1989–90 Rangers F.C. season

The 1989–90 season was the 110th season of competitive football by Rangers.

Rangers
1989-90 season
ChairmanDavid Holmes
(until 2 June)
David Murray
(from 2 June)
ManagerGraeme Souness
GroundIbrox Park
Scottish Premier Division1st
P36 W20 D11 L5 F48 A19 Pts51
Scottish CupFourth Round
League CupRunners-up
European CupFirst Round
Top goalscorerLeague:
Mo Johnston (15)
All:
Ally McCoist (18)

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 AthleticFree
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
DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
12 August 1989St MirrenH0–139,951
19 August 1989HibernianA0–222,500
26 August 1989CelticA1–154,000Butcher
9 September 1989AberdeenH1–040,283Johnston
16 September 1989DundeeH2–235,836McCoist (2)
23 September 1989Dunfermline AthleticA1–117,765McCoist
30 September 1989Heart of MidlothianH1–039,554Johnston
3 October 1989MotherwellA0–117,667
14 October 1989Dundee UnitedH2–136,062Johnston, McCoist
25 October 1989St MirrenA2–015,130McCoist, Johnston
28 October 1989HibernianH3–035,260McCoist (2), Johnston (pen.)
4 November 1989CelticH1–041,598Johnston
18 November 1989DundeeA2–014,536Johnston, Walters
22 November 1989AberdeenA0–122,500
25 November 1989Dunfermline AthleticH3–039,131Johnston, Butcher, McCoist
2 December 1989Heart of MidlothianA2–124,771Walters, Steven
9 December 1989MotherwellH3–033,549Butcher, McCoist, Brown
16 December 1989Dundee UnitedA1–115,947Johnston
23 December 1989St MirrenH1–031,797Dodds
30 December 1989HibernianA0–024,500
2 January 1990CelticA1–054,000Spackman
6 January 1990AberdeenH2–041,351Walters, McCoist
13 January 1990DundeeH3–036,993McCoist, Dodds, Johnston
27 January 1990Dunfermline AthleticA1–017,380Steven
3 February 1990Dundee UnitedH3–139,058Walters, McCoist, Johnston
10 February 1990MotherwellA1–117,647Johnston
17 February 1990Heart of MidlothianH0–041,884
3 March 1990DundeeA2–212,743Johnston, Dodds
17 March 1990St MirrenA0–016,129
24 March 1990HibernianH0–137,452
1 April 1990CelticH3–041,926Walters (pen.), Johnston, McCoist (pen.)
8 April 1990AberdeenA0–023,000
14 April 1990MotherwellH2–139,305Steven, Johnston
21 April 1990Dundee UnitedA1–015,995Steven
28 April 1990Dunfermline AthleticH2–040,769McCoist, Dodds
5 May 1990Heart of MidlothianA1–120,283Munro

European Cup
DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
13 September 1989Bayern MunichH1–340,253Walters (pen.)
27 September 1989Bayern MunichA0–040,000

Scottish Cup
DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
20 January 1990St JohnstoneH3–039,003Johnston, Brown, Walters
25 February 1990CelticA0–152,565

League Cup
DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
15 August 1989ArbroathH4–031,762McCoist (3), I.Ferguson
23 August 1989MortonA2–111,821Walters, Pickering (o.g.)
30 August 1989Hamilton AcademicalA3–09,162Walters (2), Steven
19 September 1989Dunfermline AthleticN5–041,643Steven, Johnston, Walters, McCoist, I.Ferguson
22 October 1989AberdeenN1–261,190Walters (pen.)

Appearances
Player Position Appearances Goals
Chris WoodsGK370
Gary StevensDF441
Stuart MunroDF451
Richard GoughDF310
Ray Wilkins MF220
Terry ButcherDF430
Trevor Steven MF433
Ian FergusonMF322
Ally McCoistFW4018
Mo JohnstonFW4517
Mark WaltersMF3612
Kevin DrinkellFW70
Derek FergusonMF80
Bonni GinzburgGK80
John BrownDF302
Scott NisbetDF90
Tom CowanDF40
Davie DoddsFW154
Neale CooperMF30
Ian McCallMF50
Nigel SpackmanMF231
Chris VinnicombeDF90
Sandy RobertsonMF10
Graeme SounessMF10

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
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion.

See also
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