Rangers History Ralph Brand

I am lucky enough to have witnessed this team play a number of times. Including Alex Scott and Harold Davis
Me too 8 years old,lifted over 1960 my first game had an old pennant from my dad,lost the bloody thing,with names just further back,cox tellfer,baird, niven
 
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A poor Man's Fry's Chocolate Cream :))
Mate at school was going out with a lassie who's initials were M B and he said she used to love him doing Mick Jagger's Marianne Faithful trick only using it rather than a Mar's bar.
Ask yer Grandfather if you don't know the story. Or maybe even yer Grandmother.
:cool::cool::cool:
 
That is a good question, and my thoughts on it are that Symon believed we had better.
I think with Ralph Brand, he was no longer an automatic choice by the 64-65 season, making only 32 appearances (16 Goals), as opposed to the previous four seasons where he was averaging 55 games a season, with a return of 38 goals a season.
Jim Forrest was obviously the main man, having scored 57 Goals in 50 games in 64-65, and though George McLean was not the prolific goalscorer that Brand was, I think Symon saw the Forrest McLean partnership as the future.
Symon was right, if you look at the stats.
1965-66 season George McLean was our top scorer with 39 Goals in only 34 Games, which is an incredible return.
Despite this, the big Dandy one was never a favourite with the fans, and I can only put that down to the fact that he was replacing Ralph Brand who was much loved by the fans.
Forrest scored 35 Goals in 44 Games that same season, which meant the Forrest McLean partnership had combined to score 74 Goals between them.
The Millar Brand partnership had combined to score that many goals in a single season, only once, in the 62-63 season scoring 80 Goals between them, but they had played in 102 games combined, whereas Forrest and McLean scored 74 Goals in only 78 games between them.
I'm not sure that we have ever had a front two that combined to score so many goals in so few games, as Forrest and McLean did that 65-66 season.
Even the best season that we got from Hateley McCoist (92-93) where the combined to score 78 Goals, they needed 103 games combined to achieve that.
Sadly we shall never know how well that Forrest McLean partnership might well have done, as our Chairmen saw fit to dump them both, just six months after that record setting 65-66 season, whilst they were 22, and 23 years old.

As for Davy Wilson, it was obvious by 1967 that Willie Johnston was Symon's preferred Left Winger, as he was immediately reinstated to the team following his injury, at the expense of Davy Wilson, for those last 3 vital games of the 66-67 campaign, despite the fact that Wilson was doing well and scoring some vital goals.
Symon was desperate to add Orjan Persson to the ranks that summer, and offered Wilson to Dundee Utd as a sweetener to get his man.
Again, Persson was no Davy Wilson, but he was a good player, and unfortunately Symon only had him for 13 games, before he was sacked.
I think Persson scored 30 Goals in 100 games for Davie White, but when Waddell came in, he obviously did not rate the big Swede, giving him only 3 games in 6 months, before getting rid of him at the end of that 69-70 season.
Another player who should have remained at Ibrox a lot longer than he did.
Persson went on to play in two World Cups (70' and 74') after Waddell deemed him surplus to requirements!
Mo, another wonderful peice of research on one of my boyhood favourites. Have you ever profiled George McLean's career at Ibrox?
 
In my mind's eye, I can see it perfectly. Ball out to Henderson, dribbles as if going inside, cuts out to the wing - perfect cross - in the air it was Millar, on the deck it was Brand, any final finesse, it was the wee Prime Minister. For those of us of that era, the brand was Brand!
 
One of my favourite players, apart from his great scoring record, he worked his socks off as well. Thanks OP for this article which brought back some great memories.
 
64-65 was to be Brand's final season at Ibrox, but he still weighed in with 11 goals in his first 14 games, including Hat Tricks against St Johnstone and Airdrie, and bagged a couple in the 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade in the European Cup at Ibrox. He collected another League Cup winners gong in October, as Rangers defeated Celtic 2-1 in the Final.
Brand who had worn his traditional No.10 shirt throughout the previous 9 League Cup games, switched to Outside Right for the Final in place of the injured Henderson, as Rangers went with a forward line of
Brand, Millar, Forrest, Baxter and Johnston.
This was Rangers Sixth consecutive domestic trophy, and their 11th out of a possible 14 domestic trophies in four and a half years.
In early Nov. Rangers beat Red Star Belgrade 3-1 in the European Cup Play off at Highbury, with Brand scoring the third. Highbury was somewhat of a favourite ground for Brand, having scored there twice previously in April 59' with 2 goals in a 3-0 win v Arsenal, and scoring against them again in May 63' in a 2-2 draw.
Brand actually scored 5 goals in 3 games v Arsenal, having scored 2 in a 4-2 win against them in Dec 60' at Ibrox.
Brand fell out of the picture at the end of November, and would make only 7 appearances in the second half of the season.
Fittingly, his last official appearance in a Rangers shirt, came on the final day of the season, and of course,
it was Ralph Brand who scored the only goal of the game, in a 1-0 win at Third Lanark.

Ralph Brand at the age of 28, was sold to Manchester City in the Summer of 65' for ÂŁ30,000

His Rangers collection was 4 League Championships, 3 Scottish Cups, and 4 League Cups
He scored more goals for Rangers in the 1960's than any other player.
His career at Ibrox saw him score 220 Goals in 339 Games.
He represented the Scottish League XI, 5 times, scoring 8 Goals.
His International career saw him score 8 Goals in 8 Games for Scotland
His goalscoring record should certainly have warranted more Caps, and surely would have, but for the unfortunate fact that Scotland's greatest ever forward and No.10, Denis Law, was up there with World's best in the 1960's.

A quote from Ralph Brand some years later
"My highlight was just playing for Rangers.Walking into the dressing each week and seeing the No.10 shirt was mine was a special feeling."

It was a special feeling for those of us fortunate enough to have witnessed Ralph Brand, and that great Rangers side in the first half of the 1960;s.
Yourself and DH's stuff shou'd be put in a time capsule.

That way the generations yet to come can get to 'be there'.
 
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Everyone loved him as a Rangers player,is that better Robert.:p
I was given an old-fashioned scrapbook and it was called M and B, was all about Miller and Brand, kept it for years then lost it in a family flitting when I was about twelve
My memory of the 64 Cup Final was as a young kid I came back from the pictures ( movies to the young ones )and the English Cup final was finished and the TV went to Hampden and it showed you the last three? goals live, not sure if my memory is playing me tricks and the goals were possibly shown right after the game on Grandstand.
Maybe one of our elderly supporters can recall if I'm misremembering it
Miller and Brand were Iconic heroes in an Iconic team
 
I was given an old-fashioned scrapbook and it was called M and B, was all about Miller and Brand, kept it for years then lost it in a family flitting when I was about twelve
My memory of the 64 Cup Final was as a young kid I came back from the pictures ( movies to the young ones )and the English Cup final was finished and the TV went to Hampden and it showed you the last three? goals live, not sure if my memory is playing me tricks and the goals were possibly shown right after the game on Grandstand.
Maybe one of our elderly supporters can recall if I'm misremembering it
Miller and Brand were Iconic heroes in an Iconic team
I was given an old-fashioned scrapbook and it was called M and B, was all about Miller and Brand, kept it for years then lost it in a family flitting when I was about twelve
My memory of the 64 Cup Final was as a young kid I came back from the pictures ( movies to the young ones )and the English Cup final was finished and the TV went to Hampden and it showed you the last three? goals live, not sure if my memory is playing me tricks and the goals were possibly shown right after the game on Grandstand.
Maybe one of our elderly supporters can recall if I'm misremembering it
Miller and Brand were Iconic heroes in an Iconic team
Had to check that one,3-1 over Dundee. 3 goals in the last two minutes.
I wouldnt have bet against them, flipping over, and showing the end of
the Scottish Cup final.It wasn’t uncommon back then.
I was there as usual,if I remember correctly,there were Over 120,000 there.;)
 
Had to check that one,3-1 over Dundee. 3 goals in the last two minutes.
I wouldnt have bet against them, flipping over, and showing the end of
the Scottish Cup final.It wasn’t uncommon back then.
I was there as usual,if I remember correctly,there were Over 120,000 there.;)
It was two goals in the last two minutes.
Millar gave Rangers the lead in the 69th min, then Dundee went straight up the park and equalised almost immediately, through Kenny Cameron in the 70th min.
Millar put Rangers ahead in 89th min, then Brand made it 3-1 in the 90th min.

You are a Lucky man to have been there to witness what is still considered one of the greatest Scottish Cup Finals ever.
Attendance was 120,982.
 
Mo, another wonderful peice of research on one of my boyhood favourites. Have you ever profiled George McLean's career at Ibrox?
I haven't as yet to the extent of some of the other players from the 60's, but I have had a few discussions over the years with many a poster who claimed he was a big diddy, useless, shite, lazy etc. and reminded them that the much maligned George McLean scored
55 Goals in his last 55 Games as a Rangers Player.
39 Goals in 34 Games in his last full season (65-66), including 2 Hat Tricks against the Champions.
That is 115% return of Goals to Games in a single season,
a return that no one has achieved in the 50 plus years since!
 
Ralph Brand played in what many still consider to be the finest Rangers XI ever assembled.
Ritchie, Shearer, Caldow, Greig, McKinnon, Baxter, Henderson, McMillan, Millar, Brand, and Wilson.
All 11 of them were Scottish Internationalists, when that actually meant something.
In that team there is The Greatest Ranger Ever, The Finest Player Ever, Our best ever Left Back, our most prolific Goal scoring Winger, and a World Class Winger on the other flank.
So when the auld yins go on about that great era in the first half of the 1960's, and wax lyrical about Caldow, Greig, Baxter, Henderson, Millar, Wilson etc. it is easy to see why Ralph Brand is often overlooked.
Brand was there through it all though, playing some 250 + Games in that golden 5 year period, scoring more Goals than anyone, and collecting 10 Winners medals (3 League Titles, 3 Scottish Cups, 4 League Cups).
He formed a Striking partnership with Jimmy Millar, that has set the bar for all striking partnerships, before and since.
Brand was a student of the Game, when that was a rarity.

He was an Inside Forward (a No 10), which may differ to how the modern game views a No.10.
Rangers over the years have had some legendary No.10's, all the way back to the 1890's, the great Kitey McPherson, with 322 appearances, and 173 Goals that carried us through to the early 1900's.
Tommy Cairns 1914-27 with 475 appearances, and 10 years as our Captain.
The legendary Bob McPhail who scored 275 Goals in 443 Games for Rangers from 1927-40,
Ralph Brand certainly deserves his place up there alongside them, and he was more prolific than any of them,
with his return of Goals to Games at 65%.
To put that into perspective, Ally McCoist has a return of Goals to Games at 62%.

Ralph Brand was signed on a Provisional Contract as a 15 year old by Bill Struth, after the great man had watched him on TV in the 1952 Schoolboy International v England at Wembley.
Brand would turn professional in 1954 as Rangers were about to enter a new era, with a changing of the guard, as Bill Struth retired, as only the second manager in our 82 year History.
Scot Symon, a former player, and very successful manager at lowly East Fife, who he took from Div B, to 3 Cup Finals (winning two of them), and a consistent top 4 place in Div A, before being lured to England's top division to take charge of Preston North End, who he took to the FA Cup Final in his first season, was the obvious successor to the great Bill Struth.
Scot Symon's task at Ibrox was not an easy one. 1953-54 had been Rangers' poorest season in 26 years (they had finished 4th in the League) and was very much an ageing side.
The ridiculous sine die suspension imposed on Willie Woodburn, 9 games into Symon's first season was a devastating blow, as Woodburn was the main man, who Symon hoped to build the team around.
Symon would need time to rebuild this Rangers team, and restore them to their former glory, and he showed he was not afraid to give youth a chance, when he gave a debut to 17 year old Ralph Brand, replacing the injured Willie Waddell at Outside Right in a league match v Kilmarnock in November.
The youngster repaid him by scoring twice on his debut, in front of 40,000 at Ibrox, as Rangers thrashed Kilmarnock 6-0.
The Rangers team that day
Niven Little Cox McColl Young Rae Brand Paton Simpson Grierson Hubbard
The 10 players that Lined up alongside Brand on his debut had made over 2,000 appearances between them.
Brand would make 3 more appearances that season, two at Outside Right (7) and one at Inside Left (10).

As an 18 year old Ralph Brand had to do his National Service, so made no appearances over the next 2 seasons (1955-57), in which Scot Symon brought home the League Title in both seasons.
During that 2 year period, Symon had signed 3 Forwards, in Sammy Baird, Max Murray, and Don Kichenbrand

57-58, Rangers started the season with Alex Scott very much our Outside Right, and Sammy Baird our Inside Left, so Ralph Brand would have to wait for his chance.
The first part of that 57-58 campaign could be considered a disaster.
By the end of November we sat 8th in the League Table, 11 points adrift of Hearts, though we had 4 games in hand
(2 pts for a win back then), we had already lost to Celtic (2-3) in the League at Ibrox,
and suffered the most humiliating defeat in our entire history, to our fiercest rivals, in the League Cup Final.
In Europe, we had disposed of St Ettiene (4-3 on Agg.), but had collapsed in the first leg at Ibrox to AC Milan.
We were leading 1-0 until the 75th minute, before Milan scored 4 goals in the last 15 mins to take a 4-1 lead back to Italy.
Ralph Brand got his chance at the start of December at Inside Left, with Scotland International Sammy Baird moving back to Left Half.
With Brand in the side, Rangers went undefeated in their next 20 games.
This included a 1-0 win at the piggery on New Years day, and his first Hat Trick in 4-2 win v Third Lanark in the Glasgow Cup Final.
The 1-2 loss to Hibs in the Scottish Cup Semi Final replay in April, was the first time Brand had tasted defeat in a Rangers shirt in 25 games.
Brand ended that 57-58 season with an impressive 17 Goals in 29 appearances.

The 58-59 season saw Rangers win back their League Title in the most anti climatic fashion, as they lost their final game of the season 1-2 at home to lowly Aberdeen, with the team booed off the park, only to find out Hearts had lost to celtic, thus gifting Rangers the Title.
Brand made 29 appearances that season in the 46 official games that Rangers were involved in.
He finished the season with 22 Goals in 29 Games. Add to that his goal in 1-1 v Celtic in the Charity Cup, and the two he scored in the 3-0 victory v Arsenal at Highbury, and it was clear this boy could get goals.
Rangers lost 9 games that season, though Brand only tasted defeat 3 times. He was not in the team that lost to Raith Rovs and Hearts that saw us out of the League Cup, nor was he in the side that went out of the Scottish Cup to Celtic.
His most prolific period of that season came in a 3 week period in late Nov/early Dec. when he scored 8 Goals in 4 games, which included 2 in a 3-0 win at Kilmarnock, a Hat Trick in a 6-3 win at Queen of the South, and another brace in the 5-0 demolition of Champions and current Table topping Hearts, where Rangers scored 5 goals in the opening 34 mins (Max Murray got the other 3), knocking Hearts off the top of the Table, where Rangers would stay for the remainder of the season, as Ralph Brand collected his first League Champions medal.

59-60 Rangers opened the season with the Millar Brand pairing as a No.9 and No.10 for the first time.
Jimmy Millar a Wing Half/Inside Forward, who had made only 9 appearances in the previous season, had been forced to play Centre Forward in place of the injured Max Murray in an end of season Friendly a few months earlier and scored all 4 second half goals in a 4-0 win.
Despite Max Murray being our top goalscorer in each of the previous three seasons (99 Goals in 123 Games) this prompted Scot Symon to start the 59-60 season with Millar as his Center Forward,and Ralph Brand at Inside Left.
Rangers thrashed Hibs 6-1 at Easter Rd,with Ralph Brand scoring 4 goals, and Millar netting one on his first official stint as Rangers Centre Forward.
The headline on that Saturday's Evening Times front page was "A 'BRAND' NEW FITBA' SEASON".
The promise of this MB partnership looked good, but they only got the first four games under their belt, before Symon opted to bring back Sammy Baird at Inside Left.
Surprisingly, Brand, who had scored a very impressive 29 Goals in 35 Games over the past 12 months, would only get 11 more starts that season, whilst the more experienced Sammy Baird was preferred in 38 games,with a return of 15 goals, as Rangers marched all the way to the Semi Finals of the European Cup, and collected the Scottish Cup.
Jimmy Millar ended the season as top scorer with 36 Goals in 50 Games.
Other players who impressed that season, was the versatile forward Davy Wilson who scored 22 Goals/47 Games, and that wonderful Inside Right (8), Ian McMillan who weighed in with 20 goals. Alex Scott on the right wing chipped in with 17 goals.
thanks Mo brings back a lot of memories cheers from Ohio.
 
Was he, not Struths last signing?
DJ and Gordon Smith must have scored a few between them in the 77/78 season
I don't think he was Struth's last signing. As far as I can tell, Brand was signed as a 15 year old, after Struth had watched his performance in the Scotland v England schoolboys International in 1952.
In August of that year we signed Derek Grierson from Queens Park, and in January 1953 Struth signed Alex Scott.

Big DJ (38) and Smith (27) scored a combined 65 goals in 77-78 in 97 games between them.
Hateley (29) and McCoist (49) combined to score 78 Goals in 92-93 in 103 games between them.
Millar(43) and Brand (37) combined to score 80 Goals in 62-63 in 102 games between them.
Davy Wilson also scored 32 Goals that season (50 games), which I believe was a record for a front three all scoring 30+ goals in a single season, that stood for over 50 years, until that other trio of
Messi, Saurez and Neymar achieved it with Barcelona in 2015-16.
I think the best ratio of goals to games as a front pair in our lifetime, was Forrest and McLean.
Forrest (35) and McLean (39) combined to score 74 Goals in 65-66 in just 78 games between them.
 
I haven't as yet to the extent of some of the other players from the 60's, but I have had a few discussions over the years with many a poster who claimed he was a big diddy, useless, shite, lazy etc. and reminded them that the much maligned George McLean scored
55 Goals in his last 55 Games as a Rangers Player.
39 Goals in 34 Games in his last full season (65-66), including 2 Hat Tricks against the Champions.
That is 115% return of Goals to Games in a single season,
a return that no one has achieved in the 50 plus years since!
Thanks Mo, Big George was something of a love/hate figure with a section of our support but he had some scoring record as you have stated. He tended to miss the easier chances and score the more difficult ones, but i will forever associate him with that glorious team of the sixties. I seem to recall his home being broken into when he was with us as well. One football book from the 60's claims he was the cousin of the other George McLean who left for Norwich in the early 60's and was Paisley born like his namesake. Think Dandy's son was also one of our youth players at one point.Last time i saw George McLean was before a game on Edmiston Drive, he told me then that he was going out to Australia to live. Always see plenty of articles on Georges' team mates but he seems to be a bit neglected now. He did well at Dundee and won an international cap there too.
 
Thanks Mo, Big George was something of a love/hate figure with a section of our support but he had some scoring record as you have stated. He tended to miss the easier chances and score the more difficult ones, but i will forever associate him with that glorious team of the sixties. I seem to recall his home being broken into when he was with us as well. One football book from the 60's claims he was the cousin of the other George McLean who left for Norwich in the early 60's and was Paisley born like his namesake. Think Dandy's son was also one of our youth players at one point.Last time i saw George McLean was before a game on Edmiston Drive, he told me then that he was going out to Australia to live. Always see plenty of articles on Georges' team mates but he seems to be a bit neglected now. He did well at Dundee and won an international cap there too.
Yes he did do well at Dundee, which a lot of people don't recognise.
In his first season there(67-68), he scored 35 Goals, as Dundee went to the League Cup Final, and the Semi Finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, where they went out to Leeds Utd (1-2) on aggregate.
 
Just read about him the other day so I was surprised to to see a thread. Great career 8 caps 8 goals I believe. Seemed win most of his caps v NI or the Rep of I.
 
Just read about him the other day so I was surprised to to see a thread. Great career 8 caps 8 goals I believe. Seemed win most of his caps v NI or the Rep of I.
Ralph Brand would certainly have won more Caps for Scotland but for the fact that Scotland's greatest ever Inside Left, and the only Scotsman to ever win the ballon d'or, Denis Law,
was around at that time.
As you say, Brand scored 8 goals in 8 Internationals.
Denis Law scored 2 goals in his first 8 Internationals
 
First I have come across this thread :oops: . Absolutely sensational yet again from @MO_TxTruBlu What a player Ralph Brand was and the fantastic combination he had with Jimmy Millar. Legendary!
 
Love all these stories,had the luck to see the immortal team mentioned play.
Have my photo with "Wee Willie" taken at a Davy Copper tribute night,shopped in Dandy's shop and drank in his pub in Linkwood Drive,Had Davy Wilson in my House after he retired(selling insurance).
Great memories of great players from the past.
Am now looking forward to new season with the players MB has brought in and eclipsing pain and joy of the "journey" years.
Here's to the new season.
 
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