m
Glamour pre-season
tournaments may be new to
Scotland - but Rangers skipper
Terry Butcher is an old hand at
the format.
His spell with Ipswich
enabled him to experience the
excitement and drama of similar
competitions throughout
Europe, some of them in the
company of one of his rivals this
weekend.
Terry will be delighted to
renew acquaintances with
Dutch star Arnold Muhren, his
colleague at Portman Road for
four memorable seasons during
which Ipswich emphasised
their class with victory in the
UEFA Cup.
Nowadays, of course, Arnold
is a key figure with Ajax and is
actually in his second spell with
the famous Amsterdam outfit.
Last season he helped them to
success in the Cup Winners'
Cup to complete his very own
hat-trick of European medals.
"He actually had two European
Cup gongs in the bank before
he transferred his skills to the
Football League in the summer
of 1978, both of them won as a
substitute.
The first was handed over an
amazing 15 years ago when he
was on the bench to obtain a
close-up view of the Dutch
giants' victory against Inter
Milan in Rotterdam. Then in
1973 he was also part of the
back-up squad for the defeat of
Juventus in Belgrade.
It was the consistency of
Arnold's brother Gerrie in the
Ajax midfield that kept him on
the sidelines. Gerrie, in fact,
collected a trio of European
Cup medals as a member of the
successful 1972, 1973 and 1974
line-ups.
But Arnold earned his own
souvenirs of two eventful
campaigns since he appeared
in the earlier rounds on both
occasions. The semi-final in
1973 against Real Madrid was
his own outstanding memory.
"We won the first leg in
Amsterdam 2-1 but I think most
people expected us to lose on
aggregate," I recall him telling
me. "Real were such a good
side in front of their own fans
and they also had the advantage
of an away goal.
"The Bernabeu Stadium was
packed with 100,000 Spaniards
in full voice but we managed to
win 1-0 and it was my brother
Gerrie who scored the only
goal. I was in the side because
our left-winger, Piet Keizer, was
injured."
It was a privilege to see every
game Arnold played for
Ipswich, as I'm sure it was for
Mel Henderson recalls when
Terry Butcher and Ajax's Arnold
Muhren played together in some
exciting pre-season tournaments.
PAGE EIGHT
RANGERS MATCHDAY MAGAZINE
