My father and I had the pleasure of being in ex-player and goal scorer supreme Jim Forrest's company the other day,of which much was said about Rangers old and new.Must say,Forrest has many a tale to tell,some of which I'll keep for now.
Forrest,a great goal scorer of my Father's generation ( early to mid 1960s),still does hospitality work for Rangers and is a stalwart to this day.
Anyway,of note was Forrest still wearing the Rangers colours, tie, blazer et al and of course the subject of 'Aye Ready' or 'Ready' came up:
PS: 'I note your Rangers blazer with badge,was it 'Ready' when you were there?'
JF: 'It was.Ready then and Ready now.Ready was on the badge when I first signed at Rangers and it was on,when I got my first player's blazer '
PS: 'Do you remember what was on the side of the Main Stand though?'
JF: ' Well that was 'Aye Ready,yes I remember that.The club stuck with plain 'Ready' for the badge on the blazers though.Officially it was just 'Ready' and they stuck with that and later everybody knew it has just 'Ready'.
KS: ' I remember it on the Main Stand in the 50s and 60s,so you DID see it? Many now doubt it was painted there,especially on 'Follow Follow' ...(message board-a plug!) '
JF: 'Yes it was there,I saw it everyday.It got changed though about the time I was there,1964,65.Why?,well 'Ready' was being used on everything.Suppose it could have been 'Aye Ready',but somewhere somebody changed it & it became 'Ready'.
PS: 'Early pictures show it as 'Ready' on Bill Struth's blazer..'
JF: 'I think someone was to 'do' the badge and it 'became' 'Ready'.That just stuck.Still used now,so the club says it's 'Ready' as the official motto...'
Well,a former player,who played when many alledge 'Aye Ready' was on the Main Stand,including many I know of,also knew of it painted there too.He saw it everyday until it changed apparently in the mid-60s,as 'Ready' was more accessable to the club.It also had been used on the badge on the players clothing for some time.Of course,looks like it could have been 'Aye Ready' if the embroiderers had their way....Never used as 'official' though on anything issued by the club...(now I could differ,but I won't)
BLUEFORYOU
THE EDITOR OF “THE RANGERS HISTORIAN" REPLIES:-
“It was good to know that Jim Forrest (a near-neighbour of mine) confirmed what I knew to be fact.
“However one point should be emphasised - the wording on the blazer badges has no relevance to the club's official motto.
“Originally the motto was 'AYE WORK AWA', which was then changed to 'READY AYE READY', subsequently shortened to 'AYE READY' and finally in 1966 to 'READY'.
“The change in 1966 was explained as being a modernising move, but in fact it was so that the badge could be legally incorporated.
I” have explained all of this more than once on the 'FF messageboard and on various Rangers internet lists - must say I am mystified why the debate continues.
“Regards
“Robert McElroy”