RANGERS’ DIRTY DOZEN
Euro rout recalled
THE draw for the semifinals of the 1960 European Cup was the perfect illustration of being careful what you wish for. Rangers were, of course, entirely deferential about the prospect of taking on Eintracht Frankfurt in the last four of the competition, with West German football still held in high esteem just six years on from winning the World Cup.
But given the alternative was a two-legged date with either the allconquering Real Madrid of Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas or a Barcelona team featuring those other Hungarian maestros Sandor Kocsis and Laszlo Kubala, Eintracht seemed the best outcome as Rangers eyed a passage through to a final set to take place on their doorstep at Hampden Park.
As it turned out, this was a semifinal draw with no easy option. This was Eintracht’s first (and so far only) season as German champions but they got the hang of European Cup football pretty quickly.
Playing at home in the first leg, Frankfurt unleashed merry hell on Scot Symon’s unsuspecting visitors as a second-half collapse saw Rangers go down 6-1. It remains their heaviest-ever defeat in Europe.
‘I remember them going 1-0 up and it was like Bonfire Night as their fans set off rockets and fireworks to celebrate,’ recalls
former outside-left Davie
Wilson, speaking ahead of tomorrow’s 60th anniversary of that first leg.
‘But Eric Caldow equalised pretty quickly with a penalty kick and we were still level at half-time. We were pretty naive, though, and played like we would have done against a Scottish team.
‘We should have tried to keep it tight but, in fairness, Eintracht were much better than us in the second half. I don’t think many teams could have lived with them. They were faster and their passing was excellent. Any time we got the ball, they snapped into tackles and our forwards never got much of a chance to pull any goals back.’
With five weeks until the return match in Glasgow, Rangers had a lot of time to stew over that thumping. Too much time it seems. Their domestic form suffered as a result and they failed to retain their league title.
‘It’s fair to say there was a bit of a hangover!’ added Wilson, now a spritely 83 years old. ‘We played five league games in that period and didn’t win any of them. The Eintracht defeat was a real sore one and I reckon it probably cost us the league that season.’
Despite the first-leg setback, a massive crowd still packed in to Ibrox for the return, hoping for a miracle. Instead they found themselves watching through the cracks in their fingers as the Germans ran in a further six goals to emerge 12-4 aggregate victors.
Unsurprisingly, it remains the highest scoreline for a European Cup/Champions League semi-final.
‘The fans certainly thought we had a chance as around 70,000 of them turned up for the match,’ noted Wilson. ‘We knew we were facing an uphill task but we were not ready to throw the towel in.
‘A couple of early goals may have turned the tie in our favour but, in the end, it was them who scored inside the first 10 minutes and it was downhill from there. By the time I scored late on we had already shipped another four goals. They added a sixth with two minutes to go for a 6-3 win on the night.’
Rangers had been confident prior to the semi-finals of going all the way to become the first British side crowned European champions.
What unfolded in the final at Hampden, however, prompted a merciful thank-you that they hadn’t made it after all.
Madrid had crushed Barcelona in their semi-final 6-2 over two legs and were no less menacing in the final. Eintracht returned to Glasgow full of confidence but had no answer to the might of the Spaniards, who won
7-3 to notch up a fifth successive European title. A crowd of more than 127,000 turned out at Hampden to witness it while the match was also the first in the competition to be broadcast live on British television. Los Blancos were simply imperious. ‘Everyone was in awe of Real Madrid,’ admitted Wilson. ‘They had won the first four European Cups and were the benchmark. ‘I didn’t go to the final but I remember the city was buzzing ahead of the match. To have the likes of Di Stefano and Puskas — probably the two best players in the world then — playing at Hampden was great and they put on some show for the fans.
‘And we were just a wee bit relieved that it wasn’t us out there facing them! Having lost 12 goals over the two legs against Eintracht, goodness knows what Madrid would have done to us.’
Wilson would go on to spend 11 trophy-laden years at Ibrox and has now parcelled together all his memories in a book co-written with author Alistair Aird. Entitled Wilson on the Wing, it features contributions from luminaries such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Denis Law and Walter Smith, who penned the foreword. ‘It’s been really good recounting tales from my football career,’ he notes. ‘I don’t like to boast about what I achieved in the game; I just loved playing football.
‘I wasn’t convinced anyone would want to read my story or buy the book but Alistair always had faith in the project and my family also saw this as being something of a legacy.’
The lifelong Rangers fan also hopes to be back at Ibrox to watch Steven Gerrard’s men once the league is up and running again. He said: ‘The saying “once a Ranger, always a Ranger” most definitely applies to me and I try to get to as many games at Ibrox as I can. With a bit of investment in the squad, I’m sure Steven and the team will have Rangers back where they belong as Scottish champions.’
Goodness knows what Madrid would have done to us in the final