To Barcelona and Beyond

INTRODUCTION

On a balmy Barcelona evening in 1972, eleven men joined forces to create a piece of sporting history none could have predicted. Yes, Rangers were favourites to become the European Cup Winners' Cup champions, but nobody inside the famous Nou Camp stadium would have dreamt it would prove to be the club's one and only continental success in the otherwise trophy-laden years that have passed since then.

A second European trophy has become the Holy Grail for generations of players and fans who have followed in the footsteps of the stars who took on and beat Moscow Dynamo and 25,000 foot-soldiers who formed a formidable supporting cast on the cascading terraces of Barca's towering home.

Almost four decades have passed and still a repeat of the winning formula has not been found to match the late Willie Waddell's group of likely lads. Every one of the eleven players was home-grown, plucked from a variety of football outposts by a succession of Rangers managers in the years leading up to 1972.

When Walter Smith's side ran out at Eastlands in 2008 in the final of the UEFA Cup, they became the first Gers team to reach the climax of a continental competition in 36 years. Unlike in '72, the side that night in Manchester had just half a dozen Scots in the starting eleven. For 72 gallant minutes Smith's troops held firm and the dream lived on. Then, with two killer blows from the Russians of Zenit St Petersburg, all hope was gone. Now, with the 40th anniversary of the Barcelona triumph looming, the quest for European success continues. The heroic 2008 run remains the most notable effort at equalling the achievements of the Barca Bears.

Before that, the 1993 Champions League campaign had hearts fluttering and pulses racing. On that occasion the Light Blues negotiated preliminary ties against Lyngby of Denmark and Leeds United before tackling a group featuring Marseille, Bruges and CSKA Moscow. Walter Smith's men were unbeaten in ten ties but missed out on a place in the final of that year's tournament by a single point, with Marseille booking the prestigious berth. With few exceptions, the other post-Barcelona campaigns have brought nothing but pain and anguish for the Rangers faithful. European Cup quarter-final defeats at the hands of Cologne, in 1979, and Steaua Bucharest, nine years later, are the only near misses in the seasons since the celebrations in Spain.

Ally McCoist is entrusted with finding the solution to the ongoing European conundrum, hoping to succeed where Dick Advocaat, Walter Smith, Graeme Souness and the others before and after Waddell have failed. In truth there was no magic recipe, no secret to success. The wily manager's eye for detail, as the infamous sun-bathing ban at the Spanish pre-match hideaway bore testament to, was a key part, as was his ability to piece together an eclectic group and form a solid unit which proved capable of matching the best Europe had to offer. For proof, just ask Franz Beckenbauer or Gerd Muller - just two of the world superstars who fell at the feet of Waddell's men.

Football has changed since then and it is safe to say the Barcelona mix will never, ever, be repeated or rediscovered in a game that is now dominated by overseas imports and one-season wonders. Take the 2005 Champions League encounter with Slovakian side Artmedia Bratislava as a case in point. The bottom seeds held Rangers to a 0-0 draw at Ibrox but could have been forgiven for thinking they were in Amsterdam or Auxerre after looking at the home side's team sheet. Barry Ferguson ploughed a lone furrow as the solitary Scot, with Steven Thompson and Chris Burke appearing as substitutes. In place of the Scottish talent in the starting eleven were two Dutchmen, two Frenchmen, a Greek defender and his Trinidadian partner, an Argentinian striker, a Danish winger and two North Africans. The face of the game had changed and Rangers have moved with the times, although they still wait to reap the rewards for the cosmopolitan approach.

In '72 there were big-money signings such as Colin Stein, Alex MacDonald, Tommy McLean and David Smith. There were youth recruits who came good in the form of John Greig, Derek Johnstone, Willie Johnston, Willie Mathieson, Alfie Conn and Sandy Jardine. They mixed with the shrewd addition of Peter McCloy, who was swapped by Motherwell for two Ibrox players who had been surplus to requirements.

They came together from all corners of the country, from Aberdeen to Ayrshire. Each followed a different path to the Nou Camp and each took a different route once the euphoria had subsided. For some it marked the beginning of the end of their Ibrox career, for others, such as Johnstone, just the start of a love affair with the Ibrox club. For two, Jardine and Greig, the ties with Rangers still remain through their positions on the staff and board.

Many others are still regulars at Ibrox as part of the pre-match hospitality team, others return simply as supporters. Some have retired, but the bulk can be found working in everything from the pub trade to the world of golf. While McCloy, McLean and Greig played out their careers at Ibrox, Stein and Johnston made for the exit door just months after winning the European Cup Winners' Cup. They sampled life in England, along with two other team-mates, while America and South Africa were amongst the other pit stops for members of Waddell's most famous team. They have drifted apart, but all savour the memory of one night above any other in their football lives.

Each has a story to tell of how they came to be in the blue of Rangers on that momentous evening and where they have ventured since. Almost 40 years have been and gone, but the memories of that game still live vividly in the memories of those who took centre stage.

It should be remembered that seven of the eleven who celebrated in Barcelona had played on a day when the dark side of football came to the fore. Jardine, Mathieson, Smith, Greig, Stein, Johnston and MacDonald were all in the team on 2 January 1971, when 66 Rangers supporters died as barriers on stairway 13 at Ibrox collapsed at the end of an Old Firm encounter. Each of those players had their career and life influenced by the horrific events of that awful day. John Greig, captain on the day, dedicated an entire chapter of his own book, My Story, to his recollections of the disaster and speaks for every player who witnessed events unfold when he says: 'More than 30 years on, I still can't fully get my head round the fact that 66 people died as a consequence of attending a football match. It just seems utterly absurd that such a tragedy could occur. The tragedy was not just the deaths of so many, but the effect their loss had on so many others. The suffering continues to this day for many of the families who lost a loved one.' It made football inconsequential but the success the following year in Barcelona was at least a fitting memorial to those who did not survive to witness it.

The path to Barcelona began in inauspicious surroundings on 15 September 1971, in the confines of the home ground of provincial French side Rennes. They may not be recognised as giants of the game in France but they had made an impact in their domestic game in the early 1970s and held Rangers to a 1-1 draw in the home leg of the first-round tie, with Johnston on target, before being eased out 1-0 at Ibrox when MacDonald scored.

Next on the agenda came Sporting Lisbon, a talented crop of Portuguese internationalists who were defeated 3-2 in Glasgow after a Colin Stein double and Willie Henderson goal, but inflicted a 4-3 defeat on Rangers on their home patch when Stein again bagged two and Henderson added another. After finishing locked 6-6 on aggregate, the Scots lost a penalty shoot-out before discovering well after the tears had dried that in fact they would progress to the third round thanks to the recently introduced away goal rule.

In the quarter-final it was Torino of Italy's powerful Serie A who went toe to toe with Rangers and lost out, drawing 1-1 on the continent, Johnston on the score-sheet again, and losing by a single goal in the return leg at Ibrox when MacDonald was the match-winner. That teed up a semi-final against the imposing Bayern Munich, as feared as, if not more feared than the current Bundesliga stars now wearing the famous red shirts. Over two tense ties, Rangers claimed a 1-1 draw on foreign soil courtesy of an own goal before finishing the job with a 2-0 victory in Govan, thanks to an early strike from Jardine and Derek Parlane's goal. Jardine described the first-leg draw as the 'biggest hammering' of his entire career, but his side rode out the storm. In the return game they overran the highly fancied Bundesliga team, who even started fighting amongst themselves as their bruised egos realised they were heading out of the competition. Six of the Munich players helped their national side to a 3-1 win over Sir Alf Ramsey's England ten days after seeing their club dream shattered in Britain. Two years later the core of the Bayern team became World Cup winners.

After victory against Munich, only 90 minutes and the eleven Russian stars of Moscow Dynamo, the first club from the Soviet Union ever to reach a major final, stood between the Light Blues and the prized silverware. The legendary goalkeeper Lev Yashin was in charge of the Russians but even his influence was not enough to halt a Rangers team who grew in confidence with every passing round, still on a massive high from their performance against Bayern by the time the final piece of the jigsaw fell into place in Spain.

Five players appeared in all the ties in the European campaign: goalkeeper McCloy, defenders Jardine and...