Injuries

[Dodbroon]

Thanks for the information.
When we had a decent reserve team players from reserves could be promoted to the first team to replace injured or out of form players.
Craig Brown replaced Bobby Cox when he was injured. Craig Brown also played at Left half for 6 league games towards the end of the 1961-62 season.
Hugh Reid was the replacement at right back for Alec Hamilton.
Bobby Waddell was the replacement for an injured player in the forward line.
I do not know who the reserve goalkeeper was during the 1961-62 season as Pat Liney played in every game.
However during the 1960-61 season John Horsburgh played 4 league games in goal for the first team so he might have still been the reserve goalkeeper during the 1961-62 season.

Hugh Reid was indeed the back up to Alex Hamilton and played several times over a number of seasons from 60/61 to the middle of the decade but strangely didn't play at all during the League winning season. That season five players (Liney, Hamilton, Seith, Ure and Cousin) played every game including cup ties, Shug Robertson only missed one and the others from the iconic team only missed a handful allowing Brown, Stuart, McGeachie and Waddell to play a number of times. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Craig Brown was the only one who played enough games to collect a league winners medal. Looking behind the simple fact that only 15 players were used that season the question is why? Were the players just less injury prone, did they train differently, were the boots they wore in those days better in preventing injuries? It is also noticeable that the best team was out on the park at all times, none of this nonsense nowadays of players that only play in the cups or in the league.

We are not unique in this regard but we sure have signed some crocks over the years some spending far more time on the treatment table than on the park some never made it onto the park. Bad luck, bad recruiting, bad training regime or a combination of all of these? I reckon our recruitment has been poor over the years; this season being one of them.