THEY were just fans at a football match. Spectators at a game, a banal everyday occurrence. They were there to support their team, Rangers, but they never came home. Instead on Stairway 13 at Ibrox Park, they met with crushing death and injury. Even 50 years later the sheer unfairness of it makes you weep – no one should die for being a football spectator, no one should die in such a manner. Remember the 66. For the sake of our common humanity, remember the 66. I told last week of how the disaster unfolded, and now I will deal with the aftermath. It was the sight of the bodies laid out in lines on the turf of Ibrox Park that broke hearts all over Scotland and beyond. Only some grainy newspaper pictures survive to tell the tale, as there was no filming of what happened – a mercy, given what unfolded that cold, foggy evening in Glasgow.
ALEX FERGUSON has paid tribute to Jim McLean, describing the former Dundee United manager as the toughest opponent he ever faced in the opposite dugout.
McLean, who died this weekend at the age of 83, shook up Scottish football along with Ferguson in the 1980s as their United and Aberdeen teams challenged the traditional hegemony of Old Firm pair Celtic and Rangers.
Inside three days in May 1983, Ferguson led Aberdeen to their European Cup Winners’ Cup triumph and McLean guided United to their one and only league title.
Former Manchester United boss Ferguson said: “My adversaries in England were always Jose Mourinho, Rafa Benitez or Arsene Wenger. But, believe me, my biggest adversary in football was Jim McLean.”
Dundee United announce death of Jim McLean
Former manager guided Dundee United to European Cup semis, Uefa Cup victories over Barcelona and the 1983 Scottish title. By Press Association Saturday 26 Dec 2020, 9:03 PM Dec 26th 2020, 9:03 PM 6,910 Views 3 Comments
Jim McLean, who passed away today.
Image: EMPICS Sport
Image: EMPICS Sport
PEOPLE OF A certain age simply wouldn’t believe the idea that Dundee United were once one of the best teams in Europe.
The idea that they could come within a goal of reaching the 1984 European Cup final, that they would knock out Barcelona in the 1987 Uefa Cup en route to the final, it just seems improbable today.