Season 1980/81 by Alistair Aird The wretched season that was 1979/80 was concluded with a trip to Canada to take part in the Red Leaf Cup. Rangers played games in Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Hamilton, with Nancy, Ascoli and Botafoga providing the opposition. A 3-3 draw against Nancy was followed by a win over Ascoli and a draw with Botafoga, but John Greig’s side were beaten 2-0 by the Italian side in the final. The tour saw youngsters like Billy Davies and Steven Richardson given game time, but Ally Dawson returned home with a fractured skull and a perforated eardrum. That happened in the match against Ascoli in Toronto, and it would be November before the versatile Dawson would appear again for the first XI. Morale was boosted ahead of season 1980/81 when Rangers defeated North London’s finest, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, at Ibrox. The match against the Gunners saw another of the new Ibrox stands opened, and the patrons in the Broomloan Road stand watched John MacDonald score a double against a side that had reached the Final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup only a few months earlier. The first full league season on the 1980s kicked off on 9 August 1980. Rangers drew 1-1 against Airdrie at Broomfield. That would be the first of 12 draws across the league campaign, and the points dropped in those matches would prove costly. But in the early months of the season, there didn’t seem to be much to be perturbed about. A rasping drive from Alex Miller earned Rangers a 2-1 win at Parkhead – remarkably this would be their last league win there until April 1989 – and a month later, John MacDonald scored a hat trick as Kilmarnock were hammered 8-1 at Rugby Park. Rangers were undefeated in the league until the end of November. Of their opening 15 games, eight were won and seven drawn. Among those eight victories was an emphatic 3-0 win over Celtic at Ibrox, and the unbeaten run meant ahead of the visit of Morton to Ibrox on 29 November, Rangers were second in the table, three points behind Aberdeen and three ahead of third-placed Celtic. But the season would take a turn for the worse after Morton inflicted upon Rangers their first league defeat. Including the 0-0 draw at Tynecastle the week before the 1-0 defeat against Morton, Greig’s side went six league games without a win. In that run was a 1-1 draw against Airdrie – the third time the two sides had shared the points that season – and a 2-0 defeat at Pittodrie. The winless run was halted with a 2-0 win over Morton on 10 January, and when a Derek Johnstone goal was enough to secure a 1-0 win over Aberdeen at Ibrox, it looked like Rangers were contenders again in the race for the title. Although they sat third in the table, six points behind leaders Celtic, they had two games in hand. But as was the case throughout the early part of the decade, it would be a false dawn. Greig’s side lost five of their next seven in the league. One of those defeats came at Parkhead, and after losing 2-1 against St Mirren at Love Street on 28 March, the title challenge was over. With seven games to play, Rangers were fourth, 13 points adrift of Celtic. By the end of the season, they had moved up one place to third, but what could have been a very positive league season ended in disappointment. For the second successive season, Aberdeen ended interest in the League Cup. Forfar Athletic were beaten 5-1 on aggregate in the opening round, with the second leg at Ibrox featuring four penalty kicks for Rangers. Former Rangers goalkeeper Stewart Kennedy thwarted Sandy Jardine and then saw his former teammate strike the post after his kick was retaken. Fortunately, Alex Miller and Colin McAdam did find the target from 12 yards, and Rangers came from behind to win 3-1. Aberdeen were next on the agenda, but the first leg at Ibrox ended up being somewhat tempestuous. Rangers took the lead after just 44 seconds – Colin McAdam, a close season signing from Partick Thistle, headed a Tommy McLean free-kick beyond Jim Leighton – and that would prove to be the only goal of the game. But referee Kenny Hope booked eight players, and three minutes from the end, he dismissed Willie Johnston. Johnston, one of the heroes in Barcelona in 1972, had come back to Ibrox from Vancouver Whitecaps, but he was ordered off for the thirteenth time in his career for a nasty clash with John McMaster. Three weeks later, the two teams served up an epic contest at Pittodrie. Jim Reynolds, writing in the Glasgow Herald, reckoned the match was ‘one of the finest adverts for Scottish football that I have ever seen.’ The aggregate scores were level after only five minutes when McMaster thumped a shot from 25 yards out of the reach of Peter McCloy, and the home side edged ahead when Jardine was penalised for handling in the box. Gordon Strachan made no mistake from the penalty spot. But two minutes into the second half, the aggregate score was levelled when Colin McAdam scored, and as the clock ticked on to 90 minutes, extra time looked to be on the cards. But the intervention of the linesman won the tie for Aberdeen. He adjudged that Colin Jackson had fouled John Hewitt in the box, which prompted the referee, George Smith, to award a penalty. Strachan spotted the ball and scored. Rangers were out. Thus, the Scottish Cup would once again provide the only opportunity to secure major silverware. But the Road to Hampden looked to have been closed in the fourth round. After hammering Airdrie 5-0 at Broomfield in the third round, Rangers were drawn against First Division St Johnstone at Muirton Park. In the Perth side’s ranks was a prodigious talent called Alistair Murdoch McCoist, and as the match entered it’s dying embers, he looked to be part of side that was going to inflict another painful defeat on John Greig’s side. Having trailed 2-0, the Saints rallied to lead 3-2, but after Willie Johnston had a goal ruled out, Ian Redford snatched a replay when he found the net with what Ian Paul of the Glasgow Herald said was the ‘last raid of the day.’ McCoist scored in the replay four days later, but a double from McAdam and a goal from Gregor Stevens ensured that Rangers didn’t slip on any banana skins. A 3-1 win over Hibernian and a 2-1 victory over a Morton side that were reduced to nine men in the semi-final took Rangers through to face Dundee United at Hampden. A couple of months earlier, the teams had clashed at Ibrox in the league. Goalkeeper Jim Stewart, signed from Middlesbrough a few days earlier, made his debut, but the fact that he was singled out for praise by John Greig when his side lost 4-1 sums up how Rangers had fared on the night. For the showpiece match at Hampden, Greig left out Derek Johnstone and Davie Cooper, but Rangers should have won a poor match when they were awarded a penalty in the closing minutes. Ian Redford was tasked with winning the Cup, but his driven effort struck the legs of Hamish McAlpine, and the sides would have to replay three days later. Greig recalled Cooper and Johnstone for the match, and Cooper was magnificent, producing a masterclass and orchestrating a 4-1 win. In addition to scoring himself, he provided the assist for the second goal scored by Bobby Russell. His pass also played in John MacDonald who made it 3-1 after David Dodds had appeared to pull United back into the match. MacDonald’s second goal after the interval sealed the deal. Rangers had won the Scottish Cup. The season would have a silver lining. But Rangers were now developing an unwanted reputation; they were a ‘Cup team’. On their day, they could beat anyone, but the lack of consistency in the league meant that a sustained challenge for the title seemed to be beyond them. That being said, the ‘Cup team’ tag didn’t serve them well in the Anglo-Scottish Cup earlier in the season. With no European football, the Light Blues were pitched into the Anglo Scottish Cup. The tournament had started off as the Texaco Cup in 1975, and Rangers managed to squeeze past Patrick Thistle in the opening round, winning 5-4 on aggregate. But humiliation beckoned. By then, the entrants from England were coming from the lower divisions, and Rangers were drawn against Chesterfield in the quarter-finals. Chesterfield were top of the English Third Division – the equivalent of League One in today’s parlance – and they took the lead in the first leg at Ibrox. Gordon Dalziel equalised on the night, but if supporters thought drawing the first leg was embarrassing, then the 3-0 loss in the second leg was verging on one of the most chastening nights in the club’s history. Rangers were at a crossroads. They were playing in what was developing into a state-of-the-art arena, but performances on the pitch weren’t filling the multi-coloured seats in the new stands. John Greig was now under scrutiny. Three cup wins in three seasons was never going to be enough to satisfy a ravenous Rangers support that expected their club being the top team in the country. Unfortunately, it would be a few years before Rangers achieved that status once again.
