Aberdeen 2 Rangers 3: The night Ally McCoist and Mark Hateley slayed the Dons - Martyn Ramsay

“Which Scottish football internationalist,” asked the avuncular host, David Coleman, “took two wickets in the NatWest Trophy?” 

“Andy Goram took the two wickets,” Strachan replied. “But he didn't make any catches.” 

The majority of those in the studio would have found it funny as a generic gag about a goalkeeping colleague - a Scottish one no less - but anyone watching with a passing interest in football north of the border would have known that it was more pointed than that. Goram was having a torrid start to his time at Rangers. After telling Hibernian that he wanted to move that summer in order to win trophies, he had already been held directly responsible for Rangers’ elimination in two different cup competitions. The following night, Rangers would lose 3-2 to a young Dundee United side at Tannadice, with Goram responsible for the late winner, spilling a Darren Jackson shot straight to the feet of Duncan Ferguson and presenting him with a simple opportunity to give United both points. Goram had always assumed that crises of confidence happened to others, not him, and yet there he was, in a maelstrom of doubt, desperately hoping that the ball would come nowhere near him during games and with his international captain making him a punchline on national television.

Pressure on Andy Goram inevitably meant pressure on Walter Smith. The ideal consistent candidate for a caretaker role in the aftermath of the Souness departure in April 1991 was now being questioned as the man to take Rangers onto the next level in the longer term. Smith had overseen yet another early European exit but, in the shape of Sparta Prague, he could not at the time point to undisputed quality in the way that Souness had been able to do with Bayern Munich and Red Star Belgrade. Even the Skol League Cup, where a Rangers appearance in the final felt as if it was part of the sponsor’s contract, had been given up at the semi-final stage. Smith’s big turnover of players in the summer had led to predictable early difficulties in squad cohesion and he had yet to find a solution to the three-striker issue that had dogged the previous season, opting to start with Souness’s preferred combination of Hateley and Johnston before chopping and changing every week throughout October. The culmination of this frustration was a touchline clash with the St Johnstone manager Alex Totten, whom he replaced as Assistant Manager at Ibrox five years earlier, which saw both men charged under breach of the peace. Never having had this overall responsibility, he was being constantly questioned about his signings and his ability to manage them. “I learned that management is a difficult game,” wrote Smith three years later, “and there was a brief period where I questioned my own credentials.” 

By the end of the season, however, a national joke was on his way to becoming the greatest ever Rangers goalkeeper, the greatest Rangers strike partnership had been firmly established and a band of brothers had been created that would go on to shape the greatest ever season in the club’s history. From a position of deep doubt and great uncertainty, Walter Smith had created alchemy.

Only the summers that bookend the period of the Rangers Revolution - 1986 and 1998 - saw more transfer activity than Walter Smith’s first one in overall charge at Ibrox. With five players in and five players out, it is comfortably the highest turnover of players in the close season of any of those that made up the nine successive titles. Smith had very little choice. Despite UEFA’s imposed maximum of four ‘foreigners’ in European competitions in 1991/92 being known for three years, Smith found himself with a sudden need to change the makeup of his squad. It was back in March 1988 that UEFA first began an imposition of limitation - starting in 1988/89 - however, they provided clubs with a grace period of three seasons whereby their existing foreign players would not be counted as part of the four. Until 1991/92 therefore, Rangers were allowed to field the likes of Woods, Butcher, Wilkins and Walters - all of whom were signed before the summer of 1988 - as effectively Scots. Domestic pressures perhaps pushed this need for forward planning to the back of the collective mind but there was no room for manoeuvre now.

Besides rebuilding half a team, Smith’s main problem when taking over the reins was what to do with the attacking triumvirate that had caused so much stress for his predecessor. Ally McCoist had high hopes that there would be a fresh start for him now that Souness had left but those looked forlorn by the time that the season kicked off. McCoist had suffered a troublesome pre-season through injury and, when a hernia was finally diagnosed and treated, he was a few weeks behind his teammates. Despite that, he wrote that he was due to start the opening game of the season, at home to St Johnstone, but pulled a thigh muscle in training. Whatever the reasoning, Smith started the new season with Hateley and Johnston up front, just as Souness had done for much of the previous campaign with McCoist reprising the role of ‘The Judge’ for the whole of August. He had to approach Smith. “I was coming up for 29, and I couldn't afford another season like the previous one,” McCoist wrote. “I had to have first team football for the sake of my career, and although I didn't want to leave Rangers, I would have to start thinking about it seriously. I told him, too, that despite all the problems I had never said that to his predecessor.” 

McCoist’s big issue was that he could hardly argue that Smith was getting it wrong up front. In the five league games and two Skol League Cup games, Rangers had scored 24 goals, 13 of which had come from Johnston and Hateley, with McCoist grabbing the fourth in a 4-0 win over Dunfermline from the bench, his emotion obvious to all. Five of Johnston’s eight goals had come in the cup - four against Queen’s Park in a 6-0 win and one in a 2-0 win over Partick Thistle - but it was Mark Hateley’s all-round game that looked most impressive. He took to the pitch on that opening day as if the title-winning epic against Aberdeen had been played only the Saturday before. With a full season under his belt and now fully accepted by the Ibrox faithful, he seemed to own the opposition box with a rampaging hat-trick against St Johnstone and a double at Parkhead in the first Old Firm encounter of 1991/92, the latter being so indicative of things to come.

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“Walter was just superb- there is no other word for it. He said he understood my frustrations perfectly, but that he didn’t want me to leave the club. He appreciated, however, my service to Rangers, and in return he wouldn't stand in my way if I really wanted to go. But he stressed again that I would get my chance, and not to do anything hasty for a couple of weeks. We agreed to sit and think things over for a spell. Walter was as good as his word, and my opportunity came soon afterwards, that night at Tynecastle.” 

The prevailing narrative around the McCoist renaissance under Smith - started by the man himself in his 1992 autobiography - was that, soon after the chat with the manager, he was given the start against Hearts in that Skol League Cup quarter-final on September 4, scored a fantastic goal in the dying summer’s light from a Mark Hateley knock-down, was never out of the team from that moment on and a phenomenal partnership ensued. The reality is slightly different. On that night Smith chose, as Souness did at Tynecastle a year prior, to go with all three in attack. It’s a brilliant finish by McCoist, wearing the number 11 shirt, but he had that yard of space because the Hearts defence was being pulled about in all directions. Graeme Hogg had to come out towards Hateley, Craig Levein was occupied with Johnson which left John Millar out of position and left helpless to block McCoist’s low, dipping shot. Two weeks later, McCoist was stretchered off the pitch with a groin injury in Prague, after missing a great chance to give Rangers an invaluable away goal. He would miss the 2-1 win at Love Street and was on the bench as Hateley and Johnston started both the semi-final defeat to Hibernian and the 2-0 defeat at home to Aberdeen on the Saturday before coming back into the starting XI to face Sparta at Ibrox due to an injury to Hateley. Johnston too would suffer a small knock as Smith rotated throughout October - even using young John Spencer in attack too - as he tried to finally settle on the winning formula. From Sparta onwards, however, McCoist was an ever-present as the goals started to flow. Perhaps the pick of the bunch was an indirect free-kick into the top corner in a revenge 4-2 victory over Hibs at Ibrox, as McCoist celebrated with a joyous Archie Knox down on the touchline - a world away from the scenes ten months before when McCoist’s manager barely moved a muscle after a stunning strike against Aberdeen.

It was only by the end of October that Smith had settled on his best front pairing. Although McCoist retained his place, Smith alternated his partner five games in a row. Johnston started the home match with Falkirk on 26 October and rescued a late point to save more Goram blushes but it would be the last goal that he scored for Rangers. He was dropped for the trip to Tannadice where McCoist scored two in that 3-2 defeat and would remain on the bench for the next few weeks. Whilst McCoist was willing to endure that pain and frustration because of a deep-rooted love for the club, Johnston was absolutely not. A restless professional by nature, he made it known that if he wasn’t going to start for Rangers then he would prefer to start for someone else. It was actually Stuart McCall who helped him make the choice between Leeds United and Everton. If he wanted a more enjoyable approach to work-life balance, then Howard Kendall would be a better bet than Howard Wilkinson. Johnston performed fairly well for Everton during the rest of that season, scoring once every three games in a three-man attack with Tony Cottee and Peter Beardsley but his prolific touch was already on the wane by the time he arrived at Ibrox, becoming a more all-round forward and scorer of important goals rather than hat fulls, and his career fizzled out from 1992/93 onwards. One could argue that he missed out on another league medal by not joining Leeds but it is doubtful that he would have made the kind of difference that their eventual loan signing in the January would: Eric Cantona. Either way, it was a quiet and subdued departure for the man who arrived with such sensational noise. Another major Souness signing had departed and with it, one selection headache for Smith. It was McCoist and Hateley now.

READ MORE: Facing Rangers legend Ally McCoist - what was it like trying to stop a goalscoring phenomenon?

From 30 November to 14 March, Walter Smith’s side went on a 19-match unbeaten run in the league and Scottish Cup, scoring 42 goals in the process, 23 of those coming from McCoist and Hateley. Only six of those matches saw a scoresheet without the name of McCoist or Hateley on it. Perhaps the real defining moment of their partnership came at the start of December. Throughout the story of Rangers in the Souness and Smith era up until this point, the 150 mile trip to Aberdeen had so often been the most precarious yet memorable. It was where the pain was ended in May 1987 and where it was suffered in October 1988. It was where the fuse was lit on the previous season’s dramatic finale leading all the way to the return fixture on the very last day. Even as Aberdeen’s stock waned over the decade, it was still a journey that few truly relished. Wins were tough to find up there and it had been 24 years since Rangers had even scored more than twice. On 4 December however, Aberdeen were in some trouble. Despite having beaten Rangers at Ibrox at the end of September and being joint-top of the league with Hearts at the start of November, they were in free fall. Jocky Scott, one of the official ‘co-managers’ alongside Alex Smith, had left to take outright responsibility of Dunfermline in September and ignominious defeats to Airdrie in the Skol League Cup and BK Copenhagen in the UEFA Cup precipitated a collapse in league form. One win in six league games in November, a 1-0 victory over St Mirren courtesy of an own goal, left Alex Smith’s side languishing in fifth place, just as Walter Smith’s side were getting into their stride.

Before November 1991, Ally McCoist and Mark Hateley had only ever been on the same scoresheet three times for Rangers. Once in a 2-0 league win over Motherwell in February 1991 and in cup drubbings against Valletta and Cowdenbeath during the same season. Now, they had enjoyed three in succession, the most notable being the three second half goals they scored at Easter Road to settle a 3-0 win over Hibs on 19 November. There was something different about this night, however. This was the first time they had both fired in a ‘big’ match and they did it in a style that would become so familiar over the course of the next 18 months. Rangers were ahead within five minutes. Ironically, it was McCoist who won the header from Goram’s kick and Hateley who was alert to the second ball showing great control and patience as he waited for McCoist to get into position at the edge of the box, where he enjoyed a neat piece of interplay with Dale Gordon before the new recruit fired a low shot to Theo Snelders’ left. The Dutch international ‘keeper made a great stop but Hateley was there to pounce, rifling the ball into the back of the on the up-step. It was a difficult chance to take, at that speed, but evidence of the new kind of confidence flowing through Hateley by this point. Rangers were pulled back when Theo Ten Caat followed up a Hans Gillhaus penalty which hit the post but that parity wouldn’t last for long. Again it was McCoist who came deep - midway inside his own half - to take a ball from Gary Stevens with his back to goal but an excellent show of strength of control eased him away from Peter van de Ven where he found his new partner who instantly flicked it into midfield where the counter attack could really get into full flow. Just like at Parkhead in August, it was Stuart McCall who received the ball and threaded a pass through the two centre halves - this time Brian Irvine and David Winnie - where Hateley turned on the afterburners and bore down on Snelders with a frightening aura. Pace, power and precision. Hateley was now an established presence in a Rangers shirt that had been unthinkable twelve months before.

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It was McCoist who made it three just after an hour and it was arguably the pick of the bunch. Hateley’s knockdown found its target but there was still work to be done as the ball bobbled around McCoist and the retreating Alex McLeish. Any effort was made to look easy as the Rangers number nine scooped the ball over Snelders in one move to put Rangers 3-1 ahead. A dangerous game was looking very comfortable indeed. Perhaps too comfortable as five minutes later, Hateley gifted Aberdeen a lifeline with a careless pass back that Brian Irvine, despite Goram’s efforts, was able to capitalise on. All this did was set the stage for another individual display of excellence for the final 30 minutes. Goram had made some crucial saves at Fir Park the Saturday before, with the game finely poised, before Dale Gordon and Gary Stevens made sure of the points, so his recovery was well on the way. There were three saves in the latter stages at Pittodrie however, that were top class, especially the second one, where he had to reach far to his left to stop a beautifully dipping Ian Cameron shot which looked destined for the top corner. In both boxes, Rangers were starting to look as if they had struck gold. Hateley was denied a hat-trick when he moved a little too soon for the offside trap but it wasn’t to matter. Regardless of the Aberdeen form, this was a statement win and performance.

And so it would continue for this Rangers team as a whole but mainly the three key men in either box, with the Rangers number nine going on to win the European golden boot and this side breaking the Premier Division goals record that season. McCoist and Hateley would both be on the scoresheet again in a 3-1 win over Celtic at Parkhead on New Year’s Day, with Goram making a wonderful save from McStay to keep the Rangers advantage alive and creating the origins of his very own legend in Old Firm matches. Hateley would miss the key league match at Tynecastle on 1 February but McCoist and Goram made the difference yet again in a 1-0 win that killed any realistic challenge from Gorgie stone dead. And, for course, the defining moment of the Smith era came on that torrential night at Hampden as Rangers held on grimly to a 1-0 lead, given to them by who else but Ally McCoist, to knock Celtic out of the Scottish Cup and go on their way to end that particular hoodoo. Something was born that night that didn’t just lead to success in the final two months later, it laid the foundations for the greatest season of them all. This was a side coming of age - a band of brothers - and three crucial players, who had all endured tough mental struggles to hang onto their careers at Ibrox, were now unstoppable.

“Walter knows a lot about football,” wrote McCoist. “But he also knows an awful lot about what makes human beings tick.” 

Smith knew how to handle gold and in turn, that touch produced plenty of silver.

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