Rangers F.C. season 2007-08

Infobox Football club season
club = Rangers
logo =
season = 2007-08
manager = Walter Smith
chairman = David Murray
league = Scottish Premier League
league result = 2nd
P38 W27 D5 L6 F84 A33
cup1 = Scottish Cup| cup1 result = Winners
cup2 = League Cup | cup2 result = Winners
cup3 = Champions League | cup3 result = Group Stage
cup4 = UEFA Cup | cup4 result = Runners-up
season topscorer = Kris Boyd (25)
league topscorer = Kris Boyd (14)
prevseason = 2006-07
nextseason = 2008-09

The 2007-08 season is the 111th season of competitive football by Rangers.

Overview

Rangers played a total of 68 competitive matches during the 2007-08 season. It was Walter Smith's first full season at the club since 1997-98. The early season priority was qualification for the group stages of the Champions League and this was secured with hard-fought victories over FK Zeta and Red Star Belgrade.

Rangers were drawn in Group E with Barcelona, Lyon and Stuttgart. The group stage started well, with the first two matches resulting in victories, over Stuttgart and Lyon. A home draw with Barcelona left Rangers with seven points after three games, but the last three matches all resulted in defeat, meaning Rangers finished third in the group and entered the UEFA Cup. However, the European adventure continued for Rangers as they progressed to the semi finals of the competition by beating Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen and Sporting Lisbon and then reached the final with a penalty shoot-out victory against Fiorentina. They played FC Zenit Saint Petersburg in Manchester on 14 May, the Russian side was managed by formed Gers boss Dick Advocaat. Rangers lost the match 2-0, with over 200,000 fans in the city to see the game.

On the domestic front, the race for the Scottish Premier League continued until the final matchday of the season. Both Celtic and Rangers were tied on 86 points going into their games (against Dundee United and Aberdeen respectively) on 22 May 2008, but Celtic were top of the table due to having a better goal difference of 57, four ahead of Rangers. This did not prove to be decisive, as Rangers surrendered their hopes of landing the championship with a 2-0 defeat away to the Dons. The club had had a ten-point lead in late March.

The club appeared in its first final since 2005. They played Dundee United on March 16, 2008 and won the League Cup on penalties. The match was tied 2-2 after extra time, with both goals coming from Kris Boyd who also scored the winning spot kick.

They also reached the final of the Scottish Cup for the 49th time. They beat St. Johnstone 4-3 on penalties in the semi-final after the score was tied at 1-1 after extra time. The club played Queen of the South in the final on 24 May 2008 and won the match 3-2 thanks to goals from DaMarcus Beasley and a double from Kris Boyd.

Transfers

In:

UEFA Champions League

*Rangers won the match 4-3 on penalties

League Cup

References