Rangers History Alex Willoughby

MO_TxTruBlu

MO_TxTruBlu

Well-Known Member
Alex Willoughby, an Inside Right, was a great wee player from the 1960's, that is too often overlooked.

He was born in Springburn Glasgow on 17th September 1944, and along with his cousin Jim Forrest, became a product of the famous Drumchapel Amateurs.
Both boys went on to win Scottish schoolboy caps, before being signed by Rangers as 15 year olds.

Willoughby made his debut (in place of Ian McMillan) towards the end of the 62-63 season in a 3-1 home League win v Queen of the South, three days after Rangers had secured the Double with that 3-0 easy easy Cup Final win v Celtic.
The Line up that day
Ritchie Shearer, Provan, Davis, McKinnon, Baxter, Henderson, Willoughby, Millar, Brand and Wilson.

Willoughby kept his place in the side the following week as Rangers traveled across the city to Shawfield and registered a 3-1 win v Clyde,with the impressive 18 year old Willoughby scoring twice.

The following season (63-64) as Rangers marched to the Treble, saw Willoughby restricted to only 8 appearances.
His return of 4 goals indicated much promise.
He made his European Cup debut in front of 80,000 fans at the Bernabeu' when he was surprisingly selected for the away leg v Real Madrid.
His only highlight of that evening though, was when the great Ferenc Puskas, who scored a hat trick that night, handed his number 10 shirt to the teenager, at the end of the match.
Willoughby collected his first winners medal in October 63', when Rangers beat Morton 5-0 in the League Cup Final before a crowd of 105,907.
In what was known as the family final, Willoughby scored one, with his cousin Jim Forrest banging in the other four. (all goals scored in the second half).

Despite Rangers struggles in the 64-65 season, Willoughby was afforded only 5 appearances.
In only his second appearance that season on April 3rd, Rangers hammered Falkirk 6-1 at Ibrox with Forrest scoring 4 again, and Willoughby scoring the other 2.

The 65-66 season saw Willoughby establish himself in the Inside Right position, as he registered 34 appearances in all competitions, with a return of 12 goals.
Highlights from that season included scoring both goals at Easter Rd in a 2-1 win v Hibs in Oct, scoring the only goal in a tight Scottish Cup Quarter Final match v St Johnstone, and scoring the winner at Pittodrie in a 2-1 win v Aberdeen when Rangers came back from 0-1 down, in Apr.

Even with such an impressive goalscoring record for an Inside Forward, of 20 goals in 50 appearances in the past four seasons,the 66-67 season looked to be the end of the road for Willoughby.
Five months and 36 games into the season, and Willoughby had not been selected to start in any of them, and had been given only one brief appearance as a substitute.

Then came Berwick.

Both strikers, Jim Forrest and George McLean were never to play for Rangers again.
Alex Smith who had scored 19 goals in 35 games as an Inside Right was moved to Centre Forward, and Alex Willoughby was back in the team at Inside Right.
Willoughby's impact was nothing short of incredible.
His first start of the season, and he scores a Hat Trick in a 5-1 win v Hearts at Ibrox.
Four days later, and he secures back to back Hat Tricks in a 5-1 win v Clyde at Shawfield.
(Clyde finished 3rd in the League that season).
The following Saturday Rangers travel to Kilmarnock (Russian Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin attended this match).
Kilmarnock were no mugs either back then, they would go all the way to the Semi Finals of the Fairs Cup that season.
In a tightly fought contest, Rangers took the lead in 55 mins through Davy Wilson, only for Kilmarnock to equalise 17 mins later, It was then left up to Alex Willoughby to round off a superb week, by scoring the winner to give Rangers both points.
His next game was his first European appearance of the season, against Real Zaragossa from Spain, and again he scored one in an impressive 2-0 win at Ibrox.
Back to the Scottish League four days later, and this phenomenal scoring continues, as Willoughby scores FOUR in a 5-1 rout at Motherwell.
This takes his tally to 12 goals in 5 games
Two goals in a 4-1 win at Ayr United, are followed up with a wonderful diving header to secure the winner in a 4-3 win v St Johnstone at Ibrox, that keeps us within 2 points of Celtic.
The following week with Celtic playing in the Cup, Rangers have the chance to draw level on points with a home League game v Dunfermline.
Unfortunately, Willoughby did not play in this game,
and Rangers who had dropped only 1 point all season long at Ibrox, lose 0-1 at home to Dunfermline.
Three days later, Rangers sign inside right Andy Penman from Dundee, though he is ineligible for the rest of the season.
The following Saturday, Rangers travel to Stirling Albion, and Willoughby, back in the side, scores the winner.
No game the following week as Scotland travel to Wembley to record a 3-2 win against the World Champions.
Rangers resume League play the following Saturday with a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Clyde.
The following Saturday see Rangers travel to Dundee, whilst Celtic are winning their second Cup of the season with a 2-0 win v Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Final.
Rangers who trail Dundee by a goal, are thrown a Championship lifeline yet again by Alex Willoughby who scores an invaluable equaliser.
Four days later, Rangers secure their place in the European Cup Winners Cup Final, as Celtic drop 2 points at home in a shock 2-3 loss to Dundee Utd, in the League
The situation is now thus.
Both Glasgow giants will contest in Europe's two big Finals.
Rangers on 54 points from 33 games will play Celtic (on 55 points from 32 games) at Ibrox in their final League game of the season.
This is a must win game for Rangers if they are to win the Championship.
Incredibly so,
Alex Willoughby, who has scored 17 goals in 14 games is DROPPED for Rangers two most important games of the season, and is replaced by a defender of sorts (Roger Hynd), who has made not one start all season long
(Rangers fail to win either game).

Despite such an incredible humiliation (which must be second only to his cousin's binning after Berwick), Willoughby stayed at Rangers.

With four new signings, Willoughby got nowhere near the first team in the first 11 games of the season (67-68).
In the middle of October, with Henderson out with a fractured jaw, Persson was moved to outside right and Symon recalled Willoughby to the side, at inside left.
Willoughby played in Symon's last three games, before he was fired.
When White took over on Nov 1st, he dropped Willoughby for his first three games, but installed him in his next game, a table top clash at home to Hibs.
This was an ill tempered affair that saw Alex Ferguson and Colin Stein (Hibs) sent off for fighting.
As Rangers hung on to a 1-0 lead (Greig pen 34 mins), it was Alex Willoughby who secured the points with a second goal five minutes from the end.
Willoughby made 20 starts (3 sub) for White that season scoring 10 goals.
His most important goal came at Kilmarnock in the penultimate League game of the season, when he came off the bench to score the winner.
This kept White's unbeaten League record at 22 wins and 3 draws in 25 games.

Willoughby made only 4 appearances (3 starts 1 sub) in the 68-69 season.
His final appearance in a Rangers shirt oddly enough was with a No 7 on the back.
It was also Alex MacDonald's debut, having been signed four days earlier.
Nov 23rd 1968, Clyde 1-1 Rangers (Stein)
Martin, Johansen, Mathieson, Greig, McKinnon, D.Smith, Willoughby, MacDonald, Stein, Johnston, Persson.
Only McKinnon (and Henderson who was injured) remained from the team he made his debut in five and a half years earlier.
Willoughby was transferred to Aberdeen in the summer of 69' for £25,000 to rejoin his cousin Jim Forrest.

Alex Willoughby was at Ibrox for virtually the entire decade that was the Sixties, and yet he played in less than 100 games.

This famous quote (taken from Rangers Media) that I was previously unaware of, does show an incredible level of loyalty that we would never see in today's game, and is one of those stories etched into Ibrox folklore.
Alex Willoughby explaining to an astonished press pack why he had rejected a glamour move to English giants Manchester United – “they can’t give me the blue shirt of the Rangers”

His record of 47 Goals scored in 95 Games (90 starts, 5 subs) is still very impressive for an Inside Forward.
 
Fantastic and fascinating story bud, as has already been covered on here many times why he was dropped for the last 2 game of the 66-67 season is still the stuff of heartbreak to this very day
 
Great post MO about a good Bluenose who was shabbily treated by the Club. I remember at the time that the perception, in our household, was that John Lawrence was involving himself too much in team matters. Over 50 years later, I think that was true in the immediate aftermath after Berwick, the dropping of Alex Willoughby in the run up to Nuremberg was a mistake by Scot Symon who, in turn, was badly treated months later.
 
A very popular guy among his teammates, I know Bud was a close friend & I,m sure Jim Baxter had him as a pallbearer at his funeral
 
The Meik's Crombie said:
Great post MO about a good Bluenose who was shabbily treated by the Club. I remember at the time that the perception, in our household, was that John Lawrence was involving himself too much in team matters. Over 50 years later, I think that was true in the immediate aftermath after Berwick, the dropping of Alex Willoughby in the run up to Nuremberg was a mistake by Scot Symon who, in turn, was badly treated months later.
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Great article from the OP!

Alex Willoughby was a true blue. His love for The Rangers was always evident and it was a mistake by Scot Symon to drop him at that stage.

Terrible mistakes were being made back then. Amid turmoil there were no calm heads and rash decisions were being taken and John Lawrence was certainly interfering in managerial decisions.

The depth of feeling and anger was tangible on the terracings

There was great anger from the support being exhibited towards John Lawrence and in support of Scot Symon leading up to and following his sacking. Even a song which was sung to the tune of "Have I Told You Lately" which displayed venom towards Lawrence and sympathy for Scot Symon.
 
66a55f997cdb8d65cef8c09d13fdedaf.jpg
 
Lucky enough to get a personal tour of Ibrox with Alec, what a gentleman and as someone above said, would have bleed blue
 
The Meik's Crombie said:
Great post MO about a good Bluenose who was shabbily treated by the Club. I remember at the time that the perception, in our household, was that John Lawrence was involving himself too much in team matters. Over 50 years later, I think that was true in the immediate aftermath after Berwick, the dropping of Alex Willoughby in the run up to Nuremberg was a mistake by Scot Symon who, in turn, was badly treated months later.
Click to expand...
Lawrence told Symon to get rid of Forrest and McLean and Symon, being an old school manager, obeyed. Whether Symon had resisted doing so is not clear and probably will never be. Jim Forrest certainly put the blame at Symons door for not telling Lawrence to %^*& off but in all reality was Symon in a position to do this.

In retrospect the decision to bin Forrest was one of the worst in our history, and paved the way for the mentally challenged NIAR.
 
Looking back, I would have thought that Willoughby was the perfect replacement for Ian McMillan who's career was winding down in that Rangers side in the 63-64 season.
Willoughby was stylish, intelligent, could pick a pass, and had an eye for goal.
He should have been the perfect partner for Jim Baxter in that creative midfield area.
It never really materialised though, with his cousin Jim Forrest making the breakthrough that season at Centre Forward at the expense of Jimmy Millar, who was out injured.
Forrest was a sensation, scoring 39 Goals in 38 Games, so when Millar was fit again, he had to come back into the team.
Despite Willoughby being selected (and scoring) in the League Cup Final, he only got 4 more appearances that season.
George McLean bought as a Left Half, was also slotted into the No.8 (Inside Right), around 20 times that 63-64 season.
The 64-65 season saw Forrest keep that No.9 shirt, scoring 57 Goals in 50 games, with Jimmy Miilar wearing the No.8 shirt in 30 of his 33 games that season.
Willoughby only managed 5 appearances that season.
65-66 saw Willoughby finally nail down that No.8 shirt, with 35 appearances and a return of 12 goals.
Recent signings, Tottie Beck, and Jorn Sorensen were both given a couple of run outs at Inside Right, but for the most part Rangers forward line that season was
Henderson, Willoughby, Forrest, McLean and Johnston.
Summer of 66', and Scot Symon goes out and buys Alex Smith, who got that No.8 Shirt, and banged in 18 Goals in the first half of that 66-67 season.
We did though, lose three times to Celtic in that period 0-4 in the Glasgow Cup, 0-2 in the League, and 0-1 in the League Cup Final.
Willoughby was nowhere to be seen, making only 1 appearance off the bench, in our opening 36 Games.............then came Berwick.

Another stat that sticks out.
In almost 10 years at Ibrox, and almost 100 appearances, Alex Willoughby only faced Celtic ONE time
(which was as often as he had faced Real Madrid and Leeds Utd).
Strange when you consider he faced Aberdeen 9 times, Clyde 10 times etc.
Symon always seemed to opt for the more compromising, tough tackling, Bobby Watson, or even Wilson Wood for those Old Firm games.
 
MO_TxTruBlu said:
Looking back, I would have thought that Willoughby was the perfect replacement for Ian McMillan who's career was winding down in that Rangers side in the 63-64 season.
Willoughby was stylish, intelligent, could pick a pass, and had an eye for goal.
He should have been the perfect partner for Jim Baxter in that creative midfield area.
It never really materialised though, with his cousin Jim Forrest making the breakthrough that season at Centre Forward at the expense of Jimmy Millar, who was out injured.
Forrest was a sensation, scoring 39 Goals in 38 Games, so when Millar was fit again, he had to come back into the team.
Despite Willoughby being selected (and scoring) in the League Cup Final, he only got 4 more appearances that season.
George McLean bought as a Left Half, was also slotted into the No.8 (Inside Right), around 20 times that 63-64 season.
The 64-65 season saw Forrest keep that No.9 shirt, scoring 57 Goals in 50 games, with Jimmy Miilar wearing the No.8 shirt in 30 of his 33 games that season.
Willoughby only managed 5 appearances that season.
65-66 saw Willoughby finally nail down that No.8 shirt, with 35 appearances and a return of 12 goals.
Recent signings, Tottie Beck, and Jorn Sorensen were both given a couple of run outs at Inside Right, but for the most part Rangers forward line that season was
Henderson, Willoughby, Forrest, McLean and Johnston.
Summer of 66', and Scot Symon goes out and buys Alex Smith, who got that No.8 Shirt, and banged in 18 Goals in the first half of that 66-67 season.
We did though, lose three times to Celtic in that period 0-4 in the Glasgow Cup, 0-2 in the League, and 0-1 in the League Cup Final.
Willoughby was nowhere to be seen, making only 1 appearance off the bench, in our opening 36 Games.............then came Berwick.

Another stat that sticks out.
In almost 10 years at Ibrox, and almost 100 appearances, Alex Willoughby only faced Celtic ONE time
(which was as often as he had faced Real Madrid and Leeds Utd).
Strange when you consider he faced Aberdeen 9 times, Clyde 10 times etc.
Symon always seemed to opt for the more compromising, tough tackling, Bobby Watson, or even Wilson Wood for those Old Firm games.
Click to expand...
Why did Forrest and Willoughby both fail to do so well post rangers ?. They were young men but after us they didn’t seem to hit the heights they once had. Not many do I suppose.
 
erskine bear said:
Why did Forrest and Willoughby both fail to do so well post Rangers ?. They were young men but after us they didn’t seem to hit the heights they once had. Not many do I suppose.
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Forrest never reached those goalscoring heights again (who could), but I would hardly call him a failure.
In his first 2 seasons at Aberdeen he scored 52 Goals in 103 Games, and won the Scottish Cup, which is more than any Rangers player had achieved in the three plus years since he was sacked.
Despite his goalscoring record, Joe Harper came in as their main striker, and Forrest spent his last three seasons at Pittodrie as a Right Winger.
He won 3 Scotland Caps as an Aberdeen player, which was more than the 2 he won as a Rangers player.

I'm not sure Willoughby could be considered a failure either.
He made 150 appearances for Aberdeen in a 5 year period, which was a lot more than he made at Ibrox in 10 years!
He missed Aberdeen's Scottish Cup win in 1970 through injury.
He played in many different positions for Aberdeen, finally becoming a Right Back.

In the 1970-71 and 71-72 seasons, Aberdeen (with Forrest and Willoughby) were Runners up to Celtic in the League, whilst Rangers languished in a distant 4th and 3rd in the League.
 
Despite scoring the winner v Aberdeen at Pittodrie in his last Start, some 9 months earlier in April 66', Willoughby was afforded only 1 solitary substitute appearance in our next 42 games!
Until Berwick.

Alex Willoughby's phenomenal scoring rate continues, as he scores Four in a 5-1 rout at Motherwell.

This takes his tally to 12 goals in 5 games!

ce72478e8ff52e73471d730a6f296e1c.jpg
 
As a little kid in Springburn in the 1960’s I grew up with relatives and neighbours always speaking about “our own,” Alex Willoughby* and Jim Forrest. I didn’t attend games until October 1968 and unfortunately didn’t see either of them play for us.

Our team selection and transfer policy in the 1960’s was somewhat eccentric, which I would attribute to the Board. No wonder “they” swept up numerous honours.

*Cousin’s wife a classmate of Alex Willoughby at Colston Secondary (also my “Alma Mater”).
 
Lairdo said:
As a little kid in Springburn in the 1960’s I grew up with relatives and neighbours always speaking about “our own,” Alex Willoughby* and Jim Forrest. I didn’t attend games until October 1968 and unfortunately didn’t see either of them play for us.

Our team selection and transfer policy in the 1960’s was somewhat eccentric, which I would attribute to the Board. No wonder “they” swept up numerous honours.

*Cousin’s wife a classmate of Alex Willoughby at Colston Secondary (also my “Alma Mater”).
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I attended Colston as well,67-70,and in one of the classrooms,one of the old wooden desks had the name,A Willoughby carved into it.
I always like to think that i sat at the desk that a Rangers first team player previously occupied.
 
Zeo said:
Lucky enough to get a personal tour of Ibrox with Alec, what a gentleman and as someone above said, would have bleed blue
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So was I.
It was just at the beginning of the Souness era and when we went into the home dressing room he was apoplectic that there were bits of stuff lying around from the game the day before and he said that the dressing room would never have been left in that condition "in his day".
It was the only time I met him and he was a perfect gentleman and everything you'd expect of a Ranger!
 
The Meik's Crombie said:
Great post MO about a good Bluenose who was shabbily treated by the Club. I remember at the time that the perception, in our household, was that John Lawrence was involving himself too much in team matters. Over 50 years later, I think that was true in the immediate aftermath after Berwick, the dropping of Alex Willoughby in the run up to Nuremberg was a mistake by Scot Symon who, in turn, was badly treated months later.
Click to expand...

We made a lot of mistakes during that 66-67 season, Forrest and McLean, then Willoughby, all well documented over the years, but I think one of our biggest mistakes in that season, was not signing Willie Wallace from Hearts.
It was well known at the time, he wanted out at Hearts, and Rangers were favourites for his signature, but whilst we were away in Dortmund in Dec 66, Jock Stein nipped in and took him to Celtic.
Wallace, most likely would have been back up to Chalmers and McBride for that season, but two weeks after he signed, McBride got injured, and was out for the season.
McBride was on fire, having scored a staggerring 38 goals before Christmas.
Wallace stepped in, and they didn't miss a beat, he scored 20 goals in that latter part of the season, significantly, a brace in their EC semi final v Dukla Prague, and a brace in their SC Final win v Aberdeen.
Without Wallace (and McBride), I think they would have struggled that season, certainly in the League, and Lisbon might never have happened.
Had we signed Wallace in December, he would have provided competition to Forrest and McLean, and perhaps Berwick would never have happened at all.
It is the one signing that I believe changed the fortunes of both teams, and History might well have been so different, if only, if only!
 
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