Season 1970/71 by Alistair Aird Willie Waddell’s first full season as Rangers manager kicked with a comfortable 4-1 win over Dunfermline Athletic in the League Cup at Ibrox. The goal conceded in that game would be the only one shipped in a section that also contained Motherwell and Morton, the Light Blues winning five and drawing one of their six sectional ties to qualify comfortably for the knockout stages. But the barometer for success at the time was Celtic, and Rangers lost twice to their Old Firm rivals before the end of September. A 3-1 defeat in the Glasgow Cup Final was followed by a 2-0 reverse at Parkhead. In the latter match, Jim Brogan missed an early penalty for Celtic, but the home side were ahead after only six minutes, John Hughes heading home a Jimmy Johnstone corner. That goal still separated the sides at the interval, and Malcom Munro, writing the Evening Times, reckoned that while Rangers weren’t in the same class as Celtic, they were still dangerous. But against the run of play, Bobby Murdoch doubled Celtic’s lead, and after three games, Rangers were already playing catch up. The following weekend Rangers welcomed Cowdenbeath to Ibrox. With Colin Stein, who had been taken off midweek against Bayern Munich, listed as the Rangers substitute, Waddell handed the number nine jersey to a 16-year-old Dundonian called Derek Johnstone. ‘DJ’ marked his debut with a couple of goals, and he would make another telling contribution to the season just over a month later. Rangers had disposed of Hibernian and Cowdenbeath to reach the League Cup Final where they would face Celtic. They would do so without their captain, John Greig, who was suffering from flu. Ronnie McKinnon took over as skipper, while Johnstone teamed up with Stein in attack. And the youngster enjoyed a fairytale afternoon, rising between Billy McNeill and Jim Craig to head a cross from Willie Johnston beyond Evan Williams. After five seasons without a major trophy, Rangers players had their hands on silverware once more. Alas, the victory at Hampden couldn’t kickstart a sustained challenge for the First Division title. The early season defeat at Parkhead had been followed by a run of six wins in the next eight games. Following a 5-0 win over Clyde at Ibrox on 14 November, Waddell’s side sat third in the table, six points behind leaders Celtic but with a game in hand. But back-to-back away defeats against Ayr United and Hibernian and 2-1 defeat against St Johnstone at Muirton Park effectively extinguished any title aspirations before the year had ended. The nub of the issue was Rangers’ away form. A 1-0 win over St Mirren at Ibrox on Boxing Day was Rangers’ seventh home win of the season. Only three points had been dropped in the nine games played at Ibrox. But in contrast, four of the nine games played away from home had been lost, with only three of the other five being victories. This meant that Rangers were nine points adrift of leaders Aberdeen at the end of 1970. 1971 started with another away defeat – Falkirk won 3-1 at Brockville on 1 January – and just 24 hours later, Rangers welcomed Celtic to Ibrox. It would turn out to be one of the darkest days in the history of Rangers Football Club. A largely uneventful match was goalless going into the final minute. But at that point, Bobby Lennox thudded a shot against the crossbar and Jimmy Johnstone rose highest to head home the rebound. The points looked to have been plundered by Celtic, but before referee Bill Anderson blew his whistle for full time, Colin Stein scored an equaliser. Talk after that game should have been all about the dramatic end to the match, but all of that paled into insignificance when it emerged that 66 people had lost their lives on Stairway 13. Almost half of those who died were teenagers, while the youngest victim was aged nine. The one woman who passed away was 18-year-old Margaret Ferguson. It was later established by The Fatal Accident Inquiry that over five minutes after the match had ended, a ‘domino effect’ had occurred when someone stumbled at the top of the staircase. Given the mass of bodies in the area, there was no stopping this. In addition to those who died, a further 145 were injured. Willie Waddell was colossal in the aftermath. He vowed that such as disaster would never happen again at Ibrox and set in motion plans to redevelop the stadium. He also ensured that all the injured were visited in hospital and there was representation at each of the funeral services too. Rangers returned to action 14 days after the disaster, playing out a 1-1 draw against Dundee United at Ibrox. And in the 13 league matches that followed, Rangers won only six of them. The season ended with a fourth-placed finish, Waddell’s side finishing 15 points behind Celtic, 13 adrift of runners-up Aberdeen and three worse off than St Johnstone who finished third. There was, however, an opportunity to add the Scottish Cup to the League Cup that had been won earlier in the season. Falkirk, St Mirren, and Aberdeen were beaten to set up a semi-final against Hibernian at Hampden. Rangers hadn’t beaten the Easter Road side in the League that season, losing in Edinburgh and drawing 1-1 at Ibrox. And the two sides contested another draw – 0-0 on this occasion – when they met on 31 March. Press accounts suggest it wasn’t the best of matches, but the replay, played on a Monday night, was much more of spectacle. Willie Henderson’s left foot shot put Rangers in front after 18 minutes, but Joe O’Rourke equalised seven minutes later. But Rangers edged it when Alfie Conn found the net in the second half. That set up another encounter with Celtic on 8 May 1971. Celtic were overwhelming favourites to win, but Rangers should have won the match. In the first half, Jim Parkinson, writing in the Glasgow Herald, said that the Rangers players had shown ‘astonishing confidence, powerful running and intelligent passing’, which had thrown Celtic ‘out of their stride.’ Parkinson reckoned Rangers could have scored three goals in the opening half – Willie Johnston was particularly profligate in front of goal - yet it was Celtic who went into the dressing rooms at half time in front, Bobby Lennox scoring after 40 minutes. And had it not been for the introduction of Derek Johnstone with 20 minutes to go, they may have gone on to add to that lead and lift the cup. But DJ, who was making his first-ever appearance in the Scottish Cup, rose above the advancing Evan Williams to head in an equaliser with three minutes to go. The teams met for the replay the following midweek. Rangers were forced to make one change to their starting XI. Alex Miller had fractured his cheekbone in the first half of the first match, and his absence left Waddell with a shortage of options to cover for Miller who himself was in the team to cover for the absence of Sandy Jardine who had suffered a broken leg against Cowdenbeath a few weeks earlier. Tom Alexander who had impressed in the reserve team and played a couple of league matches towards the end of the season looked to be an option, but Waddell opted for Jim Denny instead. Denny, who had come from Yoker Athletic, had never played for the first team before. Nevertheless, Denny acquitted himself well, but two goals in two minutes from Lou Macari and Harry Hood, the latter from the penalty spot, proved to be Rangers’ undoing. Derek Johnstone, on for Andy Penman at half-time, tried to perform his heroics once again, but despite his shot after 58 minutes being turned into his own net by Jim Craig, DJ couldn’t rescue Rangers this time. Despite losing out on the Scottish Cup, the barren spell without a trophy had ended, but Rangers were now developing a reputation of being a cup team. On their day, Waddell’s side were a match for anyone, but they lacked any sort of consistency to sustain a challenge for the league title. But as frustrating as that may have been, it actually stood the club in good stead for season 1971/72. Immortality beckoned.
