1989–90 Rangers F.C. season

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Rangers
1989–90 season
ChairmanDavid Holmes
(until 2 June)
David Murray
(from 2 June)
ManagerGraeme Souness
GroundIbrox Park
Scottish Premier Division1st
P36 W20 D11 L5 F48 A19 Pts51
Scottish CupFourth Round
League CupRunners-up
European CupFirst Round
Top goalscorerLeague:
Mo Johnston (15)
All:
Ally McCoist (18)

The 1989–90 season was the 110th season of competitive football by Rangers.

Overview[]

Rangers played a total of 45 competitive matches during the 1989–90 season.

Transfer news in the close season was dominated by one signing. Celtic had paraded their former player and Scotland striker, Maurice Johnston as a new recruit just before the Scottish Cup final. However, a chance encounter between his agent, Bill McMurdo and Graeme Souness at Ibrox revealed that the deal was not completely done.

On 10 July Rangers signed the former Celtic striker from French club Nantes for £1.5 million. The fact that Johnston was a high-profile ex-Celtic player and considered to be a Roman Catholic made the move unprecedented. The transfer angered Celtic fans and some sections of the Rangers support. At a stroke Souness and Rangers had made the most public statement that anyone could join the team if they met the required playing standards.

When the season began, Rangers did not. Three matches played in the league, no wins and two defeats. However, the team slowly got into gear, despite only two wins from the first eight games. New arrival Johnston netted the crucial winner during an Old Firm game on 4 November 1989. Scoring the goal in the dying minutes of the match, Johnston celebrated wildly with the Rangers fans and was booked by the referee for leaving the pitch. Come May 1990, Rangers' name was on the trophy for the second time in as many seasons.

The club again failed to win the Scottish Cup, losing to Celtic in the fourth round at Parkhead. Their run in the League Cup came to an end, losing to Aberdeen by 2–1 AET in the final.

In Europe they were knocked out the European Cup by German side Bayern Munich in the first round (3–1 on aggregate). There was no seeding system in the competition at the time and it is believed that early round ties like this were the catalyst for discussions at UEFA to introduce the Champions League. Rangers and Club Secretary, Campbell Ogilvie would be instrumental in bringing the new competition to life in 1992.

Transfers[]

In[]

Date Player From Fee
1 June 1989 England Trevor Steven England Everton £1.525m
10 July 1989 Scotland Mo Johnston France FC Nantes £1.5m
3 November 1989 England Chris Vinnicombe England Exeter City £0.15m
30 November 1989 England Nigel Spackman England Queens Park Rangers £0.5m

Out[]

Date Player To Fee
31 May 1989 Scotland Davie Cooper Scotland Motherwell £0.05m
31 May 1989 England Mel Sterland England Leeds United £0.6m
1 July 1989 Northern Ireland Jimmy Nicholl Scotland Dunfermline Athletic Free
29 July 1989 Scotland Davie Kirkwood Scotland Heart of Midlothian £0.1m
20 October 1989 England Kevin Drinkell England Coventry City
30 November 1989 England Ray Wilkins England Queens Park Rangers

Results[]

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

Scottish Premier Division[]

Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
12 August 1989 St Mirren H 0–1 39,951
19 August 1989 Hibernian A 0–2 22,500
26 August 1989 Celtic A 1–1 54,000 Butcher
9 September 1989 Aberdeen H 1–0 40,283 Johnston
16 September 1989 Dundee H 2–2 35,836 McCoist (2)
23 September 1989 Dunfermline Athletic A 1–1 17,765 McCoist
30 September 1989 Heart of Midlothian H 1–0 39,554 Johnston
3 October 1989 Motherwell A 0–1 17,667
14 October 1989 Dundee United H 2–1 36,062 Johnston, McCoist
25 October 1989 St Mirren A 2–0 15,130 McCoist, Johnston
28 October 1989 Hibernian H 3–0 35,260 McCoist (2), Johnston (pen.)
4 November 1989 Celtic H 1–0 41,598 Johnston
18 November 1989 Dundee A 2–0 14,536 Johnston, Walters
22 November 1989 Aberdeen A 0–1 22,500
25 November 1989 Dunfermline Athletic H 3–0 39,131 Johnston, Butcher, McCoist
2 December 1989 Heart of Midlothian A 2–1 24,771 Walters, Steven
9 December 1989 Motherwell H 3–0 33,549 Butcher, McCoist, Brown
16 December 1989 Dundee United A 1–1 15,947 Johnston
23 December 1989 St Mirren H 1–0 31,797 Dodds
30 December 1989 Hibernian A 0–0 24,500
2 January 1990 Celtic A 1–0 54,000 Spackman
6 January 1990 Aberdeen H 2–0 41,351 Walters, McCoist
13 January 1990 Dundee H 3–0 36,993 McCoist, Dodds, Johnston
27 January 1990 Dunfermline Athletic A 1–0 17,380 Steven
3 February 1990 Dundee United H 3–1 39,058 Walters, McCoist, Johnston
10 February 1990 Motherwell A 1–1 17,647 Johnston
17 February 1990 Heart of Midlothian H 0–0 41,884
3 March 1990 Dundee A 2–2 12,743 Johnston, Dodds
17 March 1990 St Mirren A 0–0 16,129
24 March 1990 Hibernian H 0–1 37,452
1 April 1990 Celtic H 3–0 41,926 Walters (pen.), Johnston, McCoist (pen.)
8 April 1990 Aberdeen A 0–0 23,000
14 April 1990 Motherwell H 2–1 39,305 Steven, Johnston
21 April 1990 Dundee United A 1–0 15,995 Steven
28 April 1990 Dunfermline Athletic H 2–0 40,769 McCoist, Dodds
5 May 1990 Heart of Midlothian A 1–1 20,283 Munro

European Cup[]

Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
13 September 1989 Bayern Munich H 1–3 40,253 Walters (pen.)
27 September 1989 Bayern Munich A 0–0 40,000

Scottish Cup[]

Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
20 January 1990 St Johnstone H 3–0 39,003 Johnston, Brown, Walters
25 February 1990 Celtic A 0–1 52,565

League Cup[]

Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
15 August 1989 Arbroath H 4–0 31,762 McCoist (3), I.Ferguson
23 August 1989 Morton A 2–1 11,821 Walters, Pickering (o.g.)
30 August 1989 Hamilton Academical A 3–0 9,162 Walters (2), Steven
19 September 1989 Dunfermline Athletic N 5–0 41,643 Steven, Johnston, Walters, McCoist, I.Ferguson
22 October 1989 Aberdeen N 1–2 61,190 Walters (pen.)

Appearances[]

Player Position Appearances Goals
England Chris Woods GK 37 0
England Gary Stevens DF 44 1
Scotland Stuart Munro DF 45 1
Scotland Richard Gough DF 31 0
England Ray Wilkins MF 22 0
England Terry Butcher DF 43 0
England Trevor Steven MF 43 3
Scotland Ian Ferguson MF 32 2
Scotland Ally McCoist FW 40 18
Scotland Mo Johnston FW 45 17
England Mark Walters MF 36 12
England Kevin Drinkell FW 7 0
Scotland Derek Ferguson MF 8 0
Israel Bonni Ginzburg GK 8 0
Scotland John Brown DF 30 2
Scotland Scott Nisbet DF 9 0
Scotland Tom Cowan DF 4 0
Scotland Davie Dodds FW 15 4
Scotland Neale Cooper MF 3 0
Scotland Ian McCall MF 5 0
England Nigel Spackman MF 23 1
England Chris Vinnicombe DF 9 0
Scotland Sandy Robertson MF 1 0
Scotland Graeme Souness MF 1 0

League table[]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Rangers (C) 36 20 11 5 48 19 +29 51 Qualification for the European Cup first round
2 Aberdeen 36 17 10 9 56 33 +23 44 Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round
3 Heart of Midlothian 36 16 12 8 54 35 +19 44 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4 Dundee United 36 11 13 12 36 39 −3 35
5 Celtic 36 10 14 12 37 37 0 34
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion

See also[]

References[]

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