1989–90 Rangers F.C. season
1989-90 season | |
---|---|
Chairman | David Holmes (until 2 June) David Murray (from 2 June) |
Manager | Graeme Souness |
Ground | Ibrox Park |
Scottish Premier Division | 1st P36 W20 D11 L5 F48 A19 Pts51 |
Scottish Cup | Fourth Round |
League Cup | Runners-up |
European Cup | First Round |
Top goalscorer | League: 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 | Trevor Steven | Everton | £1.525m |
10 July 1989 | Mo Johnston | FC Nantes | £1.5m |
3 November 1991 | Chris Vinnicombe | Exeter City | £0.15m |
30 November 1991 | Nigel Spackman | Queens Park Rangers | £0.5m |
Out
Date | Player | To | Fee |
---|---|---|---|
31 May 1989 | Davie Cooper | Motherwell | £0.05m |
31 May 1989 | Mel Sterland | Leeds United | £0.6m |
1 July 1989 | Jimmy Nicholl | Dunfermline Athletic | Free |
29 July 1989 | Davie Kirkwood | Heart of Midlothian | £0.1m |
20 October 1989 | Kevin Drinkell | Coventry City | |
30 November 1989 | Ray Wilkins | 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 |
---|---|---|---|
Chris Woods | GK | 37 | 0 |
Gary Stevens | DF | 44 | 1 |
Stuart Munro | DF | 45 | 1 |
Richard Gough | DF | 31 | 0 |
Ray Wilkins | MF | 22 | 0 |
Terry Butcher | DF | 43 | 0 |
Trevor Steven | MF | 43 | 3 |
Ian Ferguson | MF | 32 | 2 |
Ally McCoist | FW | 40 | 18 |
Mo Johnston | FW | 45 | 17 |
Mark Walters | MF | 36 | 12 |
Kevin Drinkell | FW | 7 | 0 |
Derek Ferguson | MF | 8 | 0 |
Bonni Ginzburg | GK | 8 | 0 |
John Brown | DF | 30 | 2 |
Scott Nisbet | DF | 9 | 0 |
Tom Cowan | DF | 4 | 0 |
Davie Dodds | FW | 15 | 4 |
Neale Cooper | MF | 3 | 0 |
Ian McCall | MF | 5 | 0 |
Nigel Spackman | MF | 23 | 1 |
Chris Vinnicombe | DF | 9 | 0 |
Sandy Robertson | MF | 1 | 0 |
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 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions