FOR most people, a trip to the seaside in the summer is seen as an enjoyable experience.

But for Rangers players in the 1970s, it turned into a living nightmare.

They were put through their paces in pre-season training on Gullane Sands by manager Jock Wallace.

And it was always a lung-bursting, stomach-churning, energy-sapping ordeal at the hands of a notoriously hard taskmaster. Even now, many years later, the prospect of visiting the beach sends a shiver down the spine of those involved in those infamous sessions.

"I went for a game of golf at Archerfield in East Lothian the other day and I had to drive through Gullane to get there," said SportTimes columnist Derek Johnstone.

"The memories came flooding back as I was passing through the town. I actually started to feel a bit dizzy and a little sick!

"I must admit I didn't like training at the best of times. But running up and down those sand dunes in pre- season was horrendous.

"We only went to Gullane with Jock once a year during pre-season training. But that was quite enough for all of us I can tell you.

"It was very, very hard. The day after running up and down those sand dunes your thighs were just solid. You could hardly move.

"Think about how difficult it is to run on sand or to play football on sand when you are at the beach on holiday. It is far harder than doing so on grass.

"They were absolutely brutal training sessions."

However, there was method in the madness – as the Rangers players invariably found during the course of the season.

Wallace's intensive training before the new campaign kicked off helped to ensure the Ibrox club ended their city rivals' astonishing domestic dominance.

They would gain the upper hand on Celtic and win trebles – the league, the League Cup and the Scottish Cup – in both 1976 and 1978.

Johnstone recalled: "Jock was very much into health and fitness. I think that was his greatest strength as a manager.

"We won a lot of games in the last five or 10 minutes in those days when other players' legs were tiring. We won two trebles in three years under Jock.

"I would say tactically Jock wasn't the greatest at times. But, I tell you what, when a game went into extra time we were ready for it. We were a very fit side."

Johnstone feels his manager's punishing training regime ensured the astonishing longevity of two of his team-mates.

"I think Jock helped guys like Alex MacDonald and Sandy Jardine enormously," he reflected. "They both played on until they were nearly 40 when they moved to Hearts.

"I think that was partly to do with the training they received under Jock when they were young players at Rangers. It stood them in good stead for many years.

"There are always players in a squad who are supremely fit, who look after themselves well, and Alex and Sandy were certainly like that.

"They were always at the front of the queue when there was any running to be done and always lasted the pace very well. They were both very, very fit."

Although he enjoyed a hugely successful career at the Govan club, Johnstone is the first to admit he did not fall into that category.

The versatile star, who could be utilised up front as well as in defence during his playing days, had a heavy frame.

So, as the Rangers players return to Murray Park today to prepare for the campaign ahead, the Light Blues legend felt no pangs of jealousy.

HE SAID: "This is the only time of year I don't want to be a footballer. In those days you could get between six and eight weeks off during the summer.

"You would be on holiday eating burgers and chips and enjoying yourself.

"Whenever I came back to pre-season training I was always heavy and the runs on the beach at Gullane really took it out of me.

"To be honest, even going back into training at Ibrox and running around the track at Bellahouston could be difficult. You were being sick after a couple of laps.

"Then somebody would say to you: 'Only another 748 laps to go!' But going to Gullane was always a lot worse. It was horrendous."

Johnstone moved on to Chelsea in 1983 and found there was no escape from the methods of Wallace.

He stated: "They did exactly the same thing when I was at Stamford Bridge. We went to Aberystwyth in Wales and it was excruciating.

"We trained on the dunes just as we had done when I was at Rangers. At that stage in my career it was worse.

"Football has changed since those days and training, diet and preparation for games is far more scientific than it was in my day.

"I've no doubt whatever the Rangers players go through now won't be as excruciating as what we endured."