42. SOFT CELL – Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go

43. MASON WILLIAMS – Classical Gas

44. MY BLOODY VALENTINE – Soon

45. NEW ORDER – Regret

46. KYLIE MINOGUE – Better The Devil You Know

47. ADAM AND THE ANTS – Dog Eat Dog

48. JOY DIVISION – Transmission

49. WORLD OF TWIST – The Storm

50. ORANGE JUICE – Felicity

51. UNIT 4 +2 – Concrete and Clay

52. PRIMAL SCREAM – Loaded

53. THE CHARLATANS – The Only One I Know

54. SUEDE – By The Sea

55. KIRSTY MACCOLL – They Don’t Know

56. SYLVESTER – Do Ya Wanna Funk

57. BOBBY VEE – The Night Has a Thousand Eyes

58. DE LA SOUL – Eye Know

59. ELKIN AND NELSON – Jibaro

60. SOUL II SOUL – Back To Life

61.  ADAMSKI – Killer

62. DAVID SYLVIAN – Red Guitar

63. EDIE BRICKELL – Circle (White Label remix)

64. SAINT ETIENNE – Nothing Can Stop Us

65. PET SHOP BOYS – What Have I Done To Deserve This

66. BILLY BRAGG – The Man In The Iron Mask

67. DEEE-LITE – Groove Is In The Heart

68. TALK TALK – Life’s What You Make it

69. FIELD MICE – Five Moments

70. SIMON AND GARFUNKEL – The Only Living Boy In New York

71.  ORBITAL – Chime

72.  ANDREA TRUE CONNECTION – More More More

73.  KORGIS – Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime

74. MALCOLM McLAREN – Double Dutch

75. BIZARRE INC – I’m Gonna Get You

76. THE SHAMEN – ProGen

77. FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD – Two Tribes

78. BILLY JOEL – Scenes From An Italian Restaurant

79.  JOHN DENVER – Matthew

80. SPIRITUALISED – Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

I hate the Stones and I hate blues
Eddie Cochran and blue suede shoes
I hate the King, I hate Chuck Berry
I hate Hooker, I hate Leadbelly

I hate funk and I hate soul
Rhythm and blues and rock ‘n’ roll
I hate riffs and guitar licks
I hate coke and I hate spliffs

I hate Otis and Marvin Gaye
Early Dylan, Aretha hey
Spector’s wall knock it down
Jerry Lee run him out of town

There ain’t a lot I can do about it though
Force-fed your so-called heroes
Don’t be told who to like
It’s your choice, it’s your right to choose who you listen to

It’s your rock ‘n’ roll

Middle of the Road by Felt

After reading Saint Etienne’s recent 100 Favourite Songs list, I thought I’d shamelessly rip off their idea and compile my own top 100 tunes of all time. So here it is. Some are fairly obvious, others a bit more obscure, but rather than try to justify each song’s inclusion I’ll just put it out there and let you make up your own mind.

I decided only to use one song per artist. Otherwise I could have filled the list almost entirely with The Smiths, Depeche Mode and 60s Motown. As it is there’s probably way too much from the late 80s and early 90s, and there’s virtually nothing from 2000 onwards. But I can’t help my age.

The list has some other very obvious omissions: no Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Prince, The Clash, The Sex Pistols or Madonna. Nothing from Nirvana, James, Radiohead or Blur. Not much hip-hop and no reggae or jazz. This wasn’t a conscious decision. Maybe on another day I would have included all of them but for whatever reason they didn’t make the list this time.

So what does it all mean? Well, nothing much really. It’s purely subjective, self-indulgent nonsense. I’m not actually saying Kool and The Gang are better than the Stones, Billy Joel is better than Bowie or Kylie is better than Madonna.

Although obviously they are…

Anyway, here’s the first batch of songs. More to follow

81. THE FALL – Hit The North

82. ADRIANO CELENTANO – Prisencolinensinainciusol

83. KOOL AND THE GANG – Get Down On It

84. NIGHTCRAWLERS – Little Black Egg

85. KRS-ONE – Step In To A World (Rapture’s Delight)

86. THE ORCHIDS – Something For The Longing

87. WILLIE KENDRICK – What’s That On Your Finger?

88. RYAN ADAMS – Cry On Demand

89. PUBLIC ENEMY – Don’t Believe The Hype

90. ELLIOT SMITH – Waltz No.2

91. TALKING HEADS – Once In a Lifetime

92. GENEVA – Tranquilizer

93. DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES – Love Child

94. FLOWERED UP – Weekender

95. DELGADOS – Pull The Wires From The Wall

96. FRAZIER CHORUS - Dream Kitchen 

97. JUST BROTHERS – Sliced Tomatoes

98. WIN – You’ve Got The Power

99. PIZZICATO FIVE – Baby Love Child

100. THIS MORTAL COIL – Song To The Siren

A strike meant there was no TV coverage but it seems an enterprising fan managed to smuggle in a video camera (no mean feat in those days – I have visions of Homer Simpson’s surveillance cowboy hat) and provided this, rather shaky, record of the game.

Interesting to see footage shot from the Govan Stand side of the pitch, which is where I used to sit in the 80s. And I suspect the soundtrack will cause palpitations in certain quarters.

Coincidentally, the Radio Clyde commentary clip I posted in September is from the same game.

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Photo by Paul Rider

Among many others Hibbert/Black Type was responsible for popularising Sir Billiam of Idol, Lord Frederick Of Lucan, Uncle Disgusting, Um Bongo, various spellings of actually, the overuse of exclamation marks (!!!!!!!!!) and “inverted” “commas”, Mark Unpronounceablename of Big Country, Frightwigs (as sported by Tina Turner, Sigue “Sigue” Sputnik and Spagna), Fab Macca Wacky Thumbs Aloft and the phrase that somehow answered everything… Roland Orzabal and a kangaroo.

He also interviewed most of the stars of the era –  most notably the Prime Minister of the day Margaret Thatcher (favourite song How Much Is That Doggy In the Window?) and Morrissey.

With apologies to both the original publishers and the person who painstakingly typed it out, here is the full interview with Morrissey from 1985.

MEAT IS MURDER !

That’s the message from Morrissey. A message he’s “madly serious” about. He’s so serious, in fact, that The Smiths are just about to release an LP called Meat Is Murder. Yet despite his health-giving vegetarian diet, The Smiths’ singer still turns up to be interviewed looking decidedly under the weather. Is he, we wondered, permanently peaky? Wouldn’t a good McDonald’s quarter-pounder have him back on his feet in no time? “I sincerely doubt it,” he tells Tom Hibbert.

Are you feeling better?
It’s quite a struggle.
What’s the matter with you?
Oh just a general mental decay – so many things, the list is fascinatingly long. I look ill, don’t I?
Yes, you look terrible, actually. Are you under the doctor?
I don’t believe in doctors, I believe in self-cure. I’ve seen very threadbare GPs and I’ve seen very expensive doctors and I find that they’re all relatively useless.
How long have you not been eating meat?
For almost a decade.
Can you remember that last time you ate meat?
I can’t really – but I didn’t like it the last time. I’m quite sure it was bacon because I had a moderate bacon fetish. And I can remember as it came to the end of my bacon period, I thought – oh, I don’t like the taste of this anymore. It was simply the realisation of the horrific treatment of animals – I had never been aware of it before. I suppose that I knew vaguely that animals died, but I didn’t know how and I didn’t know why. I think generally that people think that meat doesn’t have anything to do with animals. It’s like potatoes or something – it hasn’t got a cow’s face and it doesn’t moo, so people don’t think it’s animals. But of course it is – as I’m sure you’ve recently realised.
Yes, I did twig. Did you approve of the Animal Liberation Front’s Mars Bars hoax?
I wholeheartedly believe in hoaxes.
But would you approve if it weren’t a hoax?
Oh, yes. Completely. Yes, I would because I think we have to take these measures now because polite demonstration is pointless. You have to get angry, you have to be violent otherwise what’s the point? There’s no point in demonstrating if you don’t get any national press, TV or radio, or nobody listens to you or you get beaten up by the police. So I do believe in these animal groups but I think they should be more forceful and I think what they need now is a national figure, a national face – sounds like an ice lolly – I think they need some very forthright figure head.
Vegetarian pop stars don’t tend to be very militant types – Paul McCartney, Limahl, etc…
Yes, very effete figures, non-political figures who would never raise their voices which, of course, is pointless. Whenever vegetarianism has been covered in the popular press, it’s been whispered, nothing ever very forceful. Nobody really concentrates on the reasons why people don’t eat meat, instead this person eats blah blah blah…
Yes. Brown rice and here’s how to cook a nut cutlet in your Habitat kitchen…
Yes, so the brown rice becomes the centre-piece of this person’s stand – when, of course, it isn’t.
Why do you think being vegetarian is almost considered effeminate? Ozzy Osbourne, Ted Nugent, so-called “macho” people like that have to be real red-blooded meat-eaters.
Yes, I’ve never really thought about that. I can’t think of any reason why vegetarians should be considered effeminate. Why? Because you care about animals? Is that effeminate? Is that a weak trait? It shouldn’t be and I think it’s a very sad reflection on the human race that it often is.
What about your heroes? I’m sure Oscar Wilde enjoyed a nice leg of mutton.
Or a big rump steak. Yes. He was a hideously fat person so I’m sure he did indulge quite often – in fact he did but he is forgiven.
And James Dean probably enyoyed a tasty hamburger.
I’m sure he did. But we all have our weaknesses.
So it’s alright, is it?
No, it isn’t. Certainly not.
How far can you take this? What do you want to achieve?
Well, I’m very nervous about it because I’m deadly serious. It isn’t, you know, catchphrase of the month. It isn’t this year’s hysteria. I’m madly serious about it.
Did you have any pets when you were young?
Yes, I had a pet which I still have, in fact. I have a cat that is 23 years old, which makes him something like a thousand in cat years. He’s actually older than the other members of The Smiths, which is remarkable.
What’s his name?
His name – and I’m not responsible – is Tibby. It could be worse but I think that was a very popular cat name in the early ’60s. It’s quite extraordinary because we have family photographs of me when I was a day old and I’m clutching this cat and there he is today still hobbling around the house.
What do you feed him on?
Regrettably, cat meat. Sad as it is, he eats meat but nothing can be done now because he won’t eat anything else. Certainly if I bought a pet today, I’d feed it on non-meat products like Smarties and baked beans. It’s a shame that Tibby is glued to meat, as it were, because – in effect – he’s eating other cats.
But cats are natural carnivores. Wouldn’t it be a bit selfish to impose your views on a cat and turn it into a vegetarian?
No, because cat food is an animal. It’s a horse or it’s a cat or it’s a dog or whatever. So how can I be selfish by not allowing an animal to eat another animal? I’m simply looking after it. Animals can live without meat. We get violently upset when animals eat human beings, it’s horrific, it’s dreadful. So why shouldn’t we feel horror when human beings eat animals?
I do.
You do what? Eat humans?
No, eat animals. Which human would you most like to eat?
Well, now. This is tricky because I spent the last 18 months criticising people, putting them down, destroying them, and I’ve reached the point where I realise that there’s not any point. Because you meet these people and you find that some of them are really quite affable. Some of them are quite nauseating.
Is Limahl affable?
No, he’s certainly not in that category. But I’ve got a new policy. I’m not going to drag people down anymore. Everybody within this curious profession has to do their own thing, however obnoxious that may be. And nothing I can say is going to change that. Besides, I’ve too many enemies. It’s quite distressing. It’s a bit of a strain because one is welcome almost nowhere. I don’t want to go to parties or go skiing with Spandau Ballet or anything but still it’s become quite tiresome, this constant barrier of hate. Silence is the safest thing.
What do you eat?
I have a daily intake of yoghurt and bread.
Do you think that this might be responsible for your present state of ill-health? A good McDonald’s quarter-pounder would put you back on your feet in no time.
I sincerely doubt it.
If you died tomorrow, went up to heaven and met Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, what would you say to him?
Words would just be useless. I think I’d resort to the old physical knee in the groin – “this is on behalf of all those poor animals who died simply because of you.”
That was a trick question. You should have said Colonel Sanders wouldn’t be in heaven.
Oh.
OK. That’s the end.
Of what?
Of the interview.
Thank heavens for that. You didn’t ask me about Band Aid.
What about Band Aid?
Band Aid is the undiscussable, I’m afraid.
You brought it up!
Yes, and I finished the sentence. Full stop.

PS This article also appears online here http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~moz/quotes/murder.htm and here http://foreverill.com/interviews/1985/murder.htm

A full obituary appeared in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/sep/01/tom-hibbert-obituary

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Politicians, police and the football authorities have once again been falling over themselves to express their outrage, and of course grab a few headlines of their own. Calls for the fixture to be outlawed are guaranteed to generate column inches, but it’s difficult to imagine how Old Firm clashes could be banned without bringing the whole of Scottish football to its knees. And demands for matches to be played behind closed doors are baffling – surely such action is designed to punish bad behaviour by fans, not unruly players and club officials?

Given the hype that precedes each match, the mock outrage that follows “controversial” Old Firm games is just a tad hypocritical. Many of the people holding their head in their hands and weeping about “Scotland’s shame” are guilty of creating the frenzy in the first place. For instance, it’s only a couple of weeks since a national newspaper ran a front page headline over a story about a nothing spat between two players, that screamed “The Old Firm: It’s War!”.

And do we not need a little perspective here? Were the events of last night actually that bad? A couple of hard tackles, an argument between El Hadji Diouf and Neil Lennon and a skirmish at full time involving Lennon and Ally McCoist. Today’s reaction might suggest otherwise, but no punches were thrown and no-one was hurt.

It was an important football match – tensions were high and tempers frayed. The scenes were not particularly edifying, but we see the same thing every week at football grounds up and down the country, in fact all over the globe. Surely nowhere else in the world do the actions of a few players and coaches merit weeks of national soul-searching. Are we so insecure as Scots that we genuinely believe what happens on a football pitch somehow defines us as a nation?

Of course, for seasoned Old Firm watchers such handwringing is nothing new.  As long ago as the 1940s there were demands for the fixture to be banned. As I wrote in my book, Follow Follow: Classic Rangers Old Firm Clashes:

Encounters between the two clubs in the 1940s were fraught affairs, marred by trouble on and off the field, rampant paranoia and accusations that the standard of football was at an all-time low.

 

Newspaper match reports focused as much on sectarian singing, missile throwing, complaints about biased refereeing and the misbehaviour of players as they did on the actual football. In fact, reading accounts of Old Firm clashes from that time, it’s remarkably easy to imagine the words being applied to matches of the modern era.

 

This damning paragraph from a Glasgow Herald match report in 1947, highlighting the supposed drop in standards, could have been written at any time in the subsequent 60 years: “Rarely has a greater travesty of a sporting function been perpetrated on a football public that is by no means unused to Rangers and Celtic in opposition destroying the good name of the game.”

 Over the next couple of years, there were numerous disputed goals and penalty claims on both sides, culminating in crowd trouble among the visiting fans at Ibrox during a League Cup tie in August 1949. Two weeks later, there was controversy again, with a disputed foul leading to a late Rangers goal. Celtic players threatened to walk off in protest and dozens of police officers were deployed around the pitch and on the Parkhead slopes to keep the peace.

“The latest incident prompted the Herald, probably Scotland’s most respected newspaper at the time, to publish the startling headline: “Celtic v Rangers matches should be stopped.” The article said no further derbies should be allowed that season, a view – the writer claimed – that was shared by Celtic, if “referees who can completely control play and players are not available to handle such games.”

 Of course, banning Old Firm games was never a realistic option then, any more than it is now and just 11 days later, a quirk of the fixture list meant that the rivals would meet again at Ibrox, . It was a muted affair by Old Firm standards, unsurprisingly perhaps, given recent events. Both teams seemed to be so worried about igniting trouble among spectators, that they appeared not to be approaching the game in quite as full-blooded manner as they normally would. This left some observers feeling a little short-changed.

In the wake of the trouble at the earlier games, the Picture Post had sent one of its writers from London to dispatch a report from the front line, but he left disappointed. “Not a banner has floated on bloodstained air. Not a bottle. Not a battle,” the author wrote. Likewise, for all its previous hand wringing and navel-gazing, the Herald was scathing about this watered down version of the Old Firm. “A Rangers v Celtic match used to be the greatest club game in the world,” the paper stated, “now it is an anaemic, lustreless fixture – just another fixture.”

 And this is the Old Firm paradox. For all the words written in condemnation of the fixture and everything that surrounds it, the match remains the most important on the Scottish football calendar. All those who make a living out of covering the game rely on the controversy generated by meetings between the two clubs, however distasteful they may claim they find it. Games that pass without incident are dismissed as anodyne; without the baggage, they are “just another fixture.”

Bobby Russell earned himself a place in Rangers folklore when his superb goal secured what is arguably Rangers’ best ever win in the European Cup.

His curling shot in the dying moments of a thrilling clash with PSV Eindhoven in 1978 gave Rangers a dramatic 3-2 victory – the first time the Dutch side had ever lost a European match on their own ground.

More than 30 years later the goal is still considered by many fans to be the best they have ever seen scored by a Rangers player in Europe. And the fact that it sealed a win over one of the best teams on the continent at the time makes it all the sweeter.

But the famous strike might never have happened if Russell had done what he thinks his boss John Greig would have wanted.

With two minutes to go and the game tied at 2-2, Rangers were under siege, desperately trying to hold on to their away goal lead. A defensive header from Derek Johnstone found Gordon Smith, who laid the ball off to Tommy McLean, wide on the right. McLean spotted a run being made by Russell and from inside the Rangers half, he played a perfectly weighted ball into the midfielder’s path. Russell carried it forward towards the PSV area before coolly curling the ball round the onrushing goalkeeper into the corner of the net.

‘It was one of those situations where a manager would have been having kittens at me getting as far forward as that,’ said Russell. ‘Normally in those circumstances you would just sit back, not venture beyond the halfway line and concentrate on defence. But we broke their move down and it just happened. It was nice to see it go in’

Despite knocking Juventus out in the previous round, few pundits had given Rangers and their rookie manager John Greig much hope when they were drawn against the champions of Holland. Rangers had been treble winners under Jock Wallace the season before but, with former captain Greig at the helm, had suffered a poor start to the 1978/79 campaign. Not only were PSV one of the best club sides in Europe – virtually invincible on their own territory – but they also formed the backbone of the magnificent Netherlands team that came so close to winning the World Cup in Argentina.

Goal hero Bobby Russell

The season before, PSV had won the UEFA Cup while their inferior countrymen Twente Enschede had knocked Rangers out of the Cup Winners Cup. Holland had reached the World Cup final in the summer, eventually losing out to the hosts. The national squad contained six PSV players – more than Ajax and Feyenoord combined- including twin brothers Rene and Willy Van der Kerkhof, Ernie Brandts, Harry Lubse, Adri Van Kraay and Jan Poortvliet. In addition, Jan Van Beveren, who did not travel to Argentina, was considered to be Holland’s best goalkeeper, while Willy Van der Kuylen played in World Cup qualifying but did not appear in the final squad.

The first leg at Ibrox – Rangers’ 100^th appearance in Europe and 40^th in the Champions Cup – was a night of missed chances and excellent goalkeeping. Rangers failed to score but the disappointment was lessened somewhat by the fact that they had also prevented PSV from securing a vital away goal. But the Dutch were without three key players on the night and few commentators gave Rangers much of a chance for the return in Eindhoven.

As usual, the Scots took a big travelling support to Eindhoven, and they filled one end of the Philips Stadium. Despite the optimism of the fans, Greig knew his team faced one of their most difficult European tests. They had to score at least once in Eindhoven, and somehow shackle the attacking threat from the Dutchmen. The fact that the home team were undefeated at home in Europe and had had only ever lost two European Cup goals at their own ground – in games when they scored six and seven goals themselves – showed the magnitude of the task Rangers faced.

Greig had planned meticulously for the clash with PSV. He identified their strengths and weaknesses and drew up a game plan, designed specifically for the task in hand. Rather than the defensive approach that had worked well against Juventus in Turin, Greig instructed his team to push up the field as much as possible and prevent the Dutch from taking the game to Rangers. The players were given all the information they needed about the opposition players. More than anything, an early goal was seen as vital to Rangers’ chances.

What transpired was certainly not part of the game plan. With just 34 seconds gone, PSV had taken a stunning lead. Teenager Willy Jansen crossed from the right and Lubse sent a thundering drive past Peter McCloy. The blow of losing a goal less than a minute into the game could have destroyed Rangers, but they showed tremendous character to fight their way back into the game. Inspired by Russell, the Scots played superb, controlled football, and repeatedly found gaps in the PSV defence.

Russell explained why Rangers had not been downhearted at the loss of such an early goal. ‘It was a tremendous goal they scored,’ he said, ‘a great strike. But I think if we had gifted them a goal through slack play then we would have been more down. We just accepted it and got on with it. We showed a bit of spirit and character.’

Derek Parlane heads the ball towards the PSV goal

In ten minutes, Eindhoven’s reserve goalkeeper Van Engelen made a brilliant save from a Derek Parlane diving header and four minutes later he threw himself across the goal to stop a 30-yard drive from Kenny Watson. A header from Johnstone went just past the post and a shot from Alex Forsyth had to be scrambled away by the goalkeeper.

Still the vital goal would not come and when Gordon Smith had another shot saved by Van Engelen, the Rangers fans began to doubt whether they would make the breakthrough. But after 58 minutes, Rangers finally got the goal their play deserved. Tommy McLean brought the ball down on the edge of the area and chipped it into the path of Alex MacDonald, who sent a diving header high into the net. Russell had missed a good chance with a header moments earlier and Doddy had given him some stick. Russell recalled, ‘After he stuck his header away, he said to me: “That’s the way you do it son” which was fair enough.’

The Rangers fans were still celebrating when PSV took the lead again within three minutes. The defence failed to clear and Deijkers stepped in to score with an overhead kick. It looked like it was going to be another Rangers hard-luck story in Europe, but there was a quiet confidence within the Rangers camp that they were capable of getting a result. In the 66th minute, the Scots were back level on the night, and ahead on away goals. With the PSV defence awaiting a cross, Tommy McLean slipped a free kick to Kenny Watson who drove the ball into the penalty area for Derek Johnstone to head home.

There was barely a break in the excitement. Two minutes later PSV had the ball in the net again, but it was disallowed for offside. Then with the game nearing its conclusion, Bobby Russell ensured Rangers’ place in the quarter-final and sealed a historic win with his famous goal.

Amid the celebrations, there was a moment that brought the young midfielder crashing back to earth. His luggage had gone missing on the outward trip, leaving him without a change of clothes for his entire stay in Holland. As he savoured the adulation of his team-mates and the Rangers fans, Alex MacDonald shouted over, ‘Well done smelly!’

For the 1,000 Rangers fans, the celebrations continued long into the night as the supporters, used to seeing their team fall short on many such occasions in the past, hailed one of the best ever performances by a Scottish team on foreign soil. John Greig went onto the pitch to receive his first – and unfortunately, last – standing ovation as Rangers boss.

He later revealed that he had taken a huge gamble in picking Peter McCloy, as the man nicknamed the Girvan Lighthouse had been ill for the 24 hours before kick-off. The gamble paid off, and the Glasgow Herald called it Rangers’ Greatest Triumph. Given the quality of the opposition and the way the game had unfolded there was certainly a strong case to be made. The paper’s Jim Reynolds wrote, ‘Rangers weren’t just brave – they were courageous against a side rated one of the favourites for the tournament.’

Russell revealed, ‘It’s only when you get home and people are waiting for you off the flight and you see the papers that it begins to sink in that you have created a bit of history.’

Adapted from Follow On: 50 Years of Rangers in Europe by Iain Duff, published by Fort

The rivalry between Rangers and Celtic today is so strong and so deep-rooted that it’s difficult to imagine that the clubs have ever been anything other than the bitterest of enemies.

So, as the two juggernauts prepare for yet another head-on clash this weekend, it may come as something of a shock to modern day followers of the Old Firm, that in the early years of their existence they were actually best friends.

Indeed, when Rangers beat Celtic in the final of the Glasgow Cup  in 1893, the losers were full of praise for their conquerors. During the post-match banquet at a Glasgow hotel the two clubs swore loyalty to one another while Celtic president John Glass agreed that there was no other team Celtic would rather have seen win the competition than Rangers.

Rangers secretary William Wilton with the Glasgow Cup

Newspaper reports at the time recorded the “fine spirit of kinship” that prevailed between the two. The Scottish Referee sports paper highlighted “interchanges of mutual good behaviour” and praised the teams for not resorting to “rough play”. The paper declared: “Not a regrettable incident occurred on the field to mar the reputation of any player or spoil the harmony which characterised the play.”Such reports of mutual respect and appreciation are a far cry from the headlines we see after most Glasgow derby matches these days. Cynics might be inclined to suggest that Celtic could afford to be magnanimous in defeat on this occasion. Although they had been in existence for 16 years longer than Celtic, Rangers were in many ways the plucky underdogs of the Glasgow football scene.After a successful first decade, the 1880s had been a difficult time for the club. The Glasgow Cup victory in 1893 was the first time they had ever won the prestigious trophy and it was their first cup win of any kind since they lifted the Glasgow Charity Cup 14 years earlier. Even more significantly, the 3-1 victory marked Rangers’ first ever win over Celtic in a competitive match.

Celtic had hit the ground running since their formation in 1888. The club was set up by the Marist priest Brother Walfrid with the laudable aim of providing assistance to poor Roman Catholics in Glasgow’s east end. With the backing of wealthy businessmen, Celtic were able to poach players from other Scottish teams, most notably Edinburgh-based Hibernian. The tactic may have been morally questionable, but it had the desired effect, allowing Celtic to quickly establish themselves as a major force in the game.

In contrast to Celtic’s instant affluence, Rangers had been formed in 1872 by a handful of young football enthusiasts, all under the age of 18, with little more than a leather ball to their name. Given their poverty of resources, their early success was remarkable. Within five years the fledgling club had seen several of its players represent the national team, had moved into its first ground at Kinning Park on Glasgow’s south side and reached the final of the Scottish Cup. But after winning their first major trophy, the Charity Cup, in 1879, the next decade proved to be a struggle for the Light Blues.

Despite the lack of on-field success, Rangers had grown to be one of the most popular clubs in the country and in 1887 moved to a new, bigger ground at Ibrox. The inaugural Scottish League championship was jointly won with Dumbarton in 1891, and although it would be another seven years before they would be champions again, there were signs that good times were on the horizon.

John McPherson, Rangers' star striker

Gradually Rangers were assembling a line-up that would be capable of competing for the major silverware every season. Kilmarnock-born John McPherson was undoubtedly the star of the team, an inside forward who would serve the club as a player for 12 years before becoming a director. He has been described as the greatest player of the club’s first 50 years, one early history of the club saying of him: “He delighted in dribbling up to a defender, feinting and swerving round him, before delivering his shot.”

Although both teams were fighting it out for the league title, Celtic went into the final as strong favourites, with some pundits confidently predicting a walkover. They had some justification; Celtic had won seven of the 10 previous encounters between the teams, with the other three being drawn. The Scottish Referee analysed the strengths and weaknesses of both teams and concluded that, despite having a stronger half-back line (Bob Marshall, Hugh McCreadie and David Mitchell), Rangers were generally weaker and would have to rely on the condition of the pitch to restrict Celtic’s “parlour passing”.

The predictions of a one-sided final appeared to have an impact on the attendance. With inclement weather forecast and controversy raging in the press over the cost of admission to football games, it seemed that the anticipated lack of competition persuaded many fans to stay away. It was a lower than expected crowd of 10,000 that gathered for the match at Third Lanark’s ground Cathkin Park, on what turned out to be a mild February afternoon. But what the spectators lacked in numbers they made up for in enthusiasm. As the Scottish Referee recorded: “Enthusiasm prevailed, especially among the Ibrox contingent, who seemed imbued with exhilarating feelings of confidence in the ability of the Light Blues to win.” And if newspaper reports are to believed, those who stayed at home missed “a hard and at times brilliant” game.

With the clock approaching 3.30pm, Celtic appeared first from the pavilion, headed by their captain James Kelly. A minute later, the Light Blues’ skipper Mitchell led his team onto the field. Both sets of players were given a hearty welcome, according to the Glasgow Herald, although the Scottish Referee indicated that the reception for Rangers was rather more vociferous. It had been so long since Rangers had last won a cup competition, it was no surprise that their followers were excited at the prospect of picking up some silverware.

The anticipated bad weather hadn’t materialised, so as Neilly Kerr kicked off the match for Rangers exactly on the half-hour, it was Celtic who had reason to be happier with the conditions. Although the pitch was a little softer than they would have liked, the Herald opined that the playing surface was probably the best of any club in the city. In theory the conditions should have been ideal for Celtic’s passing game, but Rangers’ half-backs refused to allow the opposition forwards any time or space to indulge themselves, paralysing the Celtic attacks with their dogged defence. Marshall in particular was singled out by Scottish Referee for his “strong, legitimate blocking and tackling”.

In attack, Rangers were “cool, clever and confident” and once they won the ball ensured that they wasted no time in getting it into the danger areas. The contrast in styles was stark. While Celtic apparently wanted to paint pretty pictures, Rangers adopted a far more pragmatic approach. Get the ball, move it forward quickly and test the goalkeeper. That’s not to say that they resorted to some sort of prototype Route One approach; the Herald reported how fans cheered their “capital passing” and were treated to the best play the Rangers had produced all season.

John Barker, Rangers goalscorer

It was a combination of powerful tackling and speedy passing that saw the Light Blues gradually impose their will on the final and after a string of near-misses, it was no surprise when they took the lead after half an hour through a long-range shot from John Barker. Two more goals were added in the second half by Kerr and McPherson as Rangers continued to dominate the game. It was only in the very final moments that Celtic were finally able to breach the resolute Rangers defence, but McMahon’s strike was no more than a consolation, and the final whistle brought scenes of celebration for those in blue.

Fans piled onto the Cathkin pitch to hail their heroes, carrying the players shoulder high in triumph. The celebrations didn’t stop there, as the Scottish Referee reported. “On the road back to the city, car, brake, cab and other vehicles were eagerly seized upon by enthusiastic Ibroxonians, hundreds of them sported the colours and frantically waved the favourite ‘blue’ to and fro in the evening breeze.”

While the supporters enjoyed their evening, the trophy was presented to Rangers officials at a post-match dinner attended by both clubs at the Alexandra Hotel in Glasgow. Before the banjo band of the Minerva Club began their after dinner entertainment, Bailie John Ure Primrose, a Glasgow councillor, urged City Fathers to encourage the development of the game of football. 

The Scottish Referee was fulsome in its praise of Rangers victory, enthusing over their “daring, dashing, play”. In an editorial after the match, the paper wrote: “Perseverance has had its reward and no-one will grudge the Rangers nor will a solitary voice seek to diminish or detract from the play by which this signal triumph was achieved. Pluckily the club has fought against and borne with the knocks of misfortune these 14 years and now that those who defend its honour on the field and those who loyally follow its fortunes round the ropes both rejoice in all the glory that a cup brings in its train, none will deny them enjoying to the fullest measure the fruits of victory. The fact that it was thoroughly deserved adds an additional spice of interest and pleasure to the win.”

The Glasgow Cup victory was something of a coming of age for Rangers on the field. The club’s players and supporters had in the past been characterised as having a supreme confidence in their own team’s abilities, that sometimes appeared misplaced. Now with this triumph, they had something tangible to back up their self-belief. At last they had bettered Celtic and, by lifting the Glasgow Cup, were now, officially, the best team in the city

Rangers team: Haddow, Hay, Drummond, Marshall, A. McCreadie, Mitchell, H. McCreadie, Davie, Kerr, Barker, J. McPherson.

Rangers goals: Barker, Kerr, McPherson

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