Season Summary by Alistair Aird
John Greig’s fifth, and ultimately final, full season as Rangers manager would be a microcosm of so many of the campaigns of the early-to-mid 1980’s. At times, the Light Blues excelled – for evidence of this look no further than the matches against Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Cup and the two thrashings of Kilmarnock in the League Cup – but too often they were mired in mediocrity. It would once again be a long, hard season for what was fast becoming a beleaguered bunch.
After taking part in a pre-season tournament in Lille, Rangers faced FA Cup holders Tottenham Hotspur at Ibrox as the build up to the sectional ties in the League Cup started in earnest. Replete in a new home shirt featuring the now iconic white pinstripes and with new signings David Mackinnon, Craig Paterson, and Robert Prtyz in the starting XI, Greig’s side gave a good account of themselves. But they were thwarted by an inspired display by Ray Clemence, and Spurs, who had Graham Roberts, Glenn Hoddle and Steve Archibald in their side, scored early through Gary Mabbutt to win the game 1-0.
A 3-1 win over a touring China XI followed before the competitive action got underway with a 1-1 draw against Hibernian at Easter Road in the League Cup. Airdrie and Clydebank were also bracketed in Section Three, and by 1 September, Rangers had topped the group, registering four wins and two draws in their six fixtures. That booked a place in the quarter-finals against Kilmarnock, but before that two-legged affair took place, the league season kicked off with a trip to Fir Park.
Motherwell were managed by none other than Jock Wallace, and he was afforded a standing ovation by the visiting fans when the teams emerged before kick-off. But Rangers looked to be showing their former manager any mercy when they took the lead after only seven minutes.
John MacDonald, who had scored four times in the League Cup, latched on to a header from Ian Redford and scurried towards goal. His progress was halted by an illegal challenge from Alex Forsyth, and the curly haired Prytz made an immaculate job of the resulting penalty kick.
Rangers were dominant after that but had to wait until the 65th minute to double their lead. Davie Cooper did what Davie Cooper did, meandering down the left wing and evading all the challenges that came his way. He then picked out Redford who rifled the ball beyond Hugh Sproat.
At that stage, it looked like the points were in the bag. But Bruce Clelland hauled Motherwell back into the game with a goal with 15 minutes to go before Joe Carson, who was later ordered off, equalised.
A 0-0 draw at home to Dundee United followed before Kilmarnock were thumped 5-0 at Ibrox. And the Rugby Park side would take another two hammerings in the weeks that followed too.
Four days after the win the league, Rangers travelled to Ayrshire for the first leg of the League Cup quarter-finals. And they returned up the A77 to Glasgow with a five-goal cushion, with Cooper imperious, scoring four goals and creating one of the brace netted by John MacDonald.
A goalkeeping error led to the opening goal. Allan McCulloch, who moments earlier had thwarted Jim Bett, let the ball squirm out of his arms, and Derek Johnstone passed to Cooper to tap into an empty net. A tremendous solo effort from Cooper followed – again McCulloch didn’t cover himself in glory –and he then created the third goal of the night for MacDonald with a cross from the right.
Stuart McLean reduced the arrears, but any notion of a Kilmarnock comeback was quickly nipped in the bud within a minute when MacDonald latched on to a pass from Bett and chipped McCulloch to make it 4-1.
Cooper completed his hat trick 10 minutes later and rounded off the scoring when he conjured up the best goal of the night, when according to Jim Reynolds of the Glasgow Herald, he ‘completely mesmerised the home defence then sent a crafty lob over McCulloch.’
Rangers scored six in the return leg too – MacDonald grabbed another double – and at this stage, they were flying high, riding the crest of the proverbial wave.
In the Premier Division, Johnstone and Prytz scored the goals that handed Rangers their first-ever win at Pittodrie since league reconstruction in 1975. Remarkably, a Rangers side wouldn’t defeat Aberdeen again in the Granite City until February 1988. At this stage, after four league fixtures, Greig’s side were second in the table, two points behind Celtic.
By the end of September, Borussia Dortmund had been eliminated from the UEFA Cup, and when Hibernian were beaten 3-2 at Ibrox on 23 October, Rangers were yet to taste defeat in any competition, boasting a record of 11 wins and eight draws. But the wheels would soon come off in spectacular fashion.
The unbeaten run ended when Celtic came back from 2-1 down to edge the first Old Firm game by three goals to two at Parkhead. And the following midweek, Cologne rattled in five goals without reply to bounce Greig’s side out of the UEFA Cup.
Confidence drained after that. Rangers won only one of their next nine league matches and lost 2-1 against Celtic in the League Cup Final. And when a Brian McClair hat trick earned Motherwell a 3-0 win at Fir Park in January, Greig’s side trailed leaders Celtic by 14 points. Although this was only the halfway stage of the league season, there was no way this battered and beleaguered side would claw that back.
The decline looked to have been arrested when high-flying Dundee United were defeated 2-1 at Ibrox, but that was followed by another calamitous run that yielded only two wins from the next 11 league games. In that sequence, only 11 goals were scored, and five of them came in one game against Morton.
The league season ended with an Old Firm defeat at Ibrox. A double from Sandy Clark had the home side 2-0 up at the break, but that advantage evaporated inside 16 second half minutes. Charlie Nicholas scored goal number 50 for the season from the penalty spot before Tom McAdam glanced a header into the net. And salt was poured into the gaping wounds when Frank McGarvey and Nicholas, with another penalty, scored inside the final 16 minutes.
That was Premier Division defeat number 11. Of the other 25 league games, 13 were won and 12 drawn. That’s hardly the hallmark of champions. Dundee United won the league, with Greig’s languishing in fourth place. The gap between the two sides was 18 points. The alarm bells were tolling.
Sanctuary was sought in the Scottish Cup. Wins over Falkirk, Forfar Athletic and Queen’s Park took Rangers through to the last four. Was a grim season going to end with a silver lining?
Sandy Clark, who had signed from West Ham United in March for £160,000, looked to have scored the goal that took Rangers into the final when he netted 18 minutes from the end of the semi-final against St Mirren. But the unfortunate Paterson diverted the ball into his own net with six minutes left which meant a replay was required. Clark’s controversial goal two minutes from the end of extra time edged that one in the favour of Rangers.
Standing in the way of success in the final was an Aberdeen side who had just defeated Real Madrid 2-1 to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup in Gothenburg. The Dons had also finished as runners-up in the league – a solitary point was all that separated them from Dundee United – so they were clear favourites going into the match at Hampden.
But Rangers could, and probably should, have won the trophy.
‘It was perhaps predictable that Rangers would rise to the occasion of the Scottish Cup final, play well and lose,’ said Jim Reynolds in his match report for the Glasgow Herald.
After substitute Billy Davies had a goal ruled out, a poor game was settled four minutes from the end of extra time. A loose pass from Bobby Russell was intercepted and when Mark McGhee’s shot spun off the boot of Craig Paterson, Eric Black headed in the only goal of the game.
The victorious Aberdeen manager, Alex Ferguson, was incandescent after the game, savaging his team. But a brave performance was scant consolation for Greig and his team at the end of the first trophyless season for five years.
Pressure was mounting on John Greig. He had been a colossal, on-field leader during the last barren spell for the club in the late 1960s, but he was struggling to fuse together a side capable of competing not just with Celtic but Aberdeen and Dundee United too. The reconstruction of Ibrox didn’t help him, but the malaise that engulfed Rangers couldn’t go on much longer.
And early in season 1983/84, the burden of restoring Rangers to the summit of Scottish Football would become intolerable for the manager of the Light Blues.
