1997-98 season memories

The way I always remembered it was the new year defeat at Parkhead was a bit of a turning point, iirc we then had a horrendous run of something like 2 or 3 wins in 10 games through January/February.

Remember my Granda getting up and walking out the room a few minutes to go and simply saying "10 in a row Rangers? You can forget it". He wasn't one to get too raging about the football (albeit, we had been dominating the Scottish game in the preceding years) but he was really disappointed that day - we all were

At the time I thought it was a wee bit of an overreaction. Bad result? Of course, but there was still plenty of football to be played.
Sadly he wasn't wrong and looking at that run above is painful reading.
 
It’s nonsense though isn’t it? We blew 10 everyone wanted it and you’re the only person I’ve ever seen take the view you’ve given.

Oh believe me I’ve been spewing about it for years, it’s only been in the last few years I’ve re thought my position on it. Like I said it’s took being on the wrong end of a potential 10 in a row run that’s made me change my thoughts on it.

You can never win too much, and as for Tom Boyd he’s talking pish again it would’ve damaged them but they would have recovered and won titles again.

I guess we’ll never know for sure. I personally don’t think they would’ve recovered. Which would’ve left us essentially prisoners in Scotland with nothing left to win.

those celtic fans must be bored senseless with 10 out of the last 10 trophies and going for 9IAR. Bet they’re desperate for their dominance to end as it can get to much.

Such dishonest sarcasm. You know fine well it’s 10 titles in a row they want. Only after that will they no longer care if we win the league.
 
Our team was passed its peak but if we had performed at home to Kilmarnock we may well have gone on to win the title. I think if Walter had been better in Europe he may well have stayed on, who would have thought that he would come back, win titles, cups and a European final.
 
Such dishonest sarcasm. You know fine well it’s 10 titles in a row they want. Only after that will they no longer care if we win the league.

I think you're way out of touch with reality. Apart from anything else, whether they win ten or not, if you seriously think that "they won't care if we win the league" then you must be living in a bubble. They are obsessed by us, they put more effort into hating us than supporting their own club and anyone with their eyes and ears open over the past eight years alone would be able to tell you that.

Whenever we win the league again. Be it this year, next year or the year after, it will sicken them to their core.
 
There you go, dropped points against St Johnstone, Dunfermline, Kilmarnock, Motherwell?!! Ffs, just as well there was no online FF back in those days!

Looking at that run of results has brought me out in a cold sweat! Thoroughly depressing.
Kilmarnock away was a grim evening and the first time that I thought that title might be beyond Rangers.
Every season in the NIAR run saw an unbeaten run over the winter and into spring that was the springboard for the run-in... that season we just could not get a run together.
 
The Goram v McGregor thread brought back memories of that season, and more so Goram's rapid decline during that campaign which ultimately ended with us losing out on ten. His fitness was a disgrace by this point and his form suffered badly, but he wasn't alone.

There were so many unfortunate factors that season that conspired against us.

Goram was an out of shape disgrace, likewise Gazza, Indeed was there not a pre season squad photo with them all topless and their appearance was dreadful for so called professionals. Then you factor in Negri going from goal machine to downing tools in 'strange' circumstances, Laudrup being out of sorts and his Chelsea move, Walter announcing he was leaving around November time and so on. The consistency of the team was dreadful but we really should still have won that League against what was a piss poor Mhanks side.

We were unlucky though. Considering we were due to play them on 31st August when they were in the middle of a dismal start and it was postponed due to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales then by the time that game did take place we were robbed of a win due to John Rowbotham ridiculously sending Gazza off then allowing them ample injury time to.equalise which they did thanks to Stubbs being allowed to climb all over our defender. That was one of those nights where had we won we would have got ten, but several factors.counted against us that year.

The main one was we weren't good enough.
 
For all Wattie was a legendary manager for us (twice), that season's failure was on him.

Unlucky with injuries, yes, but a failure to ship out some of his finished stars really cost us. A grim season
 
Winning 9 was a lot harder than the 10 should have been. We should have walked 10 but conspired to balls it up all by ourselves.

Given everything that went on in that season we beat Celtic in the last game v them at Ibrox and that should have seen us home. The Kilmarnock game was inexplicable but perfectly summed up the season, as did the Cup Final.

It was incredibly sad end to that era and a tough summer.

If I remember they won the league barely getting over the 70 point mark which is ridiculous frankly, even factoring in it was a 36 game league season so 2 less than what it is now.

I stand by my opinion to this day that we saw off a stronger scum team the previous two seasons to win 8 and 9 in a row when Burns was still in charge compared to Jansen's lot.

They had some right duff players in 97/98 that ended up with a league winner's medal. Darren Jackson FS!?
 
I think you're way out of touch with reality. Apart from anything else, whether they win ten or not, if you seriously think that "they won't care if we win the league" then you must be living in a bubble. They are obsessed by us, they put more effort into hating us than supporting their own club and anyone with their eyes and ears open over the past eight years alone would be able to tell you that.

Whenever we win the league again. Be it this year, next year or the year after, it will sicken them to their core.

And why is that? Because 9 in a row drove them insane. We mention it all the time on here. Getting 10 is the only thing that will ease their pain. Let me clarify by saying that we will never know anyway as we’re winning the league this year, but I’m certain that if we only managed to stop 11, they wouldn’t have the meltdown they will have this season or next. In fact quite the opposite, they’d laugh and joke all the way back to their slop houses singing cheer up Walter Smith or whatever. Easing the pain of failing to stop us violating them in 97 is their ONLY target.
 
If I remember they won the league barely getting over the 70 point mark which is ridiculous frankly, even factoring in it was a 36 game league season so 2 less than what it is now.

I stand by my opinion to this day that we saw off a stronger scum team the previous two seasons to win 8 and 9 in a row when Burns was still in charge compared to Jansen's lot.

They had some right duff players in 97/98 that ended up with a league winner's medal. Darren Jackson FS!?
Compare to the previous 9 we were a disgrace that season, and that's harsh to say given the success that team brought us.

The fact we were piss poor and still took it to the last day tells it's own story.

And even then, St Johnstone missed an absolute stick on in the last game v them before they scored in a game they had to win to make sure. George somebody?

It was as if nobody wanted to win it that year.
 
A league both team seem determined to throw away.

Goram was a disgrace for large periods of that season.

Persisting with Gordon Durie for a lot of that season (a bad head knock was only reason McCoist played latter end of season).

A league we threw away with Negri going missing, a goalie who gave up caring and a team literally dead on its feet.

Should have used Ferguson and Gattuso more as well in midfield instead of McCall and Durie should have been released.
 
Even just looking at Goram that season, especially later on that season you could see a big difference in his appearance from even one year previously. Not only did he look overweight and out of shape, he looked shabby, unshaven and looked like a jakeball outside a pub.
 
And why is that? Because 9 in a row drove them insane. We mention it all the time on here. Getting 10 is the only thing that will ease their pain. Let me clarify by saying that we will never know anyway as we’re winning the league this year, but I’m certain that if we only managed to stop 11, they wouldn’t have the meltdown they will have this season or next. In fact quite the opposite, they’d laugh and joke all the way back to their slop houses singing cheer up Walter Smith or whatever. Easing the pain of failing to stop us violating them in 97 is their ONLY target.

Every post you've made in this thread is based on an opinion formed through reading an interview with Tom Boyd. Away have a cold shower or something man. Ten in a row would have been hellish if Tom Boyd is to be believed. I don't think I've ever heard/seen someone look so daft in such few words.
 
Every post you've made in this thread is based on an opinion formed through reading an interview with Tom Boyd. Away have a cold shower or something man. Ten in a row would have been hellish if Tom Boyd is to be believed. I don't think I've ever heard/seen someone look so daft in such few words.

Fair enough, point taken. My opinion has changed in the past few years, but to each their own.
 
Despite all the patchy form back to back wins over the scum in April should have been the springboard for the double, but somehow, we fucked it.
 
If I remember they won the league barely getting over the 70 point mark which is ridiculous frankly, even factoring in it was a 36 game league season so 2 less than what it is now.

I stand by my opinion to this day that we saw off a stronger scum team the previous two seasons to win 8 and 9 in a row when Burns was still in charge compared to Jansen's lot.

They had some right duff players in 97/98 that ended up with a league winner's medal. Darren Jackson FS!?

Easily - which makes it all the more galling.

During our 8IAR season they lost 1 game and still didn't win the league and during the 9IAR season, we may have whitewashed them in the league but they were all hard fought wins. Aside from the 2-0 win there in September 1995 (Gazza chip), I seem to recall us getting a doing at the Piggery each game over those 2 seasons but still managed to get a result.
 
I haven’t seen it in over 20 years but didn’t we have a stonewall penalty shout in that new year defeat at 0-0? If my fading memory serves Laudrup got absolutely halved right on the edge of the box, right on the line. I don’t think we even got a free kick never mind a pen.
 
Easily - which makes it all the more galling.

During our 8IAR season they lost 1 game and still didn't win the league and during the 9IAR season, we may have whitewashed them in the league but they were all hard fought wins. Aside from the 2-0 win there in September 1995 (Gazza chip), I seem to recall us getting a doing at the Piggery each game over those 2 seasons but still managed to get a result.

That's correct. In 95/96 and 96/97 they had a stronger side than the one they had in 97/98. They lost di canio, vHooijdonk, Cadete, John Collins and had replaced them with guff like Darren Jackson, Regi Blinker and Harald Brattbakk ffs. Obviously they signed Larsson but he didn't hit the heights that season that he would go onto in the following years.

In 95/96 they lost one league match all season, the 2-0 Gazza game at the beginning of the season and ran us close right through. Two years later we beat them on head to head but ended up losing out due to our dreadful record against sides we should have dispatched with ease.
 
I haven’t seen it in over 20 years but didn’t we have a stonewall penalty shout in that new year defeat at 0-0? If my fading memory serves Laudrup got absolutely halved right on the edge of the box, right on the line. I don’t think we even got a free kick never mind a pen.
Yes we should have but Goram saved us from an utter doing that.day
 
I haven’t seen it in over 20 years but didn’t we have a stonewall penalty shout in that new year defeat at 0-0? If my fading memory serves Laudrup got absolutely halved right on the edge of the box, right on the line. I don’t think we even got a free kick never mind a pen.

Annoni done Lauders very similar to Morelos at Pittodrie. Although Lauders was on the run not from standing start.
 
David Robertson was a big loss. The Norwegian lad Stensaas was rotten and not in the same class. We lost a lot down the left hand side, and I firmly believe Laudrup was less effective without Robertson bombing forward.

Factor in the injuries to our new key players Thern and Amoruso, the rapid decline in Gazza and Goram, and the enigma that is Negri, and you can see how it all went pear shaped.

We blew it big time.
 
David Robertson was a big loss. The Norwegian lad Stensaas was rotten and not in the same class. We lost a lot down the left hand side, and I firmly believe Laudrup was less effective without Robertson bombing forward.

Factor in the injuries to our new key players Thern and Amoruso, the rapid decline in Gazza and Goram, and the enigma that is Negri, and you can see how it all went pear shaped.

We blew it big time.

When you look at the squad for that season it’s ridiculous how loaded it is with talent on paper.

It might have been too much transition too quickly.
 
Couple of mentions of Walter chucking it or handing in his notice?

He was effectively sacked by Murray, he didn’t quit or resign, Murray informed him he would leave at the end of the season and a new manager would come in.
 
Compare to the previous 9 we were a disgrace that season, and that's harsh to say given the success that team brought us.

The fact we were piss poor and still took it to the last day tells it's own story.

And even then, St Johnstone missed an absolute stick on in the last game v them before they scored in a game they had to win to make sure. George somebody?

It was as if nobody wanted to win it that year.
O'Boyle missed a sitter at 1-0.

The filth were one up in 3 minutes. The game was over at that point
 
losing mclaren and amaruso to injury fucked us

gough had left to go to the usa and had to be brought back the back 4 were that bad

negri scored something like 30 league goals in 20 games and we only won around half of them
 

On paper this might well be the strongest squad we’ve ever had.

Problem was some were past their best and injuries took their toll. Others like Guttuso hadn’t arrived yet as the players they would go on to be.
 
Both us and them being very poor - to the extent that Hearts were still in with a decent shout until a fair bit into that season. The mentally challengeds were actually bottom after 2 games IIRC and lost at home to Dunfermline.

We were stop start. Negri looked like he'd carry us to the title but the successive European fùck ups really knocked our confidence and we couldn't get much consistency. That said, I still maintain that had we played (and beat) them on the original date - we could have landed a massive psychological blow to them very early on and give ourselves a massive boost to the bargain. Instead we ended up being done out of a win in the re-arranged fixture which gave them a boost.

The Gaffer was too loyal to the "old guard" - as mentioned, Goram was out of shape, Gazza wasn't fit, McCoist was struggling and Laudrup wasn't quite the player he had been the previous 3 seasons. We were unlucky with Amo, resulting in Richard Gough being hastily bought back from the States.

The boast about having "one team for the league and one for Europe" were embarrassingly unfounded. We played the mentally challenged reserves at Ibrox on the Saturday before Princess Diana's death - our reserve side that day would beat the current squad (Albertz, Gattuso and Vidmar played that day - Vidmar scored a peach) yet they could only manage a draw against a 9-man mentally challenged side full of kids.

Beating them in the cup and the league in consecutive weeks restored the belief that 10 was coming.

Silly points dropped at Killie (Bjorklund/ Goram fùck up, drew 2-2), beat by Dundee United at Tannadump (Goram fùck up, lost 1-2), bottle-job at Motherwell after being 1 up (lost 1-2) and final nail was the 0-1 loss to Killie at Ibrox. The mentally challengeds did slip up at Dunfermline the next day to give us hope but really was out of our hands by then.

Being at the beam-back on the final day but it really was in hope rather than expectation. Horrible day and a eerie atmosphere when it was confirmed that it wasn't going to happen.

The final against Hearts was just a sickening post script to a shite season. That team did not deserve to leave us without one last trophy.
I'm sure Hearts still had a chance of winning it, albeit a slim one, up until we beat them 3 nil at Tynecastle in one of the last few games.

Of course that didn't stop timmy from claiming they lay down to us, even though it killed any slight chance they had of winning the league.
 
Brings the fear back to me thinking about that season as a 10 year old my dad took me over to three games

Motherwell 2-2
Hearts 2-2
Kilmarnock 0-1

The men on the bus kept me going saying i was a scud and ruined 10IAR thankfully my luck and the teams improved significantly the following season :D
 
Brings the fear back to me thinking about that season as a 10 year old my dad took me over to three games

Motherwell 2-2
Hearts 2-2
Kilmarnock 0-1

The men on the bus kept me going saying i was a scud and ruined 10IAR thankfully my luck and the teams improved significantly the following season :D
That Hearts game at Ibrox took a last gasp equaliser from Alberta if I recall right. I'm sure Hearts were actually still ahead of us in the league at that point, losing that to them would have been seriously grim.
 
We were a tired team, running out of steam.
It was so clear in the 9 season we desperately needed fresh blood and a new approach. Walter should have been asked to step down then and Advocaat brought in to go for 10, yet Murray would have never had the balls to do that.
The Celtic team that year we’re a dreadful team. It’s shameful a team that poor stopped us clinching 10 in a row.
 
That Hearts game at Ibrox took a last gasp equaliser from Alberta if I recall right. I'm sure Hearts were actually still ahead of us in the league at that point, losing that to them would have been seriously grim.
Yeah if i remember right Albertz scored a late free kick and Goram had a howler and gifted Neil Mccann a goal im near sure the other Hearts goal was some sort of disaster as well
 
I'm sure Hearts still had a chance of winning it, albeit a slim one, up until we beat them 3 nil at Tynecastle in one of the last few games.

Of course that didn't stop timmy from claiming they lay down to us, even though it killed any slight chance they had of winning the league.

A 3 horse race well into April as I recall, it was a decent Hearts team helped by us and them dropping a lot of points.
 
Losing to Kilmarnock at home in May, not only did it kill 10 in a row, was also the first time I seen Rangers lose a match in person! Awful sickening day!
My first loss also terrible feeling and i then cried when my dad left for the Scottish cup final leaving me behind thank goodness he did in the end i would never went back
 
A horrendous season that started with plenty of optimism. Brought down to earth fairly early in season getting scudded by Gothenburg and then Strasbourg. No excuses for losing out to such a poor celtic team for the league, so many poor results in the 2nd half of that season were we couldn’t string 2 results together.
 
The filth were one up in 3 minutes. The game was over at that point

This takes me back.. I'd hardly took my seat at Tannadice when news came they'd scored.. W@NKERS!


Not sure I'm enjoying this thread.. a flashback to traumatic times.
As mentioned, a sad end to a team who gave us 9IAR.

But I suppose reflection can be worthwhile if we don't forget lessons from the past.

i.e don't let f**kin complacency creep in and work together to bring home 55!
 
For the money we spent that summer we should have schoosed it tbh, remember Gazza being a shadow of himself and most fans wanting him to be sold to Boro
 
I only remember watching the Scottish cup final at the end of it as a seven year old. I had a wee girlfriend around to it watch with me(also a bear) and i was so much tears and not paying her any attention that she went home. Horrible reading this thread.
 
Losing to Aberdeen at Pittodrie fecked it. That put it out of our hands. Us losing to lillie whilst shite, was still out with our hands. Title only went down to last day as Celtic went and drew with Dunfermline the next day
 
I'm sure Hearts still had a chance of winning it, albeit a slim one, up until we beat them 3 nil at Tynecastle in one of the last few games.

Of course that didn't stop timmy from claiming they lay down to us, even though it killed any slight chance they had of winning the league.

Finished 5 points behind us in the end up. Actually had 2 decent wins at Tynecastle that season - 5-2 in the December and the win you mention.
 
We spent a considerable amount that summer... unfortunately it was wasted. Stensass hopeless replacement for davie Robertson, Amo fucked majority of the year, thern was finished, Negri... well documented.
 
Back
Top