Chalky and Dandy couldn’t escape Ally’s binoculars
Rangers are defending an unbeaten league record when they entertain Aberdeen this afternoon.
Things weren’t going quite so well for the Ibrox side 50 years ago.
On November 21, 1970, they were beaten 2-1 by Ayr United at Somerset Park.
It was their third defeat of the season, and effectively ended hopes of winning the title.
There was something of a Rangers connection in the Ayr ranks.
Former Ibrox star George Mclean was playing his second game for the Honest Men after moving from Dunfermline.
The man who shocked Rangers early on might have been a Light Blues’ player if things had gone differently – and they ended up buying the winger who scored at both ends.
Ian “Chalky” Whitehead headed Ayr into the lead after half- an- hour. It’s a goal that’s still fresh in his memory.
He recalled: “Quinton ‘Cutty’ Young sent in a cross from the wing, and I got above Ronnie Mckinnon and Colin Jackson to send a header into the corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area.
“Cutty then scored an own goal, but got the winner with a free-kick.
“It was always great to get a victory at a packed Somerset Park.
“Our manager, Ally Macleod, had us really up for it, but he was always convinced that Ayr would win every game.
“That game came just three days after we’d beaten Newcastle United 2- 0 to mark the opening of our new floodlights.”
Ian’s newly- formed attacking partnership with George “Dandy” Mclean was looking very promising at that time.
He went on: “Dandy was a real character but he found it hard to get one over Ally Macleod.
“I remember Ally taking us to the Carrick Hills in Ayrshire for a training run, and Dandy said to me that we’d just walk for a while.
“Unknown to us, Ally was up on a hill with binoculars, and when we reached the finish, we were sent round for a second circuit.
“Before big matches like the Rangers’ one, everyone wanted extra tickets.
“Ally organised a contest where you dropkicked the ball from the half-way line. If you got it over the bar, you got an extra ticket.
“But he had the groundsman ready and, just as George took his kick, the lights went out and the ground was plunged into darkness!”
Ian had joined Ayr in the summer of 1970 after a successful season with Queen’s Park.
He’d previously been capped seven times by the Scotland amateur side while playing for Vale of Leithen.
He said: “Rangers had been interested in signing me, but there was a change of management when Davie White was sacked, so that didn’t happen.
“Terry Neill of Hull City wanted to talk to me but Ally Macleod only took 10 minutes to convince me to join Ayr.
“He said I’d play every week and he’d make me a better player. I made my debut against Dunfermline and scored a hat-trick.”
Ian hit 10 goals in 20 games during his first season at Ayr and it might have been more.
He said: “Just before Christmas, I suffered a bad knee injury after a tackle by Bobby Murdoch of Celtic.
“We’d never heard of cruciates then. The remedy was the magic sponge and to run it off.
“I struggled for fitness. I came from Selkirk to Ayr for training, and that meant spending more time in the car than on the pitch.
“I decided to move somewhere a bit closer and joined Berwick Rangers.”
Ian, now 73, then became player- manager of Selkirk and inspired his local side to a remarkable haul of 10 trophies in five years.
There was then a spell coaching at Berwick under Dave Smith as the Wee Rangers won promotion from Division Two.
He combined football with work as a sales manager for a brewery.