# 1978–79 Rangers F.C. season

The 1978–79 season was the 99th season of competitive football by Rangers.

## Overview

Rangers played a total of 61 competitive matches during the 1978–79 season. The early season league form was terrible as the team failed to win any of the first six league matches but a run was put together. Things began to unravel, however, as leadership of the league evaporated. The team had to settle for second place behind champions Celtic. The pivotal match was a 4–2 Old Firm defeat a Parkhead. There was success for Greig in the national cup competitions. Victory in the 1979 Scottish Cup Final over Hibernian required a second replay to separate the sides before Rangers eventually won 3–2. The 1979 Scottish League Cup Final ended in a 2–1 win for Rangers over a strong Aberdeen with goals from Alex MacDonald and Colin Jackson.
Wallace's treble-winning team of the previous season performed well in the European Cup. Rangers eliminated Juventus after defeating the Italians 2–1 on aggregate – the first time Rangers had ever recovered from a first-leg defeat to win a two-legged European tie. Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, the then UEFA Cup holders, were overcome in the next round (the club's first home defeat in European competition), before an injury-stricken Rangers side lost to Cologne at the quarter-final stage.

## Results

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

### Scottish Premier Division

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 12 August 1978 | St Mirren | H | 0–1 | 28,000 | |
| 19 August 1978 | Hibernian | A | 0–0 | 23,000 | |
| 26 August 1978 | Partick Thistle | H | 0–0 | 24,500 | |
| 9 September 1978 | Celtic | A | 1–3 | 60,000 | Parlane |
| 16 September 1978 | Aberdeen | H | 1–1 | 27,000 | A. Forsyth (pen.) |
| 23 September 1978 | Greenock Morton | A | 2–2 | 16,500 | Parlane, Johnstone |
| 30 September 1978 | Motherwell | H | 4–1 | 26,000 | Smith (2), McLean, Johnstone |
| 7 October 1978 | Dundee United | H | 1–1 | 27,000 | A. MacDonald |
| 14 October 1978 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 0–0 | 18,159 | |
| 21 October 1978 | St Mirren | A | 1–0 | 26,000 | A. Forsyth (pen) |
| 28 October 1978 | Hibernian | H | 2–1 | 24,750 | A. Forsyth (pen), Smith |
| 4 November 1978 | Partick Thistle | A | 0–1 | 20,641 | |
| 11 November 1978 | Celtic | H | 1–1 | 52,330 | A. Forsyth (pen) |
| 18 November 1978 | Aberdeen | A | 0–0 | 26,000 | |
| 25 November 1978 | Greenock Morton | H | 3–0 | 21,500 | Johnstone, Cooper, Smith |
| 9 December 1978 | Dundee United | A | 0–3 | 15,247 | |
| 16 December 1978 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 5–3 | 16,250 | Johnstone (4), Watson |
| 23 December 1978 | St Mirren | H | 1–0 | 22,500 | Johnstone |
| 20 January 1979 | Greenock Morton | A | 2–0 | 16,312 | A. MacDonald, Watson |
| 10 February 1979 | Dundee United | H | 1–0 | 23,500 | Robertson |
| 24 February 1979 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 2–3 | 16,500 | Smith, Parlane |
| 14 March 1979 | Hibernian | H | 1–0 | 16,000 | Smith |
| 17 March 1979 | Partick Thistle | A | 2–0 | 18,685 | Cooper, Urquhart |
| 27 March 1979 | St Mirren | A | 2–1 | 20,000 | Urquhart (2) |
| 7 April 1979 | Greenock Morton | H | 1–1 | 15,750 | Cooper |
| 10 April 1979 | Motherwell | H | 3–0 | 12,000 | Cooper, A. MacDonald, Smith |
| 14 April 1979 | Motherwell | A | 0–2 | 14,612 | |
| 21 April 1979 | Dundee United | A | 2–1 | 20,264 | Dawson, Smith |
| 25 April 1979 | Aberdeen | A | 1–2 | 20,000 | Smith |
| 28 April 1979 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 4–0 | 20,050 | Russell (3), Parlane |
| 2 May 1979 | Motherwell | A | 2–1 | 13,052 | Smith, Jackson |
| 5 May 1979 | Celtic | H | 1–0 | 52,841 | A. MacDonald |
| 7 May 1979 | Aberdeen | H | 2–0 | 32,000 | Smith, Cooper |
| 21 May 1979 | Celtic | A | 2–4 | 52,000 | A. MacDonald, Russell |
| 23 May 1979 | Partick Thistle | H | 1–0 | 6,087 | Johnstone |
| 31 May 1979 | Hibernian | A | 1–2 | 5,000 | Urquhart |

### European Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 13 September 1978 | R1 | Juventus | A | 0–1 | 70,000 | |
| 27 September 1978 | R1 | Juventus | H | 2–0 | 44,000 | A. MacDonald, Smith |
| 18 October 1978 | R2 | PSV Eindhoven | H | 0–0 | 44,000 | |
| 1 November 1978 | R2 | PSV Eindhoven | A | 3–2 | 29,000 | A. MacDonald, Johnstone, Russell |
| 6 March 1979 | QF | Cologne | A | 0–1 | 50,000 | |
| 22 March 1979 | QF | Cologne | H | 1–1 | 44,000 | McLean |

### Scottish Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 12 February 1979 | R3 | Motherwell | H | 3–1 | 19,000 | Johnstone, Jackson, Cooper |
| 21 February 1979 | R4 | Kilmarnock | H | 1–1 | 17,500 | A. MacDonald |
| 26 February 1979 | R4 R | Kilmarnock | A | 1–0 | 19,493 | Urquhart |
| 10 March 1979 | QF | Dundee | H | 6–3 | 28,000 | Jardine (pen.), A. MacDonald, Smith, T.Forsyth, Russell, Cooper |
| 4 April 1979 | SF | Partick Thistle | N | 0–0 | 26,232 | |
| 16 April 1979 | SF R | Partick Thistle | N | 1–0 | 32,294 | Johnstone |
| 12 May 1979 | F | Hibernian | N | 0–0 | 50,610 | |
| 16 May 1979 | F R | Hibernian | N | 0–0 | 33,504 | |
| 28 May 1979 | F 2R | Hibernian | N | 3–2 | 30,602 | Johnstone (2), Duncan (o.g.) |

### League Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 16 August 1978 | R1 | Albion Rovers | H | 3–0 | 10,000 | Parlane, Johnstone, Smith |
| 23 August 1978 | R1 | Albion Rovers | A | 1–0 | 6,500 | Parlane |
| 30 August 1978 | R2 | Forfar Athletic | H | 3–0 | 9,000 | Cooper, McLean, Smith |
| 2 September 1978 | R2 | Forfar Athletic | A | 4–1 | 5,919 | Smith (2), A. MacDonald, Cooper |
| 4 October 1978 | R3 | St Mirren | H | 3–2 | 20,000 | Cooper, Miller, Johnstone |
| 11 October 1978 | R3 | St Mirren | A | 0–0 | 24,000 | |
| 8 November 1978 | QF | Arbroath | H | 1–0 | 10,000 | Wells (o.g.) |
| 15 November 1978 | QF | Arbroath | A | 2–1 | 4,000 | Smith, Russell |
| 13 December 1978 | SF | Celtic | N | 3–2 | 49,432 | Jardine (pen.), Jackson, Casey (o.g.) |
| 31 March 1979 | F | Aberdeen | N | 2–1 | 60,000 | A. MacDonald, Jackson |

### Non-competitive
#### Tennent Caledonian Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 5 August 1978 | SF | Hearts | H | 3–1 | | |
| 6 August 1978 | F | Southampton | H | 4–1 | | |

#### Glasgow Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 24 March 1979 | SF | Partick Thistle | H | 3–3* | 9,250 | Urquhart, McDonald |
| 17 May 1979 | F | Celtic | H | 3–1 | 3,000 | J. MacDonald, Forsyth, Strickland |
*Rangers won the match 4–3 on penalties

## Appearances

| Player | Position | Appearances | Goals |
| Peter McCloy | GK | 61 | 0 |
| Sandy Jardine | DF | 60 | 2 |
| Alex Forsyth | DF | 29 | 4 |
| Tom Forsyth | DF | 33 | 1 |
| Colin Jackson | DF | 46 | 4 |
| Alex MacDonald | MF | 58 | 11 |
| Tommy McLean | MF | 56 | 3 |
| Bobby Russell | MF | 61 | 7 |
| Derek Johnstone | FW | 53 | 16 |
| Gordon Smith | FW | 57 | 18 |
| Kenny Watson | MF | 22 | 2 |
| Billy Urquhart | FW | 20 | 5 |
| Derek Parlane | FW | 43 | 6 |
| Alex Miller | DF | 33 | 1 |
| Davie Cooper | MF | 49 | 10 |
| Ally Dawson | DF | 36 | 1 |
| Chris Robertson | FW | 2 | 1 |
| John MacDonald | FW | 2 | 0 |
| Davie Armour | DF | 3 | 0 |
| Billy MacKay | MF | 1 | 0 |
| Eric Morris | DF | 1 | 0 |
| Derek Strickland | FW | 2 | 0 |
| Jim Denny | DF | 3 | 0 |

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Celtic (C) | 36 | 21 | 6 | 9 | 61 | 37 | +24 | 48 | Qualification for the European Cup first round |
| 2 | Rangers | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 52 | 35 | +17 | 45 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 3 | Dundee United | 36 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 56 | 37 | +19 | 44 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 36 | 13 | 14 | 9 | 59 | 36 | +23 | 40 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Hibernian | 36 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 44 | 48 | −4 | 37 | |