Return to Scotland

Celtic Park. Its 60,000 spectators. Its vibrant rendition of “You’ll never walk alone”. It’s history since more than a century. Along with hundreds of their fans, the Rennais players will discover a legendary stadium and a unique atmosphere. None of the current Rennes players were born at the time, and only Frédéric Antonetti and some of his coaching staff could remember that the Rennes shirt had already been worn in Glasgow, a night of September 1971.
Facing the Rangers in Ibrox, the Stade Rennes tried to build on the euphoria of its second Coupe de France success by hoping to launch a successful European campaign. A major issue arose however, the Scottish team was as tough as talented, and it would prove it by winning the European Cup Winner’s Cup just a few months later, in Spring 1972.

The Rangers’ manager « impressed by Rennes’ collective ability »

After the party that followed the final in Colombes, Stade Rennes had to face an unavoidable hangover. Jean Prouff, as most of his team, remained at the club for what would turn to be his final year with the Rouge et Noirs. Logically, the Breton team could be ambitious before returning to the European stage.
Six years earlier, after the 1965 Coupe de France victory, Stade Rennes had already had a measure of the difficulty of continental competitions. On the first round, they faced Czechoslovak team Dukla Prague. A team led by the 1962 Ballon d’Or winner Josef Masopust, which would not leave them the opportunity to score a single goal (defeat 0-2 in Prague, draw 0-0 in Rennes). Facing the Rangers for their return to the competition, they had their work cut-out once again. The opposition was maybe not as prestigious as FC Barcelona, le Bayern Munich or the Torino, three others possible opponents, but tough enough to place Rennes in a clear outsider position.

Before the first leg, played at the Stade de la Route de Lorient, Rennes had all the reasons to be optimistic however. Jean Prouff and his men had taken an ideal start in the league, holding to third position after having one four of their first six games. The previous week-end, Scottish manager William Waddell had travelled to Rennes where he could watch his future opponents easily brush Bordeaux aside with goals by Yugoslavian Sokrat Mojsov and Philippe Terrier (2-0). He left the stadium “impressed by Rennes’ collective ability”, a team for which Prouff championed an attack-minded football, and in which Raymond Keruzoré and André Betta occupied the roles of attacking leaders.

Strict man marking

Pondering his tactics, Waddel therefore decided to adapt his team’s strategy in order to manage a positive result in Rennes. Building on the advantage of hosting the second leg, his team came to Brittany with the sole aim of avoiding defeat and disturb the attacking play of its opponent as much as possible. Ninety minutes of constant defending, unsporting behaviour and strict man-marking of Rennes’ attacking players would follow. Youngster Raymond Keruzoré was particularly closely monitored by a defender who applied a strict individual defence on him. “There was nothing to do, I had a player following me everywhere, the Breton regretted after the game in an interview to Ouest-France. At some point, I got angry. He told me he would love to play differently but he had received instructions. I’ve never seen anything like this».
Sacrifying its own football philosophy, the Scottish team upset the Rennes public as well as Jean Prouff, who refused the very idea of a football not focused on the attack. But the strategy would pay, and Stade Rennais was certainly caught for being a bit too naïve on that day. On a corner gained just before the hour played, Scottish international Willie Johnston placed a header which left Marcel Aubour powerless. A precious away goal for the Rangers, which was already reducing the chances of Rennes to go through to the next round.

With their back against the wall, the « Rouge et Noir » would eventually manage to equalise thanks to a twenty years old kid debuting with the professional team. Still a pharmacy student, Philippe Redon was playing amateur football with the US Avranches a few months earlier. Ten minutes after coming off the bench, he scored what would remain the only Rennes goal in Europe for long years after. “It was another era, he remembered in 2011. I played rugby on the Wednesday at the University, and then I could play in D1 on the week-end. The game against Rangers happened a bit by luck. I was twenty and careless, I could take life as it came”.
The final one-one score-line of still left the Rennais in with the chance, and Jean Prouff affirmed that his team “could qualify” in the return leg at Ibrox Park. However, the Rouge et Noir were regretting the way the first leg went, especially since they could have been awarded a penalty at the very beginning of the game (“I was fouled in the area at the fifth minute. The referee didn’t blow his whistle because it was the beginning of the match. This is the only reason!”, complained André Betta after the game).

Arrogance, inhibition and deficiencies

Two weeks after their first encounter, Rennes travelled to Glasgow for the second leg of their tie with the Rangers. In Scotland, they received a cold welcome from the local press. Jean Prouff was particularly targeted for his arrogance after heaping criticism on Rangers’ style of play and tactics in the first leg.
Although they came in this decisive game with the will to snatch qualification, the Rennais would soon lose their illusions. After an ultra-defensive display in Rennes, the Scotsmen attacked all the way even though a goalless draw could have been sufficient for them to qualify. Maybe inhibited by the atmosphere of Ibrox – then a 40,000 seater stadium, much bigger than most French stadiums at the time -, the Rouge et Noir showed way too shy and were put to the sword by the Glaswegian team. The Scottish wingers gave their French counter-parts the run-around, and inevitably, attacking midfielder Alex MacDonald eventually opened the score a few minutes before half-time. Unable to level the score, Rennes failed in its bid to earn a chance in extra-time and was knocked out of the competition (1-1, 0-1).
After the Dukla Prague, against which Rennes had mainly lacked experience, Jean Prouff explained the elimination with the ability of the Scottish opponent, and pointed the insufficient performance of some of his players. “The Rangers were better tonight than in Rennes, and I regret for our public that they didn’t play in such manner in the first leg, the Breton manager explained. However, we showed too many individual deficiencies in order to hope for qualification».

Against Rennes, the Rangers laid the first stone of a long, triumphant journey who would lead them to what remains their only European trophy to this day, following a hard fought victory over Dynamo Moscow in the final (3-2). Looking at the teams the Rangers eliminated after Rennes on their way to victory (Sporting Lisbon, Torino, Bayern Munich), Prouff players had certainly no reason to be ashamed of their performance.
They certainly didn’t imagine, however, that it would take so long for Stade Rennes to experience the taste of European football again and find a successor to Philippe Redon, and even longer before the club returned to Glasgow. The modern “Rouge et Noirs” have got a mission: To do better than their predecessors of a long forty years ago.

- Source : « 100 ans en Rouge et Noir », Hors-série Ouest-France, 2001
- Photo : Ouest-France