Willie Waddell Era
The only manager to win Rangers a European trophy, and the man who rebuilt Ibrox after 1971.
Willie Waddell (1921-1992) spent his whole 16-year playing career at Rangers as an outside right, winning four league titles and two Scottish Cups and 18 Scotland caps. After managing Kilmarnock to their only league title in 1964-65 and a spell as a sports journalist, he returned to Ibrox as manager in 1969 following the sacking of Davie White. He never won the league as manager, but the 1971 League Cup ended a six-year wait for a trophy, and in 1972 he led Rangers to the European Cup Winners' Cup, beating Dynamo Moscow 3-2 in Barcelona, the club's only continental trophy.
Quick Facts
- Playing career
- Rangers only
- 317 recognised appearances; 4 league titles
- 2 Scottish Cups
- Manager
- 1969-1972 (134 games)
- Earlier
- Kilmarnock manager 1957-65 (league champions 1964-65)
Reader's Guide
Later in 1972, after 134 games in charge, Waddell handed the team to his assistant Jock Wallace and became general manager, then vice chairman in September 1975. The 1971 Ibrox disaster, in which 66 fans died, happened during his time as manager, and he is credited with the reconstruction of the stadium in the late 1970s and early 1980s that made it one of the most modern grounds in Europe. He resigned as vice chairman after four years, worked as a consultant until June 1981, when the club declined to renew his 15,000-pound-a-year contract, and remained a director until his death.
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