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The Bears Of Europe
A look at the 1972 Cup Winners Cup champions!!... Glasgow Rangers
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The Barcelona Teddy Bears
On the 24th May 1972, in the most dramatic of evenings in Barcelona, Glasgow Rangers defeated Moscow Dynamo 3-2 to win the European Cup Winners Cup. It was a night never to be forgotten in more ways than one and marked the end of a peculiar and sometimes bizarre campaign which, three decades later, demands renewed interpretation and evaluation. Rangers successful European season must rank as one of the most intriguing, fascinating and downright puzzling in any football club's history. The triumph was neither predicted nor expected because, unlike most European trophy winners, this was not a team on the crest of a wave. In fact, the Ibrox club were arguably in the doldrums, having won only one trophy, a League Cup, in the previous five seasons as they fell further behind their powerful rivals Celtic.
Indeed, Rangers had suffered the ignominy of qualifying for the Cup Winners Cup only as beaten finalists to the Parkhead side in the Scottish Cup. The early season signs were not encouraging and crisis's at Ibrox calls came only weeks into the campaign as Rangers flirted with the bottom of the 18-team Scottish First Division. Although they eventually climbed back up the table, a relatively poor domestic season ensued, compounded by a whitewashing from Celtic in their four meetings in the League and League Cup. It was, obviously, not a situation conducive to European success. However, this Rangers side tore up the script when turning in nine performances of determination, courage, discipline and skill to bring back a European trophy to Ibrox for the first time. History has struggled to classify Barcelona 1972. The players who battled to victory in the Nou Camp have never quite found their place in Ibrox folklore or indeed in the overall Scottish football mosaic.
For most football teams and their fans, the winning of a European trophy is the high point in a club's history. From that day, legends are born and this was certainly the case for the two other Scottish clubs who have captured European trophies, Celtic and Aberdeen.
Their successes, however, were more straightforward. Both clubs won their respective European trophies with their best ever sides. This was patently not the case with Rangers. There have long been arguments amongst Rangers fans concerning which of the Ibrox sides have been The Best. The Barcelona side seldom figures. The Greig-McKinnon-Baxter era of the early sixties, the treble-winning teams of 1976 and 1978 which contained a core of the Barcelona troops and the powerful and talented early 1990's Rangers side, all have their devotees. As successful as these teams undoubtedly were, they all have one thing in common, they didn't win a European trophy.
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Willie Henderson
Willie Henderson was a true Blue he just loved getting stuck in, his tough talking use to frighten the opposition a bit like a Roy Keane of today sort of player.
Henderson played in the 1972 Cup Winners Cup victory for Rangers over Dinamo Moscow and played a big part in Rangers European success that season.
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John Greig
Greig was voted the best ever Rangers player by the fans in March 1999.
He truly deserved this, having been a colossus for both club and country.
He lead Rangers to their first ever European trophy and helped win the domestic Treble on 3 different ocassions. On the way he appeared in 857 matches, scoring 120 goals despite being a defender and midfielder.
He was twice Scottish player of the year and was awarded an MBE in 1977 for his services to football.
Funnily enough, he did not want to join Rangers, and did so only after his father convinced him it was the right thing to do.
It was the beginning of a career that lasted through till 1983 - he stopped playing in '76 and carried on as a manager.
He then left but returned in 1990 to work as a PR officer.
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