1995–96 Rangers F.C. season

Rangers
1995–96 season
Chairman	David Murray
Manager	Walter Smith
Ground	Ibrox Stadium
Scottish Premier Division	1st (champions)
Scottish Cup	Winners
League Cup	Semi-finals
Champions League	Group stage
Top goalscorer	League: ; Gordon Durie (17); All: ; Gordon Durie (23)
Home colours	Away colours
	← 1994–95 1996–97 →

The 1995–96 season was the 116th season of competitive football by Rangers.

Overview

Rangers played a total of 53 competitive matches during the 1995–96 season. The team finished first in the Scottish Premier Division and won its eighth consecutive league title.

In the cup competitions, the team won the Scottish Cup, beating Heart of Midlothian 5–1. Rangers were knocked out the Scottish League Cup by Aberdeen at the semi-final stage, losing 2–1.

The side reached the group stages of the UEFA Champions League this season and were drawn into a group with Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and Romanian side Steaua Bucharest. After six matches, three draws and three defeats, Rangers were bottom of the table and exited the competition.

Aided by the sale of Duncan Ferguson the previous season, between July and February manager Walter Smith spent nearly £12million on rebuilding his squad by signing the likes of Peter van Vossen, Paul Gascoigne (a then Scottish record signing at £4.3million), Stephen Wright and Gordan Petric. Basile Boli and Oleg Salenko left the club.

Gascoigne was voted player of the year having scored a total of 19 goals in all competitions.

November saw the departure of Mark Hateley as he returned to England in a £1.5million move to Queen's Park Rangers – the largest fee paid for a 34-year-old at this time. Hateley had lost his place in the first team to Gordon Durie who partnered Ally McCoist after two seasons mostly spent on the sidelines due to injuries.

Transfers

In

Date	Player	From	Fee
5 July 1995	Stephen Wright	Aberdeen	£1,500,000^[1]
10 July 1995	Paul Gascoigne	Lazio	£4,300,000^[2]
26 July 1995	Gordan Petrić	Dundee United	£1,500,000^[3]
28 July 1995	Oleg Salenko	Valencia	£2,500,000^[4]
13 November 1995	Derek McInnes	Greenock Morton	£300,000^[5]
16 January 1996	Peter van Vossen	İstanbulspor	Swap^[6]
29 February 1996	Erik Bo Andersen	Aalborg Bk	£1,200,000^[7]
29 March 1996	Theo Snelders	Aberdeen	£200,000^[8]

Out

Date	Player	To	Fee
16 June 1995	Ally Maxwell	Dundee United	£250,000^[9]
15 August 1995	Basile Boli	Monaco	£2,000,000^[10]
25 September 1995	Mark Hateley	Queens Park Rangers	£1,500,000^[11]
16 January 1996	Oleg Salenko	İstanbulspor	Swap^[12]
11 March 1996	Brian Reid	Greenock Morton	£150,000^[13]

Expenditure: £11,500,000
Income: £3,900,000
Total loss/gain: £7,600,000

Results

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

Scottish Premier Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
26 August 1995	Kilmarnock	H	1–0	44,686	McCall
9 September 1995	Raith Rovers	H	4–0	43,535	McCoist (2), Miller, Robertson
16 September 1995	Falkirk	A	2–0	11,445	Salenko, Robertson
23 September 1995	Hibernian	H	0–1	44,364
30 September 1995	Celtic	A	2–0	34,500	Cleland, Gascoigne
3 October 1995	Motherwell	H	2–1	37,348	Gascoigne, McCoist
7 October 1995	Aberdeen	A	1–0	22,500	Moore
14 October 1995	Partick Thistle	A	4–0	16,346	Durie (3), Gough
21 October 1995	Heart of Midlothian	H	4–1	45,155	Salenko (2), Gascoigne, Durie
28 October 1995	Raith Rovers	A	2–2	9,200	Gough, Petric
4 November 1995	Falkirk	H	2–0	42,059	McCoist (2)
8 November 1995	Kilmarnock	A	2–0	14,823	McLaren, Salenko
11 November 1995	Aberdeen	H	1–1	45,427	Salenko
19 November 1995	Celtic	H	3–3	46,640	Laudrup, McCoist, McKinlay (o.g.)
25 November 1995	Hibernian	A	4–1	13,558	McCoist, Miller, Durie, Dods (o.g.)
2 December 1995	Heart of Midlothian	A	2–0	15,105	McCoist (pen.), Gascoigne
9 December 1995	Partick Thistle	H	1–0	43,173	Durie
19 December 1995	Motherwell	A	0–0	10,179
26 December 1995	Kilmarnock	H	3–0	45,173	Salenko, Durie (pen.), Gascoigne
30 December 1995	Hibernian	H	7–0	44,692	Durie (4), Miller, Gascoigne, Salenko
3 January 1996	Celtic	A	0–0	37,000
6 January 1996	Falkirk	A	4–0	10,581	McCoist (2, 1 (pen.)), Durie, Robertson
13 January 1996	Raith Rovers	H	4–0	42,498	Durie (2), McCoist, Ferguson
20 January 1996	Heart of Midlothian	H	0–3	45,096
3 February 1996	Partick Thistle	A	2–1	16,253	Gascoigne (2)
10 February 1996	Motherwell	H	3–2	45,566	Ferguson, McLaren, McCoist (pen.)
25 February 1996	Aberdeen	A	1–0	21,000	Gascoigne (pen.)
3 March 1996	Hibernian	A	2–0	11,954	Laudrup (pen.), Mitchell (o.g.)
17 March 1996	Celtic	H	1–1	47,312	McLaren
23 March 1996	Falkirk	H	3–2	46,014	Andersen (2), Gascoigne
30 March 1996	Raith Rovers	A	4–2	9,300	McCoist (3, 1 (pen.)), Durie (pen.)
10 April 1996	Heart of Midlothian	A	0–2	15,350
13 April 1996	Partick Thistle	H	5–0	46,438	Andersen (3), McCall, Gough
20 April 1996	Motherwell	A	3–1	13,128	McCall, Andersen, Gascoigne
28 April 1996	Aberdeen	H	3–1	47,247	Gascoigne (3, 1 (pen.))
4 May 1996	Kilmarnock	A	3–0	17,056	Durie (2), McCoist

Scottish League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
19 August 1995	R2	Greenock Morton	H	3–0	42,941	McCoist, Hateley, Gascoigne
30 August 1995	R3	Stirling Albion	H	3–2	46,686	Hateley, McCall, McCoist
19 September 1995	QF	Celtic	A	1–0	32,789	McCoist
24 October 1995	SF	Aberdeen	N	1–2	26,131	Salenko

Scottish Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
27 January 1996	R3	Keith	N	10–1	15,461	Ferguson (3), Cleland (3), Durie (pen.), Robertson, Miller, Mikhailichenko
15 February 1996	R4	Clyde	A	4–1	5,722	Miller (2), Van Vossen, Gascoigne
9 March 1996	QF	Caledonian Thistle	N	3–0	11,296	Gascoigne (2), Thomson (o.g.)
7 April 1996	SF	Celtic	N	2–1	36,333	McCoist, Laudrup
18 May 1996	F	Heart of Midlothian	N	5–1	37,760	Durie (3), Laudrup (2)

UEFA Champions League

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1995	QR	Anorthosis Famagusta	H	1–0	43,519	Durie
23 August 1995	QR	Anorthosis Famagusta	A	0–0	12,000
13 September 1995	GS	Steaua Bucharest	A	0–1	26,000
27 September 1995	GS	Borussia Dortmund	H	2–2	33,209	Gough, Ferguson
18 October 1995	GS	Juventus	A	1–4	49,825	Gough
1 November 1995	GS	Juventus	H	0–4	42,523
22 November 1995	GS	Steaua Bucharest	H	1–1	30,800	Gascoigne
6 December 1995	GS	Borussia Dortmund	A	2–2	35,800	Laudrup, Durie

Appearances

Player	Position	Appearances	Goals
Andy Goram	GK	47	0
Colin Scott	GK	3	0
Theo Snelders	GK	2	0
Billy Thomson	GK	2	0
Alec Cleland	DF	36	4
Gary Bollan	DF	7	0
John Brown	DF	22	0
Richard Gough	DF	42	5
Alan McLaren	DF	49	3
Craig Moore	DF	16	1
Gordan Petrić	DF	46	1
David Robertson	DF	38	3
Brian Reid	DF	1	0
Greg Shields	DF	1	0
Stephen Wright	DF	16	0
Ian Durrant	MF	26	0
Ian Ferguson	MF	25	6
Paul Gascoigne	MF	42	19
Brian Laudrup	MF	33	6
Stuart McCall	MF	33	4
Brian McGinty	MF	2	0
Derek McInnes	MF	6	0
Charlie Miller	MF	36	3
Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko	MF	15	1
Neil Murray	MF	9	0
Trevor Steven	MF	7	0
Erik Bo Andersen	FW	6	6
Gordon Durie	FW	38	23
Mark Hateley	FW	4	2
Ally McCoist	FW	37	20
Oleg Salenko	FW	20	8
Peter van Vossen	FW	9	1

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rangers (C)	36	27	6	3	85	25	+60	87	Qualification for the Champions League qualifying round
2	Celtic	36	24	11	1	74	25	+49	83	Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round^[a]
3	Aberdeen	36	16	7	13	52	45	+7	55	Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round^[a]
4	Heart of Midlothian	36	16	7	13	55	53	+2	55	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round^[b]
5	Hibernian	36	11	10	15	43	57	−14	43

Source: Soccerbase
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions
Notes:

^ Aberdeen qualified for the UEFA Cup by winning the League Cup.
^ As Rangers, the winners of the Scottish Cup, qualified for the Champions League via their league position, the place in the Cup Winners' Cup was passed to the cup runner-up, Heart of Midlothian.

Champions league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	JUV	DOR	STE	RAN
1	Juventus	6	4	1	1	15	4	+11	13	Advance to knockout stage	—	1–2	3–0	4–1
2	Borussia Dortmund	6	2	3	1	8	8	0	9	Advance to knockout stage	1–3	—	1–0	2–2
3	Steaua București	6	1	3	2	2	5	−3	6		0–0	0–0	—	1–0
4	Rangers	6	0	3	3	6	14	−8	3		0–4	2–2	1–1	—

Source: UEFA

References

^ "Aberdeen blues as top defender moves on: Ambition is the key as Wright joins Rangers".
^ "The day Gascoigne took Ibrox, and Scotland, by storm: The Ibrox idol is unveiled".
^ "Another Celtic blow as Rangers sign their wanted man: Salenko to follow the capture of Petric".
^ "Russian joins foreign legion".
^ "McInnes finally signs for Rangers". The Herald. 14 November 1995.
^ "Work permit not an open and shut case for Jardel: Van Vossen to join foreign legion as Salenko departs". The Herald. 16 January 1996.
^ "Dane's arrival may not be end of Rangers' spending spree: Andersen ready, willing and able". The Herald. 1 March 1996.
^ "Dutch keeper leaves Aberdeen with a few regrets but Snelders finds security as Goram's understudy". The Herald. 30 March 1996.
^ "Maxwell transfer first for United". The Herald. 17 June 1995.
^ "Boli off to Monaco". The Herald. 15 August 1995.
^ "Injured Gough is Euro doubt". The Herald. 25 September 1995.
^ "Work permit not an open and shut case for Jardel: Van Vossen to join foreign legion as Salenko departs". The Herald. 16 January 1996.
^ "Serie A players set to strike". The Herald. 12 March 1996.

[table_note_res_UC0.55890371816182-14] Aberdeen qualified for the UEFA Cup by winning the League Cup.

[table_note_res_CWC0.55890371816182-15] As Rangers, the winners of the Scottish Cup, qualified for the Champions League via their league position, the place in the Cup Winners' Cup was passed to the cup runner-up, Heart of Midlothian.

[1] "Aberdeen blues as top defender moves on: Ambition is the key as Wright joins Rangers".

[2] "The day Gascoigne took Ibrox, and Scotland, by storm: The Ibrox idol is unveiled".

[3] "Another Celtic blow as Rangers sign their wanted man: Salenko to follow the capture of Petric".

[4] "Russian joins foreign legion".

[5] "McInnes finally signs for Rangers". The Herald. 14 November 1995.

[6] "Work permit not an open and shut case for Jardel: Van Vossen to join foreign legion as Salenko departs". The Herald. 16 January 1996.

[7] "Dane's arrival may not be end of Rangers' spending spree: Andersen ready, willing and able". The Herald. 1 March 1996.

[8] "Dutch keeper leaves Aberdeen with a few regrets but Snelders finds security as Goram's understudy". The Herald. 30 March 1996.

[9] "Maxwell transfer first for United". The Herald. 17 June 1995.

[10] "Boli off to Monaco". The Herald. 15 August 1995.

[11] "Injured Gough is Euro doubt". The Herald. 25 September 1995.

[12] "Work permit not an open and shut case for Jardel: Van Vossen to join foreign legion as Salenko departs". The Herald. 16 January 1996.

[13] "Serie A players set to strike". The Herald. 12 March 1996.

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