The 1987–88 season was the 108th season of competitive football by Rangers.

Overview Rangers played a total of 58 competitive matches during the 1987–88 season. The team finished a disappointing third in the Scottish Premier Division with 60 points, two behind Hearts and twelve behind champions Celtic.

Future club captain Richard Gough was signed from Tottenham Hotspur for a club record fee of £1.1m.

In the cup competitions, they were knocked out of the Scottish Cup in the fourth round, losing 2–0 away to Dunfermline Athletic. They won the League Cup (Skol Cup), defeating Aberdeen 5–3 on penalties after the match was drawn 3–3.

The European campaign was fairly successful. The club reached the quarter-final of the European Cup after beating Dynamo Kiev and Górnik Zabrze before being knocked out by Steaua Bucharest.

Rangers defeated English Champions Everton in the Dubai Super Cup in December. The match ended 2–2 with Rangers winning the penalty shootout 8–7. The match was dubbed the unofficial British Championship decider by the football media.

Transfers

In DatePlayerFromFeeMay 1987 Avi Cohen Maccabi Tel Aviv 1987 Mark Falco Watford September 1987 Trevor Francis Atalanta £75,0002 October 1987 Richard Gough Tottenham Hotspur £1,100,00030 December 1987 Mark Walters Aston Villa £500,00015 January 1988 John Brown Dundee £350,00015 February 1988 Ian Ferguson St Mirren £850,000

Out DatePlayerFromFee December 1987 Robert Fleck Norwich City £580,000

Expenditure: £2,875,000 Income: £580,000 Total loss/gain: £2,295,000

Results All results are written with Rangers' score first.

Scottish Premier Division

DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 8 August 1987 Dundee UnitedH1–139,120McCoist (pen.) 12 August 1987 HibernianA0–122,000 15 August 1987 AberdeenA0–222,568 22 August 1987 FalkirkH4–032,340McCoist (3), Falco 29 August 1987 CelticA0–160,800 5 September 1987 DundeeH2–138,302Fleck, McCoist 12 September 1987 Dunfermline AthleticH4–039,749McCoist (3), Souness 19 September 1987 MotherwellA1–019,480Philliben (o.g.) 26 September 1987 Greenock MortonH7–035,843McCoist (3), Falco (3), Fleck 3 October 1987 Heart of MidlothianA0–028,637 6 October 1987 St MirrenH3–139,298Falco, Butcher, Souness 10 October 1987 Dundee UnitedA0–118,214 17 October 1987 CelticH2–244,500McCoist, Gough 28 October 1987 Dunfermline AthleticA4–018,070Durrant (2), McCall (pen.), McCoist 31 October 1987 MotherwellH1–036,583McCoist 7 November 1987 HibernianH1–037,571Fleck 14 November 1987 St MirrenA2–220,649McCoist (2) 17 November 1987 AberdeenH0–141,371 21 November 1987 FalkirkA1–017,500Fleck 24 November 1987 Greenock MortonA3–016,500D.Ferguson, Fleck, McCoist 28 November 1987 Heart of MidlothianH3–243,557Fleck, Durrant, Levein (o.g.) 5 December 1987 Dundee UnitedH1–041,159McCoist 12 December 1987 HibernianA2–021,000Gough, Fleck 14 December 1987 Dunfermline AthleticH2–231,687D.Ferguson, McCoist 19 December 1987 MotherwellA2–015,436McCoist (pen.), Philiben (o.g.) 26 December 1987 DundeeH2–040,938McCoist (2, 1 (pen.)) 2 January 1988 CelticA0–260,800 6 January 1988 DundeeA1–017,450McCoist 9 January 1988 Greenock MortonH5–038,349McCoist (3), Durrant 16 January 1988 Heart of MidlothianA1–128,967Durrant (pen.) 23 January 1988 FalkirkH3–141,088Bartram, Brown, Durrant (pen.) 6 February 1988 AberdeenA2–122,500McCoist, Gough 13 February 1988 St MirrenH4–041,664Cooper, Walters, Wilkins, Gough 27 February 1988 Dundee UnitedA1–120,846Walters 5 March 1988 Dunfermline AthleticA3–019,017McCoist (pen.), Walters, Gough 12 March 1988 MotherwellH1–039,650Durrant 20 March 1988 CelticH1–243,650Bartram 26 March 1988 DundeeA3–214,879Roberts, Walters, Durrant (pen.) 2 April 1988 Heart of MidlothianH1–241,125Bartram 9 April 1988 Greenock MortonA2–312,000I.Ferguson, Durrant 16 April 1988 HibernianH1–132,218D.Ferguson 23 April 1988 St MirrenA3–013,809Walters, Brown, McCoist 30 April 1988 AberdeenH0–136,010 7 May 1988 FalkirkA5–014,500Walters (2), McCoist (2, 1 (pen.)), D.Ferguson

Scottish League Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 19 August 1987 R2Stirling AlbionA2–113,000Falco, McCoist 26 August 1987 R3Dunfermline AthleticA4–118,070McCoist (3, 1 (pen.)), Falco 2 September 1987 QFHeart of MidlothianH4–140,920Durrant (2), McCoist (2, 1 (pen.)) 23 September 1987 SFMotherwellN3–145,938Fleck, Falco, Kirk (o.g.) 25 October 1987 FAberdeenN3–371,961Cooper, Durrant, Fleck *Rangers won the match 5–3 on penalties

Scottish Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 30 January 1988 R3Raith RoversA0–09,500 10 February 1988 R3 RRaith RoversH4–135,144Durrant (2, 1 (pen.)), Walters, McCoist 20 February 1988 R4Dunfermline AthleticA0–219,360

European Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 16 September 1987 R1 Dynamo KyivA0–1100,000 30 September 1987 R1 Dynamo KievH2–044,500Falco, McCoist 21 October 1987 R2 Górnik ZabrzeH3–141,366McCoist, Durrant, Falco 4 November 1987 R2 Gornik ZabrzeA1–123,250McCoist (pen.) 2 March 1988 QF Steaua BucureștiA0–233,000 16 March 1988 QF Steaua BucureștiH2–144,000Gough, McCoist (pen.)

Dubai Super Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 8 December 1987 F EvertonN2–2*8,000Fleck, McCoist *Rangers won the match 8–7 on penalties

Glasgow Cup

DateRoundOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers 13 April 1988 SFPartick ThistleA2–1*4,500Cooper, Spencer *Competition not completed

Appearances PlayerPositionAppearancesGoals Nicky WalkerGK60 Chris WoodsGK520 Jan BartramDF143 John BrownDF122 Terry ButcherDF181 Avi CohenDF120 Richard GoughDF366 John McGregorDF320 Stuart MunroDF220 Jimmy NichollDF330 Scott NisbetDF290 Jimmy PhillipsDF270 Graham RobertsDF501 Davie CooperMF432 Ian DurrantMF5416 Derek FergusonMF434 Ian FergusonMF81 Robert FleckMF289 Davie KirkwoodMF70 Dave MacFarlaneMF10 Ian McCallMF121 Graeme SounessMF302 Mark WaltersMF218 Ray WilkinsMF291 Mark FalcoFW1910 Trevor FrancisFW250 Ally McCoistFW5342 Gary McSweganFW10 Colin WestFW10

League table

See also 1987–88 in Scottish football 1987–88 Scottish Cup 1987–88 Scottish League Cup 1987–88 UEFA Cup

References