BACK in May 1963 Rangers won the Scottish Cup, defeating Celtic 3-0 in a midweek replay at Hampden after the first game had ended in a 1-1 draw.
Reporting on the replay the Evening Times described Jim Baxter and the “ageing Ian McMillan” as Rangers’ master planners, who “delighted their huge support in the 120,000 crowd with the ease with which they flashed past their stricken opponents.”
Seldom, added the paper's football writer, Gair Henderson, “can a Celtic side have been so outplayed from start to finish of any match.
"Rangers won 3-0 but if they had run up seven goals and removed from all time that 7-1 League Cup final stain of 1957, no-one would have claimed they were flattered by the score”.
There were jubilant scenes as Rangers fans celebrated the arrival of the team bus back at Ibrox, and team captain Bobby Shearer was the focus of attention as he held the trophy aloft. Rangers thus added the cup to that season's league title.
The 1963 cup medal received by Jim Baxter is set to fetch up to £4,000 at auction in Glasgow on Friday. The medal, with lion rampant motif, will be among the highlights of McTear’s sporting medals and trophies auction.
James Bruce, of McTear’s, said: “When we see any memorabilia related to the legendary midfielder coming to auction, it really is something special.”
Rangers were in a trophy-grabbing mood at this time.
Davie Wilson, clutching his third cup medal in four seasons, declared: “Once again it was a tremendous thrill to win a cup medal.
"You will notice there is a slight variation in the design of each season’s medal - that’s just as well. It would become monotonous having too many medals of identical shape and colour”.
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