Ted and Jock's time at Sevilla

[Coopermania 1]

Great wee article I thought.

Exiles on Spain St: Ted McMinnn's transfer from Rangers to Sevilla

Published Date: 27 September 2009

WHEN TED McMinn walked through the gate at Malaga airport on that January day in 1987 there, among the tanned strangers, was the unmissable Jock Wallace. Eyes darting, Wallace was in surreptitious mood. He shook McMinn by the hand and the player felt his fingers crush. "Come on son," whispered Jock. "The Opel's outside. Get in the back and throw that blanket over you. Naebody can see you today."

They drove to Seville, to the posh end of town, to an apartment in keeping with Wallace's stature in the city. As manager of Sevilla, the big man was a celebrity. Up ahead he could see photographers gathered at his gate, apparently tipped off that

a new player was about to join the club. "Are you covered up back there?" Wallace bellowed. "Aye, gaffer," answered McMinn. And so, in the back seat of an Opel, under the cover of a rug, the amazing adventure of Ted and Jock began.

For both of them, Seville represented escape and a shot at redemption. The pair were married to Rangers but had suffered a wounding divorce, Wallace replaced as manager by Graeme Souness who, in turn, booted McMinn out of the club after several controversies. Neither of them spoke Spanish, so they lived in each other's pockets, sharing lunch, dinner, pints and hours of chat. "It wasn't really a manager-player thing," says McMinn, "it was a father-son thing. I lived with him for the first month and a half. He drove me into training every morning. Eventually I said, 'Look drop me off about 800 yards before the ground and I'll make my own way in from there. The lads won't like it if they keep seeing us coming in together'."

What a time it was for McMinn. His leaving of Ibrox was spectacular, set against a backdrop of a mad night out in East Kilbride with Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant and a curfew break in Glasgow with Robert Fleck and Stuart Munro. Police charges were pending for the former (the case was not proven) and a Souness blast was the result of the latter.

"You will never play for this f***ing club again!" Souness screamed. Seville was like nirvana after the tyranny Souness. And for other reasons. McMinn's marriage was falling apart at the seams, but he told nobody. Not even Jock. When eventually Wallace found out, he gave McMinn a look of disappointment the player remembers to this day. "You should have told me," Wallace had said. "Sorry," said Ted.

Wallace had taken a punt on McMinn. His chairman at Sevilla wondered about the East Kilbride thing and reminded his manager that the transfer fee of £200,000 was a lot of money to spend on a guy the Spanish media were calling a thug. Jock defended his player. "He's an honest lad. He's told me he'd nae involvement with the boy losing his teeth and I'm happy with that."

Sevilla were a mid-table club with aspirations. They played in a big old concrete stadium that could seat 80,000. On a good day, they got 40,000. "Jock wanted me fitter, so I went playing squash with my interpreter one day. I'd played one game at this stage. I fell awkwardly and broke a toe. Jock was looking through the glass door and came rushing on to the court. 'What's up with ya'. I said I'd done my toe. 'You can't have.' A doctor had arrived by now. 'Yes, his toe is definitely broken' said the doc. 'Nae chance, it cannae be, I've just signed him!' Jock got murder from the chairman for that. Apparently, the big boss couldn't understand what I was doing playing squash. He kept saying, 'Squash! Squash! We didn't pay £200,000 for a squash player, Jock'."

He was out for eight weeks, but regained fitness and found some form. Sevilla went to the Nou Camp and beat Terry Venables' Barcelona. That was what Sevilla were capable of on their day. They had decent players who could perform. The problem was that they didn't have enough hard men – and what you needed in that league of elbows and sly digs and over-the-top tackles were men who would step up when things got tough.

In the pre-season of 1987, things started to get on top of Wallace. Even before the season started there was talk of him being fired, rumours of a dressing-room revolt. It was news to McMinn but, then, he was in no position to judge since he didn't know what the boys were saying when they gathered in clusters and talked among themselves.

"Our players were classed as southern softies because they were brought up in the sun. You go up north to the Basque country and to Pamplona and they're hard up there and they look at the likes of Betis and Cadiz and Sevilla and they don't think much of us. That was the reputation and it was true. You'll see it when they play Rangers. When it gets a bit tasty they're not up for a fight.

"There was a lad in our team, Francisco. He was the captain. Played for Spain in the 1982 World Cup and got a ten-year contract out of it. And a guy called Alvarez, a centre-half, who was actually an assistant to Juande Ramos when he was at Seville. Those two were against Jock. The manager now, Manolo Jimenez, was the left-back. I used to play in front of him. He was a good lad. Him and a guy called Ramon who was a centre-forward. He still works at the club. They were the ones who tried to speak to me all the time. They tried to help me. Jimenez was on buttons and lived in a shack. He was brought up in a rough bit of Seville and if a fight started he'd be the first guy to back you up. A great guy. I'm happy that things worked out for him."

When Wallace was sacked, a few days before the 1997-98 season began, McMinn met him for a beer. He was of a mind to leave Spain. His mentor was gone and he now had nobody to talk to. He was lonely enough but with Jock off the scene he could see no future at Sevilla. "I thought everything had gone to pieces. 'What's the point in me being here?' I came over for Jock. He said, 'You have to keep on going, you cannae pack it in because of me. If you walk away now you'll be a failure'. We had a few beers and he strolled (home] and as he was walking down the street I could hear him whistling 'Follow Follow'. You could take the boy out of Glasgow, but you can't take Glasgow out of the boy."

McMinn stayed until February. He reckons he played about 25 games but missed the UK pretty much the whole time. "We beat Betis in their own stadium in my last game. It was the high-point for me. Everybody knew I was leaving for Derby. I got presented with a lovely plaque before the game, which was strange because I never thought the players liked me much. I couldn't speak their language so I couldn't really communicate with them. Turns out a lot of them did like me. But because I didn't learn the language I was just looking at four walls every night. The days were getting longer. I was lonely. I had Jock before. I missed the big man."

His time in Spain was brief but McMinn did enough to be remembered at Seville. They remembered him all the more when news reached them that he'd had an operation to remove a leg. He's been unlucky in other ways, too. He was a pundit on Radio Derby until Billy Davies took over. The manager found some of his views a little too hard-hitting. He hasn't done radio since. When Paul Jewell took over at the club, he got a job in the kit-room until cut-backs hit the club and he was let go. "Coisty rings me up and says, 'How's the leg?' and I say, 'Well, mate, it's not growing back!' I'd like to get involved in the game again, but I'll see what comes up. I can't be choosy in my situation. We'll see what happens. I'll be in Glasgow for the Sevilla game on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the boys."

The feeling, you suspect, is mutual.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport...-Ted.5682250.jp

[saintbob1969 1,459]

You'd think we could find this man a job at Ibrox doing something?

[Coopermania 1]

You'd think we could find this man a job at Ibrox doing something?

You would like to think so Bob. Seems to me that football has almost forgotten the tin man

This was a previous article

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/ho...icle1830223.ece

[PaBear 0]

Why Ibrox ? He was with the club barely 3 years , he was with Derby for 5 and many other clubs.Why do you feel Ibrox should employ him?

[mrwin 393]

Centre half!!!!

[Coopermania 1]

Why Ibrox ? He was with the club barely 3 years , he was with Derby for 5 and many other clubs.Why do you feel Ibrox should employ him?

I agree PaBear, fact is no club has a duty to look after ex-players, not least Rangers in this case but you would think that he could be of use somewhere.

[PaBear 0]

Why Ibrox ? He was with the club barely 3 years , he was with Derby for 5 and many other clubs.Why do you feel Ibrox should employ him?

I agree PaBear, fact is no club has a duty to look after ex-players, not least Rangers in this case but you would think that he could be of use somewhere.

I wish him nothing but the best.Times are tough all over.

[davie1689 1]

enjoyed reading that

cheers for the post Coop

[Coopermania 1]

enjoyed reading that

cheers for the post Coop

Decent article davie. I like reading about the ex-players and the wee stories they have to tell.

[blueballss 2,969]

Great wee article I thought.

Exiles on Spain St: Ted McMinnn's transfer from Rangers to Sevilla

Published Date: 27 September 2009

WHEN TED McMinn walked through the gate at Malaga airport on that January day in 1987 there, among the tanned strangers, was the unmissable Jock Wallace. Eyes darting, Wallace was in surreptitious mood. He shook McMinn by the hand and the player felt his fingers crush. "Come on son," whispered Jock. "The Opel's outside. Get in the back and throw that blanket over you. Naebody can see you today."

They drove to Seville, to the posh end of town, to an apartment in keeping with Wallace's stature in the city. As manager of Sevilla, the big man was a celebrity. Up ahead he could see photographers gathered at his gate, apparently tipped off that

a new player was about to join the club. "Are you covered up back there?" Wallace bellowed. "Aye, gaffer," answered McMinn. And so, in the back seat of an Opel, under the cover of a rug, the amazing adventure of Ted and Jock began.

For both of them, Seville represented escape and a shot at redemption. The pair were married to Rangers but had suffered a wounding divorce, Wallace replaced as manager by Graeme Souness who, in turn, booted McMinn out of the club after several controversies. Neither of them spoke Spanish, so they lived in each other's pockets, sharing lunch, dinner, pints and hours of chat. "It wasn't really a manager-player thing," says McMinn, "it was a father-son thing. I lived with him for the first month and a half. He drove me into training every morning. Eventually I said, 'Look drop me off about 800 yards before the ground and I'll make my own way in from there. The lads won't like it if they keep seeing us coming in together'."

What a time it was for McMinn. His leaving of Ibrox was spectacular, set against a backdrop of a mad night out in East Kilbride with Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant and a curfew break in Glasgow with Robert Fleck and Stuart Munro. Police charges were pending for the former (the case was not proven) and a Souness blast was the result of the latter.

"You will never play for this f***ing club again!" Souness screamed. Seville was like nirvana after the tyranny Souness. And for other reasons. McMinn's marriage was falling apart at the seams, but he told nobody. Not even Jock. When eventually Wallace found out, he gave McMinn a look of disappointment the player remembers to this day. "You should have told me," Wallace had said. "Sorry," said Ted.

Wallace had taken a punt on McMinn. His chairman at Sevilla wondered about the East Kilbride thing and reminded his manager that the transfer fee of £200,000 was a lot of money to spend on a guy the Spanish media were calling a thug. Jock defended his player. "He's an honest lad. He's told me he'd nae involvement with the boy losing his teeth and I'm happy with that."

Sevilla were a mid-table club with aspirations. They played in a big old concrete stadium that could seat 80,000. On a good day, they got 40,000. "Jock wanted me fitter, so I went playing squash with my interpreter one day. I'd played one game at this stage. I fell awkwardly and broke a toe. Jock was looking through the glass door and came rushing on to the court. 'What's up with ya'. I said I'd done my toe. 'You can't have.' A doctor had arrived by now. 'Yes, his toe is definitely broken' said the doc. 'Nae chance, it cannae be, I've just signed him!' Jock got murder from the chairman for that. Apparently, the big boss couldn't understand what I was doing playing squash. He kept saying, 'Squash! Squash! We didn't pay £200,000 for a squash player, Jock'."

He was out for eight weeks, but regained fitness and found some form. Sevilla went to the Nou Camp and beat Terry Venables' Barcelona. That was what Sevilla were capable of on their day. They had decent players who could perform. The problem was that they didn't have enough hard men – and what you needed in that league of elbows and sly digs and over-the-top tackles were men who would step up when things got tough.

In the pre-season of 1987, things started to get on top of Wallace. Even before the season started there was talk of him being fired, rumours of a dressing-room revolt. It was news to McMinn but, then, he was in no position to judge since he didn't know what the boys were saying when they gathered in clusters and talked among themselves.

"Our players were classed as southern softies because they were brought up in the sun. You go up north to the Basque country and to Pamplona and they're hard up there and they look at the likes of Betis and Cadiz and Sevilla and they don't think much of us. That was the reputation and it was true. You'll see it when they play Rangers. When it gets a bit tasty they're not up for a fight.

"There was a lad in our team, Francisco. He was the captain. Played for Spain in the 1982 World Cup and got a ten-year contract out of it. And a guy called Alvarez, a centre-half, who was actually an assistant to Juande Ramos when he was at Seville. Those two were against Jock. The manager now, Manolo Jimenez, was the left-back. I used to play in front of him. He was a good lad. Him and a guy called Ramon who was a centre-forward. He still works at the club. They were the ones who tried to speak to me all the time. They tried to help me. Jimenez was on buttons and lived in a shack. He was brought up in a rough bit of Seville and if a fight started he'd be the first guy to back you up. A great guy. I'm happy that things worked out for him."

When Wallace was sacked, a few days before the 1997-98 season began, McMinn met him for a beer. He was of a mind to leave Spain. His mentor was gone and he now had nobody to talk to. He was lonely enough but with Jock off the scene he could see no future at Sevilla. "I thought everything had gone to pieces. 'What's the point in me being here?' I came over for Jock. He said, 'You have to keep on going, you cannae pack it in because of me. If you walk away now you'll be a failure'. We had a few beers and he strolled (home] and as he was walking down the street I could hear him whistling 'Follow Follow'. You could take the boy out of Glasgow, but you can't take Glasgow out of the boy."

McMinn stayed until February. He reckons he played about 25 games but missed the UK pretty much the whole time. "We beat Betis in their own stadium in my last game. It was the high-point for me. Everybody knew I was leaving for Derby. I got presented with a lovely plaque before the game, which was strange because I never thought the players liked me much. I couldn't speak their language so I couldn't really communicate with them. Turns out a lot of them did like me. But because I didn't learn the language I was just looking at four walls every night. The days were getting longer. I was lonely. I had Jock before. I missed the big man."

His time in Spain was brief but McMinn did enough to be remembered at Seville. They remembered him all the more when news reached them that he'd had an operation to remove a leg. He's been unlucky in other ways, too. He was a pundit on Radio Derby until Billy Davies took over. The manager found some of his views a little too hard-hitting. He hasn't done radio since. When Paul Jewell took over at the club, he got a job in the kit-room until cut-backs hit the club and he was let go. "Coisty rings me up and says, 'How's the leg?' and I say, 'Well, mate, it's not growing back!' I'd like to get involved in the game again, but I'll see what comes up. I can't be choosy in my situation. We'll see what happens. I'll be in Glasgow for the Sevilla game on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the boys."

The feeling, you suspect, is mutual.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport...-Ted.5682250.jp

great post and great quip!!

[Coopermania 1]

Jock on McMinn to the Sevilla Chairman: "He's an honest lad. He's told me he'd nae involvement with the boy losing his teeth and I'm happy with that."

[saintbob1969 1,459]

Why Ibrox ? He was with the club barely 3 years , he was with Derby for 5 and many other clubs.Why do you feel Ibrox should employ him?

I'm no saying pay him a bundle, a guy like Ted would be great for our club even just working as a groundsman. Christ I'd buy a burger off the guy even if I wasn't hungry. I've a soft spot, my first Rangers game and he scored from a corner. In fact I'd take a one legged McMinn up front right now lol.

[kplfishtank 4,656]

great read thanks for posting that coop

[Dietspam 733]

Why Ibrox ? He was with the club barely 3 years , he was with Derby for 5 and many other clubs.Why do you feel Ibrox should employ him?

I'm no saying pay him a bundle, a guy like Ted would be great for our club even just working as a groundsman. Christ I'd buy a burger off the guy even if I wasn't hungry. I've a soft spot, my first Rangers game and he scored from a corner. In fact I'd take a one legged McMinn up front right now lol.

Wasn't he renowned for falling over 'n' stuff?

[Coopermania 1]

Why Ibrox ? He was with the club barely 3 years , he was with Derby for 5 and many other clubs.Why do you feel Ibrox should employ him?

I'm no saying pay him a bundle, a guy like Ted would be great for our club even just working as a groundsman. Christ I'd buy a burger off the guy even if I wasn't hungry. I've a soft spot, my first Rangers game and he scored from a corner. In fact I'd take a one legged McMinn up front right now lol.

Wasn't he renowned for falling over 'n' stuff?

The tin man was all arms and legs, awkward and you never really knew what he was going to do

[minstral 5,375]

Great read Coops.

[kplfishtank 4,656]

Why Ibrox ? He was with the club barely 3 years , he was with Derby for 5 and many other clubs.Why do you feel Ibrox should employ him?

I'm no saying pay him a bundle, a guy like Ted would be great for our club even just working as a groundsman. Christ I'd buy a burger off the guy even if I wasn't hungry. I've a soft spot, my first Rangers game and he scored from a corner. In fact I'd take a one legged McMinn up front right now lol.

Wasn't he renowned for falling over 'n' stuff?

The tin man was all arms and legs, awkward and you never really knew what he was going to do

he had 1 game against the yahoos at ibrox where he was outstanding we won 1-0 but the chances he created that day it could/should have been 5 or 6

also remember he scored direct from a corner down at boghead and did a lap of honour

[BRICKY1872 118]

I went to Seville on detachment few years back. One day when I was refuelling the jet I noticed the tanker driver was wearing a Sevilla pendant. I got talking to him and mentioned Wallace and his eyes lit up. He was a guy maybe in his 50's so clearly remembered him well and he spoke with a great deal of affection about him and his time at the club. Looking forward to going over there again, lovely city.

[SuperRangers 2]

Great read Coop, i always love hearing all the old storys especially about Big Jock.