"THEY HAD ABOUT EIGHT
OR NINE PLAYERS THAT
WOULD GO ON TO THE
PLAY IN THE WORLD
CUP FINAL IN 1974 SO
TO LOOK BACK NOW
AND SAY YOU CAME UP
AGAINST THAT TEAM IS
PRETTY SPECIAL"
minutes before half-time.
"At that stage we thought we had a
wee chance but Cruyff scored just
before the interval and that made it an
uphill struggle.
"In the second leg out in Holland we
played some brilliant football and they
only managed to beat us 3-2!
"I remember that Jock Wallace was
apprehensive about the second leg as
we had been well beaten at Ibrox and
it was the only time I ever heard him
say that we would get a bonus if we
could get a decent result. A good
result not being a tanking!
"But honestly we played really well
and Alex McDonald scored a screamer.
We should have got a draw in this
game and were a bit unlucky to lose 3-
2 to an exceptional team."
Despite Ajax's dominance of the
European scene at that time Sandy
insists that his side were in confident
mood going into the glamour matches
against Cruyff and Co.
"If you look at the record we had in
Europe at that time we had beaten a
lot of great sides in the years leading
up to the Super Cup match with Ajax,
including a tremendous Bayern Munich
team on the way to lifting the Cup
Winners Cup in 72.
"So we were very confident going
into the matches against Ajax although
we knew that they would be special as
they had won the European Cup in 72
by defeating Inter Milan and also in 71
when they beat Panathinaikos.
"They also had about eight or nine
players that would go on to the play in
the World Cup final in 1974 so to look
back now and say you came up
against that team is pretty special."
Of the eleven players In the Ajax
starting eleven the legendary Johan Cruyff
was the one that made the team tick.
Jardine enjoyed a few battles with one of
the game's true greats and has no doubts
that the Holland star was at the peak of his
powers when the sides met in 73.
He said: "I was fortunate to play
against Cruyff a few times and he is
without doubt one of best players I
ever faced if not the best.
"If you look at football at that time
you had Pele and Eusebio coming to
the end of their careers and Cruyff took
over the mantle of being the best
player in the world.
"He was an exceptional talent. He
had skill and balance but he was also
one of the quickest players I ever came
up against, he was lightning.
"I had quite a bit of pace at the time but
he was exceptionally quick, in fact I don't
think I ever came across a quicker player.
"When you add awareness and ability
to that you have the complete player
and that team he was in was where the
'total football' phrase came from."B
SUPER CUP FIRST-LEG
IBROX STADIUM
JANUARY 16, 1973:
RANGERS: McCloy, Jardine,
Mathieson, Greig, Johnstone, Smith,
Conn (McLean), Forsyth, Parlane,
MacDonald, Young
AJAX: Stuy, Suurbier, Hulshoff,
Blankenberg, Krol, G. Muhren, Haan,
A. Muhren, Rep, Cruyff. Keizer
SUPER CUP SECOND-LEG
DE MEER STADIUM
JANUARY 24, 1973:
AJAX: Stuy, Suurbier, Hulschoff,
Blankenburg, Krol, Haan, Neeskens,
G. Muhren, Swart, Cruyff, Keizer
RANGERS: McCioy, Jardine,
Mathieson, Greig, Johnstone, Smith,
McLean, Forsyth, Parlane,
MacDonald, Young
