The Rangers XI That You Never Saw

Before my time but always got the impression that Alex McDonald would have been a big favourite of mine had I been around back then
 
Dawson

Young
Woodburn
Meiklejohn
Caldow

Baxter
Gillick
Waddell

Morton
Thornton
McPhail

I see quite a lot of posts having McCloy as the choice for keeper. If they did get to see him, they'd soon change their mind!
 
I could’ve said Woods because I just missed him but went for McCloy because of 72.

As the other poster said( goalkeepers of the past beyond the late 80s aren’t often discussed.

I picked McCloy because to be honest, I don't know many of our GKs pre McCloy and he was part of the 1972 team. In hindsight, Woods may have been a better choice for my GK.

Morton and Fleming for me are two that you always read about from way back, with many saying Morton was world class so would have loved to have seen him.

Fleming is often a goalscorer in the 'on this day' threads on here.

McCloy I believe made more appearances than any other Goalkeeper in our history, and we have been very blessed with some great Goalkeepers since.
We only had 3 Goalkeepers in the 20 years from the end of WWII (1945-65), Bobby Brown, George Niven and Billy Ritchie, who were all good goalkeepers, and are all rated higher than McCloy by most I would imagine.
Prior to that, we had the Great Jerry Dawson from 1930-45, commonly referred to as the Prince of Goalkeepers, and a man we even had a song about, that I remember hearing the fans still singing, some 20 years after he retired.
You could go all the way back to the 19th Century to Matthew Dickie (1896-1904).
Dickie won four Scottish Football League championships, three Scottish Cups, five Glasgow Cups and two Charity Cups with Rangers, and represented Scotland three times.
There was the Englishman Herbert Lock who was at Ibrox for 11 seasons (1909-20), a daring Goalkeeper, famous for his record of clean sheets.
Willie Robb was Struth's Goalkeeper for his first 6 seasons (1920-26), followed by Tom Hamilton, for seven seasons, before Jerry Dawson established himself in the early 1930's.
 
McCloy I believe made more appearances than any other Goalkeeper in our history, and we have been very blessed with some great Goalkeepers since.
We only had 3 Goalkeepers in the 20 years from the end of WWII (1945-65), Bobby Brown, George Niven and Billy Ritchie, who were all good goalkeepers, and are all rated higher than McCloy by most I would imagine.
Prior to that, we had the Great Jerry Dawson from 1930-45, commonly referred to as the Prince of Goalkeepers, and a man we even had a song about, that I remember hearing the fans still singing, some 20 years after he retired.
You could go all the way back to the 19th Century to Matthew Dickie (1896-1904).
Dickie won four Scottish Football League championships, three Scottish Cups, five Glasgow Cups and two Charity Cups with Rangers, and represented Scotland three times.
There was the Englishman Herbert Lock who was at Ibrox for 11 seasons (1909-20), a daring Goalkeeper, famous for his record of clean sheets.
Willie Robb was Struth's Goalkeeper for his first 6 seasons (1920-26), followed by Tom Hamilton, for seven seasons, before Jerry Dawson established himself in the early 1930's.
Excellent knowledge. Couldn't have named any of the pre WW2 GKs. Thanks for posting.

I would guess from your post that Jerry Dawson may have been a good choice for the man between the sticks.
 
I am just too young to have seen Jim Forrest, would have loved to have seen him ripping the pi$$ out of McNeill on a regular basis (with passes supplied by Jim Baxter as I'm a greedy bast*rd when it comes to gubbing the filth)
 
That is some team there.
A team for any decade or generation in my opinion.
However, I see you omitted Dougie Gray.
I think Dougie might have made more appearances for the club than any other player if we count his wartime ones as well as those in peacetime.
Dougie's ability to play for a club like Rangers for such a long time and hold down his position must mark him out as a very special individual.
I think Dougie is often forgotten when we remember our greats.
Dougie Gray was obviously considered, based on his appearances alone, as was Nicol Smith, but for me, George Young was the man I would most liked to have seen, so he got the Right Back spot for me.
I see him as our John Greig of the 40's and 50's.
A record number of appearances for Scotland, that he owned for almost 20 years, before Scotland started playing a whole lot more games.
I believe he still holds the record for the number of times he Captained his country.

But you are correct, that given the fact that Dougie Gray probably wore the shirt more than anyone, he does not get the adulation that he deserves.
The toughest one for me to leave out, as I mentioned, was Alec Smith, who played over 600 games for us back in a time when we didn't play so many 'official' games.
Given that we used to play around 20 'Other Matches' back then, I wonder if Alec Smith might even challenge Dougie Gray as the man who donned the jersey the most.
 
Because it was a fantastic XI, and that XI was the team that most people would choose to represent us from that period.
The early 60's saw a pretty settled XI of
Niven Shearer Caldow Davis Paterson Baxter Scott McMillan Millar Brand Wilson
That XI is quite often recited by those a little older.
That line up actually remained unchanged for 16 consecutive games between the end of October until January 61'.
Billy Ritchie had started that season as first choice keeper, but injury in Oct kept him out until March.
1961 saw the emergence of three wonderful young footballers, who would all go on to become Legends of our Club.
Willie Henderson, a 17 year old winger who banished Scotland's Outside Right, to Rangers Reserves.
An 18 year old John Greig, and a 20 year old Ronnie McKinnon, who would go on to make more appearances for Rangers in the 1960's, than any other.
These three would replace Davis, Paterson and Scott, and that was basically the side that won the hearts of a generation.
Ritchie Shearer Caldow Greig McKinnon Baxter Henderson McMillan Millar Brand Wilson
Thanks, that’s interesting info.
 
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