Baxter Jim - Slim Jim : Simply the Best, the Jim Baxter story

SOME players just make you smile. Whether it was watching his fantastic playing skills or having the privilege of being in his company, Jim Baxter brought a smile to everyones face. His fantastic football skills could induce spontaneous happiness, while his off-the-field demeanour was full of fun.

One couldnt fail to engage with his infectious humour and gregarious nature when you were with him. He had not always been like that, though. On his visit to Ibrox in June 1960 to sign for Rangers, Jim was a shy, nervous lad from the Kingdom of Fife. And slim indeed!

How do I know? Well, not for the first time was I in the treatment room when that gentleman of a manager Scot Symon appeared, accompanied by the new signing. I had read the Jim Jolly Rodger exclusive in the morning newspaper about a new recruit from Raith Rovers costing all of 17,500.

Having introduced him to trainer Davie Kinnear, the manager then had Jim Baxter shake hands and chat with me, so when he reported for training I was the only player he had already met. The fact that we were pegged alphabetically, and that there was not a differentiation between first-team and reserve players, meant that we were comfortably together Baird, Baxter, Brown, Caldow... What was I doing there, I often wondered.

I think Jim was happy to have someone he knew in the camp, and although never bosom pals we were good friends for the remaining two years I was at Ibrox before I went, initially on loan, to Dundee.

I have already referred to one of Slim Jims admirable attributes: his sense of humour. Sometimes mischievous, but never nasty, Jim could have us all in stitches. A perfect example was provided one Friday morning before an important home match. There being no substitutes in those days, the actual team, with a 12th man, was printed on impressive Rangers Football Club headed notepaper and pinned to the noticeboard while we were out training.

Although he knew he would be in the team first pick in the eyes of the supporters, as well as the manager Jim liked to provide an opinion on the selection. This particular Friday, the morning papers had carried the headline, Henderson to get contact lenses! It was well known that the brilliant right winger Wee Willie Henderson had deficient eyesight, so the club was investing in this relatively new provision. The regular outside left at the time, Davie Wilson, was injured and his replacement was Bobby Hume, who was well known to be one of the first players ever to wear contact lenses.

That morning Jim read the forward line out loud in that distinctive lilting Fife accent: Henderson, McMillan, Miller, Brand and Hume. Two blind wingers! Im gonna tell Davie [McLeod, the groundsman] not to bother lining the park the morra, just to put kerb staines alang the side!

We used to train often at the main stadium and run lap after lap on the cinder track, wearing spikes. That did not go down too well with Jim, who was known to jump the terracing wall on occasion. When challenged by Davie Kinnear, he would respond, Im up here practisin to catch wan o Bobby Shearers cross-field passes. That was not an original shout, as it was previously used by the inimitable Johnny Hubbard when referring to the quality of Sammy Bairds long passes.

Hurtful? No one could take offence, not even when he used to mimic the manager, or when he would ask me, Did you win a competition to train with the team?

If another player had said that, it would have been insulting, but such an accusation could never be levelled at Jim Baxter. Young and old players in the dressing-room used to gravitate towards him to hear his cheeky one-liners and his stories of the pride and togetherness of the mining communities in his native Fife.

In the modern day, his transfer value would be at least 25 million, so I hardly need to eulogise about the mans playing ability. That has been well, and justifiably, recorded.

In the days when fans used to throw toilet rolls onto the park, I remember in a big European tie Jim was in possession of the ball and was getting fankled with one of these rolls. A frustrated fan shouted, Haw Jim, surely you can beat that Andrex. Youve already beaten everyone else on the park!