Full name Ralph Laidlaw Brand 1965–1967 Manchester City Name Ralph Brand | Years Team Role Footballer 1954–1965 Rangers | |
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Date of birth (1936-12-08) 8 December 1936 (age 79) Similar People Jimmy Millar, Eric Caldow, Willie Henderson, Bobby Shearer, Gordon Strachan | ||
Place of birth Edinburgh, Scotland | ||
Ralph Laidlaw Brand (born 8 December 1936) is a retired Scottish footballer, who played as a striker for Rangers, and latterly, Manchester City, Sunderland, Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical.
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Playing career
Brand signed for Rangers after impressing manager Bill Struth whilst playing in a schoolboy international against England at Wembley in 1952. Struth signed him on a provisional contract in the summer of that year. In 1954 he turned professional and made his debut for Rangers on 6 November against Kilmarnock, scoring two goals in a 6–0 win. He missed the next two seasons doing his national service. After his return in December 1957, he formed an effective strike partnership with Jimmy Millar, and scored 14 goals in 28 games over the course of the second half of the season.
His best season came in 1960–61, where he played in all of Rangers' 34 league games, scoring 24 goals, and 44 in all competitions. These included 5 goals in Rangers' run to the final of the Cup Winners Cup, 3 of which were scored in an 8–0 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Brand played in four Scottish championship winning sides, 1958–59, 1960–61, 1962–63 and The Treble winning side of 1963–64. He won four League Cup and four Scottish Cup winner's medals, and is the only player to have scored in four consecutive Scottish Cup finals. He played in a total of seven finals for Rangers, scoring six goals and never finishing on the losing side. He played for Scotland eight times, scoring eight goals, although his international opportunities were limited because Denis Law was an established striker in the side.
He played his last match for Rangers on 23 April 1965 when he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over Third Lanark in the last League game of the season. Brand was sold to Manchester City in August that year for £30,000. Two years later he moved to Sunderland before returning to Scottish football at Raith Rovers. He retired in 1970, although he would come out of retirement to play a handful of matches for Hamilton Academical in 1971/72. In his time at Rangers, he played 317 times and scored 206 goals. He is the club's third top post-war scorer, behind Ally McCoist and Derek Johnstone.
Brand's son, Ralph Brand Jr., played a number of games for Rangers' reserve team in the 1970s.
Managerial career
Brand had a brief managerial career, taking charge of Darlington for 6 months from December 1972, then Albion Rovers between 1973 and 1974. After leaving the footballing business he worked as a taxi-driver.
International goals
Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.As a player
Rangers
Manchester City