By Alistair Aird
After securing a top eight finish in the revamped Europa League group stage, Rangers know they will face one of four possible opponents in the last 16. They will either be drawn against FC Twente Enschede, Fenerbache, Anderlecht or FK Bodo/Glimt. While we have yet met the Norwegians in a European tie, Rangers have had previous encounters against the other three.
This is the first in a series of three articles that will reflect on those matches with a fourth piece following which looks at some fixtures Rangers have had against opposition from Norway.
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Part 1 looks back at two ties that were contested between Rangers and FC Twente Enschede in the now defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup and features a friendly match played between the two sides in August 1985.
In the mid-1970s, feast was immediately followed by famine for Rangers. Having secured all three major domestic trophies in season 1975/76, Jock Wallace’s side had surrendered them all the following season, finishing second in the league behind Celtic, losing the Old Firm Scottish Cup Final and being thrashed 5-1 by Aberdeen in the semi-final of the League Cup.
The 1-0 defeat against Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final meant that Rangers would compete in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in season 1977/78, a competition they had won in 1972 after losing out in two previous finals in 1961 and 1967.
Ahead of the new season, the squad was bolstered by the addition of Davie Cooper, Bobby Russell and Gordon Smith, but Rangers would embark on a somewhat uneven start to the campaign.
Although Russell scored on his league debut, Rangers lost 3-1 at Pittodrie, and a week later, Wallace’s side went down 2-0 at home to Hibernian. These losses were offset by an aggregate win over St Johnstone in the League Cup, a 4-0 league win over Partick Thistle at Firhill, and victory over Young Boys Berne in the Qualifying Round for the Cup Winners Cup. But the latter match came at price.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Rangers drew 2-2 in Berne to make it through, but Derek Johnstone was ordered off which ruled him out of the matches in the next round against FC Twente Enschede. Such was Johnstone’s dexterity – he was a stalwart at both centre half and centre forward – his enforced absence was a huge blow. And selection worries at centre forward were compounded when Derek Parlane fractured his cheekbone against Celtic four days before the first leg of the FC Twente tie at Ibrox. Parlane and Johnstone would be joined on the sidelines by Alex MacDonald too, ‘Doddie’ having picked up a hamstring injury in a superb Old Firm match that saw Rangers recover from a 2-0 half time deficit to win 3-2.
Kenny Watson took over from MacDonald in midfield and Colin Jackson came into the heart of the defence after missing the Celtic game through injury. Captain John Greig, who had made his first league appearance of the season as substitute in the derby match, was back on the bench, and up front, there was a return to first team action for Martin Henderson.
Particularly prominent in season 1975/76 when he had scored 13 goals in 33 appearances, Henderson had featured infrequently in the barren season 1976/77, and other than a couple of appearances in pre-season, his place in the starting XI for the visit of the Dutch side would be just his second appearance of season 1977/78. His only other outing had been as sub against St Johnstone in the League Cup at Muirton Park. Henderson’s last first team goal had come in a friendly against Morton four days before Christmas in 1976.
FC Twente qualified for the Cup Winners Cup thanks to a 3-0 win over PEC Zwolle in the Final of the KNVB Cup. The club had only been formed as recently as 1965 and this was their first-ever domestic success. They had been Eredivise runners-up in season 1973/74 – Feyenoord pipped them by two points – and lost in the Final of the KNVB Cup in season 1974/75, going down 1-0 to FC Den Haag. They were therefore an up-and-coming side, but most reckoned that even accounting for the players missing, Rangers would have too much for them over two legs. In their ranks were two names that would become familiar to followers of English football in the early 1980s: Frans Thijsen and Arnold Muhren. Both would be part of the Ipswich Town team that won the UEFA Cup in 1981, with Muhren also going on to win the FA Cup with Manchester United in 1983.
FC Twente would come to Ibrox and defend stoutly, although they almost took the lead after 15 minutes when Epi Drost thudded a free kick against the post. Meanwhile, Rangers patiently probed at the FC Twente defence looking for an opening, but while the FC Twente goalkeeper, Andrew van Gervan was kept busier than Peter McCloy, Rangers badly missed Johnstone and Parlane. And they also passed up a gilt-edged chance to score when an effort from Davie Cooper slipped beyond the left-hand post after 64 minutes. Cooper had been picked out inside the six-yard box by Sandy Jardine after an enterprising run from the full back, but with the goal at his mercy, he failed to hit the target.
The second leg took place in the Dickman Stadium in Enschede a fortnight later. A 3-3 draw against St Mirren at Love Street and a 2-0 win over Ayr United at Ibrox had taken Wallace’s side on to seven points, a tally that left them in fourth place on the league ladder, four points adrift of unbeaten league leaders, Aberdeen.
Wallace was able to welcome back Parlane and MacDonald to the starting XI, but Derek Johnstone was still absent through suspension. There would be a change in goal too, with Stewart Kennedy replacing Peter McCloy who had been left out after shipping 10 goals in the first five league fixtures.
It would prove to a nightmare night for Rangers. Their Dutch hosts opened the scoring after 34 minutes – Kennedy looked to be at fault when he was beaten in the air by the FC Twente forward Ab Gritter – and had several opportunities to extend their lead before Muhren scored five minutes before half time to make it 2-0. A third FC Twente goal 20 minutes into the second half sealed the deal and a late penalty miss from Alex Miller merely compounded what was a miserable night for Rangers.
FC Twente would go on to reach the semi-final where they lost 3-0 on aggregate to Anderlecht. The Belgians then proceeded to hammer Austria Wien 4-0 in the Final in Paris. Domestically, FC Twente finished fourth in the Eredivisie and were bounced out the KNVB Cup in the second round by Go Ahead Eagles.
For Rangers, the chastening defeat proved to be a watershed moment. Doubles from Cooper and Smith helped inflict a 4-1 defeat on Clydebank the weekend after the Enschede elimination and four days later, Aberdeen were thrashed 6-1 in the League Cup at Ibrox. Wallace’s side went from strength to strength, winning eight and drawing two of their next 10 league games. The League Cup was also won when Cooper and Smith scored the goals that saw off Celtic in the Final.
The league run came to a shuddering halt when Aberdeen won 4-0 at Pittodrie on Christmas Eve, but despite having a wobble in March and early April – Rangers won only one of their five league matches – Wallace’s men held firm. A 2-0 win over Motherwell at Ibrox on the last day of the league campaign was enough to pip the Dons to the title by two points. And the men from the Granite City crumbled again seven days later when goals from MacDonald and Johnstone secured the third leg of the domestic Treble to give Jock Wallace a unique place in Rangers’ history. No manger before or since has masterminded two Trebles. Bill Struth (1948/49), Scot Symon (1963/64), Walter Smith (1992/93), Dick Advocaat (1998/99) and Alex McLeish (2002/03) have completed the clean sweep once, but no one has yet matched what Wallace did.
Rangers faced FC Twente again in a pre-season friendly at Ibrox in August 1985. Wallace was in charge for that one too, having come back to the club in November 1983 after spells in charge of Leicester City and Motherwell. His Rangers side were struggling to keep up with Celtic, Aberdeen and Dundee United, but they would defeat their Dutch visitors by two goals to one.
In goal for FC Twente was one Theodorus Antonius Geraldus Snelders and he had an inspired match. He denied Bobby Russell and Ally McCoist in the opening 20 minutes, and although Rangers dominated the opening exchanges, they fell behind after 24 minutes.
FC Twente’s Dutch international Dick Schoenaker sped forward into the box and was felled by a tackle from Ian Durrant. Referee David Syme pointed to the penalty spot, and Martin Koopman, who would later go on to manage the Maldives national team, beat Nicky Walker from 12 yards.
But Rangers, who had beaten Ross County, Inverness Caledonian and Ayr United in their previous warm up matches, were level four minutes before the break. The goal was created by Davie Cooper, his inswinging corner being headed into the net by Craig Paterson. And 10 minutes after the restart, the home side netted what proved to be the winning goal.
Bobby Russell found the overlapping Hugh Burns on the right, and after Burns beat his man, his cross was dummied by Bobby Williamson and the ball was lashed into the net by a resurgent Ally McCoist.
McCoist had had a torrid season in 1984/85. He scored just twice in his first 11 league appearances of the campaign and was dropped to the reserves after a bad miss in the away leg of a UEFA Cup tie against Inter Milan. McCoist flitted in and out of the first XI after that before plummeting to the nadir of his Rangers career on 16 February.
Dundee came to Ibrox in the Fourth Round of the Scottish Cup and won 1-0. McCoist passed up several chances to score and was pilloried by the punters. The man who is unlikely to be surpassed as the club’s top goalscorer of all-time was told in no uncertain terms where to go, but he would bounce back and prove them all wrong.
After dropping down briefly to the second XI, McCoist came back with two goals in a testimonial for Stewart Kennedy. He followed that with 10 goals in the last nine league games. A star was born. McCoist would end season 1985/86 with 25 league goals and by the time he left in 1998, his final tally was 434 goals in 689 appearances.
Unfortunately, Rangers couldn’t mirror McCoist’s renaissance. Five wins and a draw in the opening six league games had Wallace’s side top of the league, but the wheels came off after back-to-back home defeats against Dundee and Aberdeen. Only eight of the remaining 28 league games were won after that. Rangers finished fifth in the table, exited the Scottish Cup in the Third Round, lost to Hibernian in the semi-final of the League Cup and were dumped out of Europe by Osasuna. Fortunately, by the time the season was over the winds of change had gusted through the corridors of Ibrox Stadium and barren seasons like that one would soon become a thing of the past.