Eddie Rutherford
Edward 'Eddie' Rutherford (born 1921 in Govan) was a former Scottish footballer who played for Rangers, Hearts F.C.|Hearts]] and Scotland.
t A member of the revered Rangers side who won the first domestic 'treble' in Scottish football history in 1948-49, Rutherford enjoyed a highly successful 15-year playing career.
A native of Govan, he joined Rangers in 1941 from local juvenile side Mossvale. Military service saw him based in England for much of the Second World War where he appeared as a guest player for both Lincoln City and Bradford City.
On his return to Scotland, he made the first-team breakthrough at Rangers during the 1946-47 season but was unable to command a regular first-team place in his favourite position of outside-right as that slot was occupied by the legendary figure of Willie Waddell.
Rutherford successfully adapted to playing at outside-left, however, and spent much of his Ibrox career there. He collected his first major honour with the club as part of the side which defeated Morton in the 1948 Scottish Cup final, before becoming a key component of the historic treble-winning team the following year.
Rutherford missed just three of Rangers' league games in the campaign and played in both the Scottish Cup and League Cup final victories over Clyde and Raith Rovers respectively.
Capped just once for Scotland, in the 3-0 friendly loss to France in Paris in 1948, Rutherford added a league championship and Scottish Cup double to his haul of honours with Rangers in 1949-50.
He scored 28 goals in 140 appearances for the Ibrox club before moving to Hearts in November 1951 in a swap deal which saw Colin Liddell move in the opposite direction. Rutherford was an effective performer for the Tynecastle club, netting 15 times in 50 appearances with one of his first goals for Hearts coming in a 2-2 draw with Rangers in January 1952.
He was sold to Raith Rovers for £500 in January 1955 but returned to the west of Scotland just five months later to join Hamilton Accies, with whom he spent the final season of his career before hanging up his boots in the summer of 1956.
• Rangers confirmed yesterday that the first leg of their Champions League qualifying tie against either Zeta or Kaunas will take place on Tuesday, 31 July. The kick-off time has yet to be announced, while the return leg is on 7 or 8 August.