# 1988–89 Rangers F.C. season

The 1988–89 season was the 109th season of competitive football by Rangers.

## Overview

Rangers played a total of 53 competitive matches during the 1988–89 season. They regained the Scottish Premier Division title, winning the first of nine consecutive league titles.
England international right back, Gary Stevens was signed from Everton and Kevin Drinkell was brought in to partner Ally McCoist up front.
Results against Celtic were pivotal in the Championship race, winning 5–1 and 4–1 at Ibrox. They also secured their first win at Parkhead since 1980, 2–1 in March. The league was won at Ibrox with a 4–0 demolition of Hearts.
In the cup competitions, they lost the Scottish Cup final 1–0 to Celtic. The team won the Scottish League Cup (Skol Cup) for the third season in a row defeating Aberdeen 3–2.
The European campaign was disappointing. The team qualified for the UEFA Cup and after a fine aggregate win over Polish side GKS Katowice, they were knocked out in the second round by Köln of West Germany.
Lawrence Marlborough sold his controlling interest in Rangers to Scottish businessman David Murray in November 1988. Murray would later take over as chairman from David Holmes.

## Transfer
### In

| Date | Player | From | Fee |
| 30 June 1988 | Kevin Drinkell | Norwich City | £500,000 |
| 19 July 1988 | Gary Stevens | Everton | £1,000,000 |
| 29 July 1988 | John Morrow | Linfield | Free |
| 17 September 1988 | Andy Gray | West Bromwich Albion | Free |
| 3 October 1988 | Neale Cooper | Aston Villa | £250,000 |
| 6 February 1989 | Tom Cowan | Clyde | £100,000 |
| 4 March 1989 | Mel Sterland | Sheffield Wednesday | £750,000 |

### Out

| Date | Player | From | Fee |
| 31 May 1988 | Avi Cohen | Maccabi Tel Aviv | Free |
| 1 July 1988 | Jan Bartram | Brøndby | £300,000 |
| 26 August 1988 | Graham Roberts | Chelsea | £475,000 |
| 26 August 1988 | Jimmy Phillips | Oxford United | £100,000 |

## Results
### Scottish Premier Division

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 13 August 1988 | Hamilton Academical | A | 2–0 | 10,500 | Stevens, McCoist |
| 20 August 1988 | Hibernian | H | 0–0 | 41,955 | |
| 27 August 1988 | Celtic | H | 5–1 | 42,858 | McCoist (2), Wilkins, Drinkell, Walters |
| 3 September 1988 | Motherwell | A | 2–0 | 20,112 | Drinkell, Durrant |
| 17 September 1988 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 2–1 | 25,501 | Durrant (pen.), Nisbet |
| 24 September 1988 | St Mirren | H | 2–1 | 35,523 | D.Cooper (pen.), Walters |
| 27 September 1988 | Dundee United | A | 1–0 | 20,071 | I.Ferguson |
| 1 October 1988 | Dundee | H | 2–0 | 40,768 | Drinkell, Walters |
| 8 October 1988 | Aberdeen | A | 1–2 | 23,370 | N.Cooper |
| 12 October 1988 | Hibernian | A | 1–0 | 26,000 | McCoist |
| 29 October 1988 | St Mirren | A | 1–1 | 20,903 | Gray |
| 1 November 1988 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 3–0 | 36,505 | Gough, Walters (pen.), Gray |
| 5 November 1988 | Motherwell | H | 2–1 | 36,060 | Brown, Drinkell |
| 12 November 1988 | Celtic | A | 1–3 | 60,113 | Walters |
| 16 November 1988 | Hamilton Academical | H | 3–1 | 33,684 | Gray, Ferguson, Drinkell |
| 19 November 1988 | Dundee | A | 0–0 | 16,514 | |
| 26 November 1988 | Aberdeen | H | 1–0 | 42,239 | Gough |
| 3 December 1988 | Dundee United | H | 0–1 | 39,123 | |
| 10 December 1988 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 0–2 | 26,424 | |
| 17 December 1988 | Hibernian | H | 1–0 | 36,672 | McCall |
| 31 December 1988 | Hamilton Academical | A | 1–0 | 10,500 | D.Ferguson |
| 3 January 1989 | Celtic | H | 4–1 | 42,515 | Walters (2, 1 (pen.)), Butcher, I.Ferguson |
| 7 January 1989 | Motherwell | A | 1–2 | 19,275 | Drinkell |
| 14 January 1989 | Aberdeen | A | 2–1 | 23,000 | Munro, D.Ferguson |
| 21 January 1989 | Dundee | H | 3–1 | 43,202 | I.Ferguson, Butcher, McCoist |
| 11 February 1989 | Dundee United | A | 1–1 | 22,019 | Munro |
| 25 February 1989 | St Mirren | H | 3–1 | 39,021 | I.Ferguson, McCoist, Walters |
| 11 March 1989 | Hamilton Academical | H | 3–0 | 35,733 | I.Ferguson, Sterland, Gough |
| 25 March 1989 | Hibernian | A | 1–0 | 23,321 | Drinkell |
| 1 April 1989 | Celtic | A | 2–1 | 60,171 | Drinkell, I.Ferguson |
| 8 April 1989 | Motherwell | H | 1–0 | 33,782 | McCoist |
| 22 April 1989 | St Mirren | A | 2–0 | 22,096 | I.Ferguson, McCoist |
| 29 April 1989 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 4–0 | 42,856 | Drinkell (2), Sterland (2) |
| 2 May 1989 | Dundee United | H | 2–0 | 39,068 | Drinkell, McCoist |
| 6 May 1989 | Dundee | A | 2–1 | 14,889 | Gray (2) |
| 13 May 1989 | Aberdeen | H | 0–3 | 42,480 | |

### Scottish League Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 17 August 1988 | R2 | Clyde | A | 3–0 | 14,699 | Drinkell, Walters, D.Ferguson |
| 24 August 1988 | R3 | Clydebank | H | 6–0 | 34,376 | McCoist, Gough, Walters, Wilkins, Drinkell, Durrant |
| 31 August 1988 | QF | Dundee | H | 4–1 | 39,667 | McCoist, Walters, I.Ferguson, Forsyth (o.g.) |
| 21 September 1988 | SF | Heart of Midlothian | N | 3–0 | 53,623 | Walters (2), Nisbet |
| 23 October 1988 | F | Aberdeen | N | 3–2 | 72,122 | McCoist (2, 1 (pen.)), I.Ferguson |

### Scottish Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 28 January 1989 | R3 | Raith Rovers | A | 1–1 | 10,500 | I.Ferguson |
| 1 February 1989 | R3 R | Raith Rovers | H | 3–0 | 40,307 | Walters, Drinkell, Fraser (o.g.) |
| 18 February 1989 | R4 | Stranraer | H | 8–0 | 41,198 | Drinkell (2), Brown (2), McCoist (2, 1 (pen.) I.Ferguson, Walters |
| 21 March 1989 | QF | Dundee United | H | 2–2 | 42,177 | Drinkell, McCoist |
| 27 March 1989 | QF R | Dundee United | A | 1–0 | 21,872 | McCoist |
| 15 April 1989 | SF | St Johnstone | N | 0–0 | 47,374 | |
| 18 April 1989 | SF R | St Johnstone | N | 4–0 | 44,205 | Walters, Stevens, Drinkell, McCoist |
| 20 May 1989 | F | Celtic | N | 0–1 | 72,069 | |

### UEFA Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 7 September 1988 | R1 | GKS Katowice | H | 1–0 | 41,120 | Walters |
| 5 October 1988 | R1 | GKS Katowice | A | 4–2 | 40,000 | Butcher (2), Durrant, I.Ferguson |
| 26 October 1988 | R2 | Köln | A | 0–2 | 42,000 | |
| 9 November 1988 | R2 | Köln | H | 1–1 | 42,204 | Drinkell |

## Appearances

| Player | Position | Appearances | Goals |
| Nicky Walker | GK | 14 | 0 |
| Chris Woods | GK | 39 | 0 |
| John Brown | DF | 42 | 3 |
| Terry Butcher | DF | 51 | 4 |
| Tom Cowan | DF | 4 | 0 |
| Richard Gough | DF | 51 | 4 |
| John McGregor | DF | 1 | 0 |
| Stuart Munro | DF | 33 | 4 |
| Jimmy Nicholl | DF | 3 | 0 |
| Scott Nisbet | DF | 10 | 2 |
| Gary Stevens | DF | 52 | 2 |
| Davie Cooper | MF | 33 | 1 |
| Neale Cooper | MF | 17 | 1 |
| Ian Durrant | MF | 14 | 4 |
| Derek Ferguson | MF | 24 | 3 |
| Ian Ferguson | MF | 33 | 13 |
| Davie Kirkwood | MF | 2 | 0 |
| Ian McCall | MF | 7 | 1 |
| Kevin MacDonald | MF | 3 | 0 |
| Sandy Robertson | MF | 2 | 0 |
| Graeme Souness | MF | 10 | 0 |
| Mark Walters | MF | 48 | 17 |
| Ray Wilkins | MF | 45 | 2 |
| Kevin Drinkell | FW | 47 | 19 |
| Andy Gray | FW | 16 | 5 |
| Ally McCoist | FW | 33 | 18 |
| Gary McSwegan | FW | 1 | 0 |
| Mel Sterland | FW | 13 | 3 |

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rangers (C) | 36 | 26 | 4 | 6 | 62 | 26 | +36 | 56 | Qualification for the European Cup first round |
| 2 | Aberdeen | 36 | 18 | 14 | 4 | 51 | 25 | +26 | 50 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Celtic | 36 | 21 | 4 | 11 | 66 | 44 | +22 | 46 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 4 | Dundee United | 36 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 44 | 26 | +18 | 44 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Hibernian | 36 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 37 | 36 | +1 | 35 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |