# 1990–91 Rangers F.C. season

The 1990–91 season was the 111th season of competitive football by Rangers.

## Overview

Rangers played a total of 48 competitive matches during the 1990–91 season. The team finished first in the Scottish Premier Division and won the third of their nine league titles in a row.
There was significant transfer activity during the season with England international striker Mark Hateley arriving from AS Monaco and Terry Butcher departing for Coventry City.
Manager Graeme Souness left Rangers to go to Liverpool with just four games left of the season. The managers job was given to Souness' assistant Walter Smith who managed to lead Rangers to the title, with a 2–0 win over Aberdeen at Ibrox on the last day of the season.
In the cup competitions, they were knocked out of the Scottish Cup at the quarter-finals stage, losing 2–0 to Celtic at Parkhead. Rangers won the Scottish League Cup, defeating Celtic 2–1 AET.
In Europe they defeated Valletta of Malta 10–0 on aggregate in the first round, but were knocked out in the second round by Serbian side Red Star Belgrade (Red Star would go on to lift the trophy, beating Marseille in the final). Rangers lost the tie 4–1 on aggregate.

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Player | From | Fee |
| 21 June 1990 | Mark Hateley | AS Monaco | £1,000,000 |
| 2 August 1990 | Pieter Huistra | FC Twente | £300,000 |
| 23 August 1990 | Terry Hurlock | Millwall | £300,000 |
| 9 October 1990 | Oleh Kuznetsov | Dynamo Kyiv | £1,200,000 |
| 25 March 1991 | Brian Reid | Greenock Morton | £300,000 |

### Out

| Date | Player | To | Fee |
| 1 July 1990 | Graeme Souness | Retired | Retired |
| 4 July 1990 | Derek Ferguson | Heart of Midlothian | £750,000 |
| 15 November 1990 | Terry Butcher | Coventry City | £500,000 |

## Results

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

### Scottish Premier Division

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 25 August 1990 | Dunfermline Athletic | H | 3–1 | 39,951 | Hateley, Johnston, Walters |
| 1 September 1990 | Hibernian | A | 0–0 | 17,500 | |
| 8 September 1990 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 3–1 | 22,101 | McCoist (2), Huistra |
| 15 September 1990 | Celtic | H | 1–1 | 38,543 | Hurlock |
| 22 September 1990 | Dundee United | A | 1–2 | 16,270 | Johnston |
| 29 September 1990 | Motherwell | H | 1–0 | 34,863 | Brown |
| 6 October 1990 | Aberdeen | A | 0–0 | 19,500 | |
| 13 October 1990 | St Mirren | H | 5–0 | 38,031 | McCoist (2, 1 (pen.)), Walters (2), Johnston |
| 20 October 1990 | St Johnstone | A | 0–0 | 10,054 | |
| 3 November 1990 | Hibernian | H | 4–0 | 35,925 | Hateley (2), Walters, Steven |
| 10 November 1990 | Dundee United | H | 1–2 | 36,995 | McCoist |
| 17 November 1990 | Motherwell | A | 4–2 | 16,457 | Stevens (2), Walters, Johnston |
| 20 November 1990 | Dunfermline Athletic | A | 1–0 | 14,480 | Hateley |
| 25 November 1990 | Celtic | A | 2–1 | 52,565 | Johnston, McCoist |
| 1 December 1990 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 4–0 | 37,623 | Johnston, Hurlock, McCoist, Walters (pen.) |
| 8 December 1990 | St Johnstone | H | 4–1 | 34,610 | Walters (2), Johnston (pen.), Stevens |
| 15 December 1990 | St Mirren | A | 3–0 | 15,197 | Walters, Johnston (pen.), Hateley |
| 22 December 1990 | Aberdeen | H | 2–2 | 37,998 | McCoist (2) |
| 29 December 1990 | Dundee United | A | 2–1 | 17,564 | Johnston, Walters |
| 2 January 1991 | Celtic | H | 2–0 | 38,399 | Walters, Hateley |
| 5 January 1991 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 1–0 | 20,956 | Hateley |
| 12 January 1991 | Dunfermline Athletic | H | 2–0 | 35,120 | Huistra, Johnston |
| 19 January 1991 | Hibernian | A | 2–0 | 15,500 | Johnston, Houchen (o.g.) |
| 9 February 1991 | St Mirren | H | 1–0 | 31,769 | McCoist |
| 16 February 1991 | Motherwell | H | 2–0 | 32,192 | McCoist, Hateley |
| 26 February 1991 | St Johnstone | A | 1–1 | 10,721 | Huistra |
| 2 March 1991 | Aberdeen | A | 0–1 | 22,500 | |
| 9 March 1991 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 2–1 | 36,128 | Steven, Walters |
| 24 March 1991 | Celtic | A | 0–3 | 52,000 | |
| 30 March 1991 | Dunfermline Athletic | A | 1–0 | 14,256 | Stevens |
| 6 April 1991 | Hibernian | H | 0–0 | 35,507 | |
| 13 April 1991 | St Johnstone | H | 3–0 | 35,930 | Durrant, Spencer, Huistra |
| 20 April 1991 | St Mirren | A | 1–0 | 18,473 | S.Robertson |
| 24 April 1991 | Dundee United | H | 1–0 | 32,397 | I.Ferguson |
| 4 May 1991 | Motherwell | A | 0–3 | 17,672 | |
| 11 May 1991 | Aberdeen | H | 2–0 | 37,652 | Hateley (2) |

### Scottish League Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 21 August 1990 | R3 | East Stirlingshire | H | 5–0 | 25,595 | Hateley (2), Steven, Walters, Johnston |
| 28 August 1990 | R4 | Kilmarnock | H | 1–0 | 32,671 | Johnston |
| 4 September 1990 | QF | Raith Rovers | H | 6–2 | 31,320 | McCoist (3), Johnston, Butcher, Steven |
| 26 September 1990 | SF | Aberdeen | N | 1–0 | 40,855 | Steven |
| 28 October 1990 | F | Celtic | N | 2–1* | 62,817 | Walters, Gough |
*Rangers won the match 2–1 in extra-time

### Scottish Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 29 January 1991 | R3 | Dunfermline Athletic | H | 2–0 | 29,003 | Huistra, Spackman |
| 23 February 1991 | R4 | Cowdenbeath | H | 5–0 | 29,527 | Hateley (2), Nisbet, McCoist, Walters (pen.) |
| 17 March 1991 | QF | Celtic | A | 0–2 | 52,286 | |

### European Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 19 September 1990 | R1 | Valletta | A | 4–0 | 8,000 | Johnston (2), McCoist (pen.), Hateley |
| 2 October 1990 | R1 | Valletta | H | 6–0 | 20,627 | Johnston (3, 1 (pen.)), Dodds, Spencer, McCoist |
| 24 October 1990 | R2 | Red Star Belgrade | A | 0–3 | 82,500 | |
| 7 November 1990 | R2 | Red Star Belgrade | H | 1–1 | 23,831 | McCoist |

## Appearances

| Player | Position | Appearances | Goals |
| Chris Woods | GK | 48 | 0 |
| John Brown | DF | 36 | 1 |
| Terry Butcher | DF | 9 | 1 |
| Tom Cowan | DF | 7 | 0 |
| Richard Gough | DF | 37 | 1 |
| Oleh Kuznetsov | DF | 2 | 0 |
| Stuart Munro | DF | 21 | 0 |
| Scott Nisbet | DF | 19 | 1 |
| Brian Reid | DF | 3 | 0 |
| Gary Stevens | DF | 48 | 4 |
| Chris Vinnicombe | DF | 11 | 0 |
| Ian Durrant | MF | 4 | 1 |
| Ian Ferguson | MF | 15 | 1 |
| Pieter Huistra | MF | 36 | 5 |
| Terry Hurlock | MF | 35 | 2 |
| Sandy Robertson | MF | 18 | 1 |
| Nigel Spackman | MF | 45 | 1 |
| Trevor Steven | MF | 31 | 5 |
| Mark Walters | MF | 39 | 15 |
| Davie Dodds | FW | 6 | 1 |
| Mark Hateley | FW | 42 | 15 |
| Mo Johnston | FW | 39 | 19 |
| Ally McCoist | FW | 36 | 18 |
| Gary McSwegan | FW | 3 | 0 |
| John Spencer | FW | 6 | 2 |

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rangers (C) | 36 | 24 | 7 | 5 | 62 | 23 | +39 | 55 | Qualification for the European Cup first round |
| 2 | Aberdeen | 36 | 22 | 9 | 5 | 62 | 27 | +35 | 53 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Celtic | 36 | 17 | 7 | 12 | 52 | 38 | +14 | 41 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Dundee United | 36 | 17 | 7 | 12 | 41 | 29 | +12 | 41 | |
| 5 | Heart of Midlothian | 36 | 14 | 7 | 15 | 48 | 55 | −7 | 35 | |