56 years ago (27th September 1966) Glentoran played Glasgow Rangers in the European Cup Winners Cup.

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56 years ago (27th September 1966) Glentoran played Glasgow Rangers in the European Cup Winners Cup.
The match at the Oval ended 1-1 with Billy Sinclair scoring an equaliser in the last minute of the game.
Displayed with the match programme & ticket is a menu card from a dinner held at the Midland Hotel to mark the occasion.
The menu card is autographed. The names I can make out are Harry Cavan, Malcolm Brodie & Kenneth Wolstenholme as well as some Rangers players - John Greig, David Provan, Davie Smith, Billy Johnston, Alex Smith & Denis Setterington.
















 
European football seemed much more fun in the bygone days of yore.

It was rendered more exciting by the fact that it was the only time you got to see these players and Clubs. Pre mass TV coverage they were just exotic names from newspapers and newsreels. It was also relatively early era of floodlit games making it even more special. I was lucky that I lived across the road from Ibrox and even as a young boy got to see a lot of these games. Every second tie seemed to be against a German team(West and East) then but names like DWS Amsterdam, Vojvodina, Real Zaragoza, Gornik etc under the lights were magic to me then.
 
Sad to say that Billy Sinclair who scored the Glens goal that night is suffering from dementia. Billy is a Ranger to his core. A native Glaswegian who joined the Glens then moved to Linfield becoming player manager.
Sad news about Billy but unfortunately there’s a few of that Glentoran team that either have Dementia or have died as a consequence of it - my Dad being one of them - that’s my Dad with the ball at his feet in the picture with the Irish Cup
 
Sad to say that Billy Sinclair who scored the Glens goal that night is suffering from dementia. Billy is a Ranger to his core. A native Glaswegian who joined the Glens then moved to Linfield becoming player manager.
Very sorry to hear that about Billy. I was at secondary school with him in Bridgeton and played in the school team with him. A great lad. A great Rangers boy. I remember the day he told me he was leaving school to join Morton. He wasn’t there long before Chelsea snapped him up. The last time I met him was at Windsor Park in 1967, the day George Best ran riot against Scotland - the best individual performance I have ever seen.
 
Very sorry to hear that about Billy. I was at secondary school with him in Bridgeton and played in the school team with him. A great lad. A great Rangers boy. I remember the day he told me he was leaving school to join Morton. He wasn’t there long before Chelsea snapped him up. The last time I met him was at Windsor Park in 1967, the day George Best ran riot against Scotland - the best individual performance I have ever seen.
Just reading that has brought both a smile to my face and a tear to my eyes. Billy is my father, and as has been said is a ranger through and through. The goal that night is one of his most treasured memories and I still show him old photos of games he played in when I visit him.
Thank you for your kind words gents.
 
Sad news about Billy but unfortunately there’s a few of that Glentoran team that either have Dementia or have died as a consequence of it - my Dad being one of them - that’s my Dad with the ball at his feet in the picture with the Irish Cup
Wow. Your Dad's Walter Bruce!? That makes you the most famous person I've ever replied to on here. Glentoran Roalty.:cool:

I have that program up in the loft.

A fella I used to work with always told the story of leaving the game via the Sydenam end gate. His feet never touched the ground for 30 yards he said. When he did start walking he noticed his right trouser leg had a massive hole in it, caused by being rubbed against the crash barrier. He'd never been in a crowd that size.

FBS
 
Just reading that has brought both a smile to my face and a tear to my eyes. Billy is my father, and as has been said is a ranger through and through. The goal that night is one of his most treasured memories and I still show him old photos of games he played in when I visit him.
Thank you for your kind words gents.
2 Glentoran legends' Sons in one thread.

That's awful news about yer Dad.

If there's anything we can help out with, and I make this offer as a representative of a GSC, please PM me.

FBS
 
Just reading that has brought both a smile to my face and a tear to my eyes. Billy is my father, and as has been said is a ranger through and through. The goal that night is one of his most treasured memories and I still show him old photos of games he played in when I visit him.
Thank you for your kind words gents.
I remember reading your dad's autobiography dont let the bastards grind you down ages ago. His description of Lurgan being a graveyard with traffic lights was true.

When he was manager at Cliftonville I remember him getting interviewed on the telly at Solitude resplendent in his Rangers training gear. I bet the reds fans loved that as to this day he is still highly thought of by any of them I know.

Pass on my best wishes to your dad.
 
Wow. Your Dad's Walter Bruce!? That makes you the most famous person I've ever replied to on here. Glentoran Roalty.:cool:

I have that program up in the loft.

A fella I used to work with always told the story of leaving the game via the Sydenam end gate. His feet never touched the ground for 30 yards he said. When he did start walking he noticed his right trouser leg had a massive hole in it, caused by being rubbed against the crash barrier. He'd never been in a crowd that size.

FBS
Very proud to say yes that’s my Dad.

Have the programmes for both games and newspaper reports for at least one of the games, maybe both - would need to check.
 
Just reading that has brought both a smile to my face and a tear to my eyes. Billy is my father, and as has been said is a ranger through and through. The goal that night is one of his most treasured memories and I still show him old photos of games he played in when I visit him.
Thank you for your kind words gents.
Billy is an adopted Ravenhill Road man. When he signed for the Glens he lodged with the McKeags in Shamrock Street of the Ravenhill Road. Billy McKeag was also some player for the Glens. Sinky was a wee warrior as a player. That Glentoran team had 4 members of LOL 580 Ravenhill Road Volunteers in it.
Best wishes to Sinky, Walter Bruce and all of that team who are presently ill.
 
Billy is an adopted Ravenhill Road man. When he signed for the Glens he lodged with the McKeags in Shamrock Street of the Ravenhill Road. Billy McKeag was also some player for the Glens. Sinky was a wee warrior as a player. That Glentoran team had 4 members of LOL 580 Ravenhill Road Volunteers in it.
Best wishes to Sinky, Walter Bruce and all of that team who are presently ill.
I wholeheartedly add to your best wishes to all the legends in that side that are ill - unfortunately my Dad passed away back in 2015.

See Billy McKeag playing golf every weekend at Donaghadee - still looks fit as a fiddle.
 
I was at the match as a ten year old and got "lifted over", it has to be the biggest ever crowd at the oval. the Glens museum claim 40,000.
 
My first European match also. Didn’t one of the Glentoran players play with a pair of spectacles on that night at Ibrox.
 
My first European match also. Didn’t one of the Glentoran players play with a pair of spectacles on that night at Ibrox.
Eric Ross used to wear glasses when playing. Another Detroit Couger. Helluva a player. I assume it would have been him.

FBS
 
I wholeheartedly add to your best wishes to all the legends in that side that are ill - unfortunately my Dad passed away back in 2015.

See Billy McKeag playing golf every weekend at Donaghadee - still looks fit as a fiddle.
Billy McKeag went to school with my eldest brother. Sydney Patterson another fine player was in the same class. Sydney played in a great ARDS team in the early 70's.
Brave while since I seen Billy, last time I was in his company he was complaining about a goal Linfield had scored in 1967.
 
I was at that game one of my first Rangers European games.
However I seen Glentoran playing Partick thistle in Europe a couple of years before ( my old man was a Thistle fan)
The only player that I could name from these games was Billy Sinclair
 
Very proud to say yes that’s my Dad.

Have the programmes for both games and newspaper reports for at least one of the games, maybe both - would need to check.
I'm old enough to remember Walter playing for the Glens, and even as a young Blueman, I could see he was a hell of a player. He was arguably the best player in a very strong Glentoran team at that time. I remember one Irish Cup semi-final against Linfield at Cliftonville. It had poured all day and the pitch was like the Ypres no-mans land. You could hardly tell the teams apart as they were all covered in muck, but Walter Bruce seemed to keep his jersey spotless as he strolled through the game. He scored the only goal of the game that day. God, I hated him, but what a player. Best wishes to him and all the family.
 
I'm old enough to remember Walter playing for the Glens, and even as a young Blueman, I could see he was a hell of a player. He was arguably the best player in a very strong Glentoran team at that time. I remember one Irish Cup semi-final against Linfield at Cliftonville. It had poured all day and the pitch was like the Ypres no-mans land. You could hardly tell the teams apart as they were all covered in muck, but Walter Bruce seemed to keep his jersey spotless as he strolled through the game. He scored the only goal of the game that day. God, I hated him, but what a player. Best wishes to him and all the family.
Think I have a photo of him scoring that goal along with the match report.

Thanks for your kind words and my sympathies for you being a Blueman, lol.
 
Jim Baxter was very friendly with the then Glentoran manager John Colrain. The Rangers in Europe book described Colrain as a Rangers supporter.
Got that wrong big time as he was one of that mob.
 
I bought a mate th e Ibrox program at a game a few years back 7pd it cost me he moaned like %^*& when coughing up for it miserable gwen
 
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