# 1979–80 Rangers F.C. season

The 1979–80 season was the 100th season of competitive football by Rangers.

## Overview

Rangers played a total of 52 competitive matches during the 1979–80 season. Rangers finished fifth in the league, eleven points behind champions Aberdeen. The main cause for such a poor showing in the league was pointed at the team's away form, only ten points from eighteen matches.
Aberdeen also knocked Rangers out of the Scottish League Cup over a two-legged third round tie. Rangers did reach the 1980 Scottish Cup Final only to lose out to Old Firm rivals Celtic, 1-0 thanks to a deflected George McCluskey shot in extra time. The European Cup Winner's Cup campaign was ended by the eventual winners Valencia CF after having seen off Lillestrøm SK and Fortuna Düsseldorf in previous rounds.

## Results

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

### Scottish Premier Division

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 11 August 1979 | Hibernian | A | 3–1 | 17,731 | A.MacDonald, Cooper, Russell |
| 18 August 1979 | Celtic | H | 2–2 | 36,000 | J.MacDonald, Russell |
| 25 August 1979 | Partick Thistle | A | 1–2 | 20,000 | Johnstone |
| 8 September 1979 | St Mirren | H | 3–1 | 31,000 | Johnstone, Smith, Miller |
| 15 September 1979 | Aberdeen | A | 1–3 | 25,000 | Johnstone |
| 22 September 1979 | Dundee | H | 2–0 | 25,000 | Johnstone, Glennie (o.g.) |
| 29 September 1979 | Kilmarnock | A | 1–2 | 15,479 | Johnstone |
| 6 October 1979 | Dundee United | A | 0–0 | 19,464 | |
| 13 October 1979 | Morton | H | 2–2 | 25,000 | Johnstone (2) |
| 20 October 1979 | Hibernian | H | 2–0 | 25,000 | Smith, Miller (pen.) |
| 27 October 1979 | Celtic | A | 0–1 | 61,000 | |
| 3 November 1979 | Partick Thistle | H | 2–1 | 18,400 | Urquhart (2) |
| 10 November 1979 | St Mirren | A | 1–2 | 17,362 | A.Forsyth |
| 17 November 1979 | Aberdeen | H | 0–1 | 18,500 | |
| 24 November 1979 | Dundee | A | 1–3 | 13,342 | Jackson |
| 1 December 1979 | Kilmarnock | H | 2–1 | 16,557 | Johnstone, Russell |
| 8 December 1979 | Morton | A | 1–0 | 14,750 | Johnstone |
| 15 December 1979 | Dundee United | H | 2–1 | 19,240 | Johnstone, Kopel (o.g.) |
| 22 December 1979 | Hibernian | A | 1–2 | 18,740 | McLean |
| 29 December 1979 | Celtic | H | 1–1 | 36,000 | Johnstone |
| 5 January 1980 | St Mirren | H | 1–2 | 19,000 | Jardine (pen.) |
| 12 January 1980 | Aberdeen | A | 2–3 | 19,250 | J.MacDonald, Jackson |
| 23 February 1980 | Morton | H | 3–1 | 28,000 | Russell, Smith, J.MacDonald |
| 1 March 1980 | Hibernian | H | 1–0 | 29,500 | Johnstone |
| 12 March 1980 | Dundee | H | 1–0 | 17,000 | Stevens |
| 15 March 1980 | Partick Thistle | H | 0–0 | 22,000 | |
| 19 March 1980 | Dundee United | A | 0–0 | 9,533 | |
| 29 March 1980 | Aberdeen | H | 2–2 | 25,000 | Jardine (pen.), J.MacDonald |
| 2 April 1980 | Celtic | A | 0–1 | 60,000 | |
| 5 April 1980 | Dundee | A | 4–1 | 12,948 | Johnstone (2), Cooper, Smith |
| 19 April 1980 | Morton | A | 1–0 | 15,000 | Russell |
| 23 April 1980 | Kilmarnock | A | 0–1 | 8,504 | |
| 25 April 1980 | Dundee United | H | 2–1 | 19,000 | Jardine (pen.), McLean |
| 30 April 1980 | Kilmarnock | H | 1–0 | 7,655 | J.MacDonald |
| 3 May 1980 | Partick Thistle | A | 3–4 | 15,000 | Russell (2), Johnstone |
| 7 May 1980 | St Mirren | A | 1–4 | 12,000 | Miller |

### Cup Winners' Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 21 August 1979 | QR1 | Lillestrøm | H | 1–0 | 25,000 | Smith |
| 5 September 1979 | QR1 | Lillestrøm | A | 2–0 | 6,175 | A.MacDonald, Johnstone |
| 19 September 1979 | R1 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | H | 2–1 | 36,000 | A.MacDonald, McLean |
| 3 October 1979 | R1 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | A | 0–0 | 47,000 | |
| 24 October 1979 | R2 | Valencia | A | 1–1 | 61,000 | McLean |
| 7 November 1979 | R2 | Valencia | H | 1–3 | 36,000 | Johnstone |

### Scottish Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 26 January 1980 | R3 | Clyde | A | 2–2 | 12,500 | Jardine (pen.), Jackson |
| 30 January 1980 | R3 R | Clyde | H | 2–0 | 12,000 | J.MacDonald (2) |
| 16 February 1980 | R4 | Dundee United | H | 1–0 | 29,000 | Johnstone |
| 8 March 1980 | QF | Heart of Midlothian | H | 6–1 | 36,000 | J.MacDonald (2), Cooper, Jardine (pen.), Russell, Johnstone |
| 12 April 1980 | SF | Aberdeen | N | 1–0 | 50,209 | Johnstone |
| 10 May 1980 | F | Celtic | N | 0–1 | 70,303 | |

### League Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 29 August 1979 | R2 | Clyde | A | 2–1 | 5,021 | Dawson, Robertson |
| 1 September 1979 | R2 | Clyde | H | 4–0 | 16,000 | MacKay (2), Smith, O'Neill (o.g.) |
| 26 September 1979 | R3 | Aberdeen | A | 1–3 | 22,000 | Johnstone |
| 10 October 1979 | R3 | Aberdeen | H | 0–2 | 35,000 | |

### Non-competitive
#### Drybrough Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 28 July 1979 | R1 | Berwick Rangers | H | 1–0 | 15,000 | A MacDonald |
| 1 August 1979 | SF | Kilmarnock | A | 2–0 | 10,035 | J MacDonald (2) |
| 4 August 1979 | F | Celtic | N | 3–1 | 40,609 | J MacDonald, Jardine, Cooper |

#### Tennent Caledonian Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 3 August 1979 | SF | West Ham United | H | 3–2 | | |
| 5 August 1979 | F | Kilmarnock | H | 2–2 | | |

#### Glasgow Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 15 August 1979 | SF | Partick Thistle | A | 2–0✝ | 7,000 | Smith, Cooper |
✝Competition not completed

## Appearances

| Player | Position | Appearances | Goals |
| Peter McCloy | GK | 50 | 0 |
| George Young | GK | 2 | 0 |
| Alex Miller | DF | 30 | 3 |
| Ally Dawson | DF | 46 | 1 |
| Sandy Jardine | DF | 51 | 5 |
| Colin Jackson | DF | 42 | 3 |
| Kenny Watson | MF | 26 | 0 |
| Tommy McLean | MF | 39 | 4 |
| Bobby Russell | MF | 33 | 8 |
| Derek Johnstone | FW | 47 | 21 |
| Alex MacDonald | MF | 39 | 3 |
| Davie Cooper | MF | 43 | 3 |
| John MacDonald | FW | 35 | 9 |
| Gordon Smith | FW | 45 | 6 |
| Gregor Stevens | DF | 39 | 1 |
| Derek Parlane | FW | 6 | 0 |
| Alex Forsyth | DF | 11 | 1 |
| Billy Urquhart | FW | 6 | 2 |
| Gordon Dalziel | MF | 2 | 0 |
| Billy MacKay | MF | 5 | 2 |
| Tom Forsyth | DF | 22 | 0 |
| Ian Redford | MF | 13 | 0 |
| Chris Robertson | FW | 3 | 1 |

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 3 | St Mirren | 36 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 56 | 49 | +7 | 42 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Dundee United | 36 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 43 | 30 | +13 | 37 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Rangers | 36 | 15 | 7 | 14 | 50 | 46 | +4 | 37 | |
| 6 | Morton | 36 | 14 | 8 | 14 | 51 | 46 | +5 | 36 | |
| 7 | Partick Thistle | 36 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 43 | 47 | −4 | 36 | |