Jock Wallace - The Extraordinary Life of a Leicester Legend - Part 2

21) The Disappearing Goalkeeper (2)

In that BBC documentary, The Saturday Men, there's a bizarre continuity error. At the climax of the programme we see the players, Jock included, in the dressing room preparing for the big game. Then as they run out, Jock has magically been transformed into Tony Millington:

Clearly it was filmed over several Saturdays then edited together.

But actually, that 'error' captured a deeper reality. His replacement by Millington signaled the end of his time at West Brom. He was transfer listed at the end of the season and never played in the top flight again.

The club that showed most interest in him in the summer of 1962 was, unbelievably, Hinckley Athletic. Yes - the Leicestershire club then in the second tier of the Southern League. What's more, Jock was fully prepared to drop five down five levels of the football pyramid to play for them. 

How come? Well, the maximum wage had only just been abolished, and the retain and transfer system was still in place. Albion were asking what Jock believed to be an inflated fee for his signature, and if no one came in, Jock would just have to rot in the reserves. 

But clubs outside the Football League were not bound by transfer regulations - they didn't have to pay a fee at all. Instead, they would offer well-known names like Jock a higher wage than they were getting in the First Division.

Jock knew how the system worked and held out for more money than Hinckley were prepared to pay. Negotiations broke down and Jock signed instead for a club one level higher - Bedford Town, in the Southern League Premier Division.

22) Giant Killer

The move didn't mean Jock was out of the headlines. Bedford Town were soon to cause the biggest FA Cup shock of the 1960s - and Jock was the hero.

In January 1964, they battled through to the Third Round proper, and were drawn away at Newcastle United, the post-war giants of the FA Cup, who'd lifted the trophy three times in the 1950s.

Bedford stunned St. James' Park by going two up, and then faced a Geordie onslaught. Jock stood firm and it wasn't until the last minute that United scored.

The photo shows you Jock at his best - a huge man always looking to leave his line and dominate the area.

In Round Four, Bedford were drawn at home to Carlisle United. That's where the fairy tale ended, with Carlisle winning 3-0. Here's Jock failing to stop Frank Kirkup (number 11) scoring, as the gas holder dominates The Eyrie, Bedford's ground. Rushing to congratulate the scorer is Hugh McIlmoyle, Leicester's centre forward in the 1961 Cup Final. 

23) Record Breakers

Jock moved on at the end of that season, dropping down another level to join Hereford United in the Southern League First Division. Here too he made waves. The club had an extraordinary year - winning 34, drawing 4 and losing 4 for a total of 72 points - the best ever 42-game season in English professional football (Doncaster Rovers got the same points total in Division Three North in 1946/47, but Hereford's goal average this season was superior).

Here's that commanding presence again - a dangerous cross, but Hereford defenders know they can leave it to Jock. The ground is Hartsdown Park, Margate. The photo is from the Thanet Times. Jock really was a big fish in a small pond.

24) In 1966/67, Jock set another record. He is believed to be the only player to appear in the FA Cup, the Welsh Cup and the Scottish Cup in the same season.

It started in October when Hereford beat Kidderminster Harriers in the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. Two weeks later they beat a team called Berriew in the Welsh Cup. And two weeks after that, Jock left Hereford to take the player-manager's job at his old club Berwick Rangers. He was still only 31.

Jock now had the chance to try out a new training idea. He took the Berwick players to the sand dunes at Gullane near Edinburgh and demonstrated what he wanted them to do:

In later years, Jock's players at Hearts, Rangers, Leicester City and Motherwell would all have to go through the same test of endurance.

But where did he get the idea?

25)  Here is Jock in later years with Sean Connery.

In the mid 60s, just before Jock started the sand dunes training routine, Connery starred in a film called 'The Hill'. It was about a brutal army prison regime in wartime North Africa in which soldiers are broken down and built back up again to turn them 'into men'. 

The main punishment is to run repeatedly up and down a huge man-made hill in the middle of the prison:

26) Two months after Jock became Berwick player-manager, they were given a dream draw in the First Round of the Scottish Cup - Rangers at home. 

Rangers were not the most popular club in Berwick - for several reasons.

Three years before, Rangers had pushed for a restructuring of Scottish football that would have meant Berwick and four other small clubs being thrown out of the League. After a long legal battle, the plan was eventually rejected.

That hadn't been forgotten - and nor had Rangers' previous visit to Berwick in 1960. They won 3-0 in the Cup that day, and their fans celebrated by smashing up the town. This is from the Daily Herald:

Three thousand fans blazed a trail of destruction through Berwick town centre on Saturday night. They smashed 15 shop windows and looted hundreds of pounds worth of goods during an all-night drinking spree.

Publican Arthur Embleton of the Royal Hotel said, "They stole everything in view, including 7,000 cigarettes". The Berwick telephone exchange was choked with calls from publicans seeking police help. Though the fans drank 250 gallons of whisky, publicans said 'we don't want them here again'.

Now in 1967, Rangers were back - and expected to stroll to another easy win against Jock's team. After all, they had never been beaten by a Second Division club.  

27) January 28th 1967

At the start of the match, Rangers launched attack after attack, but they couldn't get past Jock. Then after thirty minutes came Sammy Reid's historic goal, a moment captured in this grainy video footage:

The half time score was 1-0, and in the second half, Jock was still stopping everything. Here he is commanding his area in typical fashion:

They couldn't beat Jock by fair means, so they tried something else. Rangers defender Colin Jackson later recalled what happened: 

We realised that Jock was the guy who was stopping us so Willie Johnston tried to do him. Jock came for a cross and Willie went in slightly over the top. Actually it was waist height and he clattered into Big Jock. But Jock was an old campaigner so the way he turned he gave it back to Willie and broke his ankle.

Berwick held on and Rangers were out. The Scotsman newspaper called it “the most ludicrous, the weirdest, the most astonishing result ever returned in Scottish football.”

28) Berwick were drawn against HIbernian away in the next round, and they nearly caused another upset. They had a goal controversially disallowed and Jock saved a penalty, but in the end they lost 1-0.

What were Rangers doing that day? Having been knocked out, they had a free weekend, and they decided to head south for a match against - Leicester City.  

It was a friendly match, but there was trouble on the terraces, a shower of bottles on the pitch and 30 injuries. Leicester won 1-0. By the time the two clubs played each other again in 1984, Jock was a hero to both sets of supporters.

29) Berwick's next big Cup game, in 1969, was memorable for a different reason - at the time, Jock was doing four jobs at once. He was manager and goalkeeper of Berwick, and had just been appointed by Hearts to the position of 'Assistant manager and coach'. Jock insisted on working for both clubs until Berwick were knocked out of the Cup.

In the run up to the Scottish Cup ties on January 6th, Jock was preparing the Berwick players for their game at Aberdeen, and the Hearts players for their trip to Dundee. Had the two clubs been drawn to play each other the situation would have been even more surreal.

Berwick lost 3-0, but Hearts won 2-1 at Dundee, and they could now claim sole ownership of the Big Man. 

That game at Pittodrie brought the curtain down on Jock's career as a professional footballer. Just like his father, his last game was a defeat in in a Scottish Cup tie. Jock Senior had been 38 and knew his time was up, Jock Junior was now 33, and told the press he was still the best keeper in Scotland. 

But it was time to hang up his gloves, and to devote his energy to inspiring others.

30) Hearts had big plans for Jock Wallace. Second in command at first, they saw him as the long-term successor to boss John Harvey.

Part of Jock's long-term plan at Tynecastle was to blood the youngsters - it was here that he first realised the benefits of giving youth a chance. Two of them, Eddie Thomson and Davie Clunie, were chosen for a Scotland v England Under-23 match at Sunderland in March 1970. Jock wasn't to know it as he traveled down with the two players to Roker Park, but a snow storm that caused the game to be abandoned in the second half would have big long-term consequences.

When the game was called off, he walked back to his hotel in the snow with Rangers assistant boss Willie Thornton. Jock spoke about his ideas - and Thornton was impressed. He went away with an idea of his own.

31) Jock Wallace was appointed Assistant Manager of Rangers in April 1970, though in truth he was more than an 'assistant'. He would have as much influence over the team as boss Willie Waddell.

Rangers' task was clear. In the season just ending, Rangers finished second - behind Celtic. They'd lost in the Scottish Cup - at Celtic. And they'd been knocked out of the League Cup - by Celtic.

Their Old Firm rivals had now won five titles in a row. Rangers hadn't won anything since a Scottish Cup triumph in 1966.

Six months later, they finally had a chance. It was the League Cup Final again - their opponents, of course, Celtic.

Wallace surprised Waddell by suggesting they play 16 year old Derek Johnstone at centre-forward. Waddell said 'He's only a kid', but Jock replied 'He's the only player we have that can beat Billy McNeill in the air'. 

Jock got his way. 

This is what happened:

Rangers won 1-0. From that moment on, Jock never had any doubts about giving youth a chance. If you were good enough, you were old enough - a philosophy that Dave Buchanan, Andy Peake, Gary Lineker, and many other Filbert Street teenagers would later be grateful for.

32)  Just ten weeks after that Final, 66 fans (including 31 teenagers), lost their lives in the Ibrox disaster. 

Here's Jock:

It was the biggest disaster in British football history:

1971 Ibrox disaster - Wikipedia

One consequence was Willie Waddell's desire to completely rebuild the ground, ripping up the old terraces and turning it into a stadium. When the plan was finally ready in 1978, it seems that the prioritizing of stadium redevelopment over team rebuilding was a major factor in Waddell falling out with Jock, who then quit to join Leicester City.

33) September 28th 1971 was a remarkable day in the European Cup Winners Cup.

Chelsea beat Jeunesse Hautcharage 13-0, for a 21-0 aggregate - the highest ever by a British side in Europe. At the Nou Camp, a 19 year old gave a dazzling performance that sealed his move from Distillery in the Irish League to the English First Division - his name, Martin O'Neill. At Ibrox, Rangers sealed a first round aggregate win over Rennes - the first step on the road to the biggest game of Jock's career. 

In the second round, they played Sporting Lisbon. No European tie has ever had a more bizarre conclusion. 

Rangers won their home leg 3-2, and Sporting won the return by the same score. In extra time, both sides scored again, so it was 6-6 overall. The referee told the players that a penalty shoot out was required. 

Rangers missed their first spot kick, and their second, and their third, and their fourth. Sporting scored three and that was it. Rangers trooped disconsolately back to the dressing room.

Then there was a knock on the door, and someone said there'd been a mistake. The penalty shoot out should never have taken place. Rangers should have been declared the winners after extra time on the away goals rule.

No-one knew what to believe, but UEFA confirmed the away goals ruling, and Rangers were in the quarter-finals.

34)  It often had a reputation as the easiest of the three European competitions to win, but after beating the French and Portugese Cup winners, Rangers then had to get past Torino of Italy before facing Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.

This was the Bayern of Gerd Muller, Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Paul Breitner and Uli Hoeness - the spine of the great West German team that outclassed England at Wembley that same spring - what many believe to be the greatest ever German XI.

Rangers drew 1-1 in Munich and then at Ibrox Sandy Jardine scored a famous 25 yarder past Maier after just two minutes. Rangers won 2-0 and they were heading to Barcelona to meet Dynamo Moscow in the final.

Here's the key moments from the match. Great pitch invasion at the end:

And here's Jock with the trophy:

35) Rangers were banned by UEFA for a year because of the fans' behaviour in Barcelona, but they did play one European tie. A Dutch journalist suggested a meeting between the winners of the European Cup and the Cup Winners Cup. UEFA wouldn't sanction it because of the ban, but the game is now recognised as the first ever European Super Cup.

Rangers were beaten by Ajax home and away, with Johann Cruyff outstanding, as you can see here:

Two more contrasting football personalities than Jock Wallace and Johann Cruyff it would be hard to imagine. But the pair got chatting after the match and formed a friendship that endured - one that would lead to Jock almost pulling off the most outrageous transfer coup of the decade when he was manager at Filbert Street.

36) After their European victory, Willie Waddell 'moved upstairs' to become general manager, and Jock was given full control of the team. The task was still the same as when he joined the club. Celtic had won the League in 1971 and 1972, taking their run to seven in a row.

He was still in charge of training, and the sessions at Gullane continued:

The players bought into Jock's harsh regime, many coming back for afternoon training sessions, and that fitness helped them overcome Celtic 3-2 in the Scottish Cup Final after an epic battle.

But they still finished 2nd in the League as Celtic made it eight in a row.

37) The following season, Celtic made it nine. But then finally, in 1974/75, Rangers got the one they really wanted.

They needed a point at Hibs to clinch the title, and it finished 1-1. Here's a fuzzy shot of a great moment:

Rangers fans totally took over Easter Road that day, like Leicester at Upton Park in 1992, only more so. Look at the scenes on the huge East Terrace in this clip:

By the way, that Leicester game at Upton Park came at the climax of the last season of the old Football League system before the Premier League was brought in. And Rangers' win at Hibs clinched the last ever Football League title north of the border, before the ten club Premier League kicked off in 1975/76.

38) Rangers won that first Premier League title, and Jock sealed his legendary status at Ibrox by leading them to all three domestic trophies.  

Also in the glittering line up are the Glasgow Cup and a Reserves trophy.

A new star that season was Martin Henderson, who would later follow Jock south:

39) The cycle of triumph and tragedy that has been a feature of this story continued in March 1978 when Rangers and Scotland star Bobby McKean was found dead in his car, having died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

What happened? There's a Rangers supporters' thread that is pretty illuminating. For some reason the link can't be posted here, but google 'follow follow Bobby McKean' and you'll find it straight away.

Just three days after his death, Rangers played Celtic in the League Cup Final. Jock told the players to win it for Bobby, and that's what they did, winning 2-1 with Gordon Smith's goal the clincher.

 40)   That was the first leg of another treble. The season finished with two historic occasions. Rangers beat Motherwell 2-0 to clinch the title in the last game at Ibrox before the old terraces were bulldozed, and then at Hampden they beat Aberdeen in what was to be Jock's last game before his shock departure.

Leicester's season had been a triple dose of misery. Losing to Third Division Portsmouth in the League Cup, losing at Third Division Walsall in the FA Cup, and finishing bottom of Division One with five wins and 26 goals in 42 games.

When Frank McLintock quit he laid the blame for the awful season at the players' door, saying they were 'completely devoid of passion' and 'a bunch of introverts'. 

Newspapers were speculating on who might replace him as boss. 'Possibles include John Barnwell of Peterborough, Gerry Summers of Gillingham, and Bobby Roberts of Colchester', said a report in early May. 

Not exactly a list to get fans rushing to renew their season tickets.

What a shock it was when, in a Glasgow hotel on May 26th, Big Jock was announced as our new boss.