Baxter’s brilliance led to Willie stepping back
Rangers fans will be eager to see how new signings Kemar Roofe and Cedric Itten are shaping up.
There’s a chance the new men will be seen in today’s Premiership game against St Mirren.
It’s 60 years since one of Scotland’s greatestever players appeared for the first time in a light-blue shirt.
Jim Baxter turned out in Rangers’ public trial at Ibrox on August 8, 1960.
He had been bought for £17,500 from Raith Rovers – a fee that looked like daylight robbery.
The format of the trial game would seem a little unusual now.
Rangers’ first team played the second-XI in two half-hour segments, then finished proceedings by taking on the third team.
Baxter stole the show, and made his competitive debut five days later in a 3-1 victory against Partick Thistle.
His instant success came as no surprise to former Rovers team-mate, Willie Knox.
He was at Stark’s Park prior to Baxter’s arrival, but had to change position when the Fifer’s talent began to emerge.
Willie recalled: “I was moved from left-half to left-back when Jim came into the team.
“He was brilliant on the ball – but the rest of us mugs had to get it back if he lost it!
“His attitude was that if you got him the ball, then he’d do the rest going forward.
“It was impossible to get angry with him because he was just such an amazing, natural talent, and a guy that loved playing football.
“I wasn’t surprised that he went on to become one of the greatest players Scotland has ever seen.
“But he didn’t get that way because of his training.
“We would be told to do two laps around the park. Jim would do half a lap and then stop.
“He’d tell us that he was there to be a footballer, not a marathon runner.”
While Baxter lived a short distance from Stark’s Park, Willie had to travel much further.
He said: “I was coming from Kilmarnock. That meant a bus, then a train to Kirkcaldy.
“Raith manager, Bert Herdman, let me train at Rugby Park on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
“I remember getting to travel on the Kilmarnock team bus when they went to play in Kirkcaldy.
“We won the game 4-2 and I was at the front of the coach on the way back.
“The Killie manager, Malky McDonald, said I should really sit up at the back.
“I told him I had to sit at the front to avoid feeling sick. He said: ‘You surely can’t feel any sicker than we did after that result’.”
Willie left Raith Rovers before Rangers bought Baxter.
He went on: “I’d been at the club for four years, and was due a bonus after five years.
“That led to them releasing me, and Bob Shankly signed me for Third Lanark. “They had the best playing surface. “I couldn’t say a bad thing about Thirds, but there were signs of the financial problems that would put the club out of business.”
Willie had a short spell in English football, turning out for Barrow and Rotherham, before he returned north in 1960 and had several seasons with Forfar.
He said: “There wasn’t the biggest support at Station Park, but they were very loyal.
“I had a happy time with Forfar before I went back to junior football.”
Willie, now 82, became a manager in the juniors and reckons he won 47 trophies during his time as a boss.
Leading Auchinleck Talbot to five Scottish Junior Cup triumphs assured him of legendary status in the Ayrshire village.
He added: “I was never in football for the money. Given the choice of £1,000 or a winner’s medal, I’d always take the medal.”