The career and the legacy of Scot Symon is defined, widely and wrongly, by three famous defeats. To do so is an injustice to a manager who followed in the footsteps of greatness and left his own mark at Ibrox, who achieved success in his own right and set the tone for greater glories to come.

Symon guided Rangers into uncharted territory as the first British club to reach a UEFA final. Six years on from the loss to Fiorentina, he came within touching distance of the European Cup Winners’ Cup only to see it snatched from his grasp by fate and the outstanding Bayern Munich side of the day. Some months before, the biggest Scottish Cup shock of them all had been the beginning of the end for Symon at Ibrox.

It was on this day, June 15, in 1954 that Symon was appointed as Rangers manager. He became only the third man – after William Wilton and Bill Struth – to have such an honour bestowed on him. Over the next 13 years, he took charge of almost 700 matches and his medal collection – one of six League titles, five Scottish Cups and four League Cups – would be the envy of many who would subsequently hold office.

Those achievements are perhaps overlooked by the support of today. David Leggat, the renowned sports writer and author, believed that was the case some time ago. In writing ‘Great Scot: The James Scotland Symon Story’ in 2012 he sought to inform generations about the side that captured his imagination on the terraces alongside his father and grandfather.

“Look back at some of the results under Bill Struth, they had serious defeats under Struth but nobody suggests that should take the gloss off his magnificence,” Leggat told the Rangers Review. “Symon was basically asked to take the stage and follow Frank Sinatra and he managed it as well as Tony Bennett would have.

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"Symon was an extraordinarily good manager. He had so many qualities as a manager, and I felt he was overlooked and that his story had not been properly told, that people had forgotten who Scot Symon was. That was the motivating factor in me writing about him.

"He was a great exponent of youth and he gave so many players their chances at Ibrox. In 1970, when Partick Thistle beat Celtic 4-1 in the League Cup final, five of the Thistle team had been given their debut by Scot Symon during his time as manager. He had a terrific eye for a player and, of course, he signed Jim Baxter."

Symon’s appointment as manager marked his return to Ibrox. He had spent nine seasons at Rangers as wing-half - his talents saw him capped for Scotland at both football and cricket - before his departure in 1947 as he moved into the dugout with East Fife. His first term saw promotion earned and he subsequently achieved a League Cup win and Scottish Cup final appearance. A run to the FA Cup final with Preston North End in 1953 was further evidence of his credentials to succeed Struth at the end of his remarkable reign.

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Struth’s final campaign saw only the Glasgow Cup added to a roll of honour that will never be bettered. After 34 years at the helm, he chose the man to replace him.

“He had to completely rebuild after Bill Struth’s tenure,” David Mason, the club historian and author, told the Rangers Review. “Albeit Struth was a legendary manager, the team was ageing and he needed to bring in some new talent. He brought in some great players and built a team in the early part of the 60s that was almost unbeatable, with people like Baxter at the hub of all that.

“So often his tenure seems to be defined by the games at the end, the Berwick defeat and the Cup Winners’ Cup failure in Nuremberg, which I think is grossly unfair. He built such a great side and won the treble in 63/64, which was one of the great trebles.”

It was the second clean sweep that Rangers had recorded. Those fortunate enough to witness history being made by such heroic figures and such mercurial talents still recite the names of Ritchie, Shearer, Caldow and so on with such fondness. They were glorious, joyous times at Ibrox.

Symon was cut from the same cloth as Struth. He was a figurehead as a manager, a man who set standards and who placed demands on those who worked for him. Symon was very much of his time, but his presence was felt long after his departure given the list of those that he signed and selected, including The Greatest in John Greig and arguably the finest, Baxter. His last major acquisition was Alex Ferguson, who spoke of Symon's 'great inner strength' in Leggat's book.

“I have seen a letter from Struth where he said he had someone in mind for the position and he wanted to get them in earlier,” Mason said. “Struth wanted to leave earlier than he did do and the board wanted to keep him on. Although he never mentioned who it was, it was clear it was Scot Symon that he had on his mind. Struth picked someone in his own form to a great extent. He knew Symon as a player, he knew him as a man and knew his character.

"He had done very well with East Fife and then gone on to take Preston North End to the FA Cup final. In a very short time, he had shown great credentials. East Fife were one of the top teams in Scotland when Scot Symon was there and that is some indication of his ability to select players and make a good team. I have had this debate with people about whether he was particularly tactical and the information I have had is that he wasn’t particularly hands on, that was left to the trainers to do that. He stood at the side and watched them, but he knew a player and he wasn’t slow to breed youth as well.”

Leggat saw that at close hand as Rangers became his first love in life. Baxter claimed his affections back then and he remains the best he has ever seen over the last seven decades.

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Yet Symon’s ability to spot a player did not rely on a chequebook. Leggat recalls the progression of Alex Scott, then just 18, to replace Willie Waddell. Years later, Scott saw his own place taken by an up-and-coming talent in Willie Henderson. Scott had started in the Wembley win of 1962 but it was Henderson who played for Rangers in the Scottish Cup final against St Mirren.

Symon was no tracksuit manager. He oversaw a changing of the guard as the stalwarts of the Struth era were phased out over time and relationships with the likes of Eric Caldow and Johnny Hubbard suffered as a result of tough decisions made. On and off the pitch, Symon picked up where Struth had left off and continued the Rangers traditions of standards and success.

“He was old school,” Leggat said. “I used to go and watch Rangers training at the Albion and Symon, with his suit, overcoat and trademark soft hat, would walk across from Ibrox to go into the Albion and just watch them, just as Struth used to climb up into the stand when Rangers trained at Ibrox. He just watched them and picked up bits and pieces.

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"He was clever enough to understand that certain players had to be given a greater degree of leeway than the others. That was something he learned from struth because he gave that leeway to Torry Gillick, who was a little bit like Baxter in his attitude to life. In the same way that Matt Busby gave that leeway to George Best, Symon gave it to Baxter. Later on, another Rangers manager gave a different sort of treatment to Gazza than he did to everyone else, and Walter admitted that.”

As the seasons progressed, the game changed. The appointment of Jock Stein transformed Celtic’s fortunes. Even if Symon had been successful in Nuremberg, the achievement would have overshadowed in Scotland given events in Lisbon.

The leg-break suffered by Baxter in season 1964/65 was ominous for Symon. Leggat tells of a conversation with Rodger Baillie, whom he describes as one of the greatest sportswriters this country has ever produced, as he recalled seeing Symon ‘as white as a sheet’ that night in Vienna. Symon had uncharacteristically joined the travelling media corps for a drink after the match and there was no sugar-coating the situation that Rangers had been placed in.

“He was like Struth in many respects, although a much quieter man,” Mason said. “He would never speak to the Press, for example, which ultimately played a part in his downfall. He was very quiet, very reserved, he hated the Press and he lost out through that. Stein arrived and was a completely different kind of manager.

"I have had this debate with people about whether he was particularly tactical and the information I have had is that he wasn’t particularly hands on, that was left to the trainers to do that. He stood at the side and watched them but he knew a player and he knew the game of the time."

The balance of power was shifting across Glasgow. The Scottish Cup win of 1966 – secured in a replay thanks to a famous Kai Johansen goal - was cherished by Leggat. For him, it was evidence of Symon out-smarting Stein as the selection of Bobby Watson allowed Rangers to combat the class of Bobby Murdoch and Bertie Auld. He believes, though, that events and the progression of the game saw Symon left behind and he is not speaking with the benefit of hindsight when stating that the manager picked the wrong team against Bayern.

READ MORE: Ex-Rangers coach on why young Scottish players lack chances and leaving Ibrox

With George McLean and Jim Forrest banished after Berwick, Symon selected Roger Hynd to start the European final ahead of Alex Willoughby. An extra-time goal condemned Rangers to defeat as Hynd saw an effort ruled out for an apparent foul on Sepp Maier.

“Berwick was his downfall, and the ramifications of that,” Mason said. “People talk about the McLean and Forrest situation and he was pressured by the board latterly. The team itself was under pressure by Celtic given their turnaround. Symon didn’t get a lot of public support from the board and they were creating more problems for him than anything. Then of course he was dismissed by a guy who wasn’t even in the club, an accountant, which was just ridiculous how that was all handled.

“People think of Symon think of Berwick and Nuremberg but they should think about the great team of the late fifties and the early sixties. He was universally accepted by the fans and the board at the outset and seen as the ideal choice and he was the ideal choice until the mid-sixties when things changed. He had to change the team after Struth and then build two teams. He should be remembered for that.”

On the 70th anniversary of his return to Ibrox, now seems like an apt moment to celebrate the Great Scot. It is, after all, quite the story.