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Pitch Publishing Ltd - Jeff Holmes

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173 pages

English

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Former miner Jock Wallace worked his way up from football's coal face to become one of Scotland's greatest ever managers. As a player he had a love of giant-slaying, while a fruitful coaching apprenticeship included European glory before he won two unprecedented trebles with Rangers. At the height of his popularity in Glasgow he quit for Leicester City, where his typically brutal training regime guided the Foxes to the English First Division. After a spell at Motherwell, he moved back to Ibrox but was sacked after just two trophies in three seasons. Seville was the next port of call, followed by Colchester where he worked wonders to keep the Us in the Football League. Sadly, the great man was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease during his time at Layer Road. When he died in 1996, his popularity in Glasgow gave rise to a suitably huge and colourful shrine at Ibrox.

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Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	04 avril 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781909626751
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2014 Pitch Publishing A2 Yeoman Gate Yeoman Way Durrington BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Jeff Holmes, 2014
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978 1 90962 632 4 eBook ISBN: 978 1 90962 675 1
--- Ebook Conversion by www.eBookPartnership.com
Contents
Dedication
Thanks
Introduction
Foreword
Prologue
It s Early Days
Learning His Trade
Ripping Up The Form Book
Hearts And Minds
The Promised Land
Wallace And Vomit!
The European Dream
In Charge
The Cupboard Is Bare
No Ten In A Row
Three n Easy For Gers
Turbulent Tour
The Viking Warrior
Trophies Galore
Jock Wallace: The Silver Fox
Jock s Boy
Well At Home
The Second Coming
Keeping The Connection
Trouble Across The Water
The Party s Over
Sunshine, Sangria And Soccer
The Final Insult
Off To Essex
The Barca Bears
Parkinson s Disease
Jock Wallace: Rangers Legend
Bibliography
The Jock Wallace Song
Photographs
For my wife, Elaine
Thanks
I T was testimony to the popularity of Jock Wallace that I received so much help and assistance in writing this book. Many of the Barcelona Bears were only too happy to chat about Jock and recalled, with great fondness, memories of their time together both on and off the park. The Barca Bears are heroes to many thousands of Light Blues supporters who still remember the European Cup Winners Cup success with great fondness.
A good friend, Bobby Roddie, put me in touch with the Bears and I was able to grab relaxed and informal sit-down chats with Alex MacDonald, Peter McCloy, Tommy McLean, Willie Mathieson, Alfie Conn and Captain Fantastic John Greig. A special thanks also to Pam Jackson, wife of Bomber , who co-ordinated the interviews that day, and helped make it one to remember for a lifelong Rangers supporter.
A day out in the Ibrox Members Lounge, again courtesy of Bobby, brought further chats with Willie Johnston, Colin Jackson and Derek Johnstone. I tracked down Bill McMurdo, Jock s onetime agent, who was fantastic and open and put me in touch with Willie Henderson.
Likewise, Graham Clark, Jock s friend and work colleague, who was only too happy to share details of their close working relationship. Graham was fantastic - although there was just one secret that he couldn t spill! But even just getting to use material from Graham s 1984 book on Jock, Football is the Wallace Religion , was a great help.
When I managed to track down Nicky Walker, who kept goal for Jock at Leicester City, Motherwell and Rangers, he was just the nicest guy. Warm, friendly and very candid, he held a genuine affection for his former boss.
A real breakthrough arrived when my daughter Carey stumbled across Paul Friar at his place of work and they got talking about football. She called me that night and said, I was talking to this guy today who played for Leicester City in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I met up with Paul and he was another of Jock s former players who had nothing but good things to say. He put me in touch with Alan Young, Jock s main striker at Leicester, and the man tasked with looking after a young Gary Lineker. Alan was a joy to talk to.
I was invited through to Falkirk Football Club by Alex Totten to talk about his relationship with Jock in the early to mid-1980s, when Totts was assistant to Jock at Ibrox. I could have sat talking to Alex for hours, and it wasn t just the tea and excellent shortbread!
Journalists Fraser Elder, Kenny McDonald and David McCarthy were also a big help. Veteran sportswriter Fraser was able to fill in many blanks on Jock s Berwick days and was a constant source of enthusiasm during our many chats. Kenny regaled me with tales of Jock and very kindly helped edit the manuscript. David Williams proved an invaluable source of information from Jock s days at Bedford Town.
And last, but certainly by no means least, is Ally McCoist, the current manager of Glasgow Rangers. Super Ally took time out from his hectic and demanding schedule to welcome my son Derek and I to Murray Park for a lengthy chat about the manager who showed great faith in Rangers greatest ever goalscorer. It was another wonderful experience, and a special thank you to Laura Tarbet for arranging.
To everyone who helped out - you re simply the best!
And a special thanks to Paul, Jane and all at Pitch Publishing - a real winning team on and off the park!
Introduction
I T was September 1977 and I was the luckiest kid alive. I had just turned 17 and was working as the boy in Scottish Television: the do this, do that lad who helped keep each department ticking over.
No two days were ever the same and in just one calendar month this young and excited star spotter had met movie greats Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren - and secured their signatures. Others would follow - Paul and Linda McCartney, Sylvester Stallone, Cliff Richard, but they would mean very little compared to a number of autographs I got one very ordinary Monday morning.
I was ambling past reception when a security man happened to mention that The Rangers were coming in to use one of our conference rooms to view tapes of a forthcoming European opponent. What time? I asked excitedly. 10am. Enough time to nip down to the locker room and get my brand new autograph book, or so I thought.
Off I went down to the general stores and couldn t believe it when I was packed off to Central Station with one of the drivers to pick up several crates for the film library, off the London train, if I remember right. We were gone for half an hour and on the way back up Hope Street to STV, and with the traffic lights stuck at red for an eternity, I jumped out the van and made straight for the front desk. The look on the security man s face said it all. You missed them, they re already in the room.
Dejectedly, I started to walk off, when he shouted me back. A taxi had drawn up at the front door and out hurried Jock Wallace, manager of Rangers. Obviously late, and wary of setting a bad example to his players, he started bounding towards reception. It was now or never. But was it a good idea to stop this giant of a man in his tracks for a request so futile? Go on, you only live once.
Excuse me, Mr Wallace, I said with a mixture of nerves and excitement. Can I have your autograph please? MY autograph, he smiled. Of course son. You a Rangers fan then? he asked. Absolutely, and I hope we beat FC Twente next week in Holland. So do I son, he said. We were having a conversation!
He turned to the security man and asked if all the players were in. They are, Mr Wallace, and with that he looked at me, and then at my barren autograph book, and said, It doesn t look like you ve got many autographs. Did you not get the players when they came in?
After I recounted my tale of woe, he said, Come on, we ll get them now. The security man asked me to show Mr Wallace to the conference room. Me! We walked along the corridor and he asked who my favourite player was. John Greig. Aye, he s no bad, he said, and with that we were inside a room full of heroes.
The manager said, Before we get started today, I want you all to sign, eh, what s your name son? Jeff. I want you all to sign Jeff s autograph book, cause the pages are blank, and he let out a small chuckle. We ll fill them up for you son, and with that he was off. But I wasn t.
One by one the players signed my book: Tommy McLean, Colin Jackson, Derek Johnstone, Peter McCloy etc, and the one and only John Greig.
I was speechless. Once I had secured each and every signature, I walked up to the manager and said, Thank you very much Mr Wallace. He turned to me and said, You re welcome son. I would invite you to watch the film with us but you might get the sack, so you better get back to your work, and with that he smiled and I toddled off.
Mr Wallace, you made a young man very happy that day, and it s something I ll never forget. You were one in a million.
Jeff Holmes, April 2014
Foreword
T HERE was far more to big Jock than his gruff, sergeant-major type image: far more substance than the way he was portrayed in public. He was both clever and shrewd, and one instance stands out from all others. I was going through a bit of a bad patch and he called me into his office one morning and said, I ve had Cardiff City on the phone, what d you wanna do , and he looked at me. I said, What do you mean? He said, Cardiff, d you wanna go? I told him I didn t want to go anywhere. Okay, he said, I ll tell them.
I left the office determined to make my mark at Rangers, but the more I thought about it the more I reckon he was kidding me on. I m convinced he just wanted to see my reaction and find out if I was ready to fight for my place or take the easy option and leave.
To this day, I still don t believe Cardiff had called about me, but I thought it was a fantastic example of his man-management skills.
How would I describe my first impressions of big Jock? I hate to use the word fear, because it wasn t fear. I was more in awe of him. He was a big, powerful man, and commanded total respect. When you meet someone like Jock for the first time you certainly don t forget him.
His first game in charge was a 3-0 loss at Aberdeen and we soon found out that he liked a wee bit of music on the away trips. I recall him smacking the odd player who wasn t singing, but he lov