MAX Murray was a leading goal-scorer for Rangers for three successive years in the late-1950s and holds the distinction of scoring the Ibrox club’s first-ever goal in European competition.
Maxwell Murray was born in Falkirk on November 7, 1935 and educated at Falkirk High School. His first experience on the football field came at primary level in 1946 as a goalkeeper but he was soon moved outfield – to the left wing where he might have remained as a winger had it not been for an emergency in 1949 when the High School team found themselves minus a centre-forward.
The young Maxwell Murray had enjoyed a successful academic career at Falkirk High, but he signed for Camelon Juniors in July 1953. Two months later - on September 23, 1953 - he was called up to the senior ranks with Queen’s Park.
Five years at Hampden produced 34 goals in 81 competitive appearances together with five amateur international appearances for Scotland to add to his schoolboy and youth international honours - before Murray turned professional in May 1955, signing for Rangers.
A tall, all-action player of slender build with a good turn of speed, he made a scoring debut for the Ibrox men at the age of 19 on the opening day of Season 1955-56 in a 5-0 win at Falkirk and four days later again scored in his first home appearance for Rangers against the same opposition in a 4-3 win before 35,000 spectators with a last-minute winner following an incredible game in which the ‘Bairns led by three goals after just 22 minutes.
Murray even scored in a 4-0 win at Celtic Park in that opening month as a Ranger and would go on to make 18 appearances in his first season in Light Blue, notching up ten goals.
Murray would continue his apprenticeship as a chartered accountant after joining Rangers and would establish himself as first-choice centre-forward at Ibrox the following season, netting 29 goals in 30 league games in a championship-winning campaign.
That 1956-57 campaign also saw Rangers enter the European Champions Cup for the first time when, on a dark night of heavy rain, hailstones and an electrifying atmosphere at Ibrox before 65,000 spectators against OGC Nice, it fell to Max Murray to secure the Light Blues' first goal in European competition with a 40th-minute header that equalised an earlier Faivre goal.
Rangers secured a 2-1 lead in that first leg with Billy Simpson netting the second, and in the return on the Cote D’Azur the Scottish Champions led by a Johnny Hubbard penalty when - on the cusp of the interval - Max Murray stabbed home a corner-kick only for the referee to indicate that he had signalled for half-time seconds earlier. That decision would prove critical, for the French Champions came back after the break to force a third game in Paris, won 3-1 by Nice.
Capped twice at Under-23 international level for Scotland – both times against England – firstly in a 1-3 defeat in February 1956 at Hillsborough, then one year later a 1-1 draw ensued at Ibrox.
Whilst at Ibrox, he served his national service with the Royal Air Force.
Nicknamed Ruby after a popular singer of the time (Ruby Murray), Max would go on to be Rangers’ leading scorer for the three years from 1957-59. Nevertheless he was one figure who split the Ibrox support down the middle due to a style of play that at times appeared cumbersome despite winning two League Championship medals and two Glasgow Cup Winners’ Medals.
In Season 1959-60 Jimmy Millar replaced Max Murray as the first-choice centre-forward at Ibrox, and for the next three seasons, Ruby would adopt the role of a reliable understudy.
Murray never won the Scottish Cup during his time at Ibrox – in 1958 he found the net for a last-minute equaliser in a semi-final replay against Hibernian only for the goal to be disallowed for alleged handball on the say-so of a linesman.
Four years later in another semi-final – this time against Motherwell – Murray, replacing the injured Millar, scored twice in a 3-1 win before 84,321 spectators only to be omitted from the final.
He scored again in his final competitive appearance in light blue – a 1-2 League Cup defeat at St Mirren on August 18, 1962 before signing for West Bromwich Albion for a £15,000 fee three months later following an Ibrox career that accumulated 183 appearances and 130 goals.
Murray failed to settle at The Hawthorns, playing just three games, and would return to Scotland to sign for the ill-fated Third Lanark. Two years at Cathkin produced 17 goals in 61 games before moving across the city to sign for Clyde where six games in Season 1965-66 yielded two goals under his old Ibrox team-mate and future Scotland manager John Prentice.
Two years in Northern Ireland with Distillery followed before Murray retired.
In later years he was a successful businessman, working as a brewery sales manager in Edinburgh and engaged in the design and construction of a shrine of remembrance in memory of the great Scottish botanist William Saunders.
He had always been a keen golfer, having played off a handicap of one during his footballing career, winning numerous trophies and was a member of Falkirk Golf Club throughout his life. Indeed whilst at Distillery he played regularly at Royal Portrush.
Max Murray died on September 5, 2016 aged 80.
A piece of Rangers history is forever his.
Maxwell Murray was born in Falkirk on November 7, 1935 and educated at Falkirk High School. His first experience on the football field came at primary level in 1946 as a goalkeeper but he was soon moved outfield – to the left wing where he might have remained as a winger had it not been for an emergency in 1949 when the High School team found themselves minus a centre-forward.
The young Maxwell Murray had enjoyed a successful academic career at Falkirk High, but he signed for Camelon Juniors in July 1953. Two months later - on September 23, 1953 - he was called up to the senior ranks with Queen’s Park.
Five years at Hampden produced 34 goals in 81 competitive appearances together with five amateur international appearances for Scotland to add to his schoolboy and youth international honours - before Murray turned professional in May 1955, signing for Rangers.
A tall, all-action player of slender build with a good turn of speed, he made a scoring debut for the Ibrox men at the age of 19 on the opening day of Season 1955-56 in a 5-0 win at Falkirk and four days later again scored in his first home appearance for Rangers against the same opposition in a 4-3 win before 35,000 spectators with a last-minute winner following an incredible game in which the ‘Bairns led by three goals after just 22 minutes.
Murray even scored in a 4-0 win at Celtic Park in that opening month as a Ranger and would go on to make 18 appearances in his first season in Light Blue, notching up ten goals.
Murray would continue his apprenticeship as a chartered accountant after joining Rangers and would establish himself as first-choice centre-forward at Ibrox the following season, netting 29 goals in 30 league games in a championship-winning campaign.
That 1956-57 campaign also saw Rangers enter the European Champions Cup for the first time when, on a dark night of heavy rain, hailstones and an electrifying atmosphere at Ibrox before 65,000 spectators against OGC Nice, it fell to Max Murray to secure the Light Blues' first goal in European competition with a 40th-minute header that equalised an earlier Faivre goal.
Rangers secured a 2-1 lead in that first leg with Billy Simpson netting the second, and in the return on the Cote D’Azur the Scottish Champions led by a Johnny Hubbard penalty when - on the cusp of the interval - Max Murray stabbed home a corner-kick only for the referee to indicate that he had signalled for half-time seconds earlier. That decision would prove critical, for the French Champions came back after the break to force a third game in Paris, won 3-1 by Nice.
Capped twice at Under-23 international level for Scotland – both times against England – firstly in a 1-3 defeat in February 1956 at Hillsborough, then one year later a 1-1 draw ensued at Ibrox.
Whilst at Ibrox, he served his national service with the Royal Air Force.
Nicknamed Ruby after a popular singer of the time (Ruby Murray), Max would go on to be Rangers’ leading scorer for the three years from 1957-59. Nevertheless he was one figure who split the Ibrox support down the middle due to a style of play that at times appeared cumbersome despite winning two League Championship medals and two Glasgow Cup Winners’ Medals.
In Season 1959-60 Jimmy Millar replaced Max Murray as the first-choice centre-forward at Ibrox, and for the next three seasons, Ruby would adopt the role of a reliable understudy.
Murray never won the Scottish Cup during his time at Ibrox – in 1958 he found the net for a last-minute equaliser in a semi-final replay against Hibernian only for the goal to be disallowed for alleged handball on the say-so of a linesman.
Four years later in another semi-final – this time against Motherwell – Murray, replacing the injured Millar, scored twice in a 3-1 win before 84,321 spectators only to be omitted from the final.
He scored again in his final competitive appearance in light blue – a 1-2 League Cup defeat at St Mirren on August 18, 1962 before signing for West Bromwich Albion for a £15,000 fee three months later following an Ibrox career that accumulated 183 appearances and 130 goals.
Murray failed to settle at The Hawthorns, playing just three games, and would return to Scotland to sign for the ill-fated Third Lanark. Two years at Cathkin produced 17 goals in 61 games before moving across the city to sign for Clyde where six games in Season 1965-66 yielded two goals under his old Ibrox team-mate and future Scotland manager John Prentice.
Two years in Northern Ireland with Distillery followed before Murray retired.
In later years he was a successful businessman, working as a brewery sales manager in Edinburgh and engaged in the design and construction of a shrine of remembrance in memory of the great Scottish botanist William Saunders.
He had always been a keen golfer, having played off a handicap of one during his footballing career, winning numerous trophies and was a member of Falkirk Golf Club throughout his life. Indeed whilst at Distillery he played regularly at Royal Portrush.
Max Murray died on September 5, 2016 aged 80.
A piece of Rangers history is forever his.
