1997–98 Rangers F.C. season

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	Ståle Stensaas	Rosenborg BK	£1.5m
29 May 1997	Lorenzo Amoruso	Fiorentina	£5m
10 Jun 1997	Sergio Porrini	Juventus	£3m
18 Jun 1997	Marco Negri	Perugia	£3.75m
30 Jun 1997	Tony Vidmar	NAC Breda	Free
30 Jun 1997	Jonas Thern	AS Roma	Free
01 Jul 1997	Gennaro Gattuso	Salernitana	Free
22 Jul 1997	Antti Niemi	FC Copenhagen	£0.7m
13 Aug 1997	Jonatan Johansson	Flora Tallinn	£0.5m
14 Oct 1997	Richard Gough	Kansas City Wizards	Free

Out

Date	Player	To	Fee
13 May 1997	David Robertson	Leeds United	£0.5m
31 May 1997	Greg Shields	Dunfermline Athletic	Released
31 May 1997	Mark Hateley	Hull City	Released
31 May 1997	Richard Gough	Kansas City Wizards	Released
31 May 1997	Andy Dibble	Sheffield United	Released
31 May 1997	Trevor Steven		Retired
31 May 1997	John Brown		Retired
15 Oct 1997	Barry Robson	Inverness CT	Released
01 Nov 1997	Erik Bo Andersen	OB Odense	£0.8m
28 Nov 1997	Brian McGinty	Hull City	Free
20 Feb 1998	Gary Bollan	St Johnstone	£0.1m
26 Mar 1998	Paul Gascoigne	Middlesbrough	£3.45m

Expendure: £14,450,000
Income: £4,850,000

Total loss/gain: £9,600,000

Results

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

Scottish Premier Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
04 Aug 1997	Heart of Midlothian	H	3–1	48,257	Negri (2), Cleland
23 Aug 1997	Dundee United	H	5–1	48,599	Negri (5)
13 Sep 1997	Aberdeen	H	3–3	50,030	Negri (pen.), Albertz, Laudrup
20 Sep 1997	St. Johnstone	A	2–0	10,093	Negri (2)
24 Sep 1997	Kilmarnock	A	3–0	15,367	Negri (2), Stensaas
27 Sep 1997	Motherwell	H	2–2	48,672	Negri, Porrini
04 Oct 1997	Hibernian	A	4–3	15,169	Negri (2, 1 (pen.)), Gascoigne, Albertz
18 Oct 1997	Dunfermline Athletic	H	7–0	49,696	Laudrup, Negri (4), Gascoigne (2)
25 Oct 1997	Dundee United	A	1–2	12,600	Negri
01 Nov 1997	Kilmarnock	H	4–1	49,413	Negri (3, 1 (pen.)), Porrini
08 Nov 1997	Celtic	H	1–0	50,082	Gough
15 Nov 1997	Aberdeen	A	1–1	18,117	Albertz
19 Nov 1997	Celtic	A	1–1	49,427	Negri
22 Nov 1997	Motherwell	A	1–1	12,018	McCoist
29 Nov 1997	St. Johnstone	H	3–2	49,142	Gattuso, Negri (2)
07 Dec 1997	Hibernian	H	1–0	48,070	Negri
13 Dec 1997	Dunfermline Athletic	A	0–0	12,443
20 Dec 1997	Heart of Midlothian	A	5–2	17,092	Durie (3), Negri (pen.), Albertz
27 Dec 1997	Dundee United	H	4–1	50,017	Laudrup, Cleland, Negri (2, 1 (pen.))
02 Jan 1998	Celtic	A	0–2	49,396
10 Jan 1998	Aberdeen	H	2–0	49,502	Laudrup, Porrini
17 Jan 1998	Motherwell	H	1–0	49,443	Cleland
31 Jan 1998	St. Johnstone	A	0–2	10,441
07 Feb 1998	Dunfermline Athletic	H	1–1	49,019	Porrini
21 Feb 1998	Hibernian	A	2–1	13,968	Negri, Albertz
24 Feb 1998	Kilmarnock	A	1–1	15,931	Thern
28 Feb 1998	Heart of Midlothian	H	2–2	50,046	Albertz (2)
14 Mar 1998	Motherwell	A	1–2	11,779	McCoist
21 Mar 1998	St. Johnstone	H	2–1	49,788	Negri (2)
28 Mar 1998	Dunfermline Athletic	A	3–2	11,531	McCoist (2), Thern
01 Apr 1998	Hibernian	H	3–0	48,488	McCoist, Thern, Durie
12 Apr 1998	Celtic	H	2–0	50,042	Thern, Albertz
19 Apr 1998	Aberdeen	A	0–1	17,981
25 Apr 1998	Heart of Midlothian	A	3–0	17,415	Gattuso (2), Albertz
02 May 1998	Kilmarnock	H	0–1	50,116
09 May 1998	Dundee United	A	2–1	14,200	Laudrup, Albertz (pen.)

UEFA Champions League

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
23 Jul 1997	QR1	GI Gotu	A	5–0	2,200	Negri, Durie (2), McCoist (2)
30 Jul 1997	QR1	GI Gotu	H	6–0	44,433	Durie, Negri (2), McCoist, Albertz, I.Ferguson
13 Aug 1997	QR2	IFK Gothenburg	A	0–3	20,000
27 Aug 1997	QR2	IFK Gothenburg	H	1–1	45,585	Miller

UEFA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
16 Sep 1997	R1	RC Strasbourg	A	1–2	12,450	Albertz (pen.)
30 Sep 1997	R1	RC Strasbourg	H	1–2	40,145	Gattuso

Scottish Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
24 Jan 1998	R3	Hamilton Academical	A	2–1	11,915	Durie, Gough
14 Feb 1998	R4	Motherwell	A	2–2	12,602	Negri, Durie
17 Feb 1998	R4 R	Motherwell	H	3–0	42,043	Albertz (2), Durie
09 Mar 1998	QF	Dundee	H	0–0	40,309	Negri (2)
18 Mar 1998	QF R	Dundee	A	2–1	12,418	McCoist (2)
05 Apr 1998	SF	Celtic	A	2–1	48,993	McCoist, Albertz
16 May 1998	F	Heart of Midlothian	N	1–2	48,946	McCoist

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
07 Aug 1997	R2	Hamilton Academical	A	1–0	8,866	McCoist
19 Aug 1997	R3	Falkirk	H	4–1	43,606	McCoist (3, 1 (pen.)), Stensaas
09 Sep 1997	QF	Dundee United	H	0–1	44,440

Appearances

Player	Position	Appearances	Goals
Joachim Björklund	DF	43	0
Jörg Albertz	MF	42	15
Alex Cleland	DF	41	4
Marco Negri	FW	40	37
Gordon Durie	FW	39	9
Stuart McCall	MF	38	2
Rino Gattuso	MF	37	5
Sergio Porrini	DF	37	4
Brian Laudrup	MF	36	5
Andy Goram	GK	36	0
Richard Gough	DF	30	2
Jonas Thern	DF	29	4
Ståle Stensaas	DF	28	2
Paul Gascoigne	MF	27	3
Ally McCoist	FW	26	16
Ian Ferguson	MF	17	3
Craig Moore	DF	15	3
Tony Vidmar	DF	15	4
Ian Durrant	MF	12	0
Charlie Miller	MF	11	4
Gordan Petrić	DF	11	0
Barry Ferguson	MF	11	0
Theo Snelders	GK	9	0
Jonatan Johansson	FW	8	2
Antti Niemi	GK	7	0
Sebastián Rozental	FW	4	0
Peter van Vossen	FW	3	0
Gary Bollan	DF	2	0
Derek McInnes	MF	1	0
Erik Bo Andersen	FW	1	0
Stephen Wright	DF	1	0

References

Rangers Football Club

Players · Internationals · Managers · Reserves & Academy · Records & Statistics · Honours · Current season

History	Club History · Ibrox disaster · Hall of Fame · Past seasons · Europe

Home stadium	Fleshers' Haugh (1873-76) · Kinning Park (1876-99) · Ibrox Stadium (1899–present)

Training ground	Murray Park

Rivalries	Old Firm

Supporters	Rangers Supporters Trust · Fanzine

Media	Rangers TV

Others	Broxi Bear · Iron Curtain · Superleague Formula team · Rangers Ladies team · Blue Heaven

Related articles	1972 European Cup Winners' Cup Final riots · 2008 UEFA Cup Final riots

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1997–98 in Scottish football

Domestic leagues	Premier Division · First Division · Second Division · Third Division

Domestic cups	Scottish Cup (Final) · League Cup (Final) · Challenge Cup (Final) · Junior Cup

European competitions	Champions League · UEFA Cup · UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

Related to national team	Results · 1998 World Cup qualifying (Group 4) · 1998 World Cup

Club seasons

Premier Division	Dundee United · Hibernian · Rangers