Season 1979/80 by Alistair Aird Despite the heartbreaking end to season 1978/79 that saw Rangers narrowly miss out on what would have been at that time an unprecedented back-to-back Treble, there was cause for optimism ahead of the new season. That, however, wouldn’t last long. It all started so well when Rangers defeated Celtic to win the Drybrough Cup for the first time. The game featured some fine goals too. John MacDonald, who would be voted PFA Young Player of the Year at the end of the season, slipped in Rangers’ first goal before Sandy Jardine ran from one end of the pitch to the other to net the second. But as splendid as those goals were, they were surpassed by a magical goal by Davie Cooper. The mercurial Cooper received a chipped pass from Alex MacDonald and proceeded to juggle and lob the ball up and over a number of Celtic defenders before despatching it into the net with his left foot. It is regarded as one of the greatest goals Rangers have ever scored. A week later, John Greig’s side opened their league campaign with a fine 3-1 win over Hibernian at Easter Road before the magnificent new Copland Road stand welcomed customers for the first time when Celtic came to Ibrox for the first Old Firm match of the season on 18 August. The new patrons should have gone home smiling with satisfaction too. With seven minutes to go, Rangers were 2-0 ahead and Celtic were a man down following the first half dismissal of Roy Aitken. But goals from Alan Sneddon and Tom McAdam restored parity, and that kicked off a sequence of results that saw Rangers win just four of their next 13 league games. That run included an Old Firm defeat – 1-0 at Parkhead on 27 October – and three defeats in a row between November 10 and November 24. Greig’s side was struggling. The last of those three successive losses – a 3-1 defeat against Dundee at Dens Park – was Rangers’ seventh league defeat. Of the other eight league games played, only five had been won. Rangers were sixth in the table, eight points adrift of Celtic who had a game in hand. To all intents and purposes, their title challenge was all but over a month before Santa Claus was descending chimneys up and down the country. Following three successive defeats with three wins in a row offered some respite, but the 2-1 win over Dundee United on 15 December was followed by a wretched run that saw only one point gained in the next four matches in the league. The fact that that point came against Celtic at Ibrox offered no crumb of comfort. In the middle of January, Rangers were nine points behind Celtic and their Old Firm foes had two games in hand. Rangers were riddled with inconsistency throughout the season, and this is best summed up when looking at how they fared in the last 14 league games of the season. Between 23 February and 12 March, they won three in a row then contrived to draw three and lose one of their next four. And following four wins in their next five, Rangers lost 4-3 against Partick Thistle and 4-1 against St Mirren. In the midst of that three-game winning run in February was a trip to the Middle East. Greig’s side faced Al-Nasr in Dubai on astroturf – writing in the Evening Times Colin Jackson said that ‘slide tackling on astroturf is a little like pulling your leg across a surface of Brillo pads’ – before travelling to Kuwait to play a side coached by the legendary Dave McKay. Goals from Derek Johnstone and Gordon Smith earned a 2-1 win in the opening game, and strikes from Alex MacDonald, Ian Redford and Davie Cooper rounded the tour off with a 3-1 victory. In what is one of the worst ever league campaigns in their history, Rangers finished fifth, 11 points behind champions Aberdeen. The last time they had finished that low in a league table was season 1964/65. Greig’s side lost 14 of their 36 fixtures, conceded 46 goals, and their final points tally of 37 was only four better than Kilmarnock who finished in eighth place. Hopes of winning a third successive League Cup were dashed by Aberdeen. After defeating Clyde 6-1 on aggregate in the opening round, Rangers faced the Dons over two legs in round two. Willie Garner put Aberdeen ahead after 27 minutes of the first leg at Pittodrie, and masterminded by Gordon Strachan, the home side scored twice more through Joe Harper and Alex McLeish. A goal from Derek Johnstone 17 minutes from the end offered some hope ahead of the return leg at Ibrox, but it proved to be false. Goals from Harper and Strachan inside three first half minutes gave Aberdeen a four-goal lead on aggregate, and they never looked likely to lose that. With the League Cup gone and title hopes dashed, the focus turned to the Scottish Cup. But that adventure looked to be over before it had started in earnest when Rangers travelled to Shawfield to face Clyde. Managed by Craig Brown, Clyde were struggling in the lower reaches of the First Division, yet came close to what the Glasgow Herald headline writer reckoned ‘might easily having been Berwick all over again.’ Neil Hood chipped Peter McCloy to put the home side ahead after 61 minutes, but a penalty from Sandy Jardine and a header from Colin Jackson edged Rangers ahead. The penalty caused some consternation in the Clyde ranks – referee Tommy Muirhead awarded it after the ball struck the arm of Tom O’Neill – but they felt justice was done when Derek Hyslop earned a replay with a minute remaining. Rangers were ragged again in the replay four days later, and it took two goals from young John MacDonald in the final 20 minutes to finally see off the Bully Wee. Dundee United were beaten 1-0 at Ibrox in the next round before Rangers produced arguably their finest performance of the season to defeat Hearts 6-1 in the last eight. Hearts, with former Ranger Jim Denny at left back and future Ranger Cammy Fraser in midfield – took the lead after only two minutes thanks to an unfortunate own goal from Tam Forsyth, but after Davie Cooper levelled the scores after 24 minutes, there was only going to be one winner. Further goals from Jardine, Russell, John MacDonald (2) and Johnstone completed the rout and set up a semi-final clash against Aberdeen at Hampden. Derek Johnstone scored the only goal of the game against the Dons to set up an Old Firm final. Given that Aberdeen had won the Premier Division championship and Dundee United had lifted the League Cup, this was the only hope of domestic silverware for either side. In truth, it was a rather drab affair, settled by a goal from George McCluskey in extra time. But the match will be forever remembered for the riot that followed, with supporters and police battling it out on the pitch. Unsavoury is an understatement. Thus, Rangers ended the season empty-handed. And there would be no solace in Europe either. After defeating Lillestrom and Fortuna Dusseldorf, Rangers were knocked out of the European Cup Winners’ Cup by Valencia. A 1-1 draw in Spain looked to have put Greig’s side in a good position ahead of the Ibrox return leg, but inspired by Mario Kempes, the visitors won 3-1. Season 1979/80 will thus go down as one of the worst in Rangers’ 151-year history. The ageing squad Greig had inherited had been supplemented by the addition of Gregor Stevens and Ian Redford, but they struggled to score goals. Derek Johnstone was top goalscorer with 21, but the next best was John MacDonald who registered nine goals. Gordon Smith, who had netted a total of 45 goals in the two seasons prior, scored only six across the four major tournaments. The reconstruction of the stadium had meant that Greig hadn’t had a lot of money to spend, but it was clear that investment in the playing squad was becoming a necessity. But while the purse strings were loosened slightly ahead of and during season 1980/81, fortunes on the pitch didn’t improve much. The doleful and dark days of the early 1980s were upon us.
