The visit of Rangers tomorrow to Berwick Rangers Shielfield Park ground will hold a special significance for The Borderers’ long serving Club Secretary, Dennis McCleary, because in amongst the thousands of fans supporting the Light Blues will be the greatest ever player to don Black and Gold colours.
McCleary, who is well into his fifth decade of service at the Third Division club, stood and watched his Shielfield heroes create one of the greatest Scottish Cup shocks ever back in 1967 when Rangers were defeated 1-0 and little did he think then that one of the Ibrox players that day would go on to became his hero.
Dave Smith went on to hold legendary status at Ibrox as he was involved in the 1972 European Cup Winners' Cup triumph over Dynamo Moscow but he is also every bit as revered just over the border.
“Dave was simply the best player I have ever seen in a Berwick jersey,” said McCleary before adding, “He was just so easy to watch as he was always so much in control. I don’t think I ever saw him make a tackle, he didn’t need to as he just read the game so well.”
McCleary explained: “He had been at Aberdeen and Rangers before leaving for a playing and coaching role at Arbroath in 1974. However, he came to us as Player/Manager from America where he was playing for the Los Angeles Aztecs alongside George Best and Charlie George. It turned into a great move because when he joined, we were rock bottom of the old style Second Division.”
“It was progress every season under Dave and after finishing fourth in season 1977/78, we won it the following season. There were only three divisions then and to put our success into context, Dunfermline were second and Falkirk were third.”
McCleary added: “Dave built a good team with Jimmy Morton scoring more than 20 goals in midfield and he also recruited Peter Davidson, who had been a FA Vase winner with Newcastle Blue Star.
"We sold him to Queens Park Rangers for £30,000 when Tommy Docherty was the Manager down there but I don’t think he ever really settled or got a chance. After 18 months, he was back in his native north east playing for us again.”
There was an ironic match during Smith’s time in charge with McCleary explaining: “He was a clever Manager and was ably assisted by Willie Mathieson, who also played in the Ibrox team that won the Eorpean Cup Winners' Cup, and he came up against Rangers in the Scottish Cup in 1978 at Shielfield. Dave had been in the Rangers team that we defeated in 1967 and would be managing us whereas Jock Wallace, who had been in goal for Berwick that day as well as being the Manager, was in charge of Rangers.
“There was no repeat of our 1967 success as we lost 4-2. I have spoken to him on the phone a few times over the years but I haven’t seen him in person for a while so I am really looking forward to Saturday. He may be coming down to support Rangers but he will get a warm welcome especially from me.
“There was a big article about him in the Match Programme when we went to Ibrox for our game in January. It was the first time I had been there so reading about Dave added to the occasion.”
McCleary is well placed to talk about Black and Gold heroes as he said: “I was at the Scottish Cup game in 1967 against Rangers with my mother. I was 21 then and watching the game only as a fan whereas my father was working on the turnstiles. It was a real highlight in my time in following Berwick but there have been other highlights as well.
“We have won two Championships and they were both special firstly, because the one in season 1978/79 was won by Dave and included beating a strong field and then in season 2006/07, we won the Third Division Championship under John Coughlin at Shielfield.”
McCleary added: “That was a really special day as we beat our closest challengers Arbroath 1-0 to win it and to have a 2,000 plus crowd here along with the trophy and the medals was fantastic.
“The 1978/79 title win was a bit lower key as we won it without playing a game as our closest rivals Dunfermline lost to Alloa on a day when we were not playing. We were officially crowned Champions in a midweek game at Cowdenbeath and in fact, our final six games of the season were away from home due to the way the fixtures and the weather had worked out.
“It was great to win that title but winning it at our own place just shades it in terms of occasion.”
Smith and the Third Division leaders may be popping over the border for their second visit of the season however, for McCleary, it will be the first time he will see his club host the Ibrox men this season as he was away on very important speedway business when they first played in August.
He explained: “I am also involved with the Berwick Bandits Speedway team and I missed out when Rangers came in August. I was appointed as the official timekeeper for the FIM Grand Prix at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff which is a very prestigious role and the highlight of my time in speedway.
“Ironically, I saw more of our game against Rangers than I would have normally. It was being shown live in the Millennium Stadium and I remain convinced we could have won the game rather than ending in a 1-1 draw.”
McCleary has been involved with the club since 1970 when former Rangers, Dunfermline Athletic and Aberdeen player, Harry Melrose, asked him to get involved at Shielfield where he was the Player/Manager.
“I was the Assistant Secretary for six years and I have been here ever since apart from a very short break a few years ago,” said McCleary.
However, after 43 years, it might be the time for someone else to get a chance and McCleary will go back to being a fan as he explained: “I had a short spell of illness in the autumn and that got me thinking about cutting down.”
If McCleary decides to become more of a fan than a worker, he will be leaving after a remarkable period for Berwick Rangers and the Third Division as he said: “It has not been a normal season when you consider Berwick have gone to Ibrox and played a League game in front of 45,000 fans. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that would happen and I never thought we would have two capacity crowds in the one season either.
“It has been fantastic for everyone especially our players who may never have had the chance to visit Ibrox twice in a season before. We lost 4-2 last month but we gave Rangers a real fright when we scored two quick goals to make it 3-2.”
A Scotland captain has also been popping in as well this season with McCleary saying: “We also have Darren Fletcher taking in a few of our games to see his cousin Damien Gielty play. All in all, it has been a great season.”
This week has brought an increased workload with McCleary saying: “There are lots of things cropping up this week that do not usually happen. For instance, we need to have 25 seats for the press when there are normally only six people there. It is not just the Scottish newspapers either as the Newcastle Journal and the local paper here, The Sun on Sunday, treats it like a big game as well.
“Photographers will be here in much greater numbers and they are looking for facilities to send pictures over quickly. That needs to be managed carefully as we do not have the facilities here that other clubs have.”
McCleary continued: “The ESPN cameras will be back this weekend but thankfully, our Chairman, Brian Porteous, does all the liaising with them. He is also our Safety Officer and he will ensure everything goes fine on that front.
“He will not be sitting back and admiring the scene as he is a real hands on kind of guy. Mind you, everyone at Berwick is like that, we all muck in to get the job done. I have also been taking calls from a TV crew from Norway who want to film the game but I will leave that one to the SFL to see what is allowed and what isn’t.
“Thankfully, we do have some experience of managing these issues thanks to the Scottish Cup tie that we had with Celtic a couple of years ago and the earlier League game against Rangers.”
Finally, McCleary said: “It will be great to see Dave Smith again and hopefully, he will see Berwick play the good passing game that our Manager, Ian Little, has them playing. Who knows, maybe I will get to see another 1-0 home win.”
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