By Alistair Aird
When hostilities ceased at the end of the Second World War, Scottish football was dominated for a number of years by two great teams, Rangers and Hibernian. The success of the Rangers team was built on an obdurate defence referred to as the Iron Curtain, while Hibernian’s triumphs were often attributed to their Famous Five forward line. Despite the overlap in their eras the six players that made up the Curtain and the Five that proved to be formidable forwards would only fully face one another three times. The deeds of these titans ring down through the ages. They remain names to conjure with.
This is their story.
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Having been played on a regionalised basis throughout World War II, peacetime saw Scottish Football return to some semblance of normality in season 1946/47. Nationwide league football was back as well as the Scottish Cup, and there was a new trophy up for grabs too, the Scottish League Cup.
Rangers had dominated during the war, winning all six Southern League titles and the Southern League Cup on four occasions. And for six of the first seven seasons post World War II, alongside Hibernian, they were the main contenders for the Scottish League title too.
Synonymous with that era was the Famous Five forward line of Hibernian and the Iron Curtain defence of Rangers. But although the success of the respective clubs at that time is often attributed to that flashy forward line and the doughty defence, they actually only faced each other as a collective on THREE occasions.
The term ‘Iron Curtain’ was used to describe the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. Rangers’ Iron Curtain was therefore their ‘boundary’ between the opposition and the goal. And although some contemporary newspaper accounts referred to the Rangers rearguard as an Iron Curtain irrespective of the personnel involved, there are six players that tend to spring to mind when the term is used.
Teams back then played in a 2-3-5 formation, two full backs, three half-backs and five forwards. The full backs that tend to be associated with Rangers’ Iron Curtain were Jock ‘Tiger’ Shaw and George Young, with the half back line comprising Ian McColl at right half, Willie Woodburn at centre half and Sammy Cox at left half. Behind then was goalkeeper Bobby Brown.
Brown was a very dependable last line of the defence. Signed from Queen’s Park, the tall, blond, and athletic Brown took over in goal from the revered Jerry Dawson, and what was remarkable about him was his consistency. From 30 September 1946 until 19 April 1952, Brown didn’t miss a single first team match. That amounts to 277 consecutive appearances, and during that time, Rangers won three league titles, three Scottish Cups, one League Cup, three Charity Cups, and two Glasgow Cups.
Born in Grangemouth on 27 October 1922, George Lewis Young was a colossus. He played as a centre-half initially before reverting to right-back. In his pomp he stood 6ft 2in tall and weighed 15 stone making him a formidable figure.
Young started his career with Kirkintilloch Rob Roy where he came to the attention of Rangers. He signed as a professional at Ibrox in 1941, making his debut in Southern League match against Hamilton Accies on 8 November that year.
By the end of World War II, Young was a fixture in the Rangers first team, and he was part of the Rangers side that won the first-ever domestic Treble in season 1948/49, scoring twice from the penalty spot in the Scottish Cup Final against Clyde.
Those two goals highlighted that Young had a penalty prowess. Of the 67 goals he scored for Rangers, 61 of them came from the penalty spot. One of those came in the famous friendly against Moscow Dynamo in 1945.
If you include wartime matches, George Young made 707 appearances for Rangers.
Nicknamed ‘Tiger’ because of his tigerish tackling, Jock Shaw was signed from Airdrie in 1938. He was 42 years of age when he retired in 1954, although his last league appearance for the first XI had been on 18 October 1952. He was the captain, and he has the honour of being the first skipper to lead Rangers to the domestic Treble. In total, he played 612 times for Rangers and scored four goals.
Willie Woodburn is one of the most celebrated centre-backs in the club’s history. He was a colossal figure, a gifted centre back, who was commanding in the air and on the ground. However, he is unfortunately remembered for a draconian sine die suspension that was handed to him by the SFA after he was ordered off for only the fourth time in his career.
Woodburn is said to have had a fiery temper. He was ordered off in the last minute of a League Cup tie against Stirling Albion on 28 August 1954. He had his knee heavily strapped and when he locked legs with one of the Stirling forwards, Alex Paterson, he retaliated. The verdict was a sine die suspension. Woodburn was suspended from football for an unlimited time.
It was only the fourth time he’d been sent off in his career. At that time, following an ordering off, you were summoned before the SFA’s Referee Committee. Woodburn had first been summoned in 1948 after being ordered off against Motherwell. He was ‘severely censured and warned’, but his second appearance in 1953 resulted in a three-week ban after an ordering off against Clyde on 7 March for the equivalent of two yellow cards.
Six months later, he was dismissed against Stirling Albion and that earned him a six-week ban. At that point the committee ‘would take a very serious view of other offences.’
For serious read draconian. When you consider that Sergio Ramos has been sent of 29 times in his career, you can see how harsh the punishment was.
Woodburn’s last league match for Rangers actually came against Hibernian on the opening round of fixtures for season 1954/55. It was also Scot Symon’s first league match as the Rangers manager. The match ended 1-1, and in the aftermath, Woodburn was quoted as saying that he reckoned this would be his last match for a long time. It was. He never played competitively again, even after his ban was eventually lifted in 1957.
Ian McColl spent 15 years as a Rangers player. Like Bobby Brown, he came from Queen’s Park, and he had not yet turned 18 when he signed for Rangers. After a short spell in the reserves, he made his debut for the first team, and he would go on to make 641 appearances for the first XI.
He developed a reputation of being a fierce tackler, but he was a gifted footballer too, one who had the ability to play long, accurate passes from deep inside his own half. He was a graduate of the University of Glasgow too where he studied Civil Engineering.
Samuel Richmond Cox came to Rangers in 1946 and was said to be ahead of his time. Indeed, in their excellent book, Rangers Player By Player, Bob Ferrier and Robert McElroy stated that Cox would have ‘fitted comfortably into any Brazilian team of the eighties.’
Calm, assured and balanced, Cox could play at full back or wing half. Over the course of seasons 1947/48, 1948/49 and 1949/50, he missed only one match, and in his 10 years with Rangers, he played 370 times for the first team.
The six first played together in the positions they regularly occupied on 6 September 1947. In front of goalkeeper Brown was Young at right back and Shaw at left back. McColl was at right-half, Cox at left-half, and in between them at centre-half was Woodburn. Third Lanark provide the opposition in a League Cup sectional tie at Ibrox. Rangers won 3-0 thanks to a double from Willie Findlay and a goal from Torry Gillick.
In the Treble-winning season 1948/49, the Iron Curtain presented a formidable barrier to opposition forwards. If you include the Glasgow Cup and Glasgow Merchant’s Charity Cup, Rangers played 47 league and cup matches in that campaign. The appearance numbers for the Iron Curtain read: Bobby Brown (47), George Young (45), Jock Shaw (43), Ian McColl (43), Willie Woodburn (45), and Sammy Cox (46).
In 30 league matches, 32 goals were conceded, while the Curtain was only pierced twice in five Scottish Cup ties. One of the goals conceded was scored by an outside left called John Logie of Elgin City in the opening round. A 3-1 defeat at Parkhead in the sectional ties accounted for three of the seven goals conceded in the League Cup, and Third Lanark joined Hibernian as the only side to breach the Curtain four times when they won the Glasgow Cup semi-final 4-1 at Cathkin Park.
But although this rearguard was the bedrock upon which success in that era was built in the immediate post-war era, it only faced off against Hibernian’s Famous Five forward line – comprising Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull, and Willie Ormond – in its entirety three times.
The first of those came at Easter Road on 5 November 1949. Rangers arrived in Edinburgh unbeaten, having won all five of their league matches. Twelve goals had been scored and only one conceded. In contrast, Hibernian had registered four wins, a draw, and a defeat in their six league fixtures. The latter was a sore one too, a 5-2 loss against Hearts at Tynecastle.
The stage was set for an epic duel, but although Willie Thornton passed up a good chance to score in the opening five minutes – he miskicked when stationed only six yards from goal – the match report in the Glasgow Herald suggests that the home side were dominant. They were defied by some ‘superlative goalkeeping’ by Brown who was credited with ‘two uncanny saves’ from Gordon Smith. But Brown was powerless to stop the only goal of the game after 56 minutes. Smith got the better of Shaw in an aerial battle, and when Reilly outfoxed Woodburn, his pass was thumped into the net by Turnbull.
The victory kickstarted a run of nine successive league victories for Hibernian. That was halted by Hearts on 2 January at Easter Road. In the meantime, Rangers won six, drew two and lost one of their games. The defeat came at Fir Park on 10 December, Struth’s side losing 4-0.
It was the second successive week that the defence had been breached four times – Rangers had beaten Clyde 5-4 at Ibrox in their previous league match – and five of the Iron Curtain filled their usual positions in both those encounters. The only change saw McColl move to inside-right, with Willie Rae coming in at right-half.
The heavy defeat at Fir Park would be the last Rangers would suffer in the league. Before facing Hibernian in their penultimate league match, the Light Blues won 13 and drew four of their league matches played after the loss to Motherwell. With Hibernian winning nine of their 13 fixtures played since the derby defeat against Hearts, it was neck-and-neck at the top of the table when the Curtain looked to shut out the Five when the sides met in the league on 29 April at Ibrox.
Both teams had accumulated a record 49 points, but crucially this was Hibernian’s final league game. Rangers had a game in hand, so although Hibernian led on goal average, Rangers could afford to draw and pick up a point from their final match against Third Lanark at Cathkin Park to secure the title.
With so much at stake, the match was not exactly an exhibition of free-flowing football. Indeed, the ‘Football Correspondent’ in the Glasgow Herald reckoned that the match was ‘a disgraceful exhibition of vicious fouling and bad temper.’ Over the course of the 90 minutes, the writer reckoned to have seen ‘no fewer than seven players, four Rangers and three Hibernian, deliberately kick an opponent’, and they also felt that the referee, J. R. Boyd from Denny, was ‘astonishingly reluctant to exercise control, and must be blamed for a great deal of the trouble.’
The match ended 0-0 – George Young was credited with being the best Rangers player on the pitch – and two days later, Rangers completed their fixtures against Third Lanark.
Rangers romped to a 2-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes of the game, but the first of those goals, scored by Billy Williamson, fell into the controversial category.
A cross from Willie Thornton was attacked by Williamson, and the Rangers number 10 succeeded in despatching both the ball and the Third Lanark goalkeeper, Lewis Goram, father of Andy, over the line. The Glasgow Herald’s ‘Football Correspondent’ reckoned the referee, a J. S Cox from Rutherglen, was ‘in perfect position’ to deem that Williamson’s challenge of Goram had been ‘fair’, and although the home side fought back to earn a 2-2 draw, Rangers had the point they needed.
In the 30 league games played that season, the Rangers rearguard comprised the six Iron Curtain members in all but five of them. There were the two matches mentioned earlier when McColl moved to inside-right, a 4-0 win over Celtic at Ibrox in September when Cox was listed at inside-left, a 2-1 win over St Mirren at Love Street in February when Shaw was replaced by John Lindsay at left-back, and a 2-2 draw against East Fife at Ibrox in April when Woodburn was missing. Young deputised at centre-half, with Lindsay stepping in at right-back.
The third and final time the two sets of players faced each other was on 10 February 1951. The two sides had been drawn together in the second round of the Scottish Cup, and a crowd of 102,342 squeezed in to Ibrox to watch another classic match unfold.
Rangers broke the deadlock after only four minutes. Willie Waddell got the better of the Hibernian left back, John Ogilvie, and when he crossed into the penalty area, Billy Simpson got on the end of it and found the net.
Gordon Smith levelled the match five minutes before half time, and already the outcome seemed to be hinging on whether the Rangers defence would resist the Hibernian forward line. The ‘Football Correspondent’ in the Glasgow Heraldreckoned that the visiting forwards were ‘immeasurably superior’ to those of Rangers, but he also felt that ‘[Hibernian centre-half, Jock] Paterson and company were not in the same class as Woodburn and his mates.’
Simpson scored again to restore Rangers’ lead three minutes after the restart. A raucous roar followed, but it was according to the report in the Glasgow Herald, ‘the last of it’s kind.’ For the rest of the match, Rangers were pushed further and further back by the attacking play of the visitors. ‘Not even the grandest defence in club football could for ever withstand the devastating effect of this swinging of the ball’ was the opinion of the ‘Football Correspondent.’
The Curtain held firm, though, repelling what was thrown at them, and in a rare attack, Willie Thornton passed up a good opportunity to seal the match for Rangers. Despite appearing to be ‘at least three yards offside’, Thornton was allowed to bear down on goal, but he shot against the Hibernian goalkeeper, Tommy Younger, then did likewise with his second attempt.
Eddie Turnbull duly punished the profligacy when he eventually pierced a hole in the Rangers defence, scoring an equalising goal after 75 minutes. And three minutes later, Bobby Johnstone scored the winning goal. Despite being faced with ‘the phalanx of blue’, Johnstone swerved away from George Young and thumped the ball beyond Brown.
Having failed to qualify from their League Cup section and been knocked out of the Glasgow Cup earlier in the season, elimination from the Cup meant that only the league championship and Charity Cup were up for grabs.
The challenge for the former was already faltering. Rangers trailed Hibernian by seven points after 19 games, and a draw at home to St Mirren followed by a 3-1 defeat against Raith Rovers at Starks Park cast them further adrift. They eventually finished second, the 38 points accumulated being 10 fewer than Hibernian.
But the season was silver lined, albeit by the Chairty Cup. A 2-1 win over Celtic was followed with success against Third Lanark – Rangers won on the toss of a coin after a 1-1 draw – and a Willie Findlay double saw off Partick Thistle in the Final.
Although that Rangers defence was both stoic and obdurate, high scoring matches between Rangers and Hibernian were not uncommon. For example, in season 1948/49, Hibernian won 4-2 at Ibrox to inflict what would be Rangers’ only home league defeat that season. This was played before the advent of the Famous Five – there was no Johnstone or Ormond in the Hibernian XI and Reilly played outside left with John Cuthbertson at centre forward – but all bar one of them was present on the final day of season 1950/51 when Smith (2), Reilly, and Johnstone scored to secure a 4-1 victory for the home side at Easter Road.
Rangers also emerged victorious by three goals to one in the League Cup semi-final in March 1947. That match was watched by a crowd of 125,154, but that attendance was bettered by almost 20,000 when the sides met in the last four of the Scottish Cup almost exactly a year later. On that occasion, there were 143,570 on the slopes of Hampden Park. That was a record gathering for a semi-final, and only 5,977 short of the world record attendance for a football match after 149,547 had watched Bob McPhail of Rangers score twice as Scotland defeated England 3-1 at Hampden in April 1937.
Rangers listed their famous defensive line, and they had to be at their best as the match report in the Glasgow Heraldstated that Hibernian were in the ascendancy ‘for over two-thirds of the match’. But a stellar display from Bobby Brown and some profligate finishing meant that the Edinburgh side couldn’t make that superiority count.
The only goal of the game came on the half hour mark. Willie Thornton claimed it, profiting from an error by the Hibernian goalkeeper, George Farm. Rangers went on to win the trophy too, defeating Morton in the Final after a replay.
Incidentally, although this is arguably the fixture between Rangers and Hibernian at that time that people refer to the most, only three of the Famous Five – Smith, Turnbull, and Ormond – played. It would 15 October 1949 before they all featured as a collective in a competitive match, Hibernian defeating Queen of the South 2-0 at Easter Road.
Thus, although the sextet of Brown, Young, Shaw, McColl, Woodburn and Cox and the quintet of Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull, and Ormond were synonymous with that era for the two most successful sides in Scotland, the window of opportunity for the battles between the irresistible force and the immovable object was just over three years, 15 October 1949 to 18 October 1952, the latter being the date of Jock Shaw’s last competitive appearance for Rangers.
In that timeframe, the head-to-head record was:
05/11/49 Scottish League Division One Easter Road Hibernian 1 Rangers 0
29/04/50 Scottish League Division One Ibrox Rangers 0 Hibernian 0
04/11/50 Scottish League Division One Ibrox Rangers 1 Hibernian 1
Sammy Cox was absent for Rangers, Willie Rae deputised.
28/04/51 Scottish League Division One Easter Road Hibernian 4 Rangers 1
Jock Shaw didn’t play for Rangers – Cox filled in at left back with Willie Rae at left half – while Willie Ormond was replaced at outside left for Hibernian by Bobby Combe.
10/02/51 Scottish Cup Ibrox Rangers 2 Hibernian 3
03/11/51 Scottish League Division One Easter Road Hibernian 1 Rangers 1
Jock Shaw missed out for Rangers; John Little took over the number three jersey.
13/02/52 Scottish League Division One Ibrox Rangers 2 Hibernian 2
Shaw and Cox didn’t feature for Rangers. John Little and John Prentice took their places.
11/10/52 Scottish League Division One Ibrox Rangers 1 Hibernian 2
Jock Shaw missed out for Rangers; John Little took over the number three jersey.
Prior to the Famous Five playing as a collective in October 1949, Rangers and Hibernian faced each other 12 times following the resumption of domestic league and cup football in season 1946/47. What is generally regarded as the Iron Curtain played alongside each other in only four of the games. These were as follows:
18/10/47 Scottish League Division One Ibrox Rangers 2 Hibernian 1
31/01/48 Scottish League Division One Easter Road Hibernian 1 Rangers 0
27/03/48 Scottish Cup Hampden Rangers 1 Hibernian 0
19/02/49 Scottish League Division One Easter Road Hibernian 0 Rangers 1
Hibernian’s Famous Five last featured together in their regular positions on 29 January 1955 in a league match against Clyde at Easter Road. The home side lost 3-2.
The last time they were all in the same starting XI against Rangers was Christmas Day 1954. Hibernian won 2-1. Rangers had George Niven in goal and a defensive line of Little, Cox, McColl, Young and Rae. Four of the Five played in their natural positions, but Eddie Turnbull played at left half. Bobby Combe filled in for him at inside left.
Indeed, in the five league matches played between Rangers and Hibernian following Jock Shaw’s last league game, this game was one of only two that the Five played in collectively. The other was a 1-1 draw at Easter Road on 17 January 1953. Turnbull’s penalty gave the home side the lead, but parity was restored by Derek Grierson 15 minutes later.
Thus, despite the success both Hibernian and Rangers enjoyed in the immediate post-war era, the Iron Curtain and Famous Five clashing head-to-head hasn’t happened as often as one may think. This is similar to the revered XI of Ritchie, Shearer, Caldow, Greig, McKinnon, Baxter, Henderson, McMillan, Millar, Brand and Wilson. So often associated with the success enjoyed in the early 1960s, they actually only played together in the line-up five times.
The six members of the Iron Curtain defence will always be held in high esteem. Their stoic and steadfast defending was the cornerstone of the success Bill Struth’s side enjoyed after the end of hostilities in World War II. But that era wasn’t just about the defensive side of the game. Ahead of the six was our own formidable forward line.
Prominent members were Willie Waddell, who was usually at outside right, Torry Gillick, who featured at inside right, and Willie Thornton at centre forward. And there were several occasions when the likes of Jimmy Duncanson Eddie Rutherford and Willie Paton were selected too.
Waddell had power and pace on the wing, and he had an excellent relationship with Thornton. A number of goals at that time were Thornton headers from Waddell crosses.
Gillick, who won league titles with Rangers and Everton, could play anywhere in the forward line, but built a brilliant partnership with Waddell. He had wonderful vision, and an eye for goal. He actually netted a hat-trick against Celtic on 1 January 1943. Rangers won 8-1.
To illustrate the point that the Rangers team in that era was a beautiful balance of defensive diligence and ferocious finishing, over the course of the seven seasons when the Iron Curtain was to the fore – season 1946/47 to season 1952/53 – Rangers scored 466 league goals. In that time, only 219 were conceded. The league season was 30 matches then so with total matches played numbering 210, that’s an average of 2.219 goals scored per game and 1.043 goals conceded.
Yes, this really was a halcyon period in the history of Rangers Football Club. It is one that should be looked upon fondly, and that is thanks in no small part to the formidable Iron Curtain.