NOBODY HAS used the formation since before the last brown, steel-toe-capped Manfield Hotspur boot was built, but, British teams are still listed in a 2-3-5 formation. Indeed, for most of the history of the game in this country, the more usual team formation was 3-4-3. The players in shirts 2-5 and 3 just defended; numbers 4-6-8 and 10 did the fetching and carrying between defence and attack, while numberes 7-9 and 11 were there to score goals and worry opposition defenders.
Then, in the 1960s we went to a back four and over the intervening years we have seen all sorts of formations tried-out. But, through all the turmoil and changes, one thing has been a near-constant in Scottish Fitba – Rangers tended to have the players who, above all else, knew how to defend.
From the pictured Tom Vallance in the 1870s, via a progression of Edwardian greats, to Davie Meiklejohn in the 1920s, on via Jimmy Simpson, to Willie Woodburn and George Young and Co in the legendary “Iron Curtain” team. Then came John Greig and Ronnie McKinnon, Derek Johnstone and Colin Jackson, Tam Forsyth and Richard Gough, Davie Macpherson and Alan McLaren – it was almost de rigeur for the national team to have at least one, if not two Rangers men at the back.
Think too of the full-backs who helped keep the goals intact: Dougie Gray, Jock “Tiger” Shaw, Sammy Cox, Eric Caldow, Sandy Jardine. Playing for Rangers meant, conceding a goal was a serious personal affront.
Most of those players now watch from the great dressing room in the sky, but those who are still with us: Greig, Gough and the like, what must they have thought of the desperate defending on-view in Tuesday night's latest Ibrox European Disaster? Maybe The Europa League is the right level for Rangers FC 2025, in which case, Club Brugge did everyone a favour by confirming, the current squad is totally inadequate for The Champions League; better to find out now, before they found themselves even more compromised by having to go head-to-head with the clubs in the big boys' playground.
This season, so-far, the theme song has been: “the cry was no defenders”. As I survey the wreckage of the start of this Rangers' season I am reminded of a tale from my youth. The above-mentioned George Young, Captain of Rangers and Scotland, announced he would retire at the end of season 1956-57, leaving the club with a huge gap to fill, not least in the number five shirt.
So, Manager Scot Symon did what his predecessor, the great Bill Struth had done on numerous occasions – he went to Hampden and recruited centre-half John Valentine, a Scotland Amateur cap and a young man who looked as if he could develop into a player able to succeed Young and Woodburn – who had been suspended sine die.
Sadly, the job was beyond Valentine and after he was cruelly exposed by Billy McPhail in the legendary “Hampden in the Sun” League Cup final of 1957 – won 7-1 by Celtic, Valentine was dropped and quickly off-loaded to St Johnstone. Young reserve Willie Moles, who was only 20, was promoted to fill the void, sadly, after a serious head knock, he was mis-diagnosed as suffering from MS and eventually let go, having played only five first team games.
Rangers then bought the experienced veteran Scotland internationalist Willie Telfer from St Mirren. Telfer, from Larkhall, was a Rangers' supporter who steadied the ship as Rangers recovered to finish second in the League that season, behind a great Hearts team, with Celtic in third place.
Valentine suffered one horrific day at the office, Moles was very-unlucky with his injury while Telfer was a stop-gap; but, I reckon any one of the three was better than some of the defenders out there this season.
A song from The Music Man comes to mind here: Glasgow is a city on a river, so, clearly, for Rangers: “You've got trouble, right here in River City”. With another nod to that musical, maybe they should have stuck with the ”boy band”; although, a team, managed by a former Scotland central defender, unable to do the basics of defending, that's a serious problem.
Football Management 101 states quite clearly, you secure the back door first – when will that message get through at Ibrox? I wonder.
Back in the early 1980s, when I was first told by my Sports Editor: “Get thee to the Hunnery” - that particular Partick Thistle fan's way of telling you, you were at Ibrox on the Saturday, the joke was of a design flaw in the rebuilt ground: “They built it with the seats facing the pitch”. Many of those seats were vacant on a Saturday, I can see those days returning if things don't improve soon.
Any way, the Brugge game was so bad, I opted out at half time and watched an episode of the Netflix series on the Dallas Cowboys. Even with minimla footage of the Cheerleaders, it was more-entertaining than the fitba.
Then, this morning, on Facebook, I had to relive Kris Boyd's latest mental break-down – see, it's not all bad.
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