Ibrox pre 1978 thread

Happy young team:p

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I loved the old stadium. Started off in the enclosure with my old man and if he was flush he paid a "transfer" into the main stand. Even as a child I wondered why we never went into the stand in the first place.

Then I started going with my mates. Coming from Paisley we always started in the Celtic end to watch us shooting into that end first half. Then a wander through the deŕry for a wee sash up for the second half.

Loved the old place.

One thing that's always bugged me is the credit Deedle got for the modern Ibrox. The facts are not a brick was laid for a full seven and a half years after the disaster. Deedle was a snob who hated the working class members of the support. He really hated the young team residents of the Derry and that's why we ended up with the abortion of the centenary stand.

By the mid seventies the club was awash with cash. Real serious money was coming in that was not allowed to be used for player transfers or wages. It was only to be used for stadium development. Every year we polished and repainted every door and crush barrier but still had millions in the pot. There was some real shrewd cookies on the board of the Rangers pools.

Anyway there was that much money that the board decided to flatten three sides and build the modern Ibrox. They could not get their grubby mitts on it for dividends so they might as well spend it on the stadium. It had phuck all to do with Deedles vision. It had nothing to do with the 66 poor souls who lost their life's in 71. It was pure and simply a case of we have all this money that we cannot spend on anything other than stadium development.
 
This is an amazing picture and ultimately horrible too. Its the 1902 Scotland v England game at Ibrox. The back of the new West Tribune stand collapsed as a result of heavy rainfall the previous night it is believed. It was a wooden terrace supported by a steel frame . Hundreds of supporters fell up to 40 feet to the ground resulting in 25 fatalities and 517 injuries. If you notice a dark section at the back of the terrace this is exactly where the collapse happened. Could it be that the photographer accidentally captured the moment as it happened?
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View from outside.
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One thing that's always bugged me is the credit Deedle got for the modern Ibrox. The facts are not a brick was laid for a full seven and a half years after the disaster. Deedle was a snob who hated the working class members of the support. He really hated the young team residents of the Derry and that's why we ended up with the abortion of the centenary stand.

By the mid seventies the club was awash with cash. Real serious money was coming in that was not allowed to be used for player transfers or wages. It was only to be used for stadium development. Every year we polished and repainted every door and crush barrier but still had millions in the pot. There was some real shrewd cookies on the board of the Rangers pools.

Anyway there was that much money that the board decided to flatten three sides and build the modern Ibrox. They could not get their grubby mitts on it for dividends so they might as well spend it on the stadium. It had phuck all to do with Deedles vision. It had nothing to do with the 66 poor souls who lost their life's in 71. It was pure and simply a case of we have all this money that we cannot spend on anything other than stadium development.

This is the first time I've ever read this version of events. It was well established that the club intended to modernise the stadium as a result of the Disaster. Yes, it took a bit of time but nothing on that scale had ever been attempted in British football before. As it is, I think the club got it right and gave the club a tremendous advantage going into the 1980's and beyond and the fact their core design has not had to be revisited in 40 years tells you how well it was planned. The financing of it was down by some borrowing, I'm sure, and by money from the Pools. I'm not sure the club had millions of pounds sitting in the bank at this time. I may be wrong.

However, I think you do make a good point about the attitude of the board at that time towards fiscal prudence. Conservative people who ran the club on a tight leash. This is in stark contrast to the shambolic Murray era. There are interesting snippets from AGM's of the time that reveal the support also took a dim view of the club taking on any kind of debt. There is an essay to be written on the expectations and values of the support from the 1960's/1970's in comparison to the modern day where the support openly demands more and more borrowing to buy players. You could even weave it in with the changes in Scotland itself and in public attitudes/values in that time.
 
I loved the old stadium. Started off in the enclosure with my old man and if he was flush he paid a "transfer" into the main stand. Even as a child I wondered why we never went into the stand in the first place.

Then I started going with my mates. Coming from Paisley we always started in the Celtic end to watch us shooting into that end first half. Then a wander through the deŕry for a wee sash up for the second half.

Loved the old place.

One thing that's always bugged me is the credit Deedle got for the modern Ibrox. The facts are not a brick was laid for a full seven and a half years after the disaster. Deedle was a snob who hated the working class members of the support. He really hated the young team residents of the Derry and that's why we ended up with the abortion of the centenary stand.

By the mid seventies the club was awash with cash. Real serious money was coming in that was not allowed to be used for player transfers or wages. It was only to be used for stadium development. Every year we polished and repainted every door and crush barrier but still had millions in the pot. There was some real shrewd cookies on the board of the Rangers pools.

Anyway there was that much money that the board decided to flatten three sides and build the modern Ibrox. They could not get their grubby mitts on it for dividends so they might as well spend it on the stadium. It had phuck all to do with Deedles vision. It had nothing to do with the 66 poor souls who lost their life's in 71. It was pure and simply a case of we have all this money that we cannot spend on anything other than stadium development.
Very interesting post.
 
I loved the old stadium. Started off in the enclosure with my old man and if he was flush he paid a "transfer" into the main stand. Even as a child I wondered why we never went into the stand in the first place.

Then I started going with my mates. Coming from Paisley we always started in the Celtic end to watch us shooting into that end first half. Then a wander through the deŕry for a wee sash up for the second half.

Loved the old place.

One thing that's always bugged me is the credit Deedle got for the modern Ibrox. The facts are not a brick was laid for a full seven and a half years after the disaster. Deedle was a snob who hated the working class members of the support. He really hated the young team residents of the Derry and that's why we ended up with the abortion of the centenary stand.

By the mid seventies the club was awash with cash. Real serious money was coming in that was not allowed to be used for player transfers or wages. It was only to be used for stadium development. Every year we polished and repainted every door and crush barrier but still had millions in the pot. There was some real shrewd cookies on the board of the Rangers pools.

Anyway there was that much money that the board decided to flatten three sides and build the modern Ibrox. They could not get their grubby mitts on it for dividends so they might as well spend it on the stadium. It had phuck all to do with Deedles vision. It had nothing to do with the 66 poor souls who lost their life's in 71. It was pure and simply a case of we have all this money that we cannot spend on anything other than stadium development.
Interesting post and seems to run contrary to popular belief. I know Deedle was a cantankerous old goat who didn't have a lot of time for those who made up the majority of the support, but I'd be interested in anything you have to back up what you say.

I say that because I'm not sure the delay in starting the reconstruction can be used to support your theory, given the amount of planning and obtaining finance involved in such a project. I'm not disbelieving what you say and I'm keeping an open mind, but I'd like to see more in the way of facts before I decry a genuine Rangers legend.
 
I love seeing those old photos and the atmosphere generated in the old stadium was nerve tingling when a full house. I was at the semi final against Bayern Munich and the moose was incredible.
 
Some fantastic photos in this thread. I actually feel sorry for younger fans who never got the chance to witness the old Stadium.
 
so where did all the rubble go from Ibrox ? i still think it was a big mistake to demolish as much we should have made it a bowl with at least 60,000 .who owns all the land round Ibrox ? as the terracing used to be there .
 
Just back on FF after a long recess and glad to see the old thread which I original started in 2006, is alive and revived on the new forum. I saved a lot of the pics from the original thread, which people posted so will dig out what I can and add them to the thread.

Our history is everything.........
Good to see you back Farley, this was my favourite thread on the old board by a mile.
 
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Photo above is mid 60's with the terraces concreted over

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Photo above is approx summer of '62 with terracing concreting started as part of the upgrading work of the early 60's

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Approx '62... same as photo above

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Photo above is approx '71 with Edminston Club built but North Enclosure still terraced (pre Centenary Stand).
Roof built on the Rangers End in the late summer of '66 and the floodlights were moved onto the roof of the Main Stand and Shed as part of that upgrade work too... previously they were housed just under the roof edge of main Stand and Shed.
I think the first game with the new lights was 1st March '67 in ECWC vs. Real Zaragoza - reports in the paper that week said the lights were much brighter than the old lights and half the cost to run.
 
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I think the next set of pics are from the League Cup at Ibrox on 16th Oct 1948.
Rangers beat Celtic 2-1 in front of 105,000 fans. The 100,000 barrier was broken 4 times at Ibrox.

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The ornate castellations on the original Main Stand press box were removed in the mid - 60's upgrade work, possibly as part of the work to accommodate the rooftop flood light pylons. The stripped down press box was a much planer affair.

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