o7o
Well-Known Member
Great shout mate... Baxter was the greatest but his off field antics got to him.I'm yet to be convinced that Baxter leaving was significant in Celtic's dominance post 65'.
I'm sure at the time that it seemed that way, to thousands of us (and to them too),
but with hindsight and a few stats and facts, it tells me otherwise.
In the two seasons (62/63 and 63/64) when Rangers (and Baxter) ruled the roost in Scotland,
Baxter played in 90 Games for Rangers.
Of those 90 domestic games that Baxter played in, we lost only 3 games.
By 1964-65 we were no longer the dominant force (and imho, unfortunately, neither was Baxter).
We had already suffered 3 league Defeats in the first 16 games that Baxter played in that season.
(1-3 v Celtic, 1-4 v Dundee, and 2-4 v Hibs).
Our only decent spell in that 64-65 season was in the period that Baxter was out injured,
when we lost only 1 of the 11 Games (9 League, 2 Scottish Cup).
When Baxter did return to the side in March 65', he played in 9 of our remaining 12 fixtures.
Of the 9 Baxter played in, we suffered 5 defeats, which included his comeback game in a 2-1 defeat to Hibs in the Scottish Cup (our only domestic Cup defeat in two and half years/36 Cup Ties).
Over the course of that 64-65 season, we lost 8 League Games.
7 of those 8 defeats, was with Baxter in the side (Baxter played in 22 league games).
In the 12 League games that Baxter did not play in, we suffered defeat only once.
I struggle to remember a single domestic game that Baxter was involved in that was significant after 1965.
Yes, he could still do the business at International level as his performances against Italy 65', Brazil 66' and Wembley 67' proved, but as a consistent performer in the domestic game on a regular basis,
he was shot.
He failed to improve a big spending Sunderland in his two seasons there, with Sunderland finishing 19th and 17th in the English First Division.
His Wembley performance against England in 67' saw Nottingham Forest fork out £100,000 for him.
Forest had finished Runners Up to Man Utd (of Best, Law and Charlton) in Div 1 that 66-67 season.
With Baxter in the side, Forest finished the next two seasons in 11th and 18th in Div 1.
My apologies for the rant, but hindsight tells me we let Baxter go at the right time,
and we should be grateful for that,
in that we can always celebrate the genius that he was in those wonderful years at Ibrox.
Now getting back on track, this is after all a Jim Forrest thread.
We did come close in 66' to winning the League, but for those 3 horrible weeks in March when we dropped 6 of 8 points, and lost the League by 2 points.
I will always be convinced that we would have won the League (and the ECWC) in 67' if we had not been so ridiculously foolish to get rid of a phenomenal goalscoring 22 year old.
After that, who knows what would have been, if Davie White had a Jim Forrest instead of an Alex Ferguson.
History might well have been a lot kinder to you and I in our adolescence.
In fairness he usually destroyed them and only lost 1 or 2 times....as for The other Jim...Mr Forrest a goal machine