Rangers legend Jim Forrest dies aged 79 as Ibrox club leads tributes to star with better goal ratio than Ally McCoist

JIM FORREST, the most prolific goalscorer in Rangers’ post-war history, has died.

The Ibrox side wrote on social media: “The Rangers family is today saddened by the loss of former striker, Jim Forrest, at the age of 79.

SNSRangers hero Jim Forrest[/caption]

SNSRANGERS 1960-61 (l to r) Davie Wilson, Bobby Shearer, Billy Ritchie, Davie Provan, Jim Forrest, Ian McMillan, John Greig, Ron McKinnon, Jim Baxter, Ralph Brand and Willie Henderson.[/caption]

“The thoughts of everyone at Rangers are with Jim’s family and friends.”

Aberdeen, for whom he played 186 times, scoring 62 goals, wrote: “Aberdeen Football Club is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Jim Forrest.

“Jim played 186 times for the club, scoring 62 goals and was part of the side that won the Scottish Cup in 1970.

“The thoughts of everyone at Pittodrie are with Jim’s family and friends at this sad time.”

Born in Springburn, the striker joined his boyhood heroes in 1962.

A year later, in August 1963, he made his Old Firm debut – scoring twice in a 3-0 win for Gers at Parkhead.

He was just 18-years-old.

After bagging his first goals for the Ibrox club, Forrest went on to score an astonishing 145 times in 163 appearances.

He had a better goals ratio than the likes of Ally McCoist, Ralph Brand and Jimmy Millar.

Yet, along with George McLean, he was inexplicably made the scapegoat in the aftermath of Rangers’ shock Scottish Cup defeat to Berwick Rangers in 1967.

Manager Scot Symon described it as “the worst result in the history of the club”, and Forrest never played for Rangers again.

Forrest – who died at the age of 78 – was only 22 and his stats in the three previous seasons were truly remarkable.

He scored 39 goals in his first full season. During the treble winning campaign of 1963-64 he bagged an incredible 57 – a British post war record that still stands to this day.

The following season he hit 35 and had already netted 14 times before Symon’s show of spite.

It was a decision which arguably cost Rangers the Cup Winners’ Cup as they were forced to turn to centre-half Roger Hynd for the final against Bayern Munich in Nuremberg.

To his credit, Forrest never spoke out against Symon or the call that ended his Ibrox career.

Speaking in “Rangers, The 100 Greatest”, Forrest reflected: “I didn’t say anything against the club then and even now I prefer not to go into that.

“Yes, what happened hurt, but I am a Rangers man and you don’t start hitting out at them. 

“It’s not my style.

Following his exit from Rangers, Forrest played for Preston and had five years at Aberdeen, where he won the Scottish Cup in 1970.

He also had spells in South Africa and Hong Kong.

Forrest should be given his rightful place in the Ibrox Hall of Fame.

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