In all, he won three league titles, three Scottish Cups, a League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1972 – with his breakthrough moment being the semi-final of that competition against Bayern Munich.
As he discusses on the Official Rangers Podcast this week, Parlane had made just six top-team appearances prior to being thrust into action against the German side of world-class talent whom he scored against and Gers defeated 2-0 to reach the final in Barcelona.
That was the first of his goals for the club, and indeed, a new role for him under the new management of Jock Wallace the following season was to result in 27 goals as the Light Blues began to turn the domestic tide in their favour.
Parlane explained: “That night, my whole world changed. I didn’t know that at the time and I didn’t feel that at the time, but there is no doubt about it, my world changed that night.
“That was the platform that I needed and I got, and I am thankful for Willie Waddell and Jock Wallace for giving me that chance and I scored that second goal.
“I joined Rangers as a midfield player and sometimes as a centre-half believe it or not – I’d never been a centre-forward.
“So when Jock called me in one day on pre-season and said he was going to sell Colin Stein to Coventry and threw the number nine shirt across the desk at me, I’ll never forget it.
“He said, ‘you go out and make this shirt your own this season son, we’re going to give you a chance.’
Five weeks were to pass between the win over Bayern, and the final with Moscow Dynamo in the Camp Nou. As thousands upon thousands of Gers fans made their plans to reach Barcelona in any which way they could in the days prior to low-cost air travel, excitement and expectation was building too among the players.
Parlane continued: “We were excited and we knew Moscow Dynamo were a strong side.We were confident – we’d beaten some great teams when you go through and look at the teams we had beaten, we had nothing to fear, we really didn’t.
“John Greig was back – which I was gutted about by the way! But seriously, he was back, we had a strong team and we fancied our chances.
“We went on to go 3-0 up which was incredible in Barcelona, before they pulled a couple of goals back. “At the end, we might have been hanging on a little bit, but we managed to win the final.
“We didn’t really fear much and that went on and showed itself in the final.”