1997–98 Rangers F.C. season

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Rangers
1997–98 season
ChairmanDavid Murray
ManagerWalter Smith
(until 17 May)
GroundIbrox Stadium
Scottish Premier Division2nd
Scottish CupRunners-up
League CupQuarter-finals
Champions LeagueSecond qualifying round
UEFA CupFirst Round
Top goalscorerLeague:
Marco Negri (33)
All:
Marco Negri (37)
Away colours
Third colours

The 1997–98 season was the 118th season of competitive football by Rangers.

Overview[]

Rangers played a total of 52 competitive matches during the 1997–98 season. They went into the season in pursuit of a record tenth consecutive league title. The early season form of new signing Marco Negri gave the team fresh imputus but when the then manager Walter Smith announced that he would leave the club at the end of the season the side's form dipped. Rangers finished the league on 72 points, two behind champions Celtic.

The club ended the season trophyless for the first time in twelve seasons as they lost the Scottish Cup final to Hearts 2–1 and were knocked out League Cup in the quarter finals by Dundee United.

In Europe, the club failed to reach the Champions League group stages and fell at the first hurdle in the UEFA Cup, losing both legs 2–1 to RC Strasbourg.

Transfers[]

In[]

Date Player From Fee
29 May 1997 Norway Ståle Stensaas Norway Rosenborg £1.5m [1]
29 May 1997 Italy Lorenzo Amoruso Italy Fiorentina £5m [2]
10 June 1997 Italy Sergio Porrini Italy Juventus £4m [3]
18 June 1997 Italy Marco Negri Italy Perugia £3.7m [4]
30 June 1997 Australia Tony Vidmar Netherlands NAC Breda Free [5]
30 June 1997 Sweden Jonas Thern Italy A.S. Roma Free [6]
1 July 1997 Italy Gennaro Gattuso Italy Perugia Free
22 July 1997 Finland Antti Niemi Denmark FC Copenhagen £0.7m
13 August 1997 Finland Jonatan Johansson Estonia Flora Tallinn £0.5m
14 October 1997 Scotland Richard Gough United States Kansas City Wizards Free

Out[]

Date Player To Fee
13 May 1997 Scotland David Robertson England Leeds United £0.5m
31 May 1997 Scotland Greg Shields Scotland Dunfermline Athletic Released
31 May 1997 England Mark Hateley England Hull City Released
31 May 1997 Scotland Richard Gough United States Kansas City Wizards Released
31 May 1997 Wales Andy Dibble England Sheffield United Released
31 May 1997 England Trevor Steven Retired
31 May 1997 Scotland John Brown Retired
15 October 1997 Scotland Barry Robson Scotland Inverness CT Released
1 November 1997 Denmark Erik Bo Andersen Denmark OB Odense £0.8m
28 November 1997 Scotland Brian McGinty England Hull City Free
20 February 1998 Scotland Gary Bollan Scotland St Johnstone £0.1m
26 March 1998 England Paul Gascoigne England Middlesbrough £3.45m
  • Expendure: Decrease £14,450,000
  • Income: Increase £4,850,000
  • Total loss/gain: Decrease £9,600,000

Results[]

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

Scottish Premier Division[]

Main article: 1997–98 Scottish Premier Division
Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
4 August 1997 Heart of Midlothian H 3–1 48,257 Negri (2), Cleland
23 August 1997 Dundee United H 5–1 48,599 Negri (5)
13 September 1997 Aberdeen H 3–3 50,030 Negri (pen.), Albertz, Laudrup
20 September 1997 St Johnstone A 2–0 10,093 Negri (2)
24 September 1997 Kilmarnock A 3–0 15,367 Negri (2), Stensaas
27 September 1997 Motherwell H 2–2 48,672 Negri, Porrini
4 October 1997 Hibernian A 4–3 15,169 Negri (2, 1 (pen.)), Gascoigne, Albertz
18 October 1997 Dunfermline Athletic H 7–0 50,023 Laudrup, Negri (4), Gascoigne (2)
25 October 1997 Dundee United A 1–2 12,600 Negri
1 November 1997 Kilmarnock H 4–1 49,413 Negri (3, 1 (pen.)), Porrini
8 November 1997 Celtic H 1–0 50,082 Gough
15 November 1997 Aberdeen A 1–1 18,117 Albertz
19 November 1997 Celtic A 1–1 49,427 Negri
22 November 1997 Motherwell A 1–1 12,018 McCoist
29 November 1997 St Johnstone H 3–2 50,142 Gattuso, Negri (2)
7 December 1997 Hibernian H 1–0 48,070 Negri
13 December 1997 Dunfermline Athletic A 0–0 12,443
20 December 1997 Heart of Midlothian A 5–2 17,092 Durie (3), Negri (pen.), Albertz
27 December 1997 Dundee United H 4–1 50,017 Laudrup, Cleland, Negri (2, 1 (pen.))
2 January 1998 Celtic A 0–2 49,396
10 January 1998 Aberdeen H 2–0 49,502 Laudrup, Porrini
17 January 1998 Motherwell H 1–0 49,443 Cleland
31 January 1998 St Johnstone A 0–2 10,441
7 February 1998 Dunfermline Athletic H 1–1 49,019 Porrini
21 February 1998 Hibernian A 2–1 13,968 Negri, Albertz
24 February 1998 Kilmarnock A 1–1 15,931 Thern
28 February 1998 Heart of Midlothian H 2–2 50,046 Albertz (2)
14 March 1998 Motherwell A 1–2 11,779 McCoist
21 March 1998 St Johnstone H 2–1 49,788 Negri (2)
28 March 1998 Dunfermline Athletic A 3–2 11,531 McCoist (2), Thern
1 April 1998 Hibernian H 3–0 50,121 McCoist, Thern, Durie
12 April 1998 Celtic H 2–0 50,042 Thern, Albertz
19 April 1998 Aberdeen A 0–1 17,981
25 April 1998 Heart of Midlothian A 3–0 17,415 Gattuso (2), Albertz
2 May 1998 Kilmarnock H 0–1 50,116
9 May 1998 Dundee United A 2–1 14,200 Laudrup, Albertz (pen.)

UEFA Champions League[]

Main article: 1997–98 UEFA Champions League
Date Round Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
23 July 1997 QR1 GI Gotu A 5–0 2,200 Negri, Durie (2), McCoist (2)
30 July 1997 QR1 GI Gotu H 6–0 44,433 Durie, Negri (2), McCoist, Albertz, I.Ferguson
13 August 1997 QR2 IFK Gothenburg A 0–3 20,000
27 August 1997 QR2 IFK Gothenburg H 1–1 45,585 Miller

UEFA Cup[]

Main article: 1997–98 UEFA Cup
Date Round Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
16 September 1997 R1 RC Strasbourg A 1–2 12,450 Albertz (pen.)
30 September 1997 R1 RC Strasbourg H 1–2 40,145 Gattuso

League Cup[]

Main article: 1997–98 Scottish League Cup
Date Round Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
7 August 1997 R2 Hamilton Academical A 1–0 8,866 McCoist
19 August 1997 R3 Falkirk H 4–1 43,606 McCoist (3, 1 (pen.)), Stensaas
9 September 1997 QF Dundee United H 0–1 44,440

Scottish Cup[]

Main article: 1997–98 Scottish Cup
Date Round Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
24 January 1998 R3 Hamilton Academical A 2–1 11,915 Durie, Gough
14 February 1998 R4 Motherwell A 2–2 12,602 Negri, Durie
17 February 1998 R4 R Motherwell H 3–0 42,043 Albertz (2), Durie
9 March 1998 QF Dundee H 0–0 40,309
18 March 1998 QF R Dundee A 2–1 12,418 McCoist (2)
5 April 1998 SF Celtic A 2–1 48,993 McCoist, Albertz
16 May 1998 F Heart of Midlothian N 1–2 48,946 McCoist

Appearances[]

Player Position Appearances Goals
Sweden Joachim Björklund DF 43 0
Germany Jörg Albertz MF 42 15
Scotland Alex Cleland DF 41 4
Italy Marco Negri FW 40 37
Scotland Gordon Durie FW 39 9
Scotland Stuart McCall MF 38 2
Italy Rino Gattuso MF 37 5
Italy Sergio Porrini DF 37 4
Denmark Brian Laudrup MF 36 5
Scotland Andy Goram GK 36 0
Scotland Richard Gough DF 30 2
Sweden Jonas Thern DF 29 4
Norway Ståle Stensaas DF 28 2
England Paul Gascoigne MF 27 3
Scotland Ally McCoist FW 26 16
Scotland Ian Ferguson MF 17 3
Australia Craig Moore DF 15 3
Australia Tony Vidmar DF 15 4
Scotland Ian Durrant MF 12 0
Scotland Charlie Miller MF 11 4
Serbia and Montenegro Gordan Petrić DF 11 0
Scotland Barry Ferguson MF 11 0
Netherlands Theo Snelders GK 9 0
Finland Jonatan Johansson FW 8 0
Finland Antti Niemi GK 7 0
Chile Sebastián Rozental FW 4 0
Netherlands Peter van Vossen FW 3 0
Scotland Gary Bollan DF 2 0
Scotland Derek McInnes MF 1 0
Denmark Erik Bo Andersen FW 1 0
Scotland Stephen Wright DF 1 0

League table[]

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Celtic (C) 36 22 8 6 64 24 +40 74 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Rangers 36 21 9 6 76 38 +38 72 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3 Heart of Midlothian 36 19 10 7 70 46 +24 67 Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round
4 Kilmarnock 36 13 11 12 40 52 −12 50 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round
5 St Johnstone 36 13 9 14 38 42 −4 48
Source: Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champion

References[]

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