# 1985–86 Rangers F.C. season

The 1985–86 season was the 106th season of competitive football by Rangers.

## Overview

Rangers played a total of 44 competitive matches during the 1985–86 season. The team finished a disappointing 5th in the Scottish Premier Division. A total of 35 points were gained from 36 games with only 13 wins and 14 defeats. This resulted in the departure of Jock Wallace as manager in April with the club announcing that Scotland captain Graeme Souness would take over as player-manager after the World Cup Finals in Mexico.
In the cup competitions, they were knocked out of the Scottish Cup in the third round, losing 3–2 at Tynecastle to Hearts. They were knocked out of the League Cup by Edinburgh's other team Hibernian 2–1 on aggregate in the two legged semi final.
The European campaign lasted two matches. The club went out in the first round of the UEFA Cup after losing to Spanish side CA Osasuna. The first leg at Ibrox was won 1–0 thanks to a Craig Paterson goal but the team went down 2–0 in the second leg.
Rangers qualified for Europe on the last day of the season, beating Motherwell 2–0 at Ibrox.
The Glasgow Cup was won with a 3–2 victory over Celtic at Ibrox in May. This match presented an early opportunity for the players to impress their new boss.

## Results

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

### Scottish Premier Division

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 10 August 1985 | Dundee United | H | 1–0 | 28,035 | McCoist |
| 17 August 1985 | Hibernian | A | 3–1 | 14,500 | McCoist, McPherson, Williamson |
| 24 August 1985 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 3–1 | 35,483 | Williamson (2), Burns |
| 31 August 1985 | Celtic | A | 1–1 | 58,365 | McCoist |
| 7 September 1985 | St Mirren | H | 3–0 | 27,707 | Fleck, Cooper, Burns |
| 14 September 1985 | Clydebank | A | 1–0 | 9,980 | Williamson |
| 21 September 1985 | Dundee | H | 0–1 | 23,600 | |
| 28 September 1985 | Aberdeen | H | 0–3 | 37,599 | |
| 5 October 1985 | Motherwell | A | 3–0 | 12,711 | McCoist (2), McPherson |
| 12 October 1985 | Dundee United | A | 1–1 | 15,821 | McCoist |
| 19 October 1985 | Hibernian | H | 1–2 | 23,478 | Cooper (pen.) |
| 26 October 1985 | St Mirren | A | 1–2 | 13,911 | McCoist |
| 2 November 1985 | Clydebank | H | 0–0 | 16,943 | |
| 9 November 1985 | Celtic | H | 3–0 | 42,045 | Durrant, Cooper, McMinn |
| 16 November 1985 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 0–3 | 23,083 | |
| 23 November 1985 | Dundee | A | 2–3 | 10,798 | McCoist (2) |
| 7 December 1985 | Motherwell | H | 1–0 | 12,872 | McCoist |
| 14 December 1985 | Dundee United | H | 1–1 | 17,786 | McCoist |
| 21 December 1985 | Hibernian | A | 1–1 | 10,823 | Cooper |
| 28 December 1985 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 0–2 | 33,410 | |
| 1 January 1986 | Celtic | A | 0–2 | 49,812 | |
| 4 January 1986 | Dundee | H | 5–0 | 13,954 | McCoist (3), Williamson, Fleck |
| 11 January 1986 | Clydebank | H | 4–2 | 12,731 | Paterson, McPherson, Williamson, McCoist |
| 18 January 1986 | St Mirren | H | 2–0 | 17,528 | McCoist, McPherson |
| 1 February 1986 | Aberdeen | H | 1–1 | 29,887 | Burns |
| 8 February 1986 | Motherwell | A | 0–1 | 11,619 | |
| 19 February 1986 | Aberdeen | A | 0–1 | 19,500 | |
| 22 February 1986 | Dundee United | A | 1–1 | 14,644 | McCoist |
| 1 March 1986 | Hibernian | H | 3–1 | 16,574 | McCoist (3, 1 (pen.)) |
| 15 March 1986 | Dundee | A | 1–2 | 10,965 | McCoist |
| 22 March 1986 | Celtic | H | 4–4 | 41,006 | Fraser(2), McCoist, Fleck |
| 29 March 1986 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 1–3 | 24,740 | McCoist (pen.) |
| 12 April 1986 | Clydebank | A | 1–2 | 7,027 | Durrant |
| 19 April 1986 | St Mirren | A | 1–2 | 9,760 | Dawson |
| 26 April 1986 | Aberdeen | A | 1–1 | 17,000 | McMinn |
| 3 May 1986 | Motherwell | H | 2–0 | 21,500 | McPherson, McCoist (pen.) |

### UEFA Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 18 September 1985 | R1 | Osasuna | H | 1–0 | 29,479 | Paterson |
| 2 October 1985 | R1 | Osasuna | A | 0–2 | 25,600 | |

### Scottish Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 25 January 1986 | R3 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 2–3 | 27,442 | McCoist, Durrant |

### League Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 21 August 1985 | R2 | Clyde | H | 5–0 | 11,350 | Williamson (3, 1 (pen.)), McCoist, Paterson |
| 27 August 1985 | R3 | Forfar Athletic | A | 2–2* | 7,283 | Cooper (pen.), Williamson |
| 4 September 1985 | QF | Hamilton Academical | A | 2–1 | 12,392 | Williamson (2) |
| 25 September 1985 | SF L1 | Hibernian | A | 0–2 | 17,916 | |
| 9 October 1985 | SF L2 | Hibernian | H | 1–0 | 39,282 | Cooper |
*Rangers won 6–5 on penalties

### Glasgow Cup

| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 9 September 1985 | 1984–85 F | Queen's Park | N | 5–0 | 3,584 | Fraser (3), Ferguson, McCoist (pen) |
| 12 November 1985 | SF | Queen's Park | A | 2–1 | 1,724 | McCoist (2) |
| 9 May 1986 | F | Celtic | H | 3–2 | 40,741 | McCoist (3) |

## Appearances

| Player | Position | Appearances | Goals |
| Nicky Walker | GK | 42 | 0 |
| Peter McCloy | GK | 2 | 0 |
| Hugh Burns | DF | 35 | 3 |
| Stuart Munro | DF | 36 | 0 |
| Dave McPherson | DF | 42 | 5 |
| Craig Paterson | DF | 25 | 3 |
| Ally Dawson | DF | 26 | 1 |
| Stuart Beattie | DF | 5 | 0 |
| Derek Johnstone | DF | 11 | 0 |
| Scott Nisbet | DF | 5 | 0 |
| Colin Miller | DF | 3 | 0 |
| Ian Durrant | MF | 37 | 3 |
| Ally McCoist | FW | 40 | 27 |
| Bobby Russell | MF | 35 | 0 |
| Bobby Williamson | FW | 31 | 12 |
| Derek Ferguson | MF | 21 | 0 |
| Davie Cooper | MF | 39 | 6 |
| Ted McMinn | MF | 32 | 1 |
| Dave MacKinnon | DF | 27 | 0 |
| Dougie Bell | MF | 29 | 0 |
| Robert Fleck | MF | 16 | 3 |
| Iain Ferguson | MF | 6 | 0 |
| Cammy Fraser | MF | 10 | 2 |
| Eric Ferguson | FW | 1 | 0 |
| John MacDonald | FW | 4 | 0 |

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 3 | Dundee United | 36 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 59 | 31 | +28 | 47 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 36 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 62 | 31 | +31 | 44 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 5 | Rangers | 36 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 53 | 45 | +8 | 35 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Dundee | 36 | 14 | 7 | 15 | 45 | 51 | −6 | 35 | |
| 7 | St Mirren | 36 | 13 | 5 | 18 | 42 | 63 | −21 | 31 | |