BOSS IN RALLY CRY
injured. I’m not so sure as Baxter still produced some brilliant moments after his leg break. Sadly we will never know what might have been.”
McKinnon rates Rangers securing Baxter – who had a remarkable record of playing 18 times against Celtic and being on the losing side just twice – as the best piece of business in football.
He said: “Rangers paid Raith the princely sum of £17,500 for Baxter. That was the best deal in the world.
“He was a brilliant player, one of the best I’ve seen. In his prime nobody could touch Baxter.
“Back then the Celtic players were actually s ****** g themselves when Baxter was in the team. He was phenomenal and the Celtic players absolutely adored and admired him.
“Baxter was great friends with a lot of the Celtic players. In terms of skill levels he is one of the best to have played for Rangers.”
McKinnon made 473 appearances for Rangers between 1961 and 1972, winning two league championships, four Scottish Cups, three Scottish League cups and a European Cup Winners’ Cup, amassing 28 caps for Scotland.
Like Baxter, McKinnon suffered broken-leg agony for the Light Blues on Euro duty. His came in November 1971 during the Cup Winners’ Cup second-round match against Sporting Lisbon as Gers went on to lift the trophy in 1972.
The injury cut short McKinnon’s Ibrox career and he left in 1973, spending more than 30 years in South Africa before returning to Scotland. He now lives on the Isle of Lewis but still gets to his beloved Ibrox whenever he can – and sometimes in style.
McKinnon said: “To get the boat and bus to Ibrox is too long a trip and just exhausting for me now. If I’m invited to Rangers games they usually fly me!”
It’s 54 years since Rangers and Rapid Vienna locked horns. McKinnon hopes Gerrard’s men can replicate the feats of Symon’s side by winning home and away in the Europa League group stage, starting at Ibrox.
And he added: “If they can beat Rapid on Thursday it will be another step in the right direction for Gerrard and the team.
“It’s a pity Gerrard can’t play as he is exactly the type of player Rangers need in midfield to dictate things. Rangers are improving but they are far from the finished article.” NEW Rapid Vienna boss Dietmar Kuhbauer has urged his side to begin their revival at Ibrox tomorrow night.
The Green and White legend was brought in to replace sacked Goran Djuricin after leading St Polten to a 2-0 win over Rapid that saw them slump to eighth in the Austrian Bundesliga at the weekend.
Kuhbauer aims to get off to a flying start in the Europa League against Rangers and said: “If we are together we can go great places. We start in Glasgow against Rangers. That’s an enormous challenge but I want the players to show me what they can do.”