FOR Alex MacDonald, it was a joy and honour every time he pulled on the blue jersey.
Born in the Kinning Park area of Glasgow and a supporter for as long as he can remember, the midfielder lived the dream and was an integral part of Rangers’ successes in the 1970s.
MacDonald took time to settle but emerged as the heartbeat of the team that triumphed in Europe in 1972 and went on to win two trebles in the space of three seasons.
He was combative and his energy was boundless. He became a terrific box-to-box player and had the uncanny ability of getting ahead of the strikers to score vital goals.
This scenario was perfectly illustrated at Hampden Park on 25 October 1975 when MacDonald scored the winner in the Old Firm League Cup final to set up what would be a clean sweep of the honours.
Derek Parlane got away from his marker Roddy MacDonald to fire a cross into the Celtic box. Johannes Edvaldsson headed it out but only as far as Quinton Young who headed it back in and Alex dived to send a header past Peter Latchford.
He said: "It was the ultimate for me. It really was a dream come true. To score the winner against Celtic in a major final is something you can’t really describe. I was doing what every one of my mates would have died to do – and I was getting paid for it."
It is Willie Waddell who should take the credit for shaping MacDonald’s career. He had started at St Johnstone where he first worked under Rangers’ legendary Iron Curtain goalkeeper Bobby Brown and then Willie Ormond. David White signed him on 19 November 1968, paying £50,000, and MacDonald scored in his third match – a 3-0 away over Raith Rovers – but he was a peripheral figure at Ibrox in that first season.
When Waddell took over the following year, he encouraged the midfielder to change his game to become a ‘push and run’ player and the seeds of his future success were sown. At the time, though, Rangers were living in the shadow of Celtic and that was especially difficult for a diehard like ‘Doddie’. Maybe his emotions got the better of him when he was sent off in a Scottish Cup third-round tie at Parkhead on 21 February 1970, for going in late on Celtic keeper Evan Williams.
However, nine months later he was involved in the move that gave him his first winner’s medal and Rangers their first trophy in over four years. With 40 minutes gone in the League Cup final against Celtic, he swept a great ball out wide for Willie Johnston whose cross into the box was headed into the net by 16-year-old Derek Johnstone for the cup-winning goal.
It was a rare moment of joy for the success-starved Rangers fans. But while domestic bliss was still a few years away, glory in Europe came the following season and MacDonald was as responsible as anyone for delivering it. He played in all nine matches as Rangers knocked out Rennes of France, Sporting Club from Lisbon, Torino of Italy and then German giants Bayern Munich before defeating Moscow Dynamo in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final in Barcelona. It was MacDonald’s goal at Ibrox which clinched a 2-1 aggregate win over Rennes and he did it again in the quarter-final against Torino when he stole in at the back post to bundle Tommy McLean’s cross over the line.
MacDonald will never forget the memories of Barcelona and he still wears his winner’s medal around his neck. He said: "I had tickets for my brother-in-law and I had to actually throw the tickets of out of the team bus to him. He didn’t get to the hotel because they wouldn’t let him in. He had travelled quite a distance like the rest of the Rangers supporters and I didn’t want to let him down. It was just a sea of blue and it was great to see. That’s one of the memories that stands out for me."
Rangers seemed to be romping to victory in the final after Colin Stein’s strike and two Willie Johnston goals put them three up, but Moscow scored twice late on. Rangers held on and the fans could not contain themselves when Spanish referee Jose Maria Ortiz de Mendibil blew for full time. But MacDonald’s euphoria of winning was coupled with a fear of over-jubilant supporters endangering his well-being.
As he fought arduously through the crowds in an attempt to get to the Nou Camp tunnel, he suddenly felt himself being hoisted into the air and carried to safety. As he looked down he saw that one of the men carrying him was none other than his best pal who had arrived to be his saviour. Alex said: "I had a couple friends at the match who I grew up with in Kinning Park. One of them was Stuart Daniels and he helped look after me on the pitch at the end. I was lifted up and shunted across to the tunnel. Big Stuart was great but the whole situation was unbelievable, I’ve never seen so many people.
"When we flew home and got back to Ibrox a great memory for me was seeing Bobby Shearer in the crowd. He was standing in the pouring rain and it was fantastic to see him in there with the fans."
MacDonald won his first Scottish Cup medal in 1973 when Celtic were beaten 3-2 in the final and he was in the team at Easter Road in March 1975 when a draw with Hibs gave Rangers the title for the first time in 11 years to end Celtic’s stranglehold on Scottish football.
The next three years were phenomenal. Rangers swept the board in 1975/76 and MacDonald scored the second goal – a low volley through a ruck of players – in the 3-1 Scottish Cup final win over Hearts which sealed the treble. They did it again in 1977/78. MacDonald only missed three games as Celtic were beaten in the League Cup final, the title was clinched on the last day with a 2-0 win over Motherwell and then MacDonald scored in the 2-1 Scottish Cup final win over Aberdeen.
He won his last medal the following season, when Hibs were beaten in the second replay of the Scottish Cup final, and then moved to Hearts in 1980. Two years later he took over as manager at Tynecastle and in 1986 he was seven minutes from winning the Premier Division title when Albert Kidd scored against Hearts for Dundee and Celtic won the pennant on goal difference. He was hugely successful as Airdrie boss too, taking them into the top division, two Scottish Cup finals and European football.
These days, having retired from football, he is back to being simply Alex MacDonald, a Rangers fan. Having been at the hub of so many famous Rangers triumphs, he can be proud of his achievements. But he is as humble as ever: "It’s something that you can’t really explain. From childhood and going to school you dream about playing for Rangers and you think that doing that would be the ultimate.
"But then, so many years on I was actually voted into the Hall of Fame to join people like Jimmy Millar and Jim Baxter. It was absolutely unbelievable."