‘There were no prima donnas. It wouldn’t have been allowed...’
Legend Miller reveals Wallace’s militant
AS A FORMER director of scouting at English giants Liverpool, Alex Miller appreciates how important good summer recruitment is to a major club’s chances of future success.
So he was unsurprised when Rangers announced this week that Jak Alnwick, Jon Flanagan, Wes Foderingham, Andy Halliday, Jason Holt and Jordan Rossiter will all be moving on when their contracts expire.
Refreshing and strengthening the Ibrox squad in the coming weeks and months will be vital if they are to prevent Celtic from making history and completing 10 in a row in the 2020/21 season.
Yet Miller, who helped to end the Parkhead outfit’s record-breaking run of nine consecutive Scottish title victories back in 1975, feels his old employers will need more than a few decent acquisitions to prevail next term.
He believes that Steven Gerrard (inset, right), a player he coached during the nine years that he spent working under both Gerrard Houllier and Rafa Benitez at Anfield, and his current charges must lay the foundations for a successful Ladbrokes Premiership campaign during lockdown.
Jock Wallace’s side, who finally ended the unprecedented winning streak enjoyed by Jock Stein’s legendary team in the league 45 years ago, certainly benefited from rigorous preparation.
Nobody could ever have accused John Greig, who captained them to that momentous win, of needing carried by his team-mates, but ex-defender Miller can recall how the punishing pre-season sessions overseen by Wallace required him to do just that.
“The first day’s training under Jock was the hardest of my life,” he said. “We warmed up for 15 minutes and then he hit us with interval running. We did that for half an hour without a rest. Then it was up onto the terracing at Ibrox. You had to lift another player on your back and take him up the steps.
“My training partner was Greigy, who was about four stone heavier than me. Some players, like big Derek Johnstone, just used to collapse. Some players threw up. Big Jock would scream at them: ‘You can be sick on your own time!’ It was a culture shock. It was like being in the SAS.”
Wallace’s militaristic approach, drilled into him during his National Service with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers on the streets of Northern Ireland and in the jungles of Malaya as a young man in the 1950s, had the desired effect in the 1974/75 season.
“The Rangers players at that time were all around the same age and on the same wavelength,” said Miller. “There were no prima donnas. That wouldn’t have been allowed. We were hardworking.
“The desire within each player that season was stopping our greatest rivals from creating history again. They had done that when they won nine in a row and we didn’t want it to happen again. Players at Rangers and Celtic, and Liverpool and Man U as well, have to win.
“You must have that psyche, that mental attitude, at these clubs.
“We had won tough games and cup finals against Celtic over the years, but they had greater consistency and that is the main criteria for winning the title.
“At that time, they were very consistent. We had that to a certain degree, but not enough.
“But that season we were very consistent. We started our run very early. There was a belief it was going to be our year. We trained really well, we were organised, we knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses and we understood who could give us an edge.
“Sometimes we were lucky to get a win, sometimes it wasn’t very pretty. But we managed to win the league with a
1-1 draw against Hibs [who finished runners-up] at Easter Road with four games still to play.
“Celtic were still a formidable team and Jock Stein was a fantastic manager. But it was our time.
“That was the catalyst for us to go and do other things. We won the treble in 1976, again in 1978 and could have done it again the following season had we not lost our final league game 4-2 at Parkhead.”
Miller was renowned for his dedication as a player and he is hopeful the likes of Scott Arfield, Borna Barisic, Steven Davis, Jermain Defoe, Alfredo Morelos and James Tavernier have used the shutdown wisely – by working hard on their physical fitness.
“I can’t understand the talk just now about players
The Rangers players were on the same wavelength