Our Greatest Willie

Our Greatest Willie

  • Willie Reid

    Votes: 4 1.4%
  • Willie Woodburn

    Votes: 25 9.0%
  • Willie Waddell

    Votes: 110 39.6%
  • Willie Thornton

    Votes: 7 2.5%
  • Willie Henderson

    Votes: 88 31.7%
  • Willie Johnston

    Votes: 41 14.7%
  • Any Other Willie

    Votes: 3 1.1%

  • Total voters
    278

MO_TxTruBlu

Well-Known Member
Who gets your Vote?

Willie Reid................................ (1909-20) 224 Goals in 260 Games
Willie Woodburn................... (1938-54) 481 Appearances
Willie Waddell.........................(1938-55) 546 Appearances
Willie Thornton.......................(1937-54) 238 Goals in 390 Games
Willie Henderson....................(1961-72) 438 Appearances
Willie Johnston........................(1964-72) 332 Appearances (123 Goals) in his first spell at the Club
Any other Willie?

A bit late to add this now, but since it wasn't too obvious to a few,
this is based purely on their PLAYING Career.

Those of you voting for Willie Waddell on his achievements as a Manager, Greatest Ranger ever, etc.
please feel free to Change your Vote, if necessary
 
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Presume it's only players?

No Struth, Wilton or Waddell as a manager / director?
 
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Even though my old man voted Waddell the greatest Ranger, I'm going to vote for Woodburn.

Out of them all, he is the one player that every older fan I met said was the best ever in his position. I don't think I have known any supporter who watched the Rangers of that era say they thought another Rangers centre half was better in all the years since.
 
How about changing the vote to :
Our greatest Willie wi’ Wan Fit!!!!!!
To the OP, my vote goes to Henderson.
 
Waddell got my vote. Highest number of games. Became manager. Won our only European trophy. Instrumental in building the new stadium after the disaster.
 
Saw them all other than Willie Reid. Tough to choose but Woodburn just edges out Waddell and Thornton. Didn’t think Sandy Jardine could be considered although he was a William. On that basis, I guess that the guys who were known as Billy eg. Ritchie and Matheson would qualify but all of them served our club well
 
Woodburn and Henderson are the stand-outs for me.
Woodburn was to my old man the greatest CH he ever saw. The only player he would ever countenance being in the same class was Baresi,who played 40 years later. I used to say to him, surely Terry Butcher is better, he'd have a chuckle and say,"he's good son, but no that good".

Willie Henderson is my favourite Rangers player. In the early 60's he was the best winger in Europe. Mid 60's he was still a world class winger if a little less consistent than he had been.

Voted for Henderson.
 
Sentimental one for me of a fellow Springburn man: Willie Paton, stalwart inside-forward of 1940’s/1950’s. 168 league games, 64 goals.
 
Even though my old man voted Waddell the greatest Ranger, I'm going to vote for Woodburn.

Out of them all, he is the one player that every older fan I met said was the best ever in his position. I don't think I have known any supporter who watched the Rangers of that era say they thought another Rangers centre half was better in all the years since.

I will never say anything critical about Willie Woodburn, but in my humble opinion George Young was a better centre half.

However, it was wonderful watching both of them playing for The Rangers.
 
Willie Waddell was the architect of so much at Rangers on the field and off it from the 1940s onwards.
Way before my time but I have read so much about him and sought out opinion from others who know more if him.

An abrasive, challenging man in many ways but one who dedicated so much of his life to improving Rangers in so many aspects.
 
Voted for Willie Johnston, as the only one I saw play. Like other posters, my old man raved about Willie Woodburn
 
I went with Willie Henderson but can’t really argue with the result.

I never got to see Waddell as a player, he was just before my time, but he was warmly spoken of. And while I acknowledge his response to the disaster in rebuilding Ibrox, for some reason I never warmed to the man. His behaviour towards Davie White was underhanded to say the least, and his frequent appearances on the pitch in the early 70s to lecture the support rubbed me the wrong way. Still, I cannot argue he was a truly great Ranger in all he did for us club. I just preferred the wee barra.

I loved Bud as well, but in all honest I think Henderson was marginally the better player
 
Even though my old man voted Waddell the greatest Ranger, I'm going to vote for Woodburn.

Out of them all, he is the one player that every older fan I met said was the best ever in his position. I don't think I have known any supporter who watched the Rangers of that era say they thought another Rangers centre half was better in all the years since.

Hard to argue with that, even the top English Players of the day, would testify that Willie Woodburn was the best Centre Half in Britain, by a distance.
A Footballing Centre Half, when there wasn't such a thing!

I went for Henderson, purely because he was my first real hero, he was selected for World XI's, Europe XI's when there was an abundance of World Class wingers around.
 
Hard to argue with that, even the top English Players of the day, would testify that Willie Woodburn was the best Centre Half in Britain, by a distance.
A Footballing Centre Half, when there wasn't such a thing!

I went for Henderson, purely because he was my first real hero, he was selected for World XI's, Europe XI's when there was an abundance of World Class wingers around.

Your avatar gave your vote away :))
 
Nae Willie Wan Fit as my old da used to call him (Mathieson).
Only one listed that I saw play was bud so, like most, I'm basing my vote on stories handed down by family members over the years.
I've gone for Woodburn just over Waddell as a player - if you were counting his time in the managers office I may have voted differently given how events unfolded while he was in office and what he achieved. There were, however, question marks over how he got the position and his treatment of certain individuals during and after his time as manager but a European trophy goes a long way to compensate for such things.
 
One of our greatest ever players, managed us to our only European trophy, had the foresight to appoint Jock Wallace, carried the club through the Ibrox disaster, prime mover for complete rebuild of Ibrox into one of the best stadiums in Britain. Willie Waddell is most definitely the best ever Ranger not just the best Willie.
 
Never saw any of them play obviously, but I've seen plenty footage of Willie Henderson and he looked unstoppable when running at defenders at pace.

He's getting my vote.
 
Waddell got my vote. Highest number of games. Became manager. Won our only European trophy. Instrumental in building the new stadium after the disaster.

Agree, but the OP just says greatest Willie. Waddell led us to our greatest honour.

One of our greatest ever players, managed us to our only European trophy, had the foresight to appoint Jock Wallace, carried the club through the Ibrox disaster, prime mover for complete rebuild of Ibrox into one of the best stadiums in Britain. Willie Waddell is most definitely the best ever Ranger not just the best Willie.


Just Players.

Nothing to do with being a Manager.
Hence the reason, appearances are quoted after each Player.
Apologies if that was none too obvious.
 
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