3 Legends We Got From St Johnstone

Well, some of us didn't forget that Rangers were NOT his first Choice....Sunderland just didn't fancy him anymore and a Rangers side at odds grabbed him,for whatever reason he preferred f*cken Sunderland to Rangers, lets just say it was about the money

Hail fellow well met and patter merchant extraordinaire and all that glib stuff. Cant to be only Gers follower who didn't/doesn't adore or even like "Super Ally", sure he scored a lot of goals and missed as many again, any Rangers #9 in that era would have scored(lots).

Biggest gripe was discovering he was on close to a Million a year as Manager in bottom tier and on their beam ends, he was well in with a succession of well dodgy "owners" and still owns substantial shares, worse, pretending he din't know/care what his salary he was on while accepting a reduced wage packet...more recently listening to him almost grovel to that plonker Sutton is stomach churning. Hunts with the Hounds and runs with the Hares does Alistair....imho...
Agree completely. I've no time for him, no matter how many goals he scored. Karaoke, anyone?
 
The downturn in his career after he left us was baffling. He was outstanding for us when he broke through but it tailed off fairly quickly. Did he not have a back injury that severely hampered his career?
He had a back injury that he couldn't really shake off. Went to Charlton and then Barnsley but his career went on a downward slope after Rangers. Played under Alex MacDonald at Airdrie for a period but he just drifted from the game. He did a bit of coaching for Drumchapel United when that club originally was set up. He now works for the NHS but he was unlucky during his time at the club as I know that Jock Wallace spoke very highly of John when he was a you player at the club
 
He was certainly hampered by injuries, and you are right, he seemed destined for great things, as you say it petered out very quickly....questions and and answers I can only surmise, Lifestyle among them.
John's lifestyle was always that of a family man, never a big drinker or womaniser he was dedicated to his football career but it just never worked out for him
 
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Doddie was a tremendous signing, quietly keeping things ticking over, there were a few like that around seventies/eighties. Willie Mathieson and Davie Smith and few others come to mind. One signing we missed from S.J that really grieved me was John Connolly who they were very interested in but couldn't compete with English 1st division prices/wages (so what else is new). As I recall went to Everton. Tremendous player we missed out on...there have been a few.
Yes, a Player we should have signed for sure.
He would have been the perfect replacement for Willie Johnston.
In his youth Connolly had been a Rangers fan and indeed a ballboy.
Willie Waddell was keen to sign him in ’72, but only bid £40,000.
Everton bid £75,000.
Unfortunately he suffered two potentially career ending double leg breaks, whilst at Everton.
John Connolly was recently voted as St Johnstone's Greatest Player of All Time!
 
About 14 lengthy posts all on John McDonald?????

Is there a connection there to St Johnstone?

Yes, a Player we should have signed for sure.
He would have been the perfect replacement for Willie Johnston.
In his youth Connolly had been a Rangers fan and indeed a ballboy.
Willie Waddell was keen to sign him in ’72, but only bid £40,000.
Everton bid £75,000.
Unfortunately he suffered two potentially career ending double leg breaks, whilst at Everton.
John Connolly was recently voted as St Johnstone's Greatest Player of All Time!
Excellent, many thanks for the info. Oh man, we lost/sold some good ones too. Yet to see any player have very much good to say about Waddell. He made no great effort to keep Stein or Johnston both of who got a harsh deal with SFA beaks. Parlane was one I read recently tell that W.W. was not an easy man to deal with, someone else too in the back of my mind. W.W was very much no nonsense I'm in charge old school, certainly didn't bel ive in over paying them and apparently happy to let them go. You are right, Connolly at |Rangers a real coup and soften the blow, Quinton Young a decent enough player in deal in Stein deal but he wasn't in wee Bud's League.

Quite and accolade to be rated above Doddie, remember the baldy Henry Hall too who seemed to score barrowloads of goals. Connolly a quality player and a solitary cap, maybe injuries hindered further inclusion.
 
The way your saying that is if he was great .
He had mccoist, russell, cooper, prytz for a start.
Way of the mark mate imo.
He did nothing after leave Rangers and his career was finished in his late 20s.
John MacDonald started with Rangers playing on the left wing and looked very good there with a nice turn of pace and good skill. Cooper had that position sown up though, and John moved to a traditional inside left position. A 1 in 3 scoring record in a relatively poor team wasn’t too bad.
 
Despite Fleming's record for us over nine years, the only Scotland Caps that he won in his career were the three from his time with St Johnstone.
Not so. In the next England v Scotland game at Wembley after the Wembley Wizards (1930) England walloped Scotland 5-2. There were five Rangers players in the side. Gray, Buchanan, Meiklejohn, Fleming and Morton. Fleming bagged Scotland's two goals.
 
Not so. In the next England v Scotland game at Wembley after the Wembley Wizards (1930) England walloped Scotland 5-2. There were five Rangers players in the side. Gray, Buchanan, Meiklejohn, Fleming and Morton. Fleming bagged Scotland's two goals.
We actually had 6 playing that day. Tully Craig.

Jimmy Fleming, one of only two Rangers Players who can claim a brace against the English at Wembley
 
John MacDonald started with Rangers playing on the left wing and looked very good there with a nice turn of pace and good skill. Cooper had that position sown up though, and John moved to a traditional inside left position. A 1 in 3 scoring record in a relatively poor team wasn’t too bad.
Thats a decent return, however a lot of strikers should be judged what they did at other teams and length of career.
 
Alex Totten as well. Albeit lower-key, but with his place in Rangers history - absolutely.
An ex muirton captain I went to school with. Don McVicar no connection with us other than being a huge bluenose. Attended a few games with him and he went on to become the referees committee chairman. or something like that...
 
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I'd be interested to know how yer Granda would have compared that Half Back line to the 1963 one.
Picture the scene.

My old man and my granda in a boozers in Brigton circa 1963.

My da - You've never seen a better Rangers player than Baxter.
My granda - I saw eleven Baxters
My da - Name them
My granda - Morton and Meiklejohn
My da - That's two. You said you saw eleven Baxters, name the other nine.

Down the line as I got older I'd ask my granda about Baxter.

My granda's reply? Baxter was a maverick and played for himself and not the team.

So who is the best player you've ever seen then?

My granda - George Best.

I mean it wasn't like GB was a maverick, eh?

I'm pretty sure the fact Best was an Ulster Prod had nothing to do with his reasoning!

So, after a long and winding road, the answer to your question is, my granda (cantankerous, thrawn auld goat that he was) without a doubt would have plumped for anything that included Meiklejohn over Baxter.
 
Excellent, many thanks for the info. Oh man, we lost/sold some good ones too. Yet to see any player have very much good to say about Waddell. He made no great effort to keep Stein or Johnston both of who got a harsh deal with SFA beaks. Parlane was one I read recently tell that W.W. was not an easy man to deal with, someone else too in the back of my mind. W.W was very much no nonsense I'm in charge old school, certainly didn't bel ive in over paying them and apparently happy to let them go. You are right, Connolly at |Rangers a real coup and soften the blow, Quinton Young a decent enough player in deal in Stein deal but he wasn't in wee Bud's League.

Quite and accolade to be rated above Doddie, remember the baldy Henry Hall too who seemed to score barrowloads of goals. Connolly a quality player and a solitary cap, maybe injuries hindered further inclusion.
Henry Hall made it into their Top 5 greatest Players of all time, Doddie did not.

Another one who made it into their Top 5 was Billy McIntosh, who also had a Rangers connection.
I think he was officially a St Johnstone player but played for Rangers for 3 or 4 years during WWII.
Although he registered no 'Official Games' for Rangers,
McIntosh had a tremendous scoring rate, of 58 Goals in 62 Games for Rangers between 1940-44
(which included a Hat Trick against Celtic in a 4-1 win in the Summer Cup 1943).
After the war, McIntosh joined Preston North End in the English top Division, and registered 32 Goals in his first season at Deepdale.
 
Picture the scene.

My old man and my granda in a boozers in Brigton circa 1963.

My da - You've never seen a better Rangers player than Baxter.
My granda - I saw eleven Baxters
My da - Name them
My granda - Morton and Meiklejohn
My da - That's two. You said you saw eleven Baxters, name the other nine.

Down the line as I got older I'd ask my granda about Baxter.

My granda's reply? Baxter was a maverick and played for himself and not the team.

So who is the best player you've ever seen then?

My granda - George Best.

I mean it wasn't like GB was a maverick, eh?

I'm pretty sure the fact Best was an Ulster Prod had nothing to do with his reasoning!

So, after a long and winding road, the answer to your question is, my granda (cantankerous, thrawn auld goat that he was) without a doubt would have plumped for anything that included Meiklejohn over Baxter.
What a brilliant story!

To change direction slightly, who did he say was the best right winger between Archibald, Waddell and Henderson?
 
What a brilliant story!

To change direction slightly, who did he say was the best right winger between Archibald, Waddell and Henderson?
Went up to Tannadice in 84, the LC semi final 1st leg in the fog.

My granda and a peer of his from Brigton, Tam Bain (brother of Andy) travelled with us in my uncle's van for the game.

Amidst the cargo, I asked them who was the best right wing pairing they've ever seen?

Archibald, Cunningham
Waddell, Gillick
Henderson, McMillan

Immediately both said Waddell, Gillick. They didn't even give it a second thought.

My granda said he'd never seen such an elegant footballer in his life as Gordon Smith of the Hibs famous five. Nijinsky in football boots. But he said, he could never turn it on for Scotland the way Waddell did. He said Waddell could have just came back from injury and he was playing from the get go.

So, after another long winded reply, Waddell is the answer.

I think it might be a generational thing and it will effect us too in time, if it hasn't already.
 
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