Review by Alistair Aird Rangers began their preparations for season 1988/89 at the Il Ciocco complex located in the hills of Tuscany. Graeme Souness and Walter Smith put the squad through their paces with the group bolstered by the arrivals of Kevin Drinkell, a striker who had come from Norwich City, and right back Gary Stevens who had joined from Everton. Stevens would make an immediate impact, scoring what would be the first league goal on the historic nine-in-a-row run at Douglas Park on the opening afternoon of the season. A diving header from Ally McCoist completed a routine 2-0 win. A 0-0 draw at home to Hibernian followed before Celtic came to Ibrox for the first Old Firm match of the season. Rangers were looking to halt a run of five derby matches without a win – their last league victory had been back in January 1987 – but they fell behind in the opening five minutes when Frank McAvennie pounced on a rebound to put Celtic in front. But a swish of McCoist’s rapier like left foot restored parity and that opened the floodgates. Ray Wilkins scored a glorious goal that was ‘Made in England’ to make it 2-1. Gary Stevens hurled a throw into the box, Terry Butcher flicked the ball on and when it was cleared to Wilkins on the edge of the box, the Englishman thundered a volley into the top corner. Five straight league wins followed before a fateful trip to Pittodrie on 8 October. Not only did Rangers lose their unbeaten status in the league, but Ian Durrant was the victim of a savage tackle from Neil Simpson that resulted in an injury that would see him absent from the first XI for over two years. The act of thuggery went unpunished and Durrant, an effervescent, box-to-box midfielder, was robbed of the chance to see if his game would flourish abroad in the likes of La Liga and Serie A. Minus the influential Durrant, Rangers dropped points in three of their next eight games. Included in that run was a 3-1 defeat at Parkhead. There would be a wobble in early December too with back-to-back defeats against Dundee United and Hearts. The 2-0 defeat at Tynecastle saw Mark Walters ordered off and the gap at the top of the table cut to just two points. Indeed, only three points separated the top four of Rangers, Dundee United, Aberdeen and Celtic. But there would be very few blips after that. Rangers thumped Celtic again at Ibrox – 4-1 on this occasion – and although they lost 2-1 at Fir Park four days later, that would be the last league defeat until the final day of the season by which time the title had been secured. In fact, only a single point was dropped in a run of 12 league games among which was a first league win at Parkhead since 1980. On 1 April, Celtic were the fools, losing by two goals to one. Kevin Drinkell headed Rangers in front, and they were two ahead by the interval although the identity of the scorer of the second goal is still up for debate. Ian Ferguson thundered in a free kick that was palmed into the air by Pat Bonner. The ball headed towards the goal and McCoist, doing what all good strikers do, followed in to make sure it crossed the line. Ferguson, McCoist or Bonner own goal, take your pick! Andy Walker halved the deficit after the break before Joe Miller spurned the chance to equalise when he saw his penalty kick saved by Chris Woods. The League Cup was retained for a third successive season. Clyde were dispatched in round two before six different players got on the scoresheet in a 6-0 win over Clydebank. Dundee and Hearts were then beaten to set up another Hampden showdown with Aberdeen. McCoist put Rangers ahead from the penalty spot after Drinkell had been upended by Theo Snelders, but David Dodds equalized before half time. A scintillating scissors kick from Ian Ferguson edged Rangers in front again before Dodds’ looping header deceived Chris Woods to make it 2-2. Jim Bett then screwed a shot wide of goal when clean through and he was duly punished when a corner kick broke to McCoist in the six yard box. He rarely if ever missed from that range and the two trophies would be bedecked in red, white and blue ribbons. With two of the major domestic trophies in the Trophy Room, Rangers had the opportunity to secure the Treble for the first time since season 1977/78. Barring their path, were Celtic, with the Old Firm meeting in the Scottish Cup Final at a sun-drenched Hampden in May. Replays were required to get past Raith Rovers, Dundee United and St Johnstone on the road to Hampden, and there was an 8-0 thrashing of Stranraer en-route too. Ally McCoist blasted a last-minute penalty kick over the bar in the latter match which denied him another hat-trick. The Final was settled narrowly in favour of Celtic thanks mainly to two contentious refereeing decisions. The only goal of the game was scored by Joe Miller – he nipped in after Gary Stevens had underhit a backpass – but the move started with a throw in that was awarded incorrectly to Celtic. Souness implied post-match that some of his players were out of position and caught unawares as they had correctly assumed that the throw would be awarded in their favour. And with three minutes left, Terry Butcher was denied an equalising goal when the referee, Bob Valentine, who was officiating for the last time before hanging up his whistle, ruled it out for an alleged foul by Davie Cooper on Pat Bonner. In the aftermath the story goes that Souness came into the dressing room and thrust his runners-up medal across the floor. He told the masses not to worry about the loss, Rangers were about to get one over on their fiercest rivals. He was correct. Two months later, it was announced that the former Celtic player and fan favourite, Maurice Johnston, was to become a Rangers player. It was a seismic moment, one that propelled Rangers even further ahead and made them more dominant. Meanwhile, there was the opposite impact on Celtic. They imploded. The Scottish Cup success in season 1988/89 would be their last major domestic trophy for six years.
McCoist’s looping back header made it 3-1 early in the second half before Walters teased and tormented the Celtic defence to set up Drinkell to score with a beautiful diving header. And Walters completed the rout when he scored the fifth goal although McCoist looked slightly perturbed after being dumped to the deck by Roy Aitken in the build up. A penalty kick would have presented McCoist with the chance to score a third hat trick against Celtic and in so doing become the first Rangers player since Johnny Hubbard back in January 1955 to score three times in an Old Firm league match.
Rangers seemed to be on the cusp of eclipsing the 7-1 thrashing they had suffered in the 1957 League Cup Final, but the introduction of Souness from the bench saw a reversion to toying with the opposition rather than going for the proverbial jugular.
The championship was sealed four weeks later when doubles from Mel Sterland and Kevin Drinkell inflicted a 4-0 defeat on Hearts at Ibrox. Rangers finished six points clear of runners-up Aberdeen and 10 points better off than Celtic.
Season 1988/89 kicked off a silver-laden spell for Rangers. Over the eight seasons that followed, they would win 15 of the 24 domestic trophies on offer. The league would be won in each of those seasons too. The nine-in-a-row era had begun.
