When Graeme Souness splashed out £650,000 in the summer of 1986 for England international goalkeeper Chris Woods, many of the headlines were about his nationality. We would be seeing an English goalie at Ibrox, was this a first. As this thread will show, there was a whole decade of Ibrox fans who watched an English goalkeeper regularly.
In the summer of 1909, after a disappointing season when Rangers finished 4th behind a Celtic team winning their 5th successive championship, manager William Wilton made 3 significant signings. Forward Willie Reid would go on to be the club's goalscoring machine in the coming years. The other 2 surprised Scottish football by both being top division English players from down south. First, goalkeeper Herbert Lock was signed from FA Cup semi finalists Southampton, then 3 weeks later forward Willie Hogg, a full England international signed on at Ibrox.
Although not the first non Scottish goalkeeper for the club, Herbert Lock became the first to make the jersey his own, and enjoyed a long and successful spell at Rangers.
Lock was known as something of a penalty stopper, his final season at Southampton saw him save 8 from 12 he faced. But he was better known as a goalkeeper whose bravery and determination to prevent the opposition scoring resulted in some serious injuries. He actually missed his club's FA Cup semi-final after sustaining several broken bones in a league match at Watford in March 1909.
Rangers opened their league season on August 16th 1909 with Lock between the posts in a comfortable 3-0 Ibrox victory over Kilmarnock. His agility and bravery quickly found favour with the Rangers support and manager Wilton, he played all but 2 matches as first choice that season, when a poor start to the campaign meant Rangers were unable to finish better than 3rd. However, season 1910/11 was to see the club finally end Celtics league dominance, with Herbert Lock an ever present in a triumphant title winning season. Lock enjoyed 14 shutouts in the season, the most satisfying being a crucial 1-0 win at Parkhead in October, when fellow Englishman Hogg scored the only goal.
With Reid scoring more than a goal a game, the title was retained the following season, and Herbert Lock was again a key player. He only missed 1 game, and that was a meaningless end of season defeat at Rugby Park after the title was won. Season 1912/13, however, was a 3rd title in a row for Rangers but a painful one for the English stopper. After a solid start to the campaign, Rangers were drawn against Partick Thistle in the semi finals of the Glasgow Cup. A goalless draw at Firhill meant a replay at Ibrox on October 7th. With the score at 1-1 and with just a few minutes remaining, Thistle right winger Callaghan burst unchallenged into the penalty box. As he prepared to shoot, the Ibrox crowd saw certain defeat staring at them. Not Herbert Lock. As Callaghan started to shoot, he flung himself at the flying boot of the winger. The goal was saved, but the sickening contact between boot and goalkeeper saw Lock sidelined for months.
Herbert Lock then lost his place to a fine deputy goalkeeper John Hempsey, and over the next few years they shared the number 1 jersey, Lock not appearing again in the first team until January 1914 when he kept a clean sheet in a draw at home to Motherwell. That season of 1913/14, the last before the Great War changed lives forever, saw Rangers lose their crown to Celtic, despite a winning run of 7 successive games after Lock was reinstated in goal.
During the War, Herbert Lock worked towards the War effort in the local shipyards, his football career taking second place. As this work allowed, he did still turn out for the club, playing 26 times in 1914/15, 16 times in both 1915/16 & 1916/17, and 7 times in 1917/18. Season 1917/18 was the only of these to see a Rangers title win. During that time, his finest display was undoubtedly on October 30th 1915 when 45,000 at Ibrox watched his heroics keep out a potent Celtic forward line in a resounding 3-0 victory.
After the War was over, 32 year old Herbert Lock enjoyed 1 last memorable season at Ibrox. In 1919/20 manager Wilton had assembled a magnificent team, with names like Cunningham, Archibald, Gordon, Cairns and Meiklejohn. Behind them as last line of defence was Herbert Lock. Rangers lost only 2 from 42 league games that season, conceding a miserly 25 goals while scoring 106. Also that season, Lock kept goal in front of the largest domestic attendance ever up to that time, when at least 85,000 crammed into Ibrox to see a Herbert Lock clean sheet and a Tommy Muirhead winner in the Scottish Cup quarter final against Celtic.
This was to be Herbert Lock's swansong as a Ranger, injury in April 1920 saw him lose his place to another great Rangers goalkeeper Willie Robb, who played the remainder of the season and kept his place for 1920/21 under the new manager William Struth. Herbert Lock's 267th and last game for the club was fittingly a clean sheet, a vital point won in a tense 0-0 draw at Tynecastle in the run in to the title.
Herbert Lock left Rangers in August 1921 for QPR, and had spells at Sothampton, Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic before retiring at the age of 37.
He settled in Southampton, working as a carpenter for Southern Railway, and died in 1957 at the age of 70. In 2010, 4 of his hard earned medals were made available at auction, including 2 Scottish League medals. The sale prices achieved were undisclosed, but each medal starting bids were £500. A small price for medals won by such a brave and popular Ranger.
Herbert Lock, Rangers FC 1909 to 1921
267 appearances
3 league titles
2 Glasgow Cups
1 Charity Cup
Made in England.
In the summer of 1909, after a disappointing season when Rangers finished 4th behind a Celtic team winning their 5th successive championship, manager William Wilton made 3 significant signings. Forward Willie Reid would go on to be the club's goalscoring machine in the coming years. The other 2 surprised Scottish football by both being top division English players from down south. First, goalkeeper Herbert Lock was signed from FA Cup semi finalists Southampton, then 3 weeks later forward Willie Hogg, a full England international signed on at Ibrox.
Although not the first non Scottish goalkeeper for the club, Herbert Lock became the first to make the jersey his own, and enjoyed a long and successful spell at Rangers.
Lock was known as something of a penalty stopper, his final season at Southampton saw him save 8 from 12 he faced. But he was better known as a goalkeeper whose bravery and determination to prevent the opposition scoring resulted in some serious injuries. He actually missed his club's FA Cup semi-final after sustaining several broken bones in a league match at Watford in March 1909.
Rangers opened their league season on August 16th 1909 with Lock between the posts in a comfortable 3-0 Ibrox victory over Kilmarnock. His agility and bravery quickly found favour with the Rangers support and manager Wilton, he played all but 2 matches as first choice that season, when a poor start to the campaign meant Rangers were unable to finish better than 3rd. However, season 1910/11 was to see the club finally end Celtics league dominance, with Herbert Lock an ever present in a triumphant title winning season. Lock enjoyed 14 shutouts in the season, the most satisfying being a crucial 1-0 win at Parkhead in October, when fellow Englishman Hogg scored the only goal.
With Reid scoring more than a goal a game, the title was retained the following season, and Herbert Lock was again a key player. He only missed 1 game, and that was a meaningless end of season defeat at Rugby Park after the title was won. Season 1912/13, however, was a 3rd title in a row for Rangers but a painful one for the English stopper. After a solid start to the campaign, Rangers were drawn against Partick Thistle in the semi finals of the Glasgow Cup. A goalless draw at Firhill meant a replay at Ibrox on October 7th. With the score at 1-1 and with just a few minutes remaining, Thistle right winger Callaghan burst unchallenged into the penalty box. As he prepared to shoot, the Ibrox crowd saw certain defeat staring at them. Not Herbert Lock. As Callaghan started to shoot, he flung himself at the flying boot of the winger. The goal was saved, but the sickening contact between boot and goalkeeper saw Lock sidelined for months.
Herbert Lock then lost his place to a fine deputy goalkeeper John Hempsey, and over the next few years they shared the number 1 jersey, Lock not appearing again in the first team until January 1914 when he kept a clean sheet in a draw at home to Motherwell. That season of 1913/14, the last before the Great War changed lives forever, saw Rangers lose their crown to Celtic, despite a winning run of 7 successive games after Lock was reinstated in goal.
During the War, Herbert Lock worked towards the War effort in the local shipyards, his football career taking second place. As this work allowed, he did still turn out for the club, playing 26 times in 1914/15, 16 times in both 1915/16 & 1916/17, and 7 times in 1917/18. Season 1917/18 was the only of these to see a Rangers title win. During that time, his finest display was undoubtedly on October 30th 1915 when 45,000 at Ibrox watched his heroics keep out a potent Celtic forward line in a resounding 3-0 victory.
After the War was over, 32 year old Herbert Lock enjoyed 1 last memorable season at Ibrox. In 1919/20 manager Wilton had assembled a magnificent team, with names like Cunningham, Archibald, Gordon, Cairns and Meiklejohn. Behind them as last line of defence was Herbert Lock. Rangers lost only 2 from 42 league games that season, conceding a miserly 25 goals while scoring 106. Also that season, Lock kept goal in front of the largest domestic attendance ever up to that time, when at least 85,000 crammed into Ibrox to see a Herbert Lock clean sheet and a Tommy Muirhead winner in the Scottish Cup quarter final against Celtic.
This was to be Herbert Lock's swansong as a Ranger, injury in April 1920 saw him lose his place to another great Rangers goalkeeper Willie Robb, who played the remainder of the season and kept his place for 1920/21 under the new manager William Struth. Herbert Lock's 267th and last game for the club was fittingly a clean sheet, a vital point won in a tense 0-0 draw at Tynecastle in the run in to the title.
Herbert Lock left Rangers in August 1921 for QPR, and had spells at Sothampton, Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic before retiring at the age of 37.
He settled in Southampton, working as a carpenter for Southern Railway, and died in 1957 at the age of 70. In 2010, 4 of his hard earned medals were made available at auction, including 2 Scottish League medals. The sale prices achieved were undisclosed, but each medal starting bids were £500. A small price for medals won by such a brave and popular Ranger.
Herbert Lock, Rangers FC 1909 to 1921
267 appearances
3 league titles
2 Glasgow Cups
1 Charity Cup
Made in England.
