1988–89 Rangers F.C. season

The 1988–89 season was the 109th season of competitive football by Rangers.

Overview

Rangers played a total of 53 competitive matches during the 1988–89 season. They regained the Scottish Premier Division title, winning the first of nine consecutive league titles.

England international right back, Gary Stevens was signed from Everton and Kevin Drinkell was brought in to partner Ally McCoist up front.

Results against Celtic were pivotal in the Championship race, winning 5–1 and 4–1 at Ibrox. They also secured their first win at Parkhead since 1980, 2–1 in March. The league was won at Ibrox with a 4–0 demolition of Hearts.

In the cup competitions, they lost the Scottish Cup final 1–0 to Celtic. The team won the Scottish League Cup (Skol Cup) for the third season in a row defeating Aberdeen 3–2.

The European campaign was disappointing. The team qualified for the UEFA Cup and after a fine aggregate win over Polish side GKS Katowice, they were knocked out in the second round by Köln of West Germany.

Lawrence Marlborough sold his controlling interest in Rangers to Scottish businessman David Murray in November 1988. Murray would later take over as chairman from David Holmes.

Transfer

In

Date	Player	From	Fee
30 June 1988	Template:Flagicon Kevin Drinkell	Template:Flagicon Norwich City	£500,000
19 July 1988	Template:Flagicon Gary Stevens	Template:Flagicon Everton	£1,000,000
29 July 1988	Template:Flagicon John Morrow	Template:Flagicon Linfield	Free
17 September 1988	Template:Flagicon Andy Gray	Template:Flagicon West Bromwich Albion	Free
3 October 1988	Template:Flagicon Neale Cooper	Template:Flagicon Aston Villa	£250,000
6 February 1989	Template:Flagicon Tom Cowan	Template:Flagicon Clyde	£100,000
4 March 1989	Template:Flagicon Mel Sterland	Template:Flagicon Sheffield Wednesday	£750,000

Out

Date	Player	From	Fee
31 May 1988	Template:Flagicon Avi Cohen	Template:Flagicon Maccabi Tel Aviv	Free
1 July 1988	Template:Flagicon Jan Bartram	Template:Flagicon Brøndby	£300,000
26 August 1988	Template:Flagicon Graham Roberts	Template:Flagicon Chelsea	£475,000
26 August 1988	Template:Flagicon Jimmy Phillips	Template:Flagicon Oxford United	£100,000

Results

Scottish Premier Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
13 August 1988	Hamilton Academical	A	2–0	10,500	Stevens, McCoist
20 August 1988	Hibernian	H	0–0	41,955
27 August 1988	Celtic	H	5–1	42,858	McCoist (2), Wilkins, Drinkell, Walters
3 September 1988	Motherwell	A	2–0	20,112	Drinkell, Durrant
17 September 1988	Heart of Midlothian	A	2–1	25,501	Durrant (pen.), Nisbet
24 September 1988	St Mirren	H	2–1	35,523	D.Cooper (pen.), Walters
27 September 1988	Dundee United	A	1–0	20,071	I.Ferguson
1 October 1988	Dundee	H	2–0	40,768	Drinkell, Walters
8 October 1988	Aberdeen	A	1–2	23,370	N.Cooper
12 October 1988	Hibernian	A	1–0	26,000	McCoist
29 October 1988	St Mirren	A	1–1	20,903	Gray
1 November 1988	Heart of Midlothian	H	3–0	36,505	Gough, Walters (pen.), Gray
5 November 1988	Motherwell	H	2–1	36,060	Brown, Drinkell
12 November 1988	Celtic	A	1–3	60,113	Walters
16 November 1988	Hamilton Academical	H	3–1	33,684	Gray, Ferguson, Drinkell
19 November 1988	Dundee	A	0–0	16,514
26 November 1988	Aberdeen	H	1–0	42,239	Gough
3 December 1988	Dundee United	H	0–1	39,123
10 December 1988	Heart of Midlothian	A	0–2	26,424
17 December 1988	Hibernian	H	1–0	36,672	McCall
31 December 1988	Hamilton Academical	A	1–0	10,500	D.Ferguson
3 January 1989	Celtic	H	4–1	42,515	Walters (2, 1 (pen.)), Butcher, I.Ferguson
7 January 1989	Motherwell	A	1–2	19,275	Drinkell
14 January 1989	Aberdeen	A	2–1	23,000	Munro, D.Ferguson
21 January 1989	Dundee	H	3–1	43,202	I.Ferguson, Butcher, McCoist
11 February 1989	Dundee United	A	1–1	22,019	Munro
25 February 1989	St Mirren	H	3–1	39,021	I.Ferguson, McCoist, Walters
11 March 1989	Hamilton Academical	H	3–0	35,733	I.Ferguson, Sterland, Gough
25 March 1989	Hibernian	A	1–0	23,321	Drinkell
1 April 1989	Celtic	A	2–1	60,171	Drinkell, I.Ferguson
8 April 1989	Motherwell	H	1–0	33,782	McCoist
22 April 1989	St Mirren	A	2–0	22,096	I.Ferguson, McCoist
29 April 1989	Heart of Midlothian	H	4–0	42,856	Drinkell (2), Sterland (2)
2 May 1989	Dundee United	H	2–0	39,068	Drinkell, McCoist
6 May 1989	Dundee	A	2–1	14,889	Gray (2)
13 May 1989	Aberdeen	H	0–3	42,480

Scottish League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
17 August 1988	R2	Clyde	A	3–0	14,699	Drinkell, Walters, D.Ferguson
24 August 1988	R3	Clydebank	H	6–0	34,376	McCoist, Gough, Walters, Wilkins, Drinkell, Durrant
31 August 1988	QF	Dundee	H	4–1	39,667	McCoist, Walters, I.Ferguson, Forsyth (o.g.)
21 September 1988	SF	Heart of Midlothian	N	3–0	53,623	Walters (2), Nisbet
23 October 1988	F	Aberdeen	N	3–2	72,122	McCoist (2, 1 (pen.)), I.Ferguson

Scottish Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
28 January 1989	R3	Raith Rovers	A	1–1	10,500	I.Ferguson
1 February 1989	R3 R	Raith Rovers	H	3–0	40,307	Walters, Drinkell, Fraser (o.g.)
18 February 1989	R4	Stranraer	H	8–0	41,198	Drinkell (2), Brown (2), McCoist (2, 1 (pen.) I.Ferguson, Walters
21 March 1989	QF	Dundee United	H	2–2	42,177	Drinkell, McCoist
27 March 1989	QF R	Dundee United	A	1–0	21,872	McCoist
15 April 1989	SF	St Johnstone	N	0–0	47,374
18 April 1989	SF R	St Johnstone	N	4–0	44,205	Walters, Stevens, Drinkell, McCoist
20 May 1989	F	Celtic	N	0–1	72,069

UEFA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
7 September 1988	R1	Template:Flagicon GKS Katowice	H	1–0	41,120	Walters
5 October 1988	R1	Template:Flagicon GKS Katowice	A	4–2	40,000	Butcher (2), Durrant, I.Ferguson
26 October 1988	R2	Template:Flagicon Köln	A	0–2	42,000
9 November 1988	R2	Template:Flagicon Köln	H	1–1	42,204	Drinkell

Appearances

Player	Position	Appearances	Goals
Template:Flagicon Nicky Walker	GK	14	0
Template:Flagicon Chris Woods	GK	39	0
Template:Flagicon John Brown	DF	42	3
Template:Flagicon Terry Butcher	DF	51	4
Template:Flagicon Tom Cowan	DF	4	0
Template:Flagicon Richard Gough	DF	51	4
Template:Flagicon John McGregor	DF	1	0
Template:Flagicon Stuart Munro	DF	33	4
Template:Flagicon Jimmy Nicholl	DF	3	0
Template:Flagicon Scott Nisbet	DF	10	2
Template:Flagicon Gary Stevens	DF	52	2
Template:Flagicon Davie Cooper	MF	33	1
Template:Flagicon Neale Cooper	MF	17	1
Template:Flagicon Ian Durrant	MF	14	4
Template:Flagicon Derek Ferguson	MF	24	3
Template:Flagicon Ian Ferguson	MF	33	13
Template:Flagicon Davie Kirkwood	MF	2	0
Template:Flagicon Ian McCall	MF	7	1
Template:Flagicon Kevin MacDonald	MF	3	0
Template:Flagicon Sandy Robertson	MF	2	0
Template:Flagicon Graeme Souness	MF	10	0
Template:Flagicon Mark Walters	MF	48	17
Template:Flagicon Ray Wilkins	MF	45	2
Template:Flagicon Kevin Drinkell	FW	47	19
Template:Flagicon Andy Gray	FW	16	5
Template:Flagicon Ally McCoist	FW	33	18
Template:Flagicon Gary McSwegan	FW	1	0
Template:Flagicon Mel Sterland	FW	13	3

League table

1988–89 Scottish Premier Division

See also

• 1988–89 in Scottish football
• 1988–89 Scottish Cup
• 1988–89 Scottish League Cup
• 1988–89 UEFA Cup
• Nine in a row