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Dominant - Alchemy (1991/92): Part 2 (Patreon)

Published:
2022-06-21 06:01:01
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Things were going from bad to worse for Walter Smith and Andy Goram as John and Andy pick things up with Martyn. Out of two cups in the space of a week as a result of goalkeeping blunders, Smith's man management came to the fore as fortunes slowly turned around. Finally deciding on a settled front two didn't hurt that either. The boys discuss the cup disasters, the final assessment of MoJo and some unsung heroes. 

If you are interested in joining Martyn and some of the panellists for a live Zoom q&a show to mark the halfway stage of the series then just shout and it shall be done!

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Comments

Craig Fryatt

Defo up for the zoom q and a

Callum Dinnen

I didn't actually realise Johnston was only 26 when we signed him, I'd assumed given his career trajectory with us and post Rangers that he would have been 28 or 29, we get a couple of good seasons and sell him on as he declines. His decline seems to have come very early on - he last plays for Scotland at 28, and he's back playing for Hearts at the age of 30 - given his age and how good he was when we signed him, it feels like he should have had the sort of career at Rangers that Hateley did.

john cowden
>>86192172

Fair point. I could only surmise he lost his appetite for the game. I do think (In hindsight) keeping a Scottish striker of his calibre would have helped domestically and in Europe. 44 league game season , you need a squad and of the six group games in 92/93 how many did hateley ans mccoist play together ? Plus as tynecastle showed there was the potential to play all three together.

Callum Dinnen
>>86192172

The Hateley and McCoist legendary partnership is an interesting one because I think people would be surprised at how few games they would have actually played together - Hateley only plays 30 league games in 1991/92 for example. On the striking situation, it's maybe a wee bit surprising that given the foreigner rule and given the previous chemistry Johnston and McCoist had shown together that it wasn't Hateley who fell by the way side, particularly as Johnston was actually the youngest of the three, although their career trajectories after 1991 would show that letting Johnston go was the correct decision.

Allan Rutherford

Martyn, did it come up in your research that Walter had a choice of Chris Waddle or Dale Gordon after Steven left and, obviously, went for Gordon?

Douglas Innes

Excellent as always , never really knew Goram was under so much pressure yes it was always talked about retrospectively but only being on dry land 3 days out of 14 you missed a lot of games so never actually saw all the highlights

Martyn Ramsay
>>86192172

Both Souness and Smith fully believed in Hateley and thankfully so as he’d carry Rangers after McCoist’s injury in 93. Think there was also a real sense by 91 that Johnston was a bit restless again. It’s a good point about McCoist and Hateley and one I’ve noted and will talk about in future episodes. It’s basically 18 months together as a settled two and a few smaller injuries in there too.

Martyn Ramsay
>>86193954

He was linked so often throughout that period. Soft spot for the club too. He’d have that encore with Sheffield Wednesday but not sure he’d have been right for us. Maybe too similar to those on the other side. Gordon had an engine in him too as well as being creative.

Callum Dinnen
>>86192172

Fully agree on Hateley and it's interesting that as he (and Laudrup) are carrying the club to 7 in a row, Johnston is getting a free transfer from Hearts to join Falkirk. In some respects it just feels like Johnston should have had the Rangers career Hateley did, and Hateley should have had the Rangers career Johnston did - get a couple of cracking years out of him and sell him just as he's declining. Like you, I'm glad Smith had the belief in Hateley that he did. I can't help but feel though, given the player you all waxed lyrical about that we were getting in 1989 (I'm just too young to remember it and 1991/92 is the first Rangers season I remember), Johnston definitely underachieved in the latter part of his career, which is a shame. On the Hateley and McCoist partnership, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they started less than 100 games together.

Graham Roy

Brill as always! Zoom type chat sounds good as well!

Martin Davies

Brilliant series and another great show. This was my first season as a ST holder and I remember the season vividly. The Hibs semi was a nightmare, and to top it off the supporters bus left about 15 of us behind. I'd have got rid of Goram after Hearts, Hibs and Sparta, but goes to show what I know! Huge kudos for Smith sticking by him. The 2 Ukrainians were a major disappointment for me. Oleg never recovered and Miko was not a good fit for our side. I was never that keen on Dale Gordon, he was a workman like wide midfielder rather than the direct replacement for Walters. He just lacked creativity but did a better job defensively. I was also at Hampden for the game vs Celtic. Never a red card but what a night and what a performance from 10 men for 85 mins.

Callum Dinnen

For my sins I'm actually going to look up the Sparta Prague game. I can still hear Jock's Brown's stunned commentary from the season review (the ball's in the net...Sparta have scored!) but I can't picture the goal at all.

Martyn Ramsay
>>86197654

Fair assessment of Oleg although there’s a fairly obvious reason for why that didn’t turn out well but I think it’s a little harsh on Miko. He was very well respected within the dressing room and - not for the first time with foreign imports to Ibrox - the bigger issue were other players not on his wavelength. Arguably they were the problem, not him. Miko was a replacement for Walters and Gordon for Steven. Neither Gordon or Steven were out and out wingers but both had a good engine, worked hard. Gordon lacked the class obviously but was still a fine signing who did us a turn for a while and moved on.

Gordon Mac

I think there was pressure on Walter being honest, Miko looked like he could not be arsed and was a lazy bass. Goram, as discussed, was a disaster. People still had there doubts he was the man to take us forward. For me personally I wanted Goram, never thought Woods recovered from his illness, we knew what Andy could do, Miko on the other hand I'll be honest never thought he would do it, pretty much wrote him off early doors

Ryan Macdonald

Would love to join the live q&a guys.

Mark

Johnston was moved-on at the right time (in my opinion). When you look at what he did after leaving us, he really doesn't enjoy any sustained success anywhere until several years later after pitching-up in the nascent MLS, which really was not of a great standard back then. His international career had ended prematurely and his returns seemed to diminish with each club he joined before heading to the Midwest. Perhaps the pressure took a toll on him?

John Davidson

Would love a live show during the summer.

Paul Dunnachie

I had forgotten just how long the poor form of Goram went on for, for a season that we scored so many goals in and were very relaxed leaders in, it did start with more than a few bumps in the road. I remember a strange atmosphere during that Aberdeen defeat at a Ibrox - it wasn’t met with wailing or a lot of dissenting voices.. expectation was that Rangers would get back into form soon enough. Why we did see by November was a team settling into place with each other, growing in confidence and really bonding. That 4-2 game against Hibs at a Ibrox saw some cracking goals - worth folk having a look for the video. A live show on Zoom would be tremendous fun.

Martin Davies
>>86197654

Martyn, you mentioned on a few of the prior episodes that Souness knew a radical change in style was required for Europe but essentially "bottled it" and went with what he knew with absolute certainty would work in the domestic game - I.e. leading to Spackman replacing Wilkins. In Miko, we went against the grain by signing a very cultured player who was the polar opposite of an all action, up and at em midfielder in the Spackman or McCall mould. Maybe had he been in the company of Laudrup and Gascoigne during his first 3 years at the club, we'd have seen Miko really showcase his talents. A case of right player wrong time perhaps.

Paul Dunnachie
>>86207948

I was a huge fan of Johnston but agree that he left at the right time. As someone said on the pod - he looked bored.. maybe the novelty of being a Catholic playing for Rangers had a shelf life? Johnston worked his socks off for Rangers, great player for us over his time but time was up by October 1991. Here’s a view of his legacy though - he can come back to Ibrox and folk will respectfully applaud & appreciate what he did in his time with us… whereas he was unable to play in a charity match of old crocks from Rangers & Celtic a decade after leaving Rangers because Celtic fans threatened to boycott the match if he participated. And they’ll maintain in the next breath that WE are the ones with a problem.

Scott Christian

Great discussion gents. Lots to absorb and process! Following from earlier shows I was not in the Smith camp as a replacement for Souness. And whilst I understood the need for squad change I wasn’t best pleased that Woods was sacrificed- of all of “Revolution” signings in 86 he was my favourite! And after those games discussed around The Goalie’s, ahem, difficult start I was definitely thinking Smith was out his depth. Very pleased to have been proved wrong! I would agree with the assessment on this being the season that the team pulled away from the rest and that important point that “the rest knew it”. I was on a train from Glasgow to Ayr on way back from Tynecastle after the 1-0 win later in the season & the conductor was chatting to me when he saw my scarf and asking if I wasn’t getting bored as he as a half hearted Tim claimed to be getting in the 60s/70s during the other team’s domination. I responded I most definitely was not! As for Miko; an absolute joy to watch, even with his lack of motivation to track back (and let’s face it, sometimes track forward!). He brought vision and skill to almost Hoddle levels of “I’ll play the best ball, it’s up to you to be on the end of it”. And he scored a goal one time (I’m fairly sure SC semi the following season) where he sort of shot with his running foot- this is hard to describe! The ball was kind of mid-stride rather than in front and he took the goalie by surprise up at the Rangers end. A very interesting sliding door I guess would be if we had progressed v Sparta. Given the lack of “foreigners” we could potentially sign would it have changed anything in terms of who might have come?

Andrew Weir

Zoom Q&A would be great. Did the chat about Johnston potentially resigning when he left Hearts have any substance?

Harvey

Sign me up for the live show gents

John Hammond

Q&A show sounds great - and if it’s able to be recorded that would be fantastic. 😎

John McMillan

Live show would be great. Really enjoying this series.

David Taylor

Really enjoying this series, the 91/92 season was the start of me going regularly home and away, I have really vivid memories of some things, Dale Gordon’s debut for example, but I had totally forgot just how poor the Goalie was at the start of his Rangers career. Really enjoying digging back to find footage of the games and reliving some of the best years of my life.

Craig Reddick

Zoom Q&Q sounds magic, have loved this series, it started the season after I was first taken to Ibrox as an 8 year old.

Craig McCrimmon

Great work to this point Martyn & the troops....... a zoom Q and A sounds excellent

Gary Brown

Thanks as ever Martyn, ably assisted by Andy & John, for this latest episode of my favourite hour of the week. Oh dear, I'd forgotten (mis-remembered is perhaps more appropriate!) just how bad Goram was and for how long. It was all synonymous of the rationalisation of the club at the time; Souness to Walter, Woods to Goram. We had to get the best Scottish goalie instead of THE best goalie and at this point we got what we paid for, a Scottish goalie. He obviously went on to be THE best for a good while, which will bring back far more pleasant memories. Prague were no mugs, their campaign that season proved it. Underestimated. Similar to a Govan based football team by 'bigger' European opponents this past season? I think it has to remembered that it was Souness' Holy Grail to sign a high profile Catholic for the club - once gone, objective achieved, what his departure meant to Mo personally & professionally is highly impactful. His 'sponsor' and biggest supporter, the biggest threat to his direct competition for a starting place, gone. A professional doing a job, accepted by fans, endured by others vs boyhood fan of team adored by the fans, for almost a decade. Would Mo replace Ally? Could Mo replace Ally? To be hated by both sides of the divide?! Perhaps not boredom but more realisation that (a) 3 into 2 doesnt go and (b) his face didn't fit quite as snugly in the surroundings as his competition (c) was it really a fight worth having? Much to lose, little to gain. Gains that could be sought & achieved with less hassle elsewhere. Lets face it Souness was jealous of Ally's status & relationship with the fans. In a straight popularity contest what hope did Mo have? Thanks again guys, for the time & effort put into this by you all.