Читать книгу Craig Brown - The Game of My Life - Craig Brown - Страница 9

JIM BAXTER who sadly died became one of Scotland’s biggest-ever stars, and by coincidence I was the first player he met when he arrived at Ibrox. I was getting treatment for the first of many knee injuries and that is why I was there when Jim arrived. It was during the summer of 1960, and I met him for the first time when the manager, Scot Symon, was showing him around the Glasgow Rangers’ stadium.

Jim was noticeably nervous, and when Scot left him with me in the treatment room we had quite a long chat. He had just joined Rangers from Raith Rovers for £17,500, which was quite a lot of money in those days, especially for a club like Raith. They had paid £200 when he had first joined them a few years earlier, and he had certainly become something of a sensation. His displays included a great game against Rangers in 1958 which had resulted in a shock 3–1 win for Raith. Rangers began tracking him after that and eventually they got their man.

On the pitch, Jim Baxter was supremely confident, but that first day at Ibrox he showed me another side of his character, a side that very few people know. I remember him saying to someone else a bit later on that he had felt like a country yokel at the time of his arrival. He later offered this explanation: ‘I know that I’ve been called arrogant and I can’t help what people say. I know that’s probably how I have looked. But when I was eighteen I was called up to play for the Scotland Under-23 side against Wales at Tynecastle. I was with Raith then and it was a big day for me. I travelled to Edinburgh to meet up with everyone else. I was feeling quite pleased with myself until I saw the other lads. They all looked really something, very sharp and exactly as professional footballers should look. I felt out of place … a nobody.

‘A couple of kids asked me for my autograph and then I saw them looking at their books to see who I was. That was the day when I decided that everyone would know who I was. I knew I could play, but I had to make sure that everyone else knew too. But I never tried anything that I didn’t know I could achieve.’

The legend of Jim Baxter has been told many times. He was undoubtedly a brilliant player, and one of the greatest to wear the Rangers and Scotland shirts. When we reported for pre-season training it seemed natural that his peg should be next to mine – partly because the pegs were arranged in alphabetical order, but also because we already knew each other. As the season wore on, players changed their pegs to be near their best pals, but Baxter and Brown always remained together. We became good friends. I discovered that inside that flamboyant and brash exterior was a very warm human being.

Whenever we chance to meet, I always got the best of greetings and hospitality from Jim Baxter, and I always tried to reciprocate. I had the marvellous privilege of watching him play for Rangers and to see at close-hand the magnificent talent that he had. He made an instant impact in the first team. The Scottish League Championship was won for the 32nd time, the League Cup was also won, and the Scottish Cup was only just lost, thanks to a battling Motherwell side. Rangers also took part in the inaugural European Cup Winners’ Cup competition, and reached the final in which they faced a cynical Fiorentina side. As it happened, Fiorentina did win by the odd goal, a wonder strike by Kurt Hamrin, a Swedish international. You can see from all this that Jim Baxter’s first season at Ibrox was exciting to say the least.

While all this was going on I was becoming even more anonymous. My knee injury, which at first appeared to be just an annoyance, was beginning to look a little more serious. I kept on getting fluid on the joint. I was ordered to keep on working at strengthening the quadriceps, which I did, but I still continued to get the fluid problem. When I trained with Rangers it appeared, and when I was working on my PE course it appeared – and it was beginning to become a bit of a worry.

I was not a very important player at the time and so I did not receive the urgency of treatment that might have helped me to recover a lot more quickly – and possibly permanently. It is simply the way of things in football, not just then but now as well. If I had been a first-team player, I would have received the care and attention that was due to my status, but I was not and I understood my situation perfectly. Many a player has been told, ‘Go on, lad, get yourself sorted!’

David Kinnear was an excellent remedial gymnast, but he was not a qualified physiotherapist and so it was not his fault. My knee problem refused to respond, and so my chances of first-team football became limited.

It didn’t stop me playing, but I did have to live with this knee problem, which kept niggling at me incessantly. I was quickly beginning to realise that, unless something very dramatic happened, my career was going in one direction only – and it wasn’t up. Everyone tried to be encouraging, but I had this awful feeling that my dreams of winning the championship and playing in Europe as a regular first-team player at Rangers were destined to end in tatters.

Before I signed for Rangers, one of the other teams that tried to take me on board was Third Lanark – now defunct, but regarded then with great affection by everyone interested in Scottish football. Their manager at that time was Bob Shankly, brother of the great Bill Shankly. He was a fine man but, at the time, I was dazzled by the Ibrox marble staircase and the smooth, gentlemanly encouragement of Scot Symon – not to mention being well aware of the fact that wearing a Rangers shirt could earn me more status and a little more money.

However, Bob Shankly did not forget me and, when he left Third Lanark, he became manager of Dundee. He and his brother Bill were not only great managers but also took a very personal interest in just about everyone who was playing the game, no matter who they were playing for. It had not escaped Bob Shankly’s notice that I was not getting first-team football for Rangers, and so he asked them if they would transfer me to Dundee.

I was extremely surprised when Bob Shankly was turned down by Rangers. My surprise was all the greater because Rangers at that time were certainly not short of players and I was not among the top ones. I felt that I did not figure very highly on their list of priorities, and so I fully expected them to be only too glad to unload me. I don’t know who was the more surprised, Bob Shankly or myself, when they said they were going to keep me.

After his initial surprise, Bob asked if it would be possible for me to join his club on loan. This time Rangers were in agreement, and I didn’t mind at all. I didn’t really want to leave the Rangers set-up for one minute – but I was also eager to stop my career falling into stagnation. Since it was for a loan spell only, there was no danger that I couldn’t return to Ibrox, and so, in October 1960, I became a temporary Dundee player.

I hadn’t been at Dundee for very long – in fact I’d played just a few reserve games – when my knee began to be troublesome again. Lawrie Smith was the physiotherapist at Dundee, and he took a good, long look at the problem. He was a great guy and an outstanding physio as well, and after studying my knee for some time he told me quite simply that there was only one way it was going to get any better – and that was through surgery.

I was sent to see a world-renowned knee specialist, Mr Smillie, who had written a number of books on the subject. After examination, he confirmed what Lawrie Smith had said, adding that surgery was not simply an option – it was essential. I was packed off to a local nursing home for the first of what turned out to be five operations on my left knee.

Nowadays, I know, there are wonderful ways of performing operations with the minimum of fuss and disruption to everyday life. Keyhole surgery has taken away those big incisions and the necessity to be confined to bed, sometimes for weeks. It was not the same when I had my operations – it was necessary then to have several weeks of recuperation before there was any possibility of getting back to any serious work, and in my case that meant getting back to being considered for first-team football.

Dundee were very good to me and extremely patient. Rangers also kept a sharp eye on my progress and were very encouraging. Fortunately, I did recover before the end of the season and I played in the reserves at Dens Park to prove my match fitness. Whether or not I had done enough to secure a place in first-team football with Dundee remained to be seen.

Even though I was a Rangers player and knew that I would be returning to Ibrox once the loan period was over, I felt really at home at Dens Park. I was still finding it quite difficult to understand why the Ibrox club were so unwilling to sell me, and even began to think that it was possibly because I was so useful in the Rangers golf team. We had been very successful in various competitions. In fact, in the month before I joined Dundee on loan, Harold Davis, Bobby Shearer and I had won the Daily Record Footballers’ Golf Team Trophy for Rangers with an eight-stroke win over second-placed Hibernian. Just for the record, Dundee had finished third in the competition.

I had never had any trouble in being accepted at Rangers – and I am sure that my golfing ability went a long way towards that acceptance. A lot of Rangers players were keen on the game. When the team went out on golf outings, I usually managed to play in the top four – which was pretty good really because a lot of the team were class players, and the manager, Scot Symon, was very good indeed, besides being very enthusiastic. Bobby Shearer had a very low handicap, as did Harold Davis. Max Murray was a scratch player and there were several others who were a force to be reckoned with on the golf course. I always seemed to do well and, even if my soccer skills didn’t earn many plaudits, my golf had certainly raised my esteem among my Rangers colleagues.

We had a few interesting golf outings while I was at Ibrox, many of which I can recall. I shall never forget one in particular. Let’s be absolutely frank – the etiquette of golf had been quite lost on many of the players, who would do things that would have golf officials holding their heads in despair and disbelief. Players would share clubs and a caddy car, some wouldn’t have golf shoes and would wear trainers with tracksuit bottoms tucked into their socks. Normally you wouldn’t get on too many courses dressed like that – maybe it was because it was Rangers that many a blind eye would be turned?

On this particular occasion we were playing at Erskine Golf Club and the lads had been out on the course. The last four to go out were Ralph Brand and Jimmy Miller against Willie Henderson and Davie Provan. They were sharing one set of clubs and you could hear them shouting during the round – which means that they were shouting pretty loudly. So they were coming up the fairway to the last hole, long after everyone else. Their earlier shouting had mostly been about the score.

‘Is that eleven?’

‘No, it’s twelve!’

‘It never is.’

‘Aye, it is!’

So it went on. I think it was Ralph who was pulling the caddy car and, as they went up to the last green, he was giving out the clubs. He took the caddy car right on to the green and up to the flag. It was a wet day and the scars from the wheels of the caddy car could clearly be seen on the green. Apparently they had been doing this all over the course but, since they were the last to go, nobody had noticed. When Scot Symon found out he was none too pleased – in fact he was furious. The club officials shared his views and, needless to say, we were not invited back to that particular golf club.

In the dressing room of a football club there is invariably plenty of what we call ‘patter’. Ibrox was no exception. Friday morning was always full of anticipation because, in blue typewritten letters, the team names were pinned to the noticeboard.

On this particular Friday, the newspaper heading on the back page was ‘Henderson To Get Contact Lenses’. It was well known that the outside left, deputising for the injured Davy Wilson, was Bobby Hume – one of the first professional players to use contact lenses. Our groundsman, Davie McLeod, on studying the Scot Symon selection and bearing in mind his reading of the Daily Record, was loud in his condemnation. He read the forward line and made his customary remark: ‘I see it and I don’t believe it. Henderson, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Hume. Two blind wingers! I don’t know whether to line the park tomorrow or just put kerbstones along the sides!’

Anyway, back at Dundee, I was determined to make the best of my loan spell and, when I was back in full action in the reserve team, I set out to prove myself. I felt that by doing so I would be able to reciprocate for the interest that they had shown in me. I did not really expect to be given a first-team chance at this stage, although of course there was always the hope that in the latter games of the season there would be an opportunity.

The first team had not experienced the best of seasons. Their Scottish League Cup hopes had been dashed before I had arrived at the club. Rangers had been the team to put paid to their hopes over two legs of the quarterfinals in September 1960. In fairness, Dundee had succeeded in giving Rangers quite a scare. The first leg, played at Ibrox, had ended 1–0, but the return at Dens Park finished in a 3–3 draw as Dundee refused to capitulate. Rangers had learned a valuable lesson from that experience, however, and when the two teams met again at Dens Park – in the Scottish Cup second round – the Ibrox men were easy 5–1 winners. The League campaign was also a disappointing one for Dundee, even though they had put in some very good performances. Despite this, they still only managed to finish in the middle of the table, in tenth place out of eighteen clubs. Rangers had won the championship but perhaps the worst blow of all as far as Dundee was concerned was that our great rivals, Dundee United, finished one place above us – in ninth position with just one point more!

Despite my injuries I was continuing with my course at Jordanhill and I certainly enjoyed a wide range of sports there. The course meant that you had to be fairly proficient in just about every sport that it is possible for a human to play. I played football and golf, of course, but I also found myself taking part in swimming, rugby, rowing, cricket, hockey, basketball, skiing and mountaineering. I once had to set off after a Dundee evening match to go to Aviemore as part of my skiing and mountaineering education. You can just imagine how amusing many of my soccer colleagues found it. I came in for huge amounts of stick from these so-called pals, who even suggested that I might be a better footballer if I wore my ski boots on the pitch instead of the regulation ones!

I did enjoy keeping fit and having a go at all these different sports. My father had instilled in all of us the benefits of regular exercise and a healthy diet. It was rare for me to eat anything but fruit at lunch-time. I’m sure that it helped me, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to give his body a fighting chance of enduring the rigours of life.

Another big interest of mine, of which not too many people were aware, was country dancing – in fact, I became quite good at it. I even reached the stage of being a member of a ‘Jig-time’ dance team which appeared regularly on Scottish Television. I still do like country dancing, but these days it is mostly for the music, as I don’t have the knees for ‘pas de bas’. When I’m at a wedding, or some similar social event, I’ll still have a go, however – after all, those are the times when it’s almost obligatory for you to make a fool of yourself, aren’t they?

Anyway, we finally came to the end of the season, and I had really enjoyed my time at Dundee. I was impressed with the management style of Bob Shankly, who was quite different from Scot Symon. I would hate to have to say which of the two men was the better manager because, after all, they both had so many fine attributes. Suffice it to say that they were both good at their jobs. I prepared myself for a return to Ibrox and was determined that I would have another go at proving that I was worth a try in the first team.

As it turned out, I never did get to say goodbye to all my new friends at Dundee. Just before I was due to return to Ibrox, Bob Shankly made a final attempt to sign me on a regular basis – and this time Rangers agreed.

We called Bob Shankly ‘The Wily Old Fox’ – and with considerable justification. He used all his astute managerial skills to get me to Dundee for as small a fee as possible. Early on during my loan spell I had played well in a reserve game against Willie Henderson but, when Rangers were due to play us again in a second-eleven match at Dens Park towards the end of the season, our boss came to me and said, with a knowing look, ‘Henderson can have a better game tonight, son!’

I had started that season as a reserve with the club that had finished as champions of Scotland, and now I had become a reserve with the club that had finished below the halfway line in the table. Certainly on paper it did not look to be the best thing that could have happened to me, but nevertheless I could not help feeling that there were going to be better days ahead. Bob Shankly really knew his business, and he was more than enthusiastic. It seemed to me that Dundee were experiencing the dawning of a very exciting time in the club’s history.

My family were all very encouraging, as they always were, but ultimately the decision was mine. I was not being forced to join Dundee and I didn’t have to go there if I didn’t really want to, but at the time it seemed to be the right move to make and so I signed the necessary forms. In the end I was right to make the move when I did, but I have to admit that, when I said goodbye to Glasgow Rangers, I was not really filled with regret.