1997–98 Rangers F.C. season

Rangers
1997–98 season
Chairman David Murray
Manager Walter Smith
(until 17 May)
Ground Ibrox Stadium
Scottish Premier Division 2nd
P36 W21 D9 L6 F76 A38
Scottish Cup Runners-up
League Cup Quarter-finals
Champions League Second qualifying round
UEFA Cup First Round
Top goalscorer League:
Marco Negri (33)
All:
Marco Negri (37)

The 1997–98 season is the 117th 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 imputous 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 BK £1.5m
29 May 1997 Italy Lorenzo Amoruso Italy Fiorentina £5m
10 June 1997 Italy Sergio Porrini Italy Juventus £3m
18 June 1997 Italy Marco Negri Italy Perugia £3.75m
30 June 1997 Australia Tony Vidmar Netherlands NAC Breda Free
30 June 1997 Sweden Jonas Thern Italy AS Roma Free
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

Results

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

Scottish Premier Division

DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
4 August 1997 Heart of MidlothianH3–148,257Negri (2), Cleland
23 August 1997 Dundee UnitedH5–148,599Negri (5)
13 September 1997 AberdeenH3–350,030Negri (pen.), Albertz, Laudrup
20 September 1997 St JohnstoneA2–010,093Negri (2)
24 September 1997 KilmarnockA3–015,367Negri (2), Stensaas
27 September 1997 MotherwellH2–248,672Negri, Porrini
4 October 1997 HibernianA4–315,169Negri (2, 1 (pen.)), Gascoigne, Albertz
18 October 1997 Dunfermline AthleticH7–049,696Laudrup, Negri (4), Gascoigne (2)
25 October 1997 Dundee UnitedA1–212,600Negri
1 November 1997 KilmarnockH4–149,413Negri (3, 1 (pen.)), Porrini
8 November 1997 CelticH1–050,082Gough
15 November 1997 AberdeenA1–118,117Albertz
19 November 1997 CelticA1–149,427Negri
22 November 1997 MotherwellA1–112,018McCoist
29 November 1997 St JohnstoneH3–249,142Gattuso, Negri (2)
7 December 1997 HibernianH1–048,070Negri
13 December 1997 Dunfermline AthleticA0–012,443
20 December 1997 Heart of MidlothianA5–217,092Durie (3), Negri (pen.), Albertz
27 December 1997 Dundee UnitedH4–150,017Laudrup, Cleland, Negri (2, 1 (pen.))
2 January 1998 CelticA0–249,396
10 January 1998 AberdeenH2–049,502Laudrup, Porrini
17 January 1998 MotherwellH1–049,443Cleland
31 January 1998 St JohnstoneA0–210,441
7 February 1998 Dunfermline AthleticH1–149,019Porrini
21 February 1998 HibernianA2–113,968Negri, Albertz
24 February 1998 KilmarnockA1–115,931Thern
28 February 1998 Heart of MidlothianH2–250,046Albertz (2)
14 March 1998 MotherwellA1–211,779McCoist
21 March 1998 St JohnstoneH2–149,788Negri (2)
28 March 1998 Dunfermline AthleticA3–211,531 McCoist (2), Thern
1 April 1998 HibernianH3–048,488McCoist, Thern, Durie
12 April 1998 CelticH2–050,042Thern, Albertz
19 April 1998 AberdeenA0–117,981
25 April 1998 Heart of MidlothianA3–017,415Gattuso (2), Albertz
2 May 1998 KilmarnockH0–150,116
9 May 1998 Dundee UnitedA2–114,200Laudrup, Albertz (pen.)

UEFA Champions League

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
23 July 1997 QR1GI GotuA5–02,200Negri, Durie (2), McCoist (2)
30 July 1997 QR1GI GotuH6–044,433Durie, Negri (2), McCoist, Albertz, I.Ferguson
13 August 1997 QR2IFK GothenburgA0–320,000
27 August 1997 QR2IFK GothenburgH1–145,585Miller

UEFA Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
16 September 1997 R1RC StrasbourgA1–212,450Albertz (pen.)
30 September 1997 R1RC StrasbourgH1–240,145Gattuso

Scottish Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
24 January 1998 R3Hamilton AcademicalA2–111,915Durie, Gough
14 February 1998 R4MotherwellA2–212,602Negri, Durie
17 February 1998 R4 RMotherwellH3–042,043Albertz (2), Durie
9 March 1998 QFDundeeH0–040,309
18 March 1998 QF RDundeeA2–112,418McCoist (2)
5 April 1998 SFCelticA2–148,993McCoist, Albertz
16 May 1998 FHeart of MidlothianN1–248,946McCoist

League Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
7 August 1997 R2Hamilton AcademicalA1–08,866McCoist
19 August 1997 R3FalkirkH4–143,606McCoist (3, 1 (pen.)), Stensaas
9 September 1997 QFDundee UnitedH0–144,440

Appearances

Player Position Appearances Goals
Sweden Joachim Björklund DF 430
Germany Jörg Albertz MF 4215
Scotland Alex Cleland DF 414
Italy Marco Negri FW 4037
Scotland Gordon Durie FW 399
Scotland Stuart McCall MF 382
Italy Rino Gattuso MF 375
Italy Sergio Porrini DF 374
Denmark Brian Laudrup MF 365
Scotland Andy Goram GK 360
Scotland Richard Gough DF 302
Sweden Jonas Thern DF 294
Norway Ståle Stensaas DF 282
England Paul Gascoigne MF 273
Scotland Ally McCoist FW 2616
Scotland Ian Ferguson MF 173
Australia Craig Moore DF 153
Australia Tony Vidmar DF 154
Scotland Ian Durrant MF 120
Scotland Charlie Miller MF 114
Serbia and Montenegro Gordan Petrić DF 110
Scotland Barry Ferguson MF 110
Netherlands Theo Snelders GK 90
Finland Jonatan Johansson FW 82
Finland Antti Niemi GK 70
Chile Sebastián Rozental FW 40
Netherlands Peter van Vossen FW 30
Scotland Gary Bollan DF 20
Scotland Derek McInnes MF 10
Denmark Erik Bo Andersen FW 10
Scotland Stephen Wright DF 10

References

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