End-of-season tour was just the start for Ally
Ally Dawson was the perfect man to captain a football club. That much was clear when he was just a schoolboy.
The former Rangers full-back sadly passed away last Monday, at the age of just 63.
Ally left school early to make his debut for the Light Blues aged 17 during a 1975 end-of-season tour that took in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
His first top-team professional game came in a 4-0 win against an All-star team in Vancouver, British Colombia.
Rangers manager Jock Wallace said afterwards: “The boy played as if he had been in the team for years. He hardly put a foot wrong.”
Dawson’s calm, unflustered approach to football was something that hugely impressed a former Ibrox team-mate, Jim Denny.
He said: “I missed that trip because of injury. Ally was brought in, and took it all in his stride.
“I knew how difficult it was to do that. I had been brought into the Rangers team from nowhere in 1971 for the Scottish Cup Final replay against Celtic.
“Then I was away on a tour of Sweden, and was left thinking: ‘How on earth did that happen?’.
“I later captained the reserves when Ally was starting out, so I saw a lot of him, and he was incredibly consistent at left-back.
“It’s hard to perform well week-in, week-out when you’re a teenager, but he managed it. He never looked out of place.
“He was someone who led by example, and I was really pleased when he eventually became Rangers captain.
“I’m not sure that Ally ever argued with anyone. He’d just make his point politely.
“I remember playing in Cologne for Rangers, and Pierre Littbarski switched from the left to the right-wing.
“Ally said I should move back to stop him, but I had every confidence he could do the job.
“He was a great ambassador for Rangers and a top professional. He always had time for the fans.
“I think the great work he was doing latterly with homeless footballers tells you all you need to know about the man.”
Jim recalled that Dawson wasn’t only a talented footballer.
He said: “Ally was great at tennis and golf too. I used to play golf with him on his home territory at Cochrane Castle – and he always beat me.”