Always Remembered

Fittingly, Rangers will line-up against Celtic, the same opponents as they did on that fateful day – a day that will never be forgotten by anyone connected to Rangers.

The match on that cold, misty afternoon was heading for a 0-0 draw when Jimmy Johnstone broke the deadlock to give Celtic the lead in the 89th minute.

Then, with just seconds left on the clock, Colin Stein snatched a dramatic equaliser for Willie Waddell’s Light Blues.

The red, white and blue section of the 80,000 all-ticket crowd went wild with delight, while the green and white was thrown into despair.

It was a quite incredible finish. Yet, unseen amid this sea of emotions, a disaster was beginning to unfold at the Rangers end of the ground over on the east terrace at Stairway 13.

As the fans swayed away from the heaving mass, some stumbled halfway down the steep steps. Those around didn’t see them fall and continued their descent.

Suddenly, a tidal wave of fans was engulfed in a terrifying crush. Steel barriers crumpled under the impact.

When the carnage cleared, 66 people had lost their lives and more than 140 lay injured.

Among the dead were 31 teenagers. The youngest victim was a boy of nine, Nigel Pickup, who had travelled to the game from Liverpool.

One woman was among the fatalities. Margaret Ferguson, an 18-year-old from Maddiston near Falkirk, had made a doll for the baby daughter of Rangers centre-forward Stein – the man who scored the late equaliser – and had delivered it to his home just before Christmas.

Five schoolboy pals, four of whom lived in the same street, had gone to the game together from the small town of Markinch in Fife. The five, all members of Glenrothes Rangers Supporters Club, never returned.

There were so many harrowing tales. Eyewitness John Dawson was among the injured. He said: “When the barrier gave way, I was carried along a passageway for 20 yards with three people on top of me and at least three underneath.”

Another survivor of Stairway 13 was Robert Black. He said: “There was so much pressure from behind me that I was tossed down on top of others. People were on the ground and I was tossed over them. I was just carried forward by the surge.”

Both sides of the Old Firm put aside their rivalries and came together to play a game to raise funds for the victims’ families. A combined Rangers and Celtic team took on a Scotland XI at Hampden watched by 81,405 fans.

Rangers and their fans were in mourning. It was, and remains, the darkest day in the history of Scottish football.

The leadership of manager Waddell in response to the disaster will never be forgotten.

He ensured as many of the funerals of the victims as possible had his players present to pay their respects on behalf of the club, while those players also visited the injured in hospital.

Waddell also made it his mission to ensure such a tragedy would never and could never happen at Ibrox again, and the current Ibrox Stadium as it is today is largely down to the foresight of Waddell in the months and years after January 2, 1971.

Sadly, the 1971 disaster was not the first time tragedy had struck at Ibrox.

10 years earlier, two people died on Stairway 13 and 44 were injured and there were two other incidents in the intervening years, although thankfully no fatalities.

In 1902, horror struck when the old wooden terracing collapsed under the weight of too many spectators when Ibrox hosted the Scotland v England international match.

A gaping hole opened up and people plunged below. A total of 25 people died and 587 were injured but remarkably the game continued with many people crammed into other areas of the ground unaware of what was happening.

The match was replayed at Villa Park a month later, finishing 2-2. The proceeds, £1000, went to the Ibrox Disaster Relief Funds.

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