Season 1960/61 by Alistair Aird Season 1960/61 will always be synonymous with the signing of James Curran Baxter. One of the finest Rangers players of all-time, Baxter arrived from Raith Rovers, the Light Blues paying £17,500 for his services, a Scottish record fee at the time. Baxter made his debut on 13 August 1960 in the League Cup against Partick Thistle at Ibrox. He was selected at inside-left having, in the opinion of Gair Henderson of the Evening Times, run riot in the same role during the annual Ibrox trial match five days earlier. He played there again two days later when Rangers lost to Celtic in the opening round of the Glasgow Cup, but thereafter reverted to left-half. With Baxter pulling the strings, Rangers reached the halfway point of the league season boasting a record of 14 wins and only three defeats. And on that impressive run, Celtic had been hammered 5-1 at Parkhead, the second time in a week that Rangers had emerged victorious at the home of their Old Firm rivals. Seven days earlier, goals from Harold Davis and Ralph Brand had avenged an earlier 3-2 loss at Ibrox and clinched top spot in Section Two of the League Cup. By the time the midway point of the title race was reached, the League Cup had been won for the first time since season 1948/49. A very good Dundee side were beaten 5-3 on aggregate in the quarter-final before Queen of the South were hammered 7-0 in the last four at Parkhead. Kilmarnock, who would take the title race to the final day of the campaign, provided the opposition in the Final at Hampden where goals from Ralph Brand and Alex Scott gave Rangers the trophy for only the third time since its inception in season 1946/47. But the Scottish Cup would not sit alongside the League Cup in the Ibrox Trophy Room. The Road to Hampden started with a magnificent 5-1 win over Dundee at Dens Park but the journey was brought to an abrupt halt in the third round by Motherwell. The teams drew 2-2 at Fir Park, but minus Baxter, Rangers lost the floodlit replay by five goals to two. By the time Baxter returned to the starting XI on 25 March, ironically against Motherwell at Fir Park, the race for the title was hotting up. And it was blown wide open when Scot Symon’s side lost of successive Saturdays, going down 2-0 against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on 1 April before getting hammered 6-1 by Aberdeen at Pittodrie seven days later. With two games remaining, the gap between leaders Rangers and second-placed Kilmarnock was just a single point. But the ship was steadied, and home wins over Hibernian (1-0) and Ayr United (7-3) ensured the League Championship trophy would be bedecked in red, white, and blue ribbons. New ground was broken in Europe in season 1960/61, with Rangers competing in the inaugural season of the European Cup Winners’ Cup. They had qualified by virtue of winning the Scottish Cup in season 1959/60, and they went all the way to the final too. Aggregate wins over Ferencvaros (5-4) and Borussia Monchengladbach (11-0) set up a semi-final against Wolves. And after winning 2-0 at Ibrox, the Rangers came to Wolverhampton town and drew 1-1 to qualify for the Final. Alas, they came up short over two legs against Fiorentina. Eric Caldow missed a controversial penalty in the first leg at Ibrox, and the Italian side eventually claimed the trophy with a 4-1 aggregate victory. The Glasgow Cup and Charity Cup, both of which had been won in season 1959/60, were surrendered. Celtic won 4-2 in the opening round of the former, while Clyde won 4-3 in the first round of the latter. Over the course of the season, Rangers played in 59 full matches, 34 in the league, three in the Scottish Cup, 10 in the League Cup, eight in Europe, once in the Glasgow Cup, once in the Charity Cup, and two friendly fixtures. Remarkably, Davie Wilson played in each and every one of them, including the league match against Motherwell on 19 November 1960 that was abandoned after 81 minutes due to fog. The top goalscorer for the campaign was Ralph Brand who plundered a total of 44 goals, 24 in the league, two in the Scottish Cup, nine in the League Cup, five in Europe (including a hat-trick in the 8-0 blitzing of Borussia Monchengladbach) and three in the friendlies. Brand also scored the only goal in the abandoned fixture against Motherwell.
