Buying-In Young Scots Has Always Been Good For Rangers (And Celtic)

SOME of the papers are becoming agitated at the prospect of 16-year-old Livingston starlet Matthew Knox becoming a Rangers' "target". This is a development I welcome, I would far-rather see the Bigot Brothers, as our two top clubs, the most-likely clubs to be Scotland's standard-bearers in Europe, fielding teams choc-a-bloc with home-grown talent, than by badge-kissing European mercenaries.

When "old" Rangers were a power in Europe, before the failed Murray/Souness etc switch to bought-in talent, the club regularly kept top Scottish talent in Scotland, rather than seeing these players taking the High Road south.

Jim Baxter, one bought-in talent from the 1961 team

For Example: Rangers team v Fiorentina (1961 European Cup-Winners Cup Final): Billy Ritchie; Bobby Shearer, Eric Caldow; Harold Davis, Bill Paterson, Jim Baxter; Davie Wilson, Ian McMillan, Alex Scott, Ralph Brand, Bobby Hume. That was the team in the first leg, for the second leg, Jimmy Millar came in for Bobby Hume, with the forward line reverting to the familiar: Scott, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson.

 Dave Smith - joined Rangers from Aberdeen to play in the 1967 and 1972 European finals

Rangers team v Bayenr Munich (1967 European Cup-Winners Cup Final): Norrie Martin; Kai Johansen, Davie Provan, Sandy Jardine, Ronnie McKinnon, John Greig; Willie Henderson, Davie Smith, Roger Hynd, Alex Smith and Willie Johnston.

Alex MacDonald - signed from St Johnstone

Rangers team v Moscow Dynamo (1972 European Cup-Winners Cup Final): Peter McCloy; Sandy Jardine, Willie Mathieson; John Greig, Derek Johnstone, Davie Smith; Tommy McLean, Alfie Conn, Colin Stein, Alex MacDonald, Willie Johnston. Substitutes: Gerry Neef, Jim Denny, Graham Fyfe, Andy Penman, Derek Parlane.

Rangers team v Ajax Amsterdam (1972-73 European Super Cup Final): Peter McCloy; Sandy Jardine, Willie Mathieson; John Greig, Derek Johnstone, Davie Smith; Alfie Conn, Tam Forsyth, Derek Parlane, Alex MacDonald, Quinton Young. Substitutes: Tommy McLean, Graham Fyfe. That was the team for the first leg, for the second leg: McLean replaced Conn; no subs came on in the second leg.

Rangers v Zenit St Petersborg (2008 UEFA Cup Final): Neil Alexander; Kirk Broadfoot, Carlos Cuellar, Davie Weir, Sasa Papac; Bramin Hemdani; Steven Whittaker, Barry Ferguson, Kevin Thomson, Steven Davis; Jean-Claude Darcheville. Substitues used: Kris Boyd, Nacho Novo, Lee McCulloch. Not used: Graeme Smith, Christian Dailly, Charlie Adam, Amdy Faye.

Five European competition finals, 53 Rangers players stripped. Of these, 23 players – Ritchie, Caldow, Wilson, Scott, Brand and Hume from the 1961 team; Martin, Provan, Jardine, McKinnon, Greig, Henderson, Hynd and Johnston from the 1967 team; Mathieson, Johnstone, Conn, Denny, Fyfe and Parlane from the 1972 team and Ferguson, Smith and Adam from the 2008 team were home-grown, joining the club as boys and progressing through the ranks.

Kirk Broadfoot in his St Mirren days

Of the 30 bought-in players, 17, Shearer, Davis, Baxter, McMillan and Millar of the 1961 team, both Smiths from the 1967 team, McCloy, McLean, Stein MacDonald, Penman and Forsyth from the 1972-73 teams and Broadfoot, Whittaker Thomson and Boyd from the 2008 team were recruited from other Scottish clubs – while Paterson from the 1961 squad, Young from the 1973 squad, Alexander, Weir, McCulloch and Dailly were Scots, recruited from English clubs.

The best Rangers' teams of the European Club Football era in Scottish football have, therefore, been teams which had a distinct Scottish- basis or spine; indeed, most were home-grown. Not every player Rangers recruit from another Scottish club manages to cope with the extra pressures involved in playing for that club – indeed, the same might well be said about Celtic, but, the best Rangers' teams have been a mixture of home-grown players and bought-in Scots. I hope for Rangers' sake Mark Warburton is aware of this and acts accordingly.

Knox might find his head turned by the higher wages he would encounter in England; indeed, while I do not know who his agent is, that person might see personal gain in advising the kid to go south. However, if he does move to Rangers, he might find it a rewarding move.

Matthew Knox in action against Rangers

Time will tell, however, he is not, I warrant, the only potentially-good young Scottish player out there; and it would be good to see Rangers, and Celtic for that matter (although they already have done this well in recent years): offering opportunity to young, indigenous Scottish talent.

Leigh Griffiths - would be a worthy POY

SPEAKING of indigenous Scottish talent, Leigh Griffiths would be a worthy winner of the Player of the Year award for which he was nominated this week. I can think of no other player in Scotland who has lit-up the season now ending as brightly and as consistently. He has grown-up a lot too. For a time, I feared he might burn-out in the Old Firm media spotlight, but, he has matured, settled-down and this award would, should he get, have been worthily-won. (Now, cue a Scott Brown-type shitting in his own nest front-page story).

SOME football hacks are trying to work-up "Rangers crisis" headlines on the back of the Tribute Act's poor results, since, in the space of a week, they won the Championship, then knocked Celtic out of the Scottish Cup.

I must say, I am not surprised at their recent poor results. They have nothing left to play for, they are, I am sure, sub-consciously "saving" themselves for the Cup Final, because, the team for that game will almost pick itself.

Mr MacLeod - the original and greatest "Super Ally"

I remember Ally MacLeod once telling me, the easiest way a manager can ensure a poor result from his team is by telling them: "There's nothing at stake today, just go out there, play and enjoy yourselves". Since winning the league and beating Celtic, the RTA has been able to just go out there, play and enjoy themselves. It's not rocket science that they should under-perform.