Bobby hit five on his debut then boss told him to stop
MOTHERWELL will hand league debuts to a number of new players when they host Rangers this afternoon.
Ten fresh faces have been added to the Fir Park squad during the summer.
One of the new men can become an instant hero by getting the winner against Pedro Caixinha’s side.
One goal would be pretty memorable – but how about five with just 32 minutes played?
That happened when the Steelmen’s fans witnessed a bobby-dazzler of a debut in August, 1962.
Motherwell were 9-0 up at half-time against Falkirk, with the previously unknown Bobby Russell hitting the net five times with his lethal left foot.
Russell had been signed from Darvel Juniors and was the latest player given the task of replacing Ian St John as Motherwell centre-forward.
The Saint had joined Liverpool a year earlier and 12 forwards had been tried without proving to be a suitable successor.
Russell looked like he could be the man when he whipped the ball past Falkirk keeper Willie Whigham just five minutes into his first match.
That was just the start of the debut to end all debuts.
Four more goals were rattled in by the new player and Pat Quinn, who captained the Fir Parkers on the day, added four to Russell’s five!
A second-half fightback by the Bairns saw the match finish 9-1!
The man who set up the first goal of the day recalls the Motherwell manager deciding to go easy on their hapless opponents.
Willie Hunter, a Scotland international and one of the stars of the team known as the Ancell Babes, provided the pass for the opener and was involved in three of the strikes that gave his side a 9-0 lead at half-time.
He recalled: “Bobby Ancell said to us at half-time: ‘That’s enough’. I don’t think he wanted to humiliate Falkirk.
“It was an incredible debut by Bobby Russell but I don’t recall him doing a massive amount else with Motherwell.
“Unfortunately, I broke my arm badly just after this and was out for a year.”
This was a Motherwell team packed with creative, attacking players.
Willie went on: “I don’t remember Bobby Ancell saying much at all before the game. He rarely said a word at that time.
“A lot of Motherwell’s strength came from having two very good scouts – one in the east and one in the west – who brought all the players together.
“A lot of our work on attacking play happened when we trained on a Thursday evening.
“I was really a part-timer, but I had a very good employer at the Stock Exchange in Edinburgh and was able to do most of the training.
“We would spend time practising freekicks and corners among ourselves.
“I’d grown up watching Hibs’ Famous Five and they changed places across the forward line all the time.
“I would shout ‘switch’ to my Motherwell team-mate Andy Weir and we’d change positions to confuse our opponents.
“Players of our era had to be able to control the ball and immediately dribble or exchange passes up the field.
“If we didn’t, someone would be right on top of us and we’d be clattered.”
Bobby Russell played 18 league games for Motherwell and scored 9 goals, a very decent return. He left after a year, played twice for Arbroath and then returned to Darvel.
Joe McBride was then bought from Partick Thistle and was Motherwell’s top scorer for three successive seasons.