Even a letter from the Ku Klux Klan wasn’t going to stop me playing for Rangers
SAYS MARK WALTERS
WRITING the story of his life demanded Mark Walters dig through a filing cabinet of memories. Some drawers were easier to open than others.
This ‘cathartic’ process took him back into a rich career forged by his trailblazing talent. Signed for Rangers from Aston Villa by Graeme Souness in 1987, Walters was the first high-profile black player of the modern era in Scottish football.
The vile instances of racial abuse he initially received — with bananas thrown on to the pitch at Celtic Park and Tynecastle — forced sport and society to confront prejudices that lurked beneath the surface.
Walters even received a threatening letter purporting to be from the Ku Klux Klan. ‘I didn’t even tell anybody about it,’ he revealed. ‘I just tore it up.’
Yet he refused to be defined as a victim. His strength of character was beyond dispute as he became a key creator — a winger in the classic mould — within a Rangers team that clinched three league titles and two League Cups. It was, he insists now, ‘a fantastic’ four years. And surveying the contemporary football scene also brings a sense of satisfaction.
While vigilance remains required — as evidenced by the abuse directed at Celtic winger Scott Sinclair last year — black players no longer have to overcome the appalling hurdles that confronted their predecessors in the 1970s and 80s.
‘My peers at the start of my career, some of them at clubs like Coventry or West Brom, just couldn’t handle the abuse,’ reflected Walters.
‘It affected them on the pitch. They got into fights with other players or skirmishes with refs. As a coach, you can’t have players who are problematic in the team, so a lot of the black players went out of the game, unfortunately.
‘I don’t hear so much about racist incidents in football now. It has come on leaps and bounds.
‘My Rangers debut (at Parkhead) wasn’t memorable for good reasons, of course. I’m human and when you have 60,000 people abusing you, it’s hard to take and understand.
‘But the bigger picture was good. It was a fantastic time in my career. My first goal — against Raith — always sticks with me.
‘I thought: “I can always say I scored a goal for Glasgow Rangers”. So those two memories stick out for me, the second one on a more positive note.’
Back at Ibrox yesterday to promote his book, the 54-year-old could speak from a position of authority about what it takes to be a successful footballer in Glasgow. In terms of the relentless scrutiny, he argues it is even more demanding than Liverpool, whom Walters joined when he left Rangers in 1991.
Of course, that is a comparison Steven Gerrard can now also consider. Sunday’s 1-0 loss at Livingston was a blow to the Ibrox manager, undermining the optimism built by previous results.
Walters is convinced Gerrard’s side can recover from that setback to become genuine title contenders. Yet he doesn’t attempt to downplay the hurt it would have caused. Memories of suffering defeat in Rangers’ colours remain painfully fresh.
‘Losing a game when I was at Rangers was like a death in the family,’ he claimed. ‘We would be so down about it for 24 hours. You’d try to get over it but, like most winners, it would take longer than normal.
‘If you are happy with losing then Rangers, or Liverpool for that matter, isn’t the club for you. You can’t be happy with losing games playing for Rangers. You can’t be happy with losing games playing for Liverpool. That is how it was.
‘Will Steven be surprised at the intensity? Maybe, but he’ll know about it by now for sure.
‘I would go back down to Birmingham when we lost just to get away from it. It was difficult.’
Rangers have failed to win any of their first four away games in a league season for the first time since 1989, when Walters was in his pomp.
Curing that travel sickness is an obvious priority for Gerrard. And Walters sees potential remedies already in place.
Heartened by an increased squad depth at Ibrox, he believes the former Anfield captain can exert a similar power of personality as Souness once did. Rangers overcame their early troubles to finish season 1989-90 as champions, seven points clear of second-placed Aberdeen.
‘It can become a psychological problem,’ mused Walters. ‘Maybe, for Rangers, it’s just the pressure of being away that they can’t get over at the moment.
‘Invariably, these things will turn round over the course of a season but your home record is usually
better than your away record anyway.
‘While it’s unusual for them not to have won away from home for that length of time, I can’t see it lasting for long with the players and the attacking mentality they have. It will get better for them. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.
‘With Souness, you knew that if you didn’t do it for him, you wouldn’t be in the team. Knowing someone else could take my place was the biggest motivation for me during my time here.
‘There’s a lot of competition for places at Rangers right now, so it’ll be the same for the current players. Steven was a winner as a player and he’ll want to be a winner as a manager, as well.
‘I don’t think there’s a major problem. Once you get to midwinter and the strength of your squad is really tested, that’s when the big teams push on.
‘Steven has already made a big difference. They are more expansive, more attacking and seem tactically better.
‘They started well but they have had a little hiccup here and there, which is normal as he’s young in his career as a manager.
‘I think they are definitely going in the right direction. If they can win the big games when they come along — they’ve got Hearts on Sunday and that’s a big game — then it’s possible they could even win the league.
‘I feel second is realistically what he could have hoped for, but the romantic in me says if they can win the big games and do well against the smaller teams then they could win the league.’
Wingin’ It, The Mark Walters Story, written with Jeff Holmes and published by Pitch, is available now priced at £18.99.