Season 2000/01 by Alistair Aird The defence of the league title got underway with a 2-1 win over St Johnstone at Ibrox. Billy Dodds scored both goals and found the net in each of the opening five matches. Among his goals was a penalty kick at Parkhead. But it would be a chastening day for Advocaat’s side as Celtic, now managed by Martin O’Neill, won by six goals to two. Fernando Ricksen and Bert Konterman, both of whom cost circa £4,000,000, endured a tortuous time, with Ricksen in particular teased and tormented by Bobby Petta before he was substituted after just 22 minutes. To run salt in the wounds, Barry Ferguson was ordered off with nine minutes remaining. There would be a brief bounce back. After losing to Kilmarnock at home, Rangers were unbeaten in their next 13 league fixtures, winning 12 and drawing one. In that run of results was a 7-1 thrashing of St Mirren that featured five goals from Kenny Miller and a 5-1 mauling of Celtic at Ibrox that included a debut goal for Tore Andre Flo who had arrived from Chelsea for £12,000,000. The lanky Norwegian would end the season with 11 league goals in 19 appearances. The unbeaten run was ended by Celtic on 11 February, and Rangers limped their way through the remaining league games. They lost three of their last 12 matches – including a 3-0 defeat at home to Celtic – and ended the campaign a distant second to Celtic. The gap between the Old Firm was 15 points, with Rangers losing eight of their 38 league games. Dundee United thwarted ambitions of lifting the Scottish Cup, winning 1-0 at Tannadice in the quarter-finals. And in the League Cup, a Jorg Albertz penalty proved scant consolation as Celtic won 3-1 at Hampden in the semis. In Europe, Rangers ousted Zalgiris Kaunas and Herfolge BK to reach the group stages of the Champions League. And it was in that arena that Advocaat’s side produced their finest performances of the season. Ronald de Boer, signed from Barcelona, sparkled on his debut - a thumping 5-0 win over Sturm Graz – and Tugay excelled in the sweeper role when Rangers played superbly to defeat Monaco courtesy of a long-range strike from Giovanni van Bronckhorst. But the campaign unraveled after that. Rangers 3-2 away from home against Galatasaray before drawing 0-0 at Ibrox. That was followed by a 2-0 defeat in Austria. Despite all that, Rangers still had scope to progress going into their final Group D fixture against Monaco. A win would see them through, but despite goals from Mols and Miller, a late lapse from Amoruso was duly punished in a match that ended 2-2. Thereafter, Rangers parachuted into the UEFA Cup, but their stay in the competition would be brief. A goal from Albertz edged them to a 1-0 first leg win over Kaiserslautern at Ibrox, but Advocaat’s side were comprehensively beaten 3-0 in the return leg in Germany. After winning five out of six domestic trophies in his first two seasons, the bubble had burst unexpectedly and spectacularly for Dick Advocaat. Under Martin O’Neill, Celtic comprehensively turned the tables, winning the Treble for only the third time in their history. The pendulum of power had swung back towards the east end of Glasgow, and over the remainder of the decade, it would move to and fro as the two giants slugged it out for supremacy in Scotland.
Rangers prepared for season 2000/01 with six games in Holland and Belgium. The tour started and finished with 3-2 wins over KAA Gent, and 26 goals were scored across the other four fixtures. In one of them – against Alphense Boys – Rangers scored 12 goals without reply. Allan Johnston, who had signed from Hearts, scored five and Barry Ferguson netted a hat-trick. Another new signing, Kenny Miller, was also on the scoresheet.
The demolition proved to be a turning point. Rangers won only three of their next seven league matches, losing three in succession against Hibernian (0-1), St Johnstone (1-2) and Kilmarnock (0-3).
The last eight tie against Dundee United in the League Cup at Ibrox was noteworthy as it was the first under the captaincy of Barry Ferguson. Ferguson had been given the armband after Advocaat had elected to strip Lorenzo Amoruso of the captaincy, and he would lead his boyhood club to a Scottish Cup, a League Cup and a domestic Treble before he left to join Blackburn Rovers early in season 2003/04.
