ROGER Hynd gave his all in the 1967 Cup Winners' Cup final, and in that sense has no regrets about the occasion, for all that Rangers lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
Curiously, though, there is one aspect of the evening that he does regret, even now, and that is his presence in the team at the expense of Alex Willoughby.
Now 66, Hynd was a surprise inclusion – and, he believes, an unmerited one – in the side w
hich took to the field at Nuremberg. "I didn't deserve to be there," he recalled. "I had only started three games that season and, even then, I was playing in my natural position of centre-back.
"Alex Willoughby had made the centre forward's jersey his own, but for some reason (the Rangers manager] Scot Symon decided to drop him for the European final and put me in his place. The chairman, John Lawrence, had seen me play in a reserve-team game and score four goals. It is rumoured that he told the manager to play me in the final."
Whatever the truth of that rumour, Lawrence's remarks on the eve of the final made it plain that he knew some players were being fielded out of place, and that he believed the strikers they had ousted were not of the quality which Rangers needed if they were to make progress. Hynd maintains, however, that Willoughby, for one, should have been there.
"My regret is that I got there at the expense of Alex Willougby," he explained. "I don't regret playing in a European final, but there is no doubt in my mind that Alex was the better player.
"He never held it against me – in fact we used to share a lot of fun about it. He had a cut-glass decanter in his cabinet at home, with the message inscribed on it: 'Imagine Alex Willoughby Dropped For Roger Hynd'."
Although he was a centre-half – the position in which he would go on to play at Crystal Palace and Birmingham City following his departure from Ibrox – Hynd perhaps does himself a disservice with his insistence that he was not worthy of inclusion in the Rangers team. He did, after all, have the ball in the net, and to this day believes the goal should have stood.
"I actually scored in the first half. Willie Johnston crossed the ball, Sepp Maier and I collided, the ball fell at my feet and I prodded it home. Goal!
"The Spanish referee ruled it off, claiming I had elbowed the keeper. I never jumped in my life, leading with my elbow – I always had my hands straight out, to protect me when I fell. I also missed a sitter, and then, in the second half of extra time, Franz Roth ran the length of the pitch to score.
"After the game, the dressing-room was utterly silent. I remember going back to the team hotel in a nearby village, and just sitting there in total dejection.
"I was quite happy just to go to my bed. Had I been a drinking man, I would have got slaughtered that night."
Contrary to his self-assessment, Hynd is sure this Rangers team is in the final on merit. "Give it everything you've got," he said when asked what his message to them would be.
"You've had a hard season, but how many teams can you name that are going for four trophies? You have the chance to become the ultimate Rangers heroes.
"Remember you are there because you are good enough. Remember to do your job. Don't do anyone else's. Stick to the task you have been given, because if you don't do all that, you will regret it for the rest of your life."
The full article contains 639 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
