Colin West (1986 to 1987)
Although Colin’s stay at Ibrox was somewhat brief, he does hold the distinction of being the first signing of the Graeme Souness era which would ultimately revolutionise Rangers and the whole of Scottish Football.
A former team mate of Ally McCoist at Sunderland, Colin joined from Watford on May 15th 1986 for a fee of £200,000. A powerful target man, the 23 year old made his competitive debut during the infamous opening day defeat at Easter Road as Souness looked to resurrect the McCoist / West striking partnership. They would start the first 6 games of the season together, netting 7 goals in the process (5 for McCoist and 2 for West). West’s first goal came in the league cup during a 4-1 victory over Stenhousemuir and just 3 days later he would bag his first league goal as Hamilton were defeated 2-1 at Douglas Park.
Unfortunately, just as West was beginning to find his feet he suffered a nasty injury in a league cup tie with East Fife. This would force him out of the first Old Firm clash of the season that weekend and it was over three months before he was back in the first team. During that sustained period on the sidelines, Robert Fleck had come back into the reckoning and was beginning to establish a formidable partnership with McCoist.
His final goal for the Club came on 14th April 1987 when he came off the bench at Kilbowie to net in a 3-0 victory. Colin was on the pitch at Pittodrie when Rangers secured their first title in 9 years on the penultimate match of season 1986/87, it proved to be his final appearance in blue.
With the arrival of Mark Falco in the summer of 1987, Colin returned South to sign for Sheffield Wednesday and he would spend the rest of his career in English football turning out for several clubs including WBA and Swansea City (Wales).
by Rick Plews
