WILLIE Henderson, the former Rangers winger, has called for the club's European Cup Winners' Cup goal heroes Colin Stein and Willie Johnston to be inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

He also feels it is high time that the remaining Lisbon Lions who haven't previously been honoured - Jim Craig, John Clark and Willie Wallace - joined them there. This spring's main anniversary may be the 50 years since Celtic became the first British team to lift the European Cup, but today is also 45 years to the day since Rangers recorded that famous triumph against Dinamo Moscow in 1972.

Henderson, who played during that run before his 12 year stint at Rangers ended shortly before the showpiece, believes there is no better time for the scorers of two of the most important goals in Scottish football history to receive the honour.

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“When you think how few times a European trophy has been brought to Scotland then they [Stein and Johnston] should be in it," said Henderson, speaking at the launch of nominations for the 2017 dinner. “Those boys not only scored the goals that won the cup but they were good players for Scotland and great players for Glasgow Rangers – there’s definitely a case for them to be included.

"It also seems ridiculous that, 50 years after winning the European Cup, three of the Lisbon Lions aren’t in it," he added. "That was a huge event for Celtic but also for Scotland. I have enormous respect for their achievements because what the Lions did was immense. Any honour that’s given to them – or to the Rangers team which was successful in 1972 – would be well deserved because it might never happen again.”

Scottish football had the world at its feet in 1967, but Henderson doesn't feel such dominance is coming back any time soon. He bemoans the dearth of school football on offer and wonders if tanner ba' players like himself or Jimmy Johnstone would have the flair coached out of them if they were around 50 years later.

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“That [1967] was a great year for Scottish football, one of the very best," said Henderson. "Unfortunately, all of the best years seem to be in the past and I think it’ll be like that for a long time. Our clubs can’t compete with the money on offer down south or abroad. I also think that the product up here is too expensive for the standard that’s on offer, which is why you’re getting crowds of 3,500 and less at some Premiership games.

“From the age of seven I would play football every day of the week, Monday to Sunday," he added. "But we don’t really have schools football now and it’s a big minus that kids who sign for senior clubs are banned from playing for other teams. It seems to me that some of the natural flair is being coached out of kids at eight or nine years of age. They don’t get a chance to express their individual talents now because they’re being put into a system which just over-rides everything else. What an incredible loss it would have been for fans if that had been the case in the 1960s and they’d done that with the likes of Jimmy Johnstone or myself and the other great players from that time."