THE HEX FACTOR
Celtic out to overcome a 92-year Gers semi curse
JOE MILLER knows his history but the former Celtic star is shocked to learn it’s nearly a century since his old club beat Rangers in a Scottish Cup semi.
Six times the pair have faced off and Rangers have given the Hoops a bloody nose each time.
They’ve even lost when they’ve had home advantage (1998), been in a higher division (2016) and when Rangers had to play for almost 90 minutes with 10 men (1992).
That particular night is a sore one for Miller – in more ways than one. He was part of Liam Brady’s Celtic side that lost 1-0 to the Light Blues at a rain-soaked Hampden.
David Robertson thumped the Celt in the opening minutes with a bodycheck and was sent off. But Rangers still won with a goal from Ally McCoist just before half-time.
Miller said: “I remember that game very well. David Robertson came at me like a f ***** g train inside 10 minutes and I broke two of my ribs and ended up in hospital after it.
“Robertson told me years later the Rangers management team of Walter Smith and Archie Knox had told him to go out and nobble me.
“He was given the instruction if I wasn’t in the stands by half-time he would be sitting there in the second half watching the rest of the game.
“What a challenge it was. He caught me high with a body-check and it felt like I’d been hit by a speeding train.
“To make matters worse Ally McCoist then scored the winner.
“It was commonplace for that Rangers team to get results like that against us back then. We’d batter them and have most of the play but Rangers would score the vital goal then somehow be able to defend their lead despite us throwing the kitchen sink at them.”
Miller insists none of the players in Brendan Rodgers’s Celtic side will be thinking about Hampden hoodoos as the Hoops bid to keep their treble dream alive at Hampden on April 23.
The 49-year-old can’t see past his former club this time round, even though Rangers gained a creditable draw at Parkhead recently.
Miller said: “I wasn’t aware of that Scottish Cup semi-final statistic – 92 years is a long time for something like that not to happen.
“I don’t believe in hoodoos or jinxes or anything like that, although it’s some record. I’m sure the current Celtic team under Rodgers won’t be aware of that fact either.
“If they are they will certainly want to change that and redress the balance won’t they?
“Things like that won’t play on the players’ minds. I look at last season when Celtic failed to turn up at Hampden for the Scottish Cup semifinal but Rangers still only beat them on penalty kicks.
“People possibly got carried away with record scorelines and there was a big stooshie over various stuff that was said in the run-up to the last league game at Parkhead.
“The Rangers players took that to heart and deservedly got a draw.
“Celtic have had their big result in the matches between the two teams this season with the 5-1 win at Parkhead back in September.
“That’s not to say it won’t happen again. I think even the Rangers players would concede there’s a huge gulf between the two squads. I still think Rangers are a long way off it and that’s the bottom line.
“Come the day itself talk of hoodoos and jinxes won’t even come into the equation. Celtic just have to make sure they go out and be totally professional and get the job done.
“If Celtic turn up and play this time they should have enough to win the game and reach the Final.”
HAROLD DAVIS carries scars from the Korean War but it’s the injustice of a tackle from a Celtic rival that still burns almost 60 years later.
The Rangers hero made history in April 1960 when he helped the Light Blues record their first Scottish Cup semi-final win over 90 minutes against the Hoops.
Any player in the 21st century tempted to moan about their lot would do well to check out the CV of the former jungle fighter, now 83.
Already en route to establishing himself in the fine East Fife team of the late 40s, he ducked out of a cook’s tour and signed up for national service with the Black Watch in 1951 instead, immediately earning a post in the Far East.
His instep and abdomen were ripped apart by a burst of North Korean machine gunfire on the front line at the 38th Parallel and he spent 10 days unconscious in a hospital in Japan and two years in total in rehab.
Remarkably, he recovered and returned to football even though his wounds were serious enough to earn him an army pension from a young age.
He kickstarted his eight-year spell at Rangers in October 1956 when he moved from Methil to team up again with former boss Scot Symon.
In total he won four league titles, two League Cups and a Scottish Cup winners’ badge but had to wait until 1962 for his medal in the premier cup competition, against St Mirren, even though his team-mates went on to win it in 1960 by defeating Kilmarnock 2-0 in the Final.
Davis was still on the treatment table after the semi-final, which Rangers won 4-1 in a replay against their old rivals on April 6 after a 1-1 draw four days earlier.
Davie Wilson and Jimmy Millar each grabbed doubles to seal a victory which hardly looked on the cards in a first half that had ended 1-1 when Neil Mochan equalised Wilson’s opener.
Davis was carried off on a stretcher with 14 minutes left though after a John Colrain tackle.
Davis said: “That big bugger put his knee straight into my back when I was in mid-air challenging at a corner kick.
“He got away with it and not only did it stop me getting the last 15 minutes of the match it also put me out the Final.
“I didn’t know about our history of the semi-finals against Celtic at that time but we enjoyed many more good memories against them than bad.
“We had a really good side – Millar, Brand and Wilson among many. The only thing that rocked us every now and again was injury.
“I enjoyed the physical side of the game. John Greig kindly says I taught him to tackle – and be naughty about it at times as well – but I was never sent off in eight years at Rangers and was only booked a couple of times.”
Right-half Davis admits the Scottish Cup semi-final victory went some ways to making amends for his side’s 7-1 trouncing in the League Cup Final three years earlier.
He played that day and still can’t bear to name check John Valentine, the hapless Rangers centre-half who bore the brunt of the blame for the defeat.
He added: “I don’t want to give you the name but we got our centre-half off the scrapheap and he took a tanking.
“Every one of the Celtic goals seemed to come right through our middle that day.”
Davis, inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame in 2009, is still sprightly and lives in Gairloch with wife Vi.
Understandably, trips to Ibrox are less frequent these days but he still keeps a keen eye on developments at his former club, although he reckons it will be their arch rivals rewriting the history books in the semi-final this time.
Celtic have not beaten Rangers in the last four of the Scottish Cup since a thumping 5-0 win in 1925 but Davis said: “There’s a big difference between the Rangers team of my era and now.
“I watch the current side on TV wherever possible and they have improved recently but there’s still a long way to go.
“I don’t believe they can beat Celtic this time.”