defeat in the league. They finished with 16 wins and five draws, and two of the draws came in the final two matches after the title had been clinched. Once again, the New Year game against Celtic would prove pivotal. Rangers went into the game – the first clash of the titans on 1 January since 1969 - trailing their Old Firm rivals by three points. But they had history on their side. In the 14 Old Firm matches played at Ibrox at New Year since the end of World War II, Rangers were unbeaten, chalking up 12 wins and only drawing twice (season 1946/47 and season 1970/71.) And thanks to a trademark Derek Johnstone header, they extended that run with another victory and closed the gap at the top of the Premier Division table to a solitary point in the process. The gap was closed completely two days later – Rangers defeated Hearts 2-1 at Tynecastle, while Celtic drew 3-3 at home against Dundee – and Rangers climbed to the summit on 17 January when their 2-0 win over Hibernian coupled with Celtic’s 4-3 win against St Johnstone in Perth gave Wallace’s side a superior goal difference. The behemoths switched places again at the end of January – Celtic beat Dundee United 2-1 while Rangers were drawing a blank in a 0-0 draw against Dundee – and the title race was now red hot with no margin for error on either side. It would be Celtic who would stumble and fall. On 10 April they lost 3-2 at Tannadice. Rangers were comfortable winners at home against Dundee, but a dropped point at Pittodrie four days later looked to have let Celtic back into the race. But Celtic also drew against the Dons in April and then contrived to lose 2-1 at home against Ayr United. The latter result coupled with Rangers’ 1-0 win at Tannadice gave the Light Blues an unassailable seven-point lead; they were champions again. All that was left now was to complete the final leg of the domestic Treble by winning the Scottish Cup. Progress to the semi-finals had been serene – Wallace’s men had beaten East Fife (3-0), Aberdeen (4-1) and Queen of the South (5-0) – but they were made to fight all the way to overcome Motherwell and make it through to the final. The Fir Park side were 2-0 ahead at half time, and they still held that lead with 20 minutes remaining. But at that point Rangers were handed a lifeline when the referee, J. P. Gordon, deemed that the Motherwell goalkeeper, Stuart Rennie, had fouled Derek Johnstone in the penalty area. Alex Miller stepped up and halved the deficit. And 10 minutes later, parity was restored. A long clearance from Peter McCloy cleared everyone and Johnstone ran forward and headed the ball over the advancing Rennie. The same man used his head again after 88 minutes to score Rangers’ third goal and take them into the final. Standing in the way of Rangers and a third domestic clean sweep were Hearts. The Edinburgh side had finished fifth in the league, but they had inflicted upon Rangers what would be their only league defeat at Ibrox in season 1975/76, winning 2-1 on 8 November. But another early intervention from Derek Johnstone set the tone at Hampden as Rangers comfortably saw off the challengers from the East. In the match that clinched the title against Dundee United, Johnstone had scored after only 22 seconds. He was a little later getting onto the scoresheet against Hearts, but his goal still came before the traditional 3pm kick off! It was later discovered that the referee, R. H. Davidson from Airdrie, had started the match a minute of so shy of 3pm. Thus, when Johnstone rose to head home a free-kick from Tommy McLean inside the opening minute, he had actually found the net before the game was supposed to have started. The goal was officially clocked at 41 seconds. It was Johnstone’s sixth goal in what was his fourth Scottish Cup appearance of the campaign. When he added another later in the game, he took his tally for the season to 29 goals in 47 appearances in Scotland’s three major tournaments. And with Derek Parlane absent for a couple of months after suffering an injury against Hibernian in late November, Martin Henderson took over the number nine jersey and proved an excellent foil for DJ, scoring 10 goals in 26 league appearances. Alex MacDonald was the other Ranger to get on the scoresheet against Hearts meaning the diminutive and dynamic midfielder had found the net in both domestic Cup Finals. Of the 51 league and domestic cup matches played, MacDonald missed just two, a 1-0 win over Aberdeen at Ibrox on 4 October in the league and the 5-1 win over Montrose four days later in the semi-final of the League Cup. Both of them were as a result of suspension. MacDonald also missed the first leg of the European Cup match against Bohemians. Rangers won 4-1 on the night and progressed after drawing 1-1 in Dublin. But in the second round they were beaten home and away by an excellent AS Saint-Etienne side that progressed all the way to the Final at Hampden where they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich. For captain John Greig, it was a second Treble. He was an ever-present – he didn’t even miss any of the ‘other’ matches Rangers played - and when Rangers faced Dundee on 27 September, he made his 700th first team appearance for the club. He was once more colossal, the epitome of totemic. Included in Greig’s 60 appearances was the 1-0 win over Partick Thistle in the semi-final of the Glasgow Cup. Rangers were due to face Celtic in the Final, but a decision was taken to postpone the match until August. When the ‘big two’ did meet, Rangers won 3-1 thanks to goals from Jardine, Jackson, and Miller.
