Season 1999/2000 by Alistair Aird Preparations for Dick Advocaat’s second season in charge at Ibrox started and finished in Scotland with a three-match tour of Norway sandwiched in between. Michael Mols, a Dutch striker signed from FC Utrecht for £4,000,000, made his debut as sub in a 4-1 win over Livingston that featured a hat-trick from Tony Vidmar and Lionel Charbonnier made his first team comeback in a 2-1 defeat against St Mirren. Charbonnier had damaged knee ligaments in the 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen back in November and was hoping to compete with Stefan Klos to be Rangers number one. Klos had been superb since signing from Borussia Dortmund the previous December and as the season unfolded, he would emerge as Advocaat’s main man when it came to keeping goal. The three matches in Norway featured 13 goals, a first goal in a Rangers jersey for Mols and a hat trick from Amato in a 10-1 win over Follese FK. And preparations were rounded off when Sunderland were defeated 3-1 at Ibrox in Ian Ferguson’s testimonial. If early season form had been patchy and indifferent in Advocaat’s first season, it was the polar opposite at the start of season 1999/2000. Rangers won 11 of their opening 12 league games, with the only blemish being a 1-1 draw against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. Among the victories were a 5-1 thrashing of Aberdeen at Pittodrie – Jonathan Johansson scored a hat-trick - and a 4-1 win over Motherwell at Ibrox. Celtic were also beaten 4-2 at home. Johnasson, Albertz from the penalty spot, Amoruso and Amato were on the scoresheet. Mols scored all four in the Motherwell match and grabbed nine goals in his first nine league games. Clinical finishing allied with a fleet of foot turn that bamboozled defenders suggested that Mols was a star in the making. Alas, his season would end in November when he sustained a knee injury against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The unbeaten league run ended with a surprise 2-1 defeat against Dundee at Ibrox, but that was merely a small bump in the road. Rangers won nine and drew four of the 13 league games that followed, a run that saw them hammer Dundee 7-1 at Dens Park and Motherwell 6-2 at Ibrox. Both matches featured hat tricks from Rod Wallace. The Motherwell match was sandwiched by two Old Firm fixtures. The first of them at Parkhead featured a masterclass display from Stefan Klos, a magnificent goal-saving sliding challenge from Craig Moore and a missed penalty from Jorg Albertz before Rod Wallace eked out a late winner for Rangers. And 18 days later when the giants clashed at Ibrox, Rangers were imperious, winning 4-0 and moving 15 points ahead of Celtic with 10 games to play. The title was now within touching distance. But Rangers refused to let up, winning eight of those last 10 games, sealing the deal with a Billy Dodds double against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. Rangers lost only twice in the league all season and dropped only five points at home. In contrast, Celtic lost nine of their 36 games and finished up a mammoth 21 points adrift of the champions. The Scottish Cup joined the Premier Division trophy in the magnificent Trophy Room. The lesser-spotted Marco Negri featured in the 1-0 win over Morton in the Fourth Round, the 1-0 victory coming after St Johnstone had been knocked out in round three. Hearts were despatched by four goals to one in an Ibrox quarter-final before Ayr United were thrashed 7-0 at Hampden in the semis. Billy Dodds scored a hat-trick. Dodds scored in the Final against Aberdeen too, joining van Bronckhorst, Albertz and Vidmar on the scoresheet. Although the Dons had been handicapped by an early injury to goalkeeper Jim Leighton who was replaced in goal by Robbie Winters, the 4-0 scoreline was an accurate reflection of Rangers’ dominance. Aberdeen at least had the consolation of having denied what would have been at the time an unprecedented back-to-back Treble. Back in December, Andy Dow scored the only goal of the League Cup quarter-final tie, three minutes from the end of extra time. In Europe, a comfortable 7-1 aggregate win over FC Haka set up a memorable European night under the lights at Ibrox against Parma. Vidmar and Claudio Reyna scored the goals as Rangers defeated the UEFA Cup holders 2-0. A 1-0 defeat in Italy saw Rangers progress to the group stages. Advocaat’s side were drawn in Group F alongside Valencia, PSV Eindhoven and Bayern Munich. After losing 2-0 in Valencia, Rangers were desperately unlucky to concede a late equaliser against Bayern at Ibrox. Back-to-back wins over PSV followed before defeats against Valencia and Bayern ended hopes of progression. Instead, Rangers parachuted into the UEFA Cup where they would lose on penalties against Borussia Dortmund. Rangers were almost invincible on home soil and were jousting with the giants in the European arena too. With Celtic disjointed and in disarray, Rangers seemed to be on the cusp of another spell of dominance. But a changing of the guard on the other side of Glasgow would mean that season 1999/2000 would represent the zenith of the Advocaat era.
