Under Symon
Symon continued Struth's success winning six league championships, five Scottish Cups and four League Cups. He also became the second manager to win the domestic treble in season 1963–64. Another purple patch began at the end of the 1950s: from 1957 until 1965. Rangers achieved four League titles, plus an equal number of wins in both League and FA Cups. This was the era of Slim Jim Baxter, a superb ballplayer who was by turns exhilarating and exasperating.
But though Baxter was to depart for England in 1965, there was a player who had been a first – team regular for the past couple of seasons who would mature into an inspirational leader, a stalwart in the dark blue of Scotland and would eventually manage the club. John Greig was that man, and though Rangers would play out the decade in the shadow of their European Cup – winning neighbours, the foundations were being laid for future success.
In season 1956–57 Symon took Rangers into the European Cup for the first time but it ended abruptly, going out on to French team Nice. The following season however saw Rangers suffer their worst ever defeat to their arch rivals Celtic, losing 7–1 in the League Cup final of 1957. They did however reach the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1960 losing eventually to German club Eintracht Frankfurt by a record aggregate 12–4 for a Scottish team. In 1961 Rangers became the first British team to reach a European final when they contested the Cup Winners' Cup final against Italian side Fiorentina, only to lose 4–1 on aggregate. Rangers suffered yet more despair in the final of the same competition in 1967, losing 1–0 after extra time to Bayern Munich.
After these disappointments, the pressure was on Symon and he paid the penalty of Celtic's success in Scotland and Europe in October 1967, giving way to his former assistant Davie White after rejecting a move to make him general manager with White in charge of team affairs.
Read more about this topic: History Of Rangers F.C.