Jim Baxter

James Curran Baxter (29 September 1939 – 14 April 2001) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a left half. He is generally regarded as one of the country's greatest ever players. He was born, educated and started his career in Fife, but his peak playing years were in the early 1960s with the Glasgow club Rangers, whom he helped to win ten trophies between 1960 and 1965, and where he became known as "Slim Jim". However, he started drinking heavily during a four-month layoff caused by a leg fracture in December 1964, his fitness suffered, and he was transferred to Sunderland in summer 1965. In two and a half years at Sunderland he played 98 games and scored 12 goals, becoming known for drinking himself unconscious the night before a match and playing well the next day. At the end of 1967 Sunderland transferred him to Nottingham Forest, who gave him a free transfer back to Rangers in 1969 after 50 games. After a further year with Rangers Baxter retired from football in 1970, at the age of 31.

From 1960 to 1967, he was a leading member of a strong Scottish international team that lost only once to England, in 1966, shortly after he recovered from the leg fracture. He thought his best international performance was a 2–1 win against England in 1963, when he scored both goals after Scotland were reduced to 10 players. In the 1967 match against England, who had won the 1966 World Cup, he taunted the opposition by ball juggling while waiting for his teammates to find good positions. Although he was given most of the credit for the 3–2 win, some commentators wished he had made an effort to run up a bigger score.

In his prime, Baxter was known for his ability to raise a team's morale, his good tactical vision, precise passing and ability to send opponents the wrong way – and for being a joker on the pitch. He also broke with Glasgow tradition by becoming friendly with several members of their major Glasgow rivals, Celtic.

Although he gained a reputation as a womaniser when he moved to Glasgow, he married in 1965 and had two sons. The marriage broke up in 1981, and in 1983 he formed another relationship that lasted the rest of his life. After retiring from football he became manager of a pub, and his continued heavy drinking damaged his liver so badly that he needed two transplants at the age of 55, after which he swore off alcohol. Baxter was also addicted to gambling, and is estimated to have lost between £250,000 and £500,000. After he died of pancreatic cancer in 2001, his funeral was held in Glasgow Cathedral and his ashes were buried at Rangers' Ibrox Stadium. In 2003, a statue was erected in his honour at his hometown, Hill of Beath.

Early life

Baxter was born in Hill of Beath, Fife, on 29 September 1939 and was educated and started his career there. After leaving school he spent eight months as an apprentice cabinet maker, and then worked as a coal miner.

Club career

Raith Rovers

Baxter joined Raith Rovers as a part-timer in 1957. He later said of his time with the two Fife clubs, "I would never have made it in today's circumstances. I needed bastards like Carmichael, Buckard, Ferrier, Herdman and McNaught. Young players like I was would simply tell them to get stuffed and take their talent elsewhere. I owe them." Baxter joined the Glasgow team Rangers for a transfer fee of £17,500, a Scottish record at the time.

In December 1964, Baxter played brilliantly to set up a 2–0 win for Rangers in an away game against Rapid Vienna in the European Cup. With the game won, rather than play out time Baxter's confidence over-extended into arrogance to make fun of his opponents with the ball. In the last minute he went to 'nutmeg' an opponent, who was having none of it and broke Baxter's leg with his challenge.

Return to Rangers

Baxter moved back to Rangers. In his international appearances he scored three goals, and Scotland won 21, drew 3 and lost 10 of these matches.

According to many commentators, his greatest performances were against England in 1963 and 1967. In the 1963 game Scotland were reduced to 10 men when their left back Eric Caldow's leg was broken in a tackle by Bobby Smith – substitutions were not allowed at that time. Bobby Moore thought this was the best team Scotland ever fielded. Some commentators accepted that humiliating the opposition was a valid objective, while others regarded it as childish and thought Scotland should have won a more convincing victory than the actual 3–2 scoreline. Teammate Denis Law expressed opinions on both sides of this debate, saying that Baxter was "the best player on the park" and the main reason for the Scots' victory,

In October 1963, which may have been Baxter's best year overall, he played for the "Rest of the world" in a match against England to celebrate the centenary of The Football Association. However England won the match 2–1.

Scotland did not qualify for the final stage of the FIFA World Cup during Baxter's playing career. Scottish public opinion at the time blamed lack of commitment by the "Anglos", Scottish-born players who spent little or none of their playing careers in Scotland. However at the time beating England was more important to the Scots. In 1960–61, when Baxter played in all the qualifying matches for the 1962 World Cup, they finished first equal in their qualifying group but lost the play-off against Czechoslovakia, who were runners-up to Brazil in the Final. Four years later Baxter played in only two of the qualifying games, (however one of these games was against Italy where he made John Greig's winning goal after starting the move by taking the ball from Scotland's keeper) In 1968–69 he was not selected to play in any of the qualifiers for the 1970 World Cup.

Baxter was free of the sectarianism that marked the rivalry between Glasgow's two leading teams. His close friends included the Celtic players Billy McNeill, Paddy Crerand and Mike Jackson, in defiance of the unwritten rule that rivals did not associate.

Like some other British football stars of the late 20th century, Baxter drank to excess, and at one point was said to be consuming three bottles of Bacardi a day. He described his approach to playing football as "treating the ball like a woman. Give it a cuddle, caress it a wee bit, take your time, and you'll get the required response".

Baxter played most of his best football in his early twenties, before the leg fracture against Rapid Vienna in December 1964 and the start of his heavy drinking that made his nickname "Slim Jim" less appropriate.

He was also noted as a joker on the pitch. Most famously, during Scotland's 3–2 win over England in 1967, he taunted his opponents by playing "keepie uppie" during the game. and "the greatest player I ever played with ... He had touch, balance, vision and just this wonderful aura ..." Rangers manager Willie Waddell said, "Jim was the finest left half ever produced by Rangers." Jimmy Johnstone, who played for Rangers' great rivals Celtic, said shortly after Baxter's death, "He was a great man and a genius on the ball." Allegedly Pelé once said that Baxter should have been a Brazilian.

Baxter is a member of the Rangers supporters' Hall of Fame, In 2004, he was also inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. In the December 1999 issue of World Soccer magazine he was voted by a readers' poll into a list of the 100 greatest players of the 20th century.

The Tartan Army unsuccessfully attempted to get the new Wembley Stadium footbridge named after him, and on 24 February 2005 Scottish National Party MP Pete Wishart presented an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons supporting this campaign.

In 2003, a statue of Baxter was erected in his birthplace, Hill of Beath in Fife, after a campaign that raised £80,000. Fellow footballer and midfielder Scott Brown, who would become Scotland captain in the 2010s, was also raised in the village and attended the same school, with the Baxter statue across the street from his childhood home, although Brown chose to sign for Celtic rather than Rangers.

Career statistics

International appearances

:Sources:

{| class="wikitable"

! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition

| 1. || 2 May 1962 || Hampden Park, Glasgow || || 1–3 || 2–3 || Friendly

| 2.

| rowspan=2 | 6 April 1963 || rowspan=2 | Wembley Stadium, London || rowspan=2 | || 1–0 || rowspan=2 | 2–1 || rowspan=2 | 1963 British Home Championship

| 3.

| 2–0

Honours

Club

Rangers

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Runner-up: 1960–61
Scottish League First Division: 1960–61, 1963–64
Scottish Cup: 1961–62, 1962–63,

Individual

Scottish Football Hall of Fame (inaugural inductee)
World XI: 1963