Jock Wallace - The Extraordinary Life of a Leicester Legend

[davieG]

1 hour ago, kushiro said:

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.

I was there in the Popular side right in the middle of hundreds of Rangers fans with my wife, my then girlfriend, this was her first match she'd been too.

 

We had a Rangers guy in front of us effing everything, suddenly he stopped apologised to my girl but then turned back and carried on with effing everything.

 

Suddenly all hell broke loose and I've never ever seen then or since so many bottles flying through the air onto the pitch, where did they all come from there must have been hundreds of them. The police came over and lined up alongside the pitch but it made no difference the bottles kept on being thrown at the police and onto the pitch. The police then started charging into the crowd and grabbing any Rangers fan they could get their hands on, It eventually quietened down and the game carried on.

 

Pretty scary stuff though and my girlfriend wasn't too impressed to say the least.

[davieG]

21 minutes ago, davieG said:

I was there in the Popular side right in the middle of hundreds of Rangers fans with my wife, my then girlfriend, this was her first match she'd been too.

 

We had a Rangers guy in front of us effing everything, suddenly he stopped apologised to my girl but then turned back and carried on with effing everything.

 

Suddenly all hell broke loose and I've never ever seen then or since so many bottles flying through the air onto the pitch, where did they all come from there must have been hundreds of them. The police came over and lined up alongside the pitch but it made no difference the bottles kept on being thrown at the police and onto the pitch. The police then started charging into the crowd and grabbing any Rangers fan they could get their hands on, It eventually quietened down and the game carried on.

 

Pretty scary stuff though and my girlfriend wasn't too impressed to say the least.

Just to add we were never threatened at any time and as the game ended plenty of Rangers fans came and had a chat and laugh. I'm even think the whole episode was seen more as a laugh, stupid perhaps but not what I'd call violent.

[kushiro]

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 League 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.

Edited 12 September 2022 by kushiro

[kushiro]

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.

 

Here 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.

 

 

Edited 13 September 2022 by kushiro

[kushiro]

41)  Those McLintock comments about players' lack of passion were actually echoed by Jock when he arrived at Filbert Street - 'I am sure there is a lot of spirit and character lying dormant within them and it is up to me to bring it to the surface', he said

 

One of the first to understand what Jock meant by this was 17 year old Gary Lineker. Early in Jock's reign he recalls coming in at half time in a reserve game having scored twice when:

 

“He walked in and slammed the door behind him and started going, ‘You, ya wee English s***e, ye,’ and he’s looking straight at me. He walked up to me - I was tiny in those days - and he picked me up by the scruff of the neck and pinned me against the dressing-room wall. I was trembling.

 

“At the end of the game he walked in again and said to me, ‘My office, 9.30 in the morning.’ I never slept a wink - I thought my football career was over.

 

“I made sure I was early. At 9.15 I was sat outside his office like a naughty boy outside the headmaster’s office and eventually he summoned me in.

“I sat down and he said, ‘Wee man, you were magnificent last night. I just want to keep your feet on the ground!’”

 

 

42)  In his office, Jock installed a foot high statue of his hero William Wallace. Then, just a month into the season, he was called back to his homeland when his father passed away, aged 67. There was talk in the press that he might even be back in Scotland permanently - Ally MacLeod stepped down as national team boss after the debacle of the 1978 World Cup - and Jock was considered a front runner for the job. In the end, the other 'Big Jock' was appointed - Jock Stein, who'd only just joined Leeds United after years as Wallace's main rival at Celtic.

 

 

43) Gary Lineker's first goal for the club was one of the most important of his career.

 

We'd spent the whole season in the bottom half of the table but never looked in real trouble - until April when we took one point from five games. Things were looking bleak, and Jock reckoned we'd go down if we didn't take at least three points from our last four games (this was in the days of two points for a win). 

 

The first of those games was at Notts County, who were lying 6th in the table. Lineker's goal gave us a 1-0 win, and suddenly the pressure was off. People at the club were using the phrase 'The Great Escape' after that win, which might seem strange as we were never in the bottom three - but it tells you just how much we'd been in free fall. Without that Lineker goal, history could have been very different.

 

 

44)  This was our Youth team that season. 

 

 

Of the 18 players pictured, exactly half also played for the first team in 1978/79.  This youth policy reached its peak in the last game of the season when Jock selected the youngest ever Leicester City side for the game at Bramall Lane.

 

 

45)   This was how Jock reflected on his first season:

 

During this transition period the enthusiasm and ambition that I have has been echoed throughout the club - by players, the staff and the board - and I know that the fans are behind us. They can see the youngsters getting their chance. Every one of them has gone into every game - which ever City team he is playing in - by giving 100%. 

 

Having finished in our lowest League position for 30 years, you might think that was too rosy an analysis. But in fact, the fans really were behind the team - and Jock. 

 

 

[Wymsey]

My Father's Father was the chairman of LCFC when Jock helped to win the Second Division title in 1979/1980.

[kushiro]

46) Jock was impressed with Alan Young's hattrick for Oldham against us in the Cup. He told Martin Henderson, best man at Young's wedding, to contact him and say Leicester were interested. It would have helped that he looked just like a Rangers player in that Oldham shirt. Jock signed him in the summer of 1979.

 

 

 

47)  A key result that season was a 2-1 win at St, Andrews in December, with Frank Worthington making his Birmingham debut. Goals from Bobby Smith and Martin Henderson gave us the points which took us up to 4th. Above us were Chelsea, Newcastle and Luton - but none of those three would end up promoted.

 

The following week, Alan Young's form led to him being called up to the Scotland squad for the first time. But his international story was uncannily similar to Jock's twenty years earlier. As soon as he was chosen, his form seemed to desert him. He went sixteen games without a goal and he, too, was destined never to win a cap. 

 

48)  After Harlow Town stunned Filbert Street with a late equaliser in the Third Round of the Cup, Jock decided to make one change for the replay, bringing in Gary Lineker for Pat Byrne. Lineker wasn't fully fit, but he recalls 'I was too scared to tell Jock, and I was dreadful'.

 

Harlow won 1-0 - a shock almost as big as Berwick 1 Rangers 0. 

 

 

49)   In an interview in April as the promotion race neared its climax, Jock said he wasn't just aiming for the top three, he wanted City to be champions. 'I want to beat every bastard', he said. This was the interview, with the Mirror, in which he talked about the depressed state of the club when he arrived, quoted right at the start of this thread.

 

Here's a key goal from the run-in - Bobby Smith's equaliser at Bristol Rovers:

 

 

Bonus point if you can identify the Rovers player on the right - later a much-loved Premier League boss.

 

50)   There have been some great old Leicester videos uploaded to youtube by a guy called Nigel Bennett, mostly from Jock's era, The ones from this season give a real flavour of the excitement of that promotion race. 

 

nigel bennett leicester - YouTube

 

In the end, we did it - the final day win at Orient giving us the Division Two title for the sixth time in 49 seasons - classic yo-yo club behaviour. How long would we stay up this time? 

 

Jock had his sights set a little higher. 'We're going to win the title', he said.

[kushiro]

51)    At the start of the 1980/81 season, Mark Wallington talked about the new mood on the terraces: Standing in the goal in front of the Kop I could hardly believe the depth of feeling and support. It's so different from a few years ago and the players thrive on it. Bill Anderson of the Mercury said this: There is a growing fanaticism that I never thought possible at City. 

 

The man responsible for this change was Jock Wallace. Here's Anderson again: 'To the fans, Wallace IS Leicester City'.

 

Jock would say in return how much he appreciated the support from the Kop. Three chants define that era. There was the classic 'When You're Smiling' with the hand waving, there was the Alan Young chant, with the left to right arm waving ('He's here, he's there, he's every f***ing where), and of course Jock's own chant - (sing his name to a 'three blind mice' melody and you'll have it).

 

52)  Jock signed yet another Scottish striker that summer:

 

 

But Melrose didn't score his first goal until December, by which time we were in the bottom three.

 

 

53)   We suffered another shock FA Cup defeat - losing 3-1 at Third Division Exeter. But three days later came the surprise result of the whole Football League season - our 2-1 win at Anfield which ended Liverpool's unbeaten home run of 85 games (a record which still stands).  Here are two rare photos of the goals - Byrne's equaliser and Melrose's winner.

 

 

 

54)  The next shock was Johan Cruyff almost joining the club. Jock's old friendship with him led to month-long negotiations with the deal being that Cruyff would be paid 4,000 pounds for each of our remaining 11 matches. Jock believed the money would be recouped from increased attendances.

 

The negotiations became public on February 25th;

 

But at the last minute, the deal fell through. Spanish club Levante had an option to sign him which they finally exercised, and in the programme for the Forest game three days later, Jock was left to explain that he had been '100% sure Cruyff would sign', and that the whole thing had not been a PR exercise to boost ticket sales. 

 

55)  We had been in the bottom three since November, and despite famous victories against Liverpool (twice), Spurs (twice), Man U and Arsenal, our relegation was pretty much sealed with two games still to play. So much for winning the title. 

 

Jock said this in his last programme notes of the season: I made a fool of myself when I predicted we would win the Championship and I have taken a bit of stick about it ever since. But if I did not feel and believe that at the start of the season I have no right to be here.

 

Fine words, but surpassed by this shrewd analysis from Of Fossils And Foxes:

 

Jock reveled in the Braveheart approach to the game. Yet he could often appear a rather naive tactician; and it did not help that his assistant Ian MacFarlane seemed hewn from the same craggy rock. The abiding memory of the latter years of the Wallace regime was of Jock and Ian rising together from the City bench, snarling and shaking their fists to demand more frenetic effort, rather than conveying any more subtle shift in playing pattern.

 

Despite going down, Jock's job was not in danger. Most fans still believed in him, and the board were keen for him to see out his long contract.

[kushiro]

56)   1981/82. Jock's last season at Leicester.

 

In October, he took us to Berwick to celebrate the centenary of his old club. On the cover of the programme was a picture of him defying Rangers in the 1967 Cup tie.

 

 

A couple of weeks later, as if prompted by that reminder of his own goalkeeping style, Jock made some very revealing comments about Mark Wallington. They came after a 4-1 win at Charlton in which Wallington was outstanding. Jock said: One save was the best I have ever seen him make, when he took a cross ball under fantastic pressure. If he had been taught to take crosses like that in his younger days he would have been right up there alongside other world class keepers instead of being simply a very good club keeper.

 

How much did Jock try to coach Wallington? Those comments suggest Jock was trying to remake him in his own image - a keeper with the courage to come off his line and command his area with authority. It's an issue which reappeared later in the season, as we'll see.

 

 

57)  In that Charlton game Gary Lineker scored twice - and it was that brace that finally cemented his position. He wouldn't be dropped again. Since making his debut three seasons earlier he had been in and out of the team and had made fewer than 40 appearances in total. It really did take a long time for him to develop into the world class striker we all know. 

 

Here he is scoring a classic Lineker goal against Watford in December - a through ball from midfield and his pace means the last defender has no chance:

 

 

58)  The most dramatic game of Jock's reign was the FA Cup quarter-final against Shrewsbury. Jock's experience as both a goalkeeper and a manager helps us to understand better the drama of that day.

 

With Leicester 1-0 up came the famous moment when Wallington charged out to stop an equaliser. 'Wallington's bravery saving Leicester City.' Barry Davies says in the commentary, 'And that really must have hurt him'. It was classic Wallace-style goalkeeping - the kind that we have seen throughout this tale - from both Jock and his father. Wallington had clearly listened to Jock's advice about dominating the area.

 

And he had no choice but to listen again when Jock ran onto the field to lift him back to his feet so he could carry on, despite having almost zero mobility. 

 

 

Later in the commentary Barry Davies calls out Wallace for this error. By the time Wallington was substituted, Shrewsbury had taken advantage and were 2-1 up.

 

Here's Jock back on the field after Alan Young had donned the gloves and himself got hurt:

 

 

And watching on the left as Lynex takes over:

 

 

But if Wallace can be criticized for not acting sooner, he also deserves credit for having created the team spirit which drove that heroic fightback, and for helping forge the bond between players and fans so evident on that day.

 

Here's the full story:

 

 

59) Three points for a win had been introduced that season, and it added an extra dimension to the promotion race. This was the table with two months of the season remaining:

 

 

We're down in 12th, but after our FA Cup exertions, we have a remarkable five games in hand on Blackburn, who were then occupying the third promotion place.

 

A series of wins put us right back in the picture. There was a dizzying spell when fans were repeatedly doing sums no-one had ever done before - three points x so many games in hand = which possible position?  But an even more impressive surge came from Norwich City who, as you can see, were in 13th and without the games in hand. They'd just signed Martin O'Neill, and he led them on a charge up the table that set up Leicester v Norwich on May 1st as the key game.

 

Norwich went four up in less than an hour. It finished 4-1, and though we could still do it if we won all our games, we ran out of steam and O'Neill led the Canaries into the top flight.

 

60)  So it was double disappointment - no promotion, and we'd lost in the FA Cup semi-final of course. Then came the shock news that Jock was quitting - for Motherwell. 

 

Leicester fans were left with only memories. Here's a classic Jock quote from the best moment of his four years at Filbert Steet - the win at Orient that sealed the Division Two title:

 

 

 

Final part of the story tomorrow.

[JamesWelshFox]

My first manager and what a top bloke, what you'd give to have him now. It is different now, players represent massive investment and as a result are harder to manage, but I reckon jock could still handle them  Time we had a strong manager and backed him over the players again. In recent times, Nige and Claudio might have looked like they were all friends together with the players but I suspect the players knew there was a line they did not dare cross with them, not so sure Rogers has that which is a shame because he is a good coach but feel we need a scary bugger like Jock once again.

[davieG]

9 minutes ago, JamesWelshFox said:

My first manager and what a top bloke, what you'd give to have him now. It is different now, players represent massive investment and as a result are harder to manage, but I reckon jock could still handle them  Time we had a strong manager and backed him over the players again. In recent times, Nige and Claudio might have looked like they were all friends together with the players but I suspect the players knew there was a line they did not dare cross with them, not so sure Rogers has that which is a shame because he is a good coach but feel we need a scary bugger like Jock once again.

Rodgers seems to have pissed off quite a few players whether that is because he has been strong by demanding better and not getting it or by being weak and just leaving them out in the cold with no explanation.

[JamesWelshFox]

Or asking them to play in ways not suited to the individuals he has ? Ndidi will never be the most creative player, or even the most reliable passer of the ball, but if you just tell him to go out there and disrupt anything heading towards our goal he is priceless. Some don't know what he wants of them, some can't deliver what he wants of them, all are having their confidence destroyed.

[kushiro]

61)  As we appointed Gordon Milne as our new boss, Jock got down to pre-season training at Motherwell in the usual way.

 

 

Yes, that is a very young Gary McAllister looking incredibly apprehensive about the sand hills, two years before he joined Leicester.

 

62)   After an uneventful year at Motherwell, Jock went home. He was appointed Rangers boss again in October 1983, and they quickly won a trophy, beating Celtic in the League Cup Final. The match is remembered for two iconic Jock moments - 

 

This comment before the game:

 

Then this at the end:

 

 

That's STV reporter Graham Stewart.

 

Jock was sacked by Rangers in 1986, after which they appointed Graeme Souness. 

 

63)  Jock's next move was to follow John Toshack and Terry Venables to Spain to take charge of Sevilla. He decided to take an old acquaintance from Leicester as an interpreter. Raymonde Fernandez owned a Spanish restaurant that Jock often visited when he was boss at Filbert Street. Thanks to Jock's recommendations, the place became a favourite of Midlands football managers.  (Anyone with more details about this restaurant or Senor Fernandez please tell us below).

 

Jock didn't have much success in Spain, either with his team or with his language classes (unlike Gary Lineker), and he was shown the door by the Sevilla owners who said his inability to communicate with his players had undermined his position. 

 

64) Jock's final job was at Colchester, and he would end his career with one last act of managerial heroism.

 

The situation was this. In 1988/89, one club went down automatically from the Football League to the Conference. With just a few matches to go, it came down to a dog fight between two managers - Jock Wallace of Colchester, and Brian Little of Darlington.

 

Wallace had joined just a few weeks earlier when the Us looked doomed, but he had put them on the verge of a great escape. There then followed a most extraordinary run of results that is worth recording in full as a fitting way to conclude this long tale:

 

April 15th    Lincoln City 1 Colchester 1 - an 83rd minute equaliser salvages a point, but they're still two points behind Darlington.

 

April 21st    Colchester 1 Carlisle 1 - a last minute equaliser gives them a point, and they're just one behind Darlington.

 

April 25th    Colchester 2 Wrexham 1 - a winner two minutes from time gives them three points (but Darlington won too).

 

April 29th    Darlington 1 Colchester 2 - the big one - after Little's side had gone ahead, Jock's men fight back to move off the bottom.

 

May 1st     Colchester 3 Halifax 2 - after Halifax had been two up, they fight back for another unlikely but vital three points.

 

So in five games in a row they had shown that resilience and spirit that Jock valued above all other things.  They'd hauled themselves to a position of (almost) safety. They followed that up with convincing wins over Exeter and Torquay to leave Brian Little's side facing the big drop out of the League.

 

Sadly, Jock's health deteriorated the following season and though still only 54, he retired from the Colchester job, and from football for good. He would die six years later.

 

65)  For City fans of a certain age, Jock will always have a special place in their memories. He was a giant - metaphorically and literally - as this photo taken at Hazel Street Primary School, just a few yards from the East Stand at Filbert Street, emphasizes.

 

 

 

 

[CrazyKopCorner]

23 hours ago, JamesWelshFox said:

My first manager and what a top bloke, what you'd give to have him now. It is different now, players represent massive investment and as a result are harder to manage, but I reckon jock could still handle them  Time we had a strong manager and backed him over the players again. In recent times, Nige and Claudio might have looked like they were all friends together with the players but I suspect the players knew there was a line they did not dare cross with them, not so sure Rogers has that which is a shame because he is a good coach but feel we need a scary bugger like Jock once again.

He was my first manager too and I was very young and he was god like to me. There would be carnage in our dressing room if a fully fledged Jock were to get his hands on some our Lilly liverrd lot - Brendan would literally be out of the window

[kushiro]

They love Jock so much at Rangers. I put this story on their forum this morning and it's getting a pretty good response:

 

Jock Wallace - an Extraordinary Life | FollowFollow.com