# 1997–98 Rangers F.C. season

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 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 | Lorenzo Amoruso | Fiorentina | £4,000,000 |
| 29 May 1997 | Ståle Stensaas | Rosenborg | £1,650,000 |
| 10 June 1997 | Sergio Porrini | Juventus | £3,000,000 |
| 18 June 1997 | Marco Negri | Perugia | £3,500,000 |
| 20 June 1997 | Antti Niemi | Copenhagen | £700,000 |
| 1 July 1997 | Gennaro Gattuso | Perugia | Free |
| 1 July 1997 | Jonas Thern | Roma | Free |
| 1 July 1997 | Tony Vidmar | NAC Breda | Free |
| 13 August 1997 | Jonatan Johansson | Flora Tallinn | £500,000 |
| 14 October 1997 | Richard Gough | Kansas City Wizards | Free |

### Out

| Date | Player | To | Fee |
| 8 May 1997 | Richard Gough | Kansas City Wizards | Free |
| 12 May 1997 | David Robertson | Leeds United | £500,000 |
| 15 May 1997 | Barry Robson | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | Free |
| 31 May 1997 | Mark Hateley | Hull City | Free |
| 31 May 1997 | Andy Dibble | Sheffield United | Free |
| 31 May 1997 | Trevor Steven | Retired | Retired |
| 31 May 1997 | John Brown | Retired | Retired |
| 30 June 1997 | Greg Shields | Dunfermline Athletic | £100,000 |
| 30 October 1997 | Erik Bo Andersen | Odense BK | £800,000 |
| 28 November 1997 | Brian McGinty | Hull City | Free |
| 20 February 1998 | Gary Bollan | St Johnstone | £100,000 |
| 26 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

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 4 August 1997 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 3–1 | 48,257 | Negri (2), Cleland |
| 23 August 1997 | Dundee United | H | 5–1 | 48,599 | Negri (5) |
| 13 September 1997 | Aberdeen | H | 3–3 | 50,030 | Negri (pen.), Albertz, Laudrup |
| 20 September 1997 | St Johnstone | A | 2–0 | 10,093 | Negri (2) |
| 24 September 1997 | Kilmarnock | A | 3–0 | 15,367 | Negri (2), Stensaas |
| 27 September 1997 | Motherwell | H | 2–2 | 48,672 | Negri, Porrini |
| 4 October 1997 | Hibernian | A | 4–3 | 15,169 | Negri (2, 1 (pen.)), Gascoigne, Albertz |
| 18 October 1997 | Dunfermline Athletic | H | 7–0 | 50,023 | Laudrup, Negri (4), Gascoigne (2) |
| 25 October 1997 | Dundee United | A | 1–2 | 12,600 | Negri |
| 1 November 1997 | Kilmarnock | H | 4–1 | 49,413 | Negri (3, 1 (pen.)), Porrini |
| 8 November 1997 | Celtic | H | 1–0 | 50,082 | Gough |
| 15 November 1997 | Aberdeen | A | 1–1 | 18,117 | Albertz |
| 19 November 1997 | Celtic | A | 1–1 | 49,427 | Negri |
| 22 November 1997 | Motherwell | A | 1–1 | 12,018 | McCoist |
| 29 November 1997 | St Johnstone | H | 3–2 | 50,142 | Gattuso, Negri (2) |
| 7 December 1997 | Hibernian | H | 1–0 | 48,070 | Negri |
| 13 December 1997 | Dunfermline Athletic | A | 0–0 | 12,443 | |
| 20 December 1997 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 5–2 | 17,092 | Durie (3), Negri (pen.), Albertz |
| 27 December 1997 | Dundee United | H | 4–1 | 50,017 | Laudrup, Cleland, Negri (2, 1 (pen.)) |
| 2 January 1998 | Celtic | A | 0–2 | 49,396 | |
| 10 January 1998 | Aberdeen | H | 2–0 | 49,502 | Laudrup, Porrini |
| 17 January 1998 | Motherwell | H | 1–0 | 49,443 | Cleland |
| 31 January 1998 | St Johnstone | A | 0–2 | 10,441 | |
| 7 February 1998 | Dunfermline Athletic | H | 1–1 | 49,019 | Porrini |
| 21 February 1998 | Hibernian | A | 2–1 | 13,968 | Negri, Albertz |
| 24 February 1998 | Kilmarnock | A | 1–1 | 15,931 | Thern |
| 28 February 1998 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 2–2 | 50,046 | Albertz (2) |
| 14 March 1998 | Motherwell | A | 1–2 | 11,779 | McCoist |
| 21 March 1998 | St Johnstone | H | 2–1 | 49,788 | Negri, Thern |
| 28 March 1998 | Dunfermline Athletic | A | 3–2 | 11,531 | McCoist (2), Thern |
| 1 April 1998 | Hibernian | H | 3–0 | 50,121 | McCoist, Thern, Durie |
| 12 April 1998 | Celtic | H | 2–0 | 50,042 | Thern, Albertz |
| 19 April 1998 | Aberdeen | A | 0–1 | 17,981 | |
| 25 April 1998 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 3–0 | 17,415 | Gattuso (2), Albertz |
| 2 May 1998 | Kilmarnock | H | 0–1 | 50,116 | |
| 9 May 1998 | Dundee United | A | 2–1 | 14,200 | Laudrup, Albertz (pen.) |

### Scottish League Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 7 August 1997 | R2 | Hamilton Academical | A | 1–0 | 8,866 | McCoist |
| 19 August 1997 | R3 | Falkirk | H | 4–1 | 43,606 | McCoist (3, 1 (pen.)), Stensaas |
| 9 September 1997 | QF | Dundee United | H | 0–1 | 44,440 | |

### Scottish Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 24 January 1998 | R3 | Hamilton Academical | A | 2–1 | 11,915 | Durie, Gough |
| 14 February 1998 | R4 | Motherwell | A | 2–2 | 12,602 | Negri, Durie |
| 17 February 1998 | R4 R | Motherwell | H | 3–0 | 42,043 | Albertz (2), Durie |
| 9 March 1998 | QF | Dundee | H | 0–0 | 40,309 | |
| 18 March 1998 | QF R | Dundee | A | 2–1 | 12,418 | McCoist (2) |
| 5 April 1998 | SF | Celtic | A | 2–1 | 48,993 | McCoist, Albertz |
| 16 May 1998 | F | Heart of Midlothian | N | 1–2 | 48,946 | McCoist |

### UEFA Champions League

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

### UEFA Cup

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

## Appearances

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

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Celtic (C) | 36 | 22 | 8 | 6 | 64 | 24 | +40 | 74 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Rangers | 36 | 21 | 9 | 6 | 76 | 38 | +38 | 72 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Heart of Midlothian | 36 | 19 | 10 | 7 | 70 | 46 | +24 | 67 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round |
| 4 | Kilmarnock | 36 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 40 | 52 | −12 | 50 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 5 | St Johnstone | 36 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 38 | 42 | −4 | 48 | |