Ralph Laidlaw Brand (born 8 December 1936) is a Scottish retired footballer, who played as a striker for

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, and latterly,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, Raith Rovers and Hamilton Academical.

Playing career

Born and raised in Edinburgh, Brand had family connections to Glasgow as his uncle resided in Springburn, was a

supporter and worked in the Govan shipyards. He signed for Rangers in 1952 after impressing manager Bill Struth whilst playing in a schoolboy international against England at Wembley; Struth signed him on a provisional contract in the summer of that year. Having spent time on loan with juvenile side Slateford Athletic and Junior team Broxburn Athletic, in 1954 he turned professional and made his debut for Rangers on 6 November against

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, scoring two goals in a 6–0 win. He missed the next two seasons doing his national service. After his return in December 1957, Scot Symon had become the manager and Brand formed an effective strike partnership with fellow Edinburgh native Jimmy Millar, and scored 14 goals in 28 games over the course of the second half of the season. Having been joined on the left wing by Davie Wilson, his best season came in 1960–61, in which he played in all of Rangers' 34 league games, scoring 24 goals, and 44 in all competitions. These included five goals in Rangers' run to the final of the Cup Winners Cup, three of which were scored in an 8–0 victory over

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

. Brand played in four Scottish championship winning sides: 1958–59, 1960–61, 1962–63 and the

Treble Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...

winning side of 1963–64. He won four League Cup and three Scottish Cup winner's medals, the latter set achieved in consecutive years in which he was a scorer in every final (plus a goal in the Old Firm replay of 1963), the only player to have achieved that feat. He played in a total of seven finals for the club, scoring six goals and never finishing on the losing side. In his time at Rangers he played 317 times and scored 206 goals, and is the club's third top post-war scorer behind Ally McCoist and Derek Johnstone. 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 final League game of the season. Brand was sold to Manchester City in August that year for £30,000. Two years later he moved to

before returning to Scottish football at Raith Rovers (managed by his friend Jimmy Millar). He retired in 1970, although he would come out of retirement to play a handful of matches for Hamilton Academical in 1971–72.

International

Brand played for Scotland eight times, scoring eight goals, although his international opportunities were limited because

Denis Law Denis Law (born 24 February 1940) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchester City ...

was the established striker in the side. He also played five times for the Scottish League XI, scoring eight times including four in one match against the Irish League in October 1961.

Managerial career

Brand had a brief managerial career, taking charge of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

for 6 months from December 1972, then

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

between 1973 and 1974. After leaving the football business he worked as a taxi-driver.

Personal life

Brand's son, Ralph Brand Jr., played a number of games for Rangers' reserve team in the 1970s.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''

Honours

As a player

* UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
Runners-up: 1960–61 *

Scottish League First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as ...

: 1958–59, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1963–64 * Scottish Cup: 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64 * Scottish League Cup: 1960–61, 1961–62, 1963–64, 1964–65

* Football League Second Division: 1965–66

References

External links

* * *
International stats
at Londonhearts.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Brand, Ralph 1936 births Living people Footballers from Edinburgh Scottish footballers Association football forwards Rangers F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Raith Rovers F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish football managers Darlington F.C. managers Albion Rovers F.C. managers English Football League managers Scottish Football League managers Scotland international footballers Scottish Football League representative players Scotland under-23 international footballers Broxburn Athletic F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players British taxi drivers