History of Rangers F.C. - Greig: Captain To Manager

Greig: Captain To Manager

After the departure of Wallace the board acted quickly to replace the void with club captain Greig being promoted to first-team manager. Greig took a phone call on the day of Wallace's resignation from general manager Waddell. Greig was playing golf with team-mate Sandy Jardine when Waddell called him to offer him the job. On 24 May 1978 Greig was confirmed as the seventh manager of Rangers.

Greig's tenure began promisingly. The 1978–79 season could so easily have mirrored the previous. Despite a fixture pile-up which resulted from the club playing three league games in nearly three months, and some overly negative tactics from Greig, Rangers came close to winning a quadruple of trophies. Unfortunately it was not to be and the season ended with just the domestic cup double.

Wallace's treble-winning team of the previous season performed ably in the European Cup. Rangers eliminated Juventus after defeating the Italians 2–1 on aggregate – the first time Rangers had ever recovered from a first-leg defeat to win a two-legged European tie. Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, the then UEFA Cup holders, were overcome in the next round (the club's first home defeat in European competition), before an injury-stricken Rangers side lost to Cologne at the quarter-final stage.

The early season league form was terrible as the team failed to win any of the first six league matches but a run was put together. Things began to unravel, however, as leadership of the league evaporated. The team had to settle for second place behind champions Celtic. The pivotal match was a 4–2 Old Firm defeat a Parkhead. There was success for Greig in the national cup competitions. Victory in the 1979 Scottish Cup Final over Hibernian required a second replay to separate the sides before Rangers eventually won 3–2. The 1979 Scottish League Cup Final ended in a 2–1 win for Rangers over a strong Aberdeen with goals from Alex MacDonald and Colin Jackson.

The following the season finished trophyless. Rangers finished an embarrassing fifth in the league, eleven points behind champions Aberdeen. The main cause for such a poor showing in the league was pointed at the teams away form, only ten points from eighteen matches. Aberdeen also knocked Rangers out of the Scottish League Cup over a two-legged third round tie. Rangers did reach the 1980 Scottish Cup Final only to lose out to Old Firm rivals Celtic, 1–0 thanks to a deflected George McCluskey shot in extra time. The European Cup Winner's Cup campaign was ended by the eventual winners Valencia CF after having seen off Lilliestrom and Fortuna Düsseldorf in previous rounds.

The summer of 1980 saw Greig bring in Jim Bett from Lokeren for £150,000. Bett was joined by Colin McAdam a £165,000 signing from Partick Thistle. The side got off to a good start in the league, going on a fifteen match unbeaten run, including two Old Firm wins, was to end in November. A disastrous run in November and December all but ended the title challenge as the team finished third, twelve points behind champions Celtic. The League Cup campaign was halted after a controversial defeat to Aberdeen in a match where the Dons were awarded two contentious penalties. Due to having no European participation, Rangers entered the Anglo-Scottish Cup which led to humiliation and embarrassment at the hands of English minnows, Chesterfield. The third division side held Rangers to a 1–1 draw at Ibrox before thumping Rangers 3–0 in the away leg at Saltergate. Rangers did win the 1981 Scottish Cup Final after beating Dundee United 4–1 in a final replay. After a tedious 0–0 draw where Ian Redford missed a last minute penalty, Rangers won the replay with goals from Davie Cooper, a John MacDonald double and Bobby Russell.

Greig's fourth season in charge, 1981–82, ended yet again without the league championship. Rangers finished third, twelve points behind Old Firm rivals Celtic who were champions. There was an apparent lack of ambition at the club due a lack of transfer funds which were being directed towards the redevelopment of Ibrox Park. There was the surprise signing of Northern Ireland international John McClelland from Mansfield Town. The Ulsterman proved to be a shrewd acquisition and later became the club captain. European participation was halted by Dukla Prague who soundly beat the team 3–0 in Prague and a 2–1 second leg win for Rangers was not enough for the team to progress. The domestic cup competitions proveded successful ground as Rangers reached both finals. The team lost the 1982 Scottish Cup Final 4–1 to Aberdeen despite leading for the majority of the match. A late Aberdeen equaliser took the game into extra-time before the Dons added a trio. Rangers did win the 1982 Scottish League Cup Final by defeating Dundee United 2–1 with goals from Davie Cooper and Ian Redford.

Greig made big-money signings in the pre-season 1982–83 with renewed hope that they could at least mount a serious title challenge, but once again, the season ended in trophyless failure. Dave MacKinnon – £30,000 from Partick Thistle, Craig Paterson – £200,000 from Hibernian, Robert Prytz from Malmö FF and Sandy Clark from West Ham United, were all welcomed to the club. The early signs were positive. Rangers reached the 1983 Scottish League Cup Final scoring en route 29 goals in their ten games and eliminated Borussia Dortmund from the UEFA Cup. The opening eight league games saw the side unbeaten but the final match saw Rangers lying in fourth, a massive eighteen points behind champions Dundee United. The team was knocked out of Europe after suffering a 5–0 defeat from Cologne. The 1983 Scottish Cup Final was lost to an Aberdeen side that had won the European Cup Winner's Cup ten days earlier.

The 1983–84 season would signal the end of John Greig's managerial career. The league season began badly, one point from the first four league games, although the team did win their six League Cup games under Greig. A fruitful brief run in the European Cup Winner's Cup saw Rangers win the second round, first leg 2–1 over F.C. Porto after the team's record breaking 18–0 aggregate win over Maltese champions Valletta. After the first nine league games, Greig's team had collected just ten points from twenty-seven. In the end the pressure was to much and Greig resigned from his post on 28 October 1983.

Greig's efforts to restructure the team inherited from Wallace proved, for the most part, fruitless. The early years of the 1980s were ones of repeated frustration as the club continually failed to mount a challenge not only to Celtic, but to the resurgent New Firm of Aberdeen and Dundee United. The gloom of under-performance in the league was punctuated only by periodic cup triumphs. The Scottish Cup win of 1981, in particular, saw a triumphant performance by the enigmatic winger, Davie Cooper. The League Cup proved fertile territory for Rangers throughout the fallow years of the early 1980s, but it was the failure to add to the league triumph of 1978 that saw the growing pressure on Greig culminate in his resignation as manager in October 1983. During this period attendances at Ibrox dwindled from an average 25,628 in season 1978–79 to 17,681 in 1982–83.