By ALAN PATTULLO
Published on Friday 27 January 2012 01:09
WILLIE Johnston knows all about having to take cover from the venom of fans. Rangers might be struggling, but the players aren’t yet having to sneak out of Ibrox after games. Ally McCoist is not quite the broken man John Greig became after his own graduation to manager from playing legend.
Johnston is a veteran of the famous European Cup-Winners’ Cup victory in Barcelona. How-ever, he is also a survivor from the days when Greig accepted the reins as manager and struggled to emulate his achievements on the pitch. Johnston had returned to the club by then for a second spell. Both he and Greig learned that no-one can trade on former glories for long.
“Just ask John Greig if you want to know about the pressure of being Rangers manager,” said Johnston yesterday, at an event to promote a 40th anniversary dinner to mark the Ibrox club’s greatest European triumph – the 3-2 Cup-Winners’ Cup final win over Dynamo Moscow. “It was tough times for the club under Greigy. There were a few older players in the team at that time.
“I saw a change in Greig when I returned to Rangers for a second spell and he was manager. I think Ally will handle the pressure better than what big John did. Big John couldn’t handle the pressure.”
Although Rangers lifted four domestic cups under Greig, they struggled in the league. In Greig’s second season in charge they finished an unthinkable fifth. Johnston re-joined the club that summer but Rangers could not even reach second-best status in the country. They managed only third place in both of Johnston’s last two seasons at Ibrox, trailing champions Celtic by 12 points on each occasion.
“That was the bad times – it’s better now I’d say,” said Johnston. “Listen, we couldn’t get out front door of Ibrox sometimes. We had to cut across the stadium and go out another door. That happened a few times.”
Even in his more-successful first spell at the club Johnston recalls the price of dashing the hopes of supporters. Rangers came agonisingly close to lifting the title in 1967/8 but blew it with a last-day loss against Aberdeen. Celtic claimed the flag with a win in their final game.
“We went all season without getting beat one year and Aberdeen beat us in the last game and we couldn’t get out the place!” he said.
Ibrox is clearly an exacting place to work. According to Johnston, “Ally McCoist has got one of the hardest jobs in the world, especially with what’s happening off the park”.
But he can’t see it getting too much for McCoist, the way that it did for Greig. His former team-mate resigned just three months into the 1983/4 season, by which time Johnston had signed for Hearts. “Ally McCoist is the last man who would walk away,” said Johnston. “That’s just the way he is. He’s determined to prove himself as a manager after proving himself at everything else. He won’t walk away.
“I think the fact he’s been a success throughout his career will make him even more determined not to fail. I think he’s at Ibrox for the long haul. I certainly hope he is. Who else would the club get?” Johnston can remember playing for managers who recovered after difficult seasons in charge. “The first year I was at West Brom we got relegated under Don Howe and he was one of the best coaches in the world,” he said.
“But he stuck at it and we got back up. Johnny Giles was another – he took the club into Europe.”
Johnston, who is one of a number of former players employed in hospitality suites on matchday at Ibrox, believes it will be a difficult task for his old club to catch Celtic, who are currently four points clear at the top. “But Celtic will drop points as well, as will Rangers,” he added. “I have to say it’s a good league. I’ve seen the likes of St Mirren, Inverness Caley and even Dunfermline come to Ibrox and make it very hard for Rangers. Teams aren’t scared to have a go – the difference isn’t that big.”
There is a gulf, however, on a European scale. It might be a long, long time before Rangers emulate what the 1972 side achieved, helped enormously by Johnston’s two goals in the final at Camp Nou. “Rangers got to the UEFA Cup final in 2008 and Celtic got there in 2003,” he said. “It gets harder and harder because the big clubs are getting better and better. But it’s not impossible to compete with them. “I wish I was playing in this era – £10,000 a week! My wife would be over the moon. £2000 to her and £8000 to me.”
Money could even influence where the title ends up at the end of the season. Nikica Jelavic, Rangers’ leading goalscorer, is attracting interest from down south, and could – if the price is right – even make the same journey Johnston did when moving from Ibrox to West Bromwich Albion, the club where the winger reckons he played the best football of his career.
“It’s going to be hard if he leaves, I know that,” said Johnston. “I’ve read that West Brom are one of the teams linked with him. Personally, I had a great time there.
“If he wants to move and the money is right then he’ll move. Whether the manager has got someone else to come in I don’t know. I certainly hope so.”
IT says everything about the contrast in eras when you consider the reason why Alfie Conn jnr missed yesterday’s event to promote the 40th anniversary dinner of Rangers’ European Cup-Winners’ Cup win in Barcelona.
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