West’s dream in north went south after injury in east

COLIN WEST had a look at Rangers’ fixture list and cringed when he saw East Fife away in the League Cup.

The draw for the last 16 brought horrible memories for the 56-year-old, now assistant manager at Northampton Town, as it reminded him of how his Ibrox career died 33 years ago.

West was the first man in after the appointment of Graeme Souness in the summer of 1986, swiftly followed by England captain and goalkeeper Terry Butcher and Chris Woods.

He had recorded 16 goals for Watford in Division 1 a season earlier and could not wait to play his part in the new era at Ibrox but he sustained a serious injury just six games in.

Rangers went to Methil to face East Fife in a League Cup tie and with 12 minutes played Stuart Burgess hit West late and badly damaged his knee.

He said: “It was a nightmare when I got injured so early into my Rangers career. I had put in a lot of hard work in pre-season and I felt in great shape. We had that wild start at Hibs when the manager got sent off but after that things were going really well.

“Then this guy from East Fife lunged into me as I was trying to lay the ball off in that League Cup tie and I damaged my knee. It was so frustrating because the whole thing was starting to build momentum.

“And by the time I was fit again, I had to wait my turn to get back into the team. I understood that because if the team’s winning then the manager isn’t going to change it, so my opportunities were limited. I scored a couple of goals towards the end, and I’ll never forget that final day at Aberdeen when we won the league. That was fantastic.

“But Graeme was not a man for standing still and he went out and got Mark Falco who was a similar player to me so I had to do what was right for me and I moved to Sheffield Wednesday.”

West watched on as Rangers toiled against Dave Clarke’s Fifers back in 1986 – with future Celtic keeper Gordon Marshall saving a McCoist penalty during the game too.

Methil midfielder Davie Kirkwood obviously impressed because Souness signed hm a couple of days later.

Kirkwood, who went on to play for Hearts, Airdrie and Raith Rovers, said: “Maybe the way I played in that game stuck in their minds a wee bit. It was amazing and East Fife came so close to knocking Rangers out. It turned out Rangers wanted to sign me and the next day the deal was done. It was a bit of a whirlwind but it was one of the best experiences of my life.

“I made my debut on the day Rangers were presented with the league trophy in the final match of the 1986/87 season against St Mirren.”