The Nearly Men: The Story of Rangers FC 1966-1969 by David Herd – Review
By Karl Hornsey
The ‘nearly men’ in sport can often end up being remembered or loved more than the serial winners. Whether that’s in team sports – think of the likes of Hungary ’54, the Netherlands during the 1970s or Brazil ’82 in the World Cup, or individual sports in which those plucky heroes never quite took the spoils – British heavyweight Henry Cooper or perennial Crucible runner-up Jimmy White, for example.
While all of the above are relatively well-known for their near misses, David Herd, who has made a welcome habit of documenting various chapters in the history of Rangers FC, turns his attention to a period and a story that seems to have been forgotten – the end of the 1960s and the battle for supremacy between Celtic and Rangers.
It’s no spoiler to say that the Bhoys came out on top, constantly, but things could have turned out very differently indeed. The main reason for Rangers being forgotten is that Celtic just happened to become the first British side to lift the European Cup, with their locally born and bred squad under legendary manager Jock Stein being fondly remembered to this day.
In their shadows for three seasons at the end of the decade were their arch-rivals, and Herd brings that period to life wonderfully, methodically working through three seasons, focusing on the league, domestic cup and European campaigns, to document a tale of woe for one part of Glasgow, and a tale of joy for the other.
“Vivid picture”
Herd opens with the 1966/67 season, in which Rangers managed to score 124 goals and still end up trophyless. Not only that, they reached the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, only to lose to Bayern Munich, which in itself was no embarrassment – except that Celtic just happened to win the European Cup and create the legend of the Lisbon Lions.
The following season, Rangers went 33 games unbeaten and, you guessed it, still didn’t win the league, while in 1968/69, they failed to take advantage of a weaker Celtic side, and cemented their reputations of always being the bridesmaids and never the bride.
The depth of research is key here, and Herd comes up trumps, especially in having Rangers legend Colin Stein writing the foreword, and the author paints such a vivid picture of the period, that one can still get so lost in the book that you start to root for Rangers to finally win something, despite events having occurred so many decades ago.
This book should appeal to all football fans, including Rangers supporters, despite the painful memories it brings to mind, as they had a squad of which they could be proud. It just so happened that they became the ‘nearly men’ thanks to an equally special group of players from across the city.
The Nearly Men: The Story of Rangers FC 1966-1969 by David Herd is published by Pitch Publishing
Karl’s love of writing was piqued at the age of eight, when he won a Blue Peter badge in an essay-writing competition. The location of said badge might be a mystery now, but the memory never fades. Hours spent writing about sport as a teenager, in pre-internet years when you had to make your entertainment, honed his skills, and Karl has worked in TV and radio listings at PA Media for 28 years, and the age of hybrid working means 50% of that can be at home listening to Classic FM and thinking about his next visit to his beloved Yorkshire Dales.
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