1986 League Cup Final

HinshieBluenose

Well-Known Member
I was reading the comments on an unrelated video where a mentally challenged was bemoaning being cheated in this particular League cup final. I was only a year old at the time and it's a game I hadn't ever seen before so I took the opportunity to watch it.

Going by the highlights it was a very intense game but I was wondering where the apparent cheating claim derived from. On the 84th minute we got the penalty to retake the lead and they obviously lost their heads and quite rightly got two men sent off. The saying of "always cheated, never defeated" has remained so apt for them throughout the decades.

Who was there and what is your recollection of the game? With 74,000 fans in attendance, the place must have been bouncing.



Highlights on YouTube
 
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I was reading the comments on an unrelated video where a mentally challenged was bemoaning being cheated in this particular League cup final. I was only a year old at the time and it's a game I hadn't ever seen before so I took the opportunity to watch it.

Going by the highlights it was a very intense game but I was wondering where the apparent cheating claim derived from. On the 84th minute we got the penalty to retake the lead and they obviously lost their heads and quite rightly got two men sent off. The saying of "always cheated, never defeated" has remained so apt for them throughout the decades.

Who was there and what is your recollection of the game? With 74,000 fans in attendance, the place must have been bouncing.


Highlights on YouTube
My recollection is that was the day that changed everything.

Really felt like we were back.

watched the highlights again a few months ago, could not remember Ally Dawson & Cammy Fraser playing.

Also could not believe what a strong attacking side that Mhob has out. McGhee, McInally, McClair and Johnston all started.

We really dug out the win that day which was of huge psychological damage to them and started our resurgence
 
My first ever Old Firm game, great day and coming after the league win earlier in the season really let the beggars know we were a far superior team to the previous few years. Derek Ferguson was man of the match and was superb.

Apart from the game, one memory is of a flatbed truck driving round the track before the game kicking balls into the crowd!
 
It was only 1 red card in the end.

Johnston crossing himself in front of the Rangers fans when he was sent off.

Davie Hay saying they should join the English league during a post match hissy fit.
Funnily enough, the other video on which I read the comment was about this current discussion of us and them joining the EPL. The mentally challenged in the comments was reflecting on how this has been discussed since the day he was standing in the pissing rain when they got "cheated in 86". Good to know the pain of that day still haunts him 35 years later :D
 
My first ever Old Firm game, great day and coming after the league win earlier in the season really let the beggars know we were a far superior team to the previous few years. Derek Ferguson was man of the match and was superb.

Apart from the game, one memory is of a flatbed truck driving round the track before the game kicking balls into the crowd!
There is an actual horse and carriage with people doing that in the video :D
 
I was there.

Their claims of being cheated were just standard Yahoo deflection. We were the better team and deserved the win over the piece. Aitken and Grant were lucky to still be on the park by the time Johnston got his marching orders, yet Hay still laughably contended they should apply to play in England because the referees were all masons, or whatever paranoid claptrap it is they tell themselves to explain away defeats (something they’re still doing to this day).
 
I was reading the comments on an unrelated video where a mentally challenged was bemoaning being cheated in this particular League cup final. I was only a year old at the time and it's a game I hadn't ever seen before so I took the opportunity to watch it.

Going by the highlights it was a very intense game but I was wondering where the apparent cheating claim derived from. On the 84th minute we got the penalty to retake the lead and they obviously lost their heads and quite rightly got two men sent off. The saying of "always cheated, never defeated" has remained so apt for them throughout the decades.

Who was there and what is your recollection of the game? With 74,000 fans in attendance, the place must have been bouncing.


Highlights on YouTube
My first cup final attended with my Da! I bottled it, to go in with the bears and it was rocking and I mean rocking!
Ended up watching it at the bottom right corner what a day! I’ll stand corrected was the attendance not over 77000?
It was also Andy Grays TV pundit debut with Dougie Donnelly in a portakabin outside the main stand WATP
 
Was in the North enclosure on the halfway line right next to them. In those days there was a fence but wasn’t to high so the whole game a number of things were thrown over

When Cooper scored the penalty they went even more mental than normal
 
Is that right, the truck must have been a figment of my imagination! Definitely balls getting booted into the crowd though!

I have the entire game and post match on video, but unsurprisingly no video recorder to watch it anymore!
I've edited my original post to embed the video. Horse and carriage in the first couple of seconds.
 
Is that right, the truck must have been a figment of my imagination! Definitely balls getting booted into the crowd though!

I have the entire game and post match on video, but unsurprisingly no video recorder to watch it anymore!
The skol lager burds were tidy
 
Was in the North enclosure on the halfway line right next to them. In those days there was a fence but wasn’t to high so the whole game a number of things were thrown over

When Cooper scored the penalty they went even more mental than normal
Fireworks were going off all game
 
Derek Ferguson was brilliant that day.

One of my Favourite victories over them.
I watched the highlights from this a month or two ago and it's startling how much Ferguson stands out. It's rare that highlights tell that story so clearly. I never really saw him play for Rangers, so I didn't understand what a prospect he must have been when he came through - especially with him and Durrant coming through about the same time.
 
First final I attended in person. Atmosphere was amazing. And to see Coop slot that penalty away was fantastic.
Pandemonium ensued. The days of terracing. So much better
Not my first final but mentioning Coop I recall just like the LCF against them in 84 him being repeatedly fouled by them and they did similar in this final too. It was very fitting to see Coop slotting away the penalty and like you say pandemonium on the terracings. I was in the Rangers end and would give my eye teeth to experience being in that kind of Rangers atmosphere again, even for just one more time.
 
I watched the highlights from this a month or two ago and it's startling how much Ferguson stands out. It's rare that highlights tell that story so clearly. I never really saw him play for Rangers, so I didn't understand what a prospect he must have been when he came through - especially with him and Durrant coming through about the same time.
Derek Ferguson was a hugely wasted talent for whatever reason. I think potential wise he was better than his brother. He had so much composure on the ball for an 18 year old as he was in that game.
 
Derek Ferguson was a hugely wasted talent for whatever reason. I think potential wise he was better than his brother. He had so much composure on the ball for an 18 year old as he was in that game.

Something I've never thought of before - if he had stayed until Souness left, would he have lived up to his potential under Walter's management? I always understood that he's seen as a player who lived the high life and didn't make the most of his talent. Would that have been different under a different manager?
 
I was there.

Their claims of being cheated were just standard Yahoo deflection. We were the better team and deserved the win over the piece. Aitken and Grant were lucky to still be on the park by the time Johnston got his marching orders, yet Hay still laughably contended they should apply to play in England because the referees were all masons, or whatever paranoid claptrap it is they tell themselves to explain away defeats (something they’re still doing to this day).
I was there, too. This pretty much covers it.
 
My first old firm game and only my second ever Rangers game. In the Rangers end behind the goal , bedlam when Durrant scored , you just grab on to the folk next to you and hope you stay on your feet.At least with the Coop penalty I was ready for it.
The noise, atmosphere ,nervous tension and jubilation at the final whistle stays with you for ever , I still watch this game regularly.Hope all the young bears get to experience at least something akin to games like these in the future

As for their claims of cheating,well nothing much has changed in 35 years.
 
I was in section H and we bossed the game, but let them equalise. Durrant and Derek Ferguson were immense, who knows how far they could have gone if it wasn't for that b*stard Simpson and a liking for kebabs. At that age, Derek shon brighter than Barry.
 
I was there. Had a parent-child ticket for the enclosure in front of the main stand.

My main recollection of this game was that I got arrested several hours after the game finished for celebrating too loudly!
 
I was living in a coastal area of Northern Ireland way back then where if you had the correct aerial and booster and pointed it in the right direction you could pick up Border Television in Scotland-England. I got the equipment installed for this game. No Sky or satellite way back then and Scottish Football was never shown live on UK national TV (their loss). And although a few pubs on the Antrim or North Down coast had the same equipment it was patchy whether they would show an old firm game due to trouble in the past. These were mainly Rangers supporting pubs, hotels etc but of course Timbo started to 'piggy back' to get to watch them there.

I invited a good few bear friends down for the match and got the carry outs or crates in and the sarnies made. Nobody was allowed to drink Lucinda on the back of the Tennents can as she was mine for post match celebrations. Anyway word got about I had the game live on TV and suddenly I found myself with a lot of 'new Rangers supporting friends' but no Timbos permitted. My house was like a Rangers convention. It was like that Billy Connolly joke about looking out for a house party "Ah 'Jimmy' invited me".

Great, great match was the 1986 League Cup Final. My only disappointment was Souness was not playing as he was player-manager. If there was anyone cooler than Coop taking a pen well I have never seen it. I or we could not always get over to Scotland for the Rangers games so that aerial was the best bit of money I ever spent. The subsequent 1987 and 1988 finals Skol LC finals against Aberdeen were brilliant finals to watch tòo and there were even more bears in attendance. And the wife (no pics) was happy as she got to watch constant repeats of 'Mr & Mrs' with Derek Batey on Border Television!
 
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I was there in the parent/child enclosure, which I got in for nothing. Main memories of the game were the amount of times my hero got fouled and the poetic justice of him slotting away the penalty.
Also sadly was a mild appreciation of their goal, decent.

As for the source of the OP, claiming they were cheated in the pissing rain I'd say the guy was bullshitting, on both counts. Unless the old fable the sun only shines on the righteous is actually true!!
 
I was doing my Army training at that time in England, One of the lads Dads came drove down to Newcastle and drove us to his house in Wishaw so that we could see the game as it not shown on English television, he then drove back to camp after the game.
 
Bought a ticket outside for Celtc seats.
Had a beige jumper on that I didn't know was a tad see-through...t-shirt underneath had a big red hand emblem on it.
Sat on my arse 1st goal, 2nd - Not so much and was pleasantly surprised/relieved how many other Bears were in there.

Nae punches laid on us, plenty of spit - Clatty B@stards.
 
A 15 year old me was right at the segregation fence. When Coop scored the winner I possibly got a little carried away with my celebrations and was giving it laldy with my newly acquired air horn. The unwashed nearest the segregation took exception to this and promptly grassed me up to the nearest officers of the law. Next thing I knew, I was being apprehended and escorted round the track in front of a now bouncing Rangers end. Great times :D
 
I was reading the comments on an unrelated video where a mentally challenged was bemoaning being cheated in this particular League cup final. I was only a year old at the time and it's a game I hadn't ever seen before so I took the opportunity to watch it.

Going by the highlights it was a very intense game but I was wondering where the apparent cheating claim derived from. On the 84th minute we got the penalty to retake the lead and they obviously lost their heads and quite rightly got two men sent off. The saying of "always cheated, never defeated" has remained so apt for them throughout the decades.

Who was there and what is your recollection of the game? With 74,000 fans in attendance, the place must have been bouncing.



Highlights on YouTube
In the previous league game at Ibrox, Ted McMinn ran amok as we took them to the cleaners, although a 1-0 win might not suggest so.

The flth's plan for the final was simple. To kick us up and down and all over the park. Seven bookings for the filth and a red, backs up my argument to the hilt. Johnston spat on Rangers left back, Stuart Munro, as he was red carded and walked towards the tunnel. He got away with that action as I recall.

The filth in the South enclosure threw coins at the referee, Syme, and in the confusion he thought it was a yahoo player, Tony Shepherd who had strruck him so he promptly sent him off too.

That was rescinded the following day when all was revealed.

Incidentally, the filth's tactic that day in 86 were a mirror image of the OF, LC final 21 years previous when Jock Stein said on the eve of the match that sellik had a plan they would execute the following day.

Two minutes into the game that plan came to fruition as sellik right back, Ian Young, crippled 18yo Rangers winger, Willie Johnston and back then there were no substitutes so Rangers were basically down to ten men for the following 88 minutes.

As for the guy you're talking to, it was ever thus. Q - How do you know when a 'shettleston' is lying? A - His lips move.
 
I was reading the comments on an unrelated video where a mentally challenged was bemoaning being cheated in this particular League cup final. I was only a year old at the time and it's a game I hadn't ever seen before so I took the opportunity to watch it.

Going by the highlights it was a very intense game but I was wondering where the apparent cheating claim derived from. On the 84th minute we got the penalty to retake the lead and they obviously lost their heads and quite rightly got two men sent off. The saying of "always cheated, never defeated" has remained so apt for them throughout the decades.

Who was there and what is your recollection of the game? With 74,000 fans in attendance, the place must have been bouncing.



Highlights on YouTube
Of course they were cheated.
Celtic never lose.
 
Section K for me that day. If you listen to the clip at the very beginning you can hear us singing. 'Get your tits out for the lads' as the ladies were distributing balls before KO from the horse and cart. We were adjusting 'our own' as they did the lap. ;)
 
They never dominated it as much as they make out. Yes they had lots of the ball and a good number of chances. But Rangers were never out of it and always looked like we had a good chance, not least with the goalkeeper and defence we had in comparison to theirs.

The penalty was a penalty, there was never any doubt about it (and it wasn't the first time Aitken cost them in this manner - 1984 springs to mind) and they just lost it completely, as usual not being able to accept defeat with any dignity. There were still several minutes to go and who knows, if they'd put all their energies into going all-out for it they might have taken it to extra time (though I doubt it). Instead, they lost their composure and spent most of the time whining at the referee and kicking (or butting) everyone in blue. Hay's meltdown at the end was the icing on the cake and it was a great way to win a cup in the end. The crowd and atmosphere was immense and you can only wonder what it would have been like in earlier days with 100, 000 plus crowds, because that was brilliant that day.
 
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I was reading the comments on an unrelated video where a mentally challenged was bemoaning being cheated in this particular League cup final. I was only a year old at the time and it's a game I hadn't ever seen before so I took the opportunity to watch it.

Going by the highlights it was a very intense game but I was wondering where the apparent cheating claim derived from. On the 84th minute we got the penalty to retake the lead and they obviously lost their heads and quite rightly got two men sent off. The saying of "always cheated, never defeated" has remained so apt for them throughout the decades.

Who was there and what is your recollection of the game? With 74,000 fans in attendance, the place must have been bouncing.



Highlights on YouTube
Played them off the park, Souness and McPherson were suspended, but Dawson, Frazer, Cooper, Durrant and Derek Ferguson stepped up. Brian McClair scored a cracker to get them back in the game 2nd half..but there was only ever going to be one winner. Aitken fouled Butcher, Cooper scored the late penalty. Mo Jo and Tony Shepherd lost their shit soon after and got sent off. Celtic were in decline, we were in ascendancy
 
I got thrown out by the polis that day for being rowdy,there was still half an hour to go before kick-off.I was running about like a mad-man looking for spares (haha).I thought it was all over when everyone hanging around went in and there was only me and the polis/stewards left.I walked round the Mount Florida end and heard a massive roar as the teams came out.In a last ditch attempt I took a run at the perimeter wall (must have been 10ft high) and somehow managed to grip the top.I got up to find myself above the gents toilet which luckily had no roof.i dropped down and scarpered up into section J to reunite with my mates keeping my head down to avoid aforementioned polis..As someone else has said it was absolutely rocking that day
 
Remember a few Tims climbing up the floodlights at halftime. One guy said if one of them fall he will wipe out about a dozen below. Everyone roundabout us starting Fall, Fall, Fall ya bastard
 
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