Fifty years ago this month, Rangers faced a German giant in a European semi-final before going on to win the Final in Spain.
Derek Parlane believes if that’s not an omen for the current Ibrox squad to pack in the kit hamper as they head for Leipzig this week, then nothing is.
The former Rangers striker even told Giovanni van Bronckhorst ’s men the same thing at their Player of the Year awards night on Sunday.
Parlane was one of the guests, an invitation befitting of an Ibrox great who played such a pivotal role in getting the Ibrox club to the European Cup Winners’ Cup Final in Barcelona on May 24, 1972.
He didn’t play against Moscow Dynamo, but a month earlier, manager Willie Waddell plucked the 18-year-old from obscurity and made him an overnight sensation.
Rangers, having drawn 1-1 in the first leg against the star-studded Bayern Munich side, who would go on to win the European Cup three years in a row from 1974, finished the job in front of 80,000 in Govan. Parlane scored the second goal in the 2-0 win he still regards as the finest result in their history.
“There’s no doubt beating Bayern was the best result we’ve ever had,” Parlane told Record Sport yesterday.
“I know the trophy was won against Moscow Dynamo, but that Bayern team was absolutely full of world-class players who went on to win the World Cup only two years after we beat them.
“Bayern also won the European Cup with these players, three years in a row. They were a fantastic side.
“They were expected to win the competition and when we drew them in the semi-final, everybody thought it was a given they’d knock us out and go on to lift the trophy in Barcelona. It was a big ask to beat them but who was to know what was ahead of us?”
Certainly, the kid from Rhu, near Helensburgh, didn’t and half a century on, there’s still wonderment in his voice.
“For me, it was to be very special,” he said. “I was a couple of weeks away from my 19th birthday and hadn’t been near the European squad until the first leg of the semi-final in Munich.
“I travelled with the team, which was an unbelievable experience even though I didn’t play and wasn’t on the bench. We got the 1-1 draw which was a fantastic result against a team of Bayern’s quality.
“Little did I know that two weeks later the boss, Willie Waddell, would be telling me I was in the starting line-up for the second leg.
“I knew I was in the squad and I knew John Greig was injured but I thought Alfie Conn would be wearing John’s No.4 shirt. Then he named the team in the dressing room, ‘McCloy, Jardine, Mathieson, Parlane...’ I nearly fell off my seat. I didn’t hear the rest of the team because I was so shocked.
“It was about 90 minutes before kick-off and that was good management because if the gaffer had told me the day before, I wouldn’t have slept a wink that night.
“Anyway, after naming the team he called me over to have a word with me. He took me into the boot room, told me I’d looked good in training and in the reserves and then said, ‘I want you to mark Franz Roth’.
“Roth was a midfielder, nicknamed The Bull because of his physique, and I was an 18-year-old, 5ft 11in and 11 stones dripping wet.”
The German international had also scored the winner against Rangers in the 1967 Cup Winners’ Cup Final. It should have been a catchweight contest. We all know different now. “When I walked into the tunnel, I looked across at Franz Beckenbauer with Sepp Maier behind him. Gerd Muller, Paul Breitner,” Parlane smiled.
“I kid you not, I had Rangers posters on my wall as a kid but I also had some of these boys. I was starstruck when I saw them. The noise from the fans was unbelievable but the Germans were acting with an arrogance, as if they didn’t care. They totally believed they’d beat us and that belief lasted about 60 seconds when Sandy scored.
“Then I visibly saw some heads go down which I couldn’t believe – and I include Beckenbauer in that. In the 21st minute, Bud (Willie Johnston) swung a great corner over from the Broomloan end, Maier punched it out and I got on the end of it and stuck it into the roof of the net.
“As the game went on, they saw the fire in our bellies and they couldn’t match it. They lost the fight long before the end.”
Parlane went on to play more than 300 games for the club but insists none were more important than that one.
“It sounds dramatic, but it changed my life,” he said. “That one shot, that goal... I’ll never forget the noise that greeted it and from that moment on I have been treated brilliantly by the supporters and the club.
“I wasn’t disappointed not to be picked for the final because John Greig was fit. Of course, I would have loved to have got on the pitch at some point but just knowing I had played my part in getting us there is more than enough for me.”
Now he’s hoping the current generation can experience the same feeling this week. He said: “I relived it all on Sunday night.
“I had a chance to speak to the lads who will be taking on Leipzig. I told them they had a real chance to do something special and reiterated what a great moment it was for me, and how they could experience the same thing. I told them it’s a great club to play for and they all said that they knew that.
“I did feel they had a real spirit and camaraderie that we had in ’72. Yes, they’re up against a massive club but that didn’t stop my Rangers team back in the day.
“My only worry is without Morelos and Roofe, we are going to have to change the shape a bit. People talk about a false nine. I didn’t know what that was, you’re either a No.9 or you’re not a No.9!”
That might be a bit new fangled for him but Parlane knows time moves on. He said: “I can’t believe 50 years have passed. I will be 69 on May 5! I get kids coming for autographs and I’ll say but you don’t remember me. They used to say ‘yeah, but my dad does’. Now it’s ‘yeah but my grandad does!’.”
