1977–78 Rangers F.C. season

Rangers
1977–78 season
Chairman Rae Simpson
Manager Jock Wallace
Ground Ibrox Park
Scottish Premier Division 1st
P36 W24 D7 L5 F76 A39
Scottish Cup Winners
League Cup Winners
Cup Winners' Cup First Round
Top goalscorer League:
Derek Johnstone (25)
All:
Derek Johnstone (38)

The 1977–78 season is the 81st season of competitive football by Rangers.

Overview

Rangers played a total of 53 competitive matches during the 1977–78 season. Wallace presided over the club's fourth domestic treble and second in three years. During the close season Rangers spent heavily in the transfer market, bringing in Davie Cooper from Clydebank for £100,000 and Gordon Smith from Kilmarnock for £65,000. They were joined at the club by Bobby Russell who arrived from Shettleston Juniors for free.

However, even with these expensive signings the side did not make the best start to the league campaign, losing the opening two matches to Aberdeen and Hibernian. Order was restored the following week with a 4-0 defeat of Partick Thistle. A resounding 3-2 win over Celtic in the first Old Firm match of the season set the tone of the season. Rangers had been 2-0 down at half-time but recovered to win the game after outclassing Jock Stein's side in the second 45 minutes. In March 1978, second placed Aberdeen won 3-0 at Ibrox to set up a tense title run in. Rangers dropped seven points from twenty-one but held on winning the final four fixtures and the league.

The League Cup was won by defeating Celtic 2-1 after extra time. Goals from season new boys Davie Cooper and Gordon Smith completed the first leg of the treble. The 2-1 1978 Scottish Cup Final win over Aberdeen made Wallace the first and only Rangers' manager to win two domestic treble's. Surprisingly despite this unprecedented success Wallace resign from his position on 23 May 1978.

Results

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

Scottish Premier Division

DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
13 August 1977AberdeenA1–321,500Russell
20 August 1977HibernianH0–220,800
27 August 1977Partick ThistleA4–018,584Smith (2), Miller (pen.), Russell
10 September 1977CelticH3–248,788Smith (2), Johnstone
17 September 1977St. MirrenA3–326,000Jardine, Cooper, Johnstone
24 September 1977Ayr UnitedH2–020,000Smith (2)
1 October 1977ClydebankH4–113,250Cooper (2), Smith (2)
8 October 1977Dundee UnitedA1–018,658Russell
15 October 1977MotherwellA4–120,050Johnstone (3), Smith
22 October 1977AberdeenH3–140,000Jardine (pen.), Smith, MacDonald
29 October 1977HibernianA1–022,750Jardine (pen.)
5 November 1977Partick ThistleH3–328,200Parlane (2), MacDonald
12 November 1977CelticA1–157,000Johnstone
19 November 1977St. MirrenH2–125,000Johnstone, Miller (pen.)
26 November 1977Ayr UnitedA5–015,300Johnstone (3), Jackson, Parlane
10 December 1977Dundee UnitedH2–025,000McLean, Smith
17 December 1977MotherwellH3–115,300Smith (2), Johnstone
24 December 1977AberdeenA0–421,000
31 December 1977HibernianH0–025,000
2 January 1978Partick ThistleA2–130,000Johnstone, Smith
7 January 1978CelticH3–154,000Smith, Grieg, Parlane
14 January 1978St. MirrenA2–024,300Johnstone, Smith
4 February 1978ClydebankH1–016,492Johnstone
19 February 1978ClydebankA3–010,000Johnstone (2), Cooper
25 February 1978MotherwellA5–320,387Johsntone (2), Smith, Cooper, McVie (o.g.)
4 March 1978AberdeenH0–334,500
21 March 1978Partick ThistleH2–120,000MacDonald, Jardine
25 March 1978CelticA0–251,000
29 March 1978HibernianA1–121,245Parlane
1 April 1978St. MirrenH1–120,500Johnstone
8 April 1978Ayr UnitedA5–213,400Johnstone (2), Smith (2), Greig
12 April 1978Ayr UnitedH1–112,282Johnstone
15 April 1978ClydebankA2–09,800Johnstone (2)
19 April 1978Dundee UnitedA1–017,293Johnstone
22 April 1978Dundee UnitedH3–027,050Jackson, Jardine (pen.), Cooper
29 April 1978MotherwellH2–043,500Jackson, Smith

Cup Winners' Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
17 August 1977QRYoung Boys BernH1–030,000Greig
31 August 1977QRYoung Boys BernA2–221,000Johnstone, Smith
14 September 1977R1FC TwenteH0–040,000
28 September 1977R1FC TwenteA0–320,000

Scottish Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
28 January 1978R3Berwick RangersA4–210,500Jackson (2), Johnstone (2)
18 February 1978R4Stirling AlbionH1–015,500Johnstone
11 March 1978QFKilmarnockH4–128,000Johnstone, Hamilton, MacDonald, Cooper (pen.)
5 April 1978SFDundee UnitedN2–025,619Johnstone, Greig
6 May 1978FAberdeenN2–161,563MacDonald, Johnstone

League Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
24 August 1977R2St. JohnstoneH3–110,000Johnstone (2), Parlane
3 September 1977R2St. JohnstoneA3–011,200Parlane, Miller (pen.), Smith
5 October 1977R3AberdeenH6–125,000Smith (3), Johnstone, Miller (pen.), MacDonald
26 October 1977R3AberdeenA1–315,600Smith
9 November 1977QFDunfermline AthleticH3–112,000McLean (2), Jackson
16 November 1977QFDunfermline AthleticA3–18,274Greig, Jardine (pen.), Johnstone
27 February 1978SFForfar AthleticN5–212,799Johnstone (2), Parlane (2), MacDonald
18 March 1978FCelticN2–160,158Cooper, Smith

Appearances

Player Position Appearances Goals
Scotland Peter McCloy GK 210
Scotland Sandy Jardine DF 486
Scotland Alex Miller DF 365
Scotland Tom Forsyth DF 460
Scotland Colin Jackson DF 516
Scotland Alex MacDonald MF 597
Scotland Billy MacKay MF 30
Scotland Bobby Russell MF 483
Scotland Derek Parlane FW 318
Scotland Chris Robertson FW 40
Scotland Davie Cooper MF 528
Scotland Bobby McKean MF 150
Scotland Tommy McLean MF 443
Scotland Gordon Smith FW 5227
Scotland Derek Johnstone FW 4738
Scotland John Greig DF 415
Scotland Kenny Watson MF 80
Scotland Stewart Kennedy GK 320
Scotland Ally Dawson DF 20
Scotland Johnny Hamilton MF 30
Scotland Eric Morris DF 10
Scotland Martin Henderson FW 20

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, May 01, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.