The 1997–98 season was the 118th 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 impetus but when 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 Strasbourg.

Transfers

In DatePlayerFromFee29 May 1997 Lorenzo Amoruso Fiorentina £4,000,000 Ståle Stensaas Rosenborg £1,650,00010 June 1997 Sergio Porrini Juventus £3,000,00018 June 1997 Marco Negri Perugia £3,500,00020 June 1997 Antti Niemi Copenhagen £700,0001 July 1997 Gennaro Gattuso Perugia Free Luigi Riccio Free Jonas Thern Roma Free Tony Vidmar NAC Breda Free13 August 1997 Jonatan Johansson Flora Tallinn £500,00014 October 1997 Richard Gough Kansas City Wizards Free

Out DatePlayerToFee8 May 1997 Richard Gough Kansas City Wizards Free12 May 1997 David Robertson Leeds United £500,00015 May 1997 Barry Robson Inverness Caledonian Thistle Free31 May 1997 Mark Hateley Hull City Free Andy Dibble Sheffield United Free Trevor Steven Retired John Brown Retired30 June 1997 Greg Shields Dunfermline Athletic £100,000The Mirror, 1 July 199730 October 1997 Erik Bo Andersen Odense £800,00028 November 1997 Brian McGinty Hull City Free20 February 1998 Gary Bollan St Johnstone £100,00026 March 1998 Paul Gascoigne Middlesbrough £3,450,000

Expenditure: £13,300,000 Income: £4,950,000 Total loss/gain: £8,350,000

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 AthleticH7–050,023Laudrup, 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 JohnstoneH3–250,142Gattuso, 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, Thern 28 March 1998 Dunfermline AthleticA3–211,531 McCoist (2), Thern 1 April 1998 HibernianH3–050,121McCoist, 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.)

Scottish 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

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

UEFA Champions League

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 23 July 1997 QR1 GÍA5–02,200Negri, Durie (2), McCoist (2) 30 July 1997 QR1 GÍH6–044,433Durie, Negri (2), McCoist, Albertz, I.Ferguson 13 August 1997 QR2 IFK GöteborgA0–320,000 27 August 1997 QR2 IFK GöteborgH1–145,585Miller

UEFA Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 16 September 1997 R1 StrasbourgA1–212,450Albertz (pen.) 30 September 1997 R1 StrasbourgH1–240,145Gattuso

Appearances PlayerPositionAppearancesGoals Andy GoramGK360 Antti NiemiGK70 Theo SneldersGK90 Joachim BjörklundDF430 Gary BollanDF20 Alex ClelandDF414 Richard GoughDF302 Craig MooreDF153 Gordan PetrićDF110 Sergio PorriniDF374 Lorenzo AmorusoDF92 Ståle StensaasDF282 Jonas ThernMF294 Tony VidmarDF154 Stephen WrightDF10 Jörg AlbertzMF4215 Ian DurrantMF120 Barry FergusonMF110 Ian FergusonMF173 Paul GascoigneMF273 Rino GattusoMF375 Brian LaudrupMF365 Stuart McCallMF382 Derek McInnesMF10 Charlie MillerMF114 Erik Bo AndersenFW10 Gordon DurieFW399 Jonatan JohanssonFW80 Ally McCoistFW2616 Marco NegriFW4037 Sebastián RozentalFW40 Peter van VossenFW30

Competitions Overall

Scottish Premier Division

References