1898–99 Rangers F.C. season

Rangers
1898–99 season
PresidentJames Henderson
Match SecretaryWilliam Wilton
GroundIbrox Park
Scottish League Division One1st
P18 W18 D0 L0 F79 A18 Pts36
Scottish CupRunners-up
Top goalscorerLeague:
Robert Hamilton (21)

All:
Robert Hamilton (25)

The 1898–99 season was the 25th season of competitive football played by Rangers F.C.

Overview

[edit]

Rangers played a total of 39 competitive matches during the 1898–99 season.[1] They finished top of Scottish League Division One with a one hundred percent record of 18 wins from 18 matches.

The club ended the season without any other trophies: in the Scottish Cup, despite beating Hearts and St Mirren en route to the final, they lost to Celtic 2–0.[2][3] Earlier in the season they had also lost in the final of the less important Glasgow Cup 1–0 to Queen's Park,[4][5] and at its end they lost in the minor Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup final, another 2–0 loss to Celtic,[6] also finishing as runners-up to the same opponents in the supplementary Glasgow Football League.[7]

Regardless of these setbacks, the perfect league campaign of 1898–99 remains a unique achievement in the annals of British football.[8][9][10][11]

Results

[edit]

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

Scottish League Division One

[edit]
Date Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
20 August 1898 Partick Thistle H 6–2 7,000 Hamilton (3), Sharp, Neil, Millar
27 August 1898 St Mirren A 3–1 A.Smith, Hamilton, McPherson
3 September 1898 Heart of Midlothian A 3–2 17,500 Hamilton (2), Wilkie
10 September 1898 Third Lanark H 4–1 18,000 Millar, McPherson, Campbell, Neil (pen.)
19 September 1898 St Bernard's A 2–0 8,000 A.Smith, Neil (pen.)
24 September 1898 Celtic A 4–0 45,000 Neil (pen.), McPherson, Campbell, Millar
26 September 1898 Third Lanark A 3–2 14,000 Campbell (2), McPherson
1 October 1898 Heart of Midlothian H 3–1 25,000 Hamilton (2), A.Smith
8 October 1898 Dundee A 2–1 7,500 Hamilton, Wilkie
5 November 1898 Partick Thistle A 5–0 5,000 Hamilton (2), Millar (2), Sharp
19 November 1898 Hibernian A 4–3 10,000 Millar, A.Smith, Hamilton, Neil (pen.)
26 November 1898 Clyde H 8–0 4,000 Millar (3), Sharp (2), Gibson (2), Watson (o.g.)
3 December 1898 St Bernard's H 5–2 3,000 Campbell (4), Hamilton
17 December 1898 Dundee H 9–0 3,000 Hamilton (3), A.Smith (2), McPherson (2), Gibson (pen.), Campbell
24 December 1898 Hibernian H 10–0 7,000 A.Smith (4), Hamilton (2), McPherson, Millar, Gibson (pen.), Campbell
31 December 1898 St Mirren H 3–2 5,000 Campbell (2), A.Smith
2 January 1899 Celtic H 4–1 30,000 Hamilton (3), Campbell
7 January 1899 Clyde A 3–0 4,000 A.Smith, Millar, Neil (pen.)

Scottish Cup

[edit]
Date Round Opponent Venue Result Attendance Scorers
14 January 1899 R1 Heart of Midlothian H 4–1 25,612 Gibson (2), Neil (pen.), Hamilton
11 February 1899 R2 Ayr Parkhouse A 4–1 5,000 Hamilton (2), Campbell, A.Smith
18 February 1899 QF Clyde H 4–0 6,000 Low, McPherson, Gibson (pen.), Hamilton
15 April 1899 SF St Mirren A 2–1 10,000 McPherson, Millar
22 April 1899 F Celtic N 0–2 25,000

Appearances

[edit]
Player Position Appearances Goals
Scotland Matthew Dickie GK 23 0
Scotland Robert Hamilton FW 23 25
Scotland Robert Neil DF 22 7
Scotland Alex Smith FW 22 13
Scotland David Crawford DF 22 0
Scotland Neilly Gibson MF 22 6
Scotland John Campbell MF 21 13
Scotland Jimmy Millar FW 21 12
Scotland John McPherson MF 20 8
Scotland David Mitchell MF 18 0
Scotland Nicol Smith DF 17 0
Scotland Jock Drummond DF 6 0
Scotland Jimmy E. Millar DF 5 0
Scotland Andrew Sharp MF 4 3
Scotland Jack Wilkie FW 4 2
Scotland James Sharp MF 1 1
Scotland Tommy Low MF 1 1
Scotland Jimmy Oswald FW 1 0

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Results For Season 1898/1899 in All Competitions, Rangers FitbaStats
  2. ^ Scottish Cup–Final Tie., The Glasgow Herald, 24 April 1899
  3. ^ Football. Scottish Cup Final., London Morning Post, 24 April 1899, via The Celtic Wiki
  4. ^ Glasgow Cup–Final Tie, The Glasgow Herald, 14 November 1898
  5. ^ "Queen's Park v Rangers". QPFC.com. 12 November 1898. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  6. ^ Saturday's Football., The Glasgow Herald, 29 May 1899
  7. ^ Glasgow Football League (First version 1895-1899), Scottish Football Historical Archive
  8. ^ Stuart Spencer (16 January 2019). "The Season of 1898-99". Scottish Football Museum. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  9. ^ The beginning of glory Archived 29 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Rangers FC
  10. ^ Rangers Team, 1898-99 (Mitchell Library, Glasgow Collection), The Glasgow Story
  11. ^ The first great Rangers team whose 'perfect season' remains unique in British football 122 years on, Matthew Lindsay, Glasgow Times, 7 January 2021