Rangers F.C. season 2008–09

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Rangers

Season 2008–09
Manager	Walter Smith
Chairman	David Murray
Scottish Premier League	1st P38 W26 D8 L4 F77 A28
Scottish Cup	Winners
League Cup	Runners-up
Champions League	Second qualifying round
Top goalscorer	League: Kris Boyd (27) All: Kris Boyd (31)
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The 2008–09 season is the 112th season of competitive football by Rangers.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Transfers 2.1 In 2.2 Out 3 Results 3.1 Scottish Premier League 3.2 UEFA Champions League 3.3 Scottish Cup 3.4 League Cup 3.5 Friendlies 4 Player statistics 5 Competitions 5.1 Overall 5.2 SPL 5.2.1 Results summary 5.2.2 Results by round 6 References

[edit] Overview

Rangers played a total of 49 competitive matches during the 2008-09 season. The season began disasterously as the club exited the UEFA Champions League and European football altogether, losing 2–1 on aggregate to Lithuanian side FBK Kaunas in the second qualifying round. The first leg at Ibrox finished goalless, but the return leg ended in defeat for Rangers after an 87th-minute header from Linas Pilibaitis. Added to this, on 12 August, English Premier League Aston Villa activated a get out clause in Carlos Cuéllar's contract. They paid £7.8 million (at that time the equivalent of €10 million) for the defender whose departure was seen as a massive blow. The Algerian defender Madjid Bougherra was sign to replace him.

In the first Old Firm game of the season, Rangers won 4–2, with Pedro Mendes scoring his first goal for the club, and Kenny Miller scoring a double against his former employers. But the teams league form stuttered thereafter. Despite a run of five wins from six matches following the Old Firm victory, the side trailed Celtic by seven points in the league at the turn of the year. For the first few months of 2009 both sides dropped and gained points on the other and Rangers briefly took over top spot of the Scottish Premier League on 21 February after a win against Kilmarnock. The spell as league leaders lasted less than a fortnight. A defeat and a draw, both at home, to Inverness and Hearts respectively, saw Smith's side sit second in the table, one point behind Celtic, at the split. The fourth Old Firm league meeting of the season finished with a 1-0 win to Rangers, thanks to a Steven Davis strike. This meant that, with three league games remaining, Rangers were two points ahead of Celtic. Further twists and turns followed, both Old Firm sides drew their matches against Hibernian at Easter Road, and so Rangers were ahead by two points with one round of matches remaining. Smith's side just needed a win against Dundee United to guarantee the club's 52nd league title. That is exactly what they got, goals from Kyle Lafferty, Pedro Mendes and Kris Boyd sealed a 3-0 win and the clubs first league championship in four seasons.

The club played in the finals of both of the domestic cup competitions for the second season running. The 2009 Scottish League Cup Final was reached by defeating Partick Thistle, Hamilton and Falkirk en route but the final ended in a 2–0 defeat at the hands of Old Firm rivals Celtic. The match was Walter Smith's first ever Old Firm final and was marred by a Kirk Broadfoot sending off deep into extra time for a foul on Aidan McGeady inside the penalty box. Celtic were subsequently awarded a penalty which McGeady himself converted.

Rangers qualified for the 2009 Scottish Cup Final after beating St Mirren 3-0 in the semi-final. The second goal of the game was scored by Kris Boyd and was his 100th goal for Rangers. The team faced Falkirk at Hampden Park on 30 May 2009 in what was the clubs 51st Scotttish Cup Final appearance. A Nacho Novo stike in the first minute of the second half gave Rangers a 1-0 win and completed the domestic double.

[edit] Transfers

[edit] In

Date	Player	From	Fee	Source
09 Jun 2008	Webster, AndyAndy Webster	Wigan Athletic	08£450,000	[1]
13 Jun 2008	Miller, KennyKenny Miller	Derby County	03£2,000,000	[2]
16 Jun 2008	Velička, AndriusAndrius Velička	Viking FK	05£1,000,000	[3]
19 Jun 2008	Lafferty, KyleKyle Lafferty	Burnley	01£3,250,000	[4]
31 Jul 2008	Bougherra, MadjidMadjid Bougherra	Charlton	02£2,500,000	[5]
13 Aug 2008	Ñíguez, AarónAarón Ñíguez	Valencia	11Loan	[6]
15 Aug 2008	Mendes, PedroPedro Mendes	Portsmouth	01£3,000,000	[7]
21 Aug 2008	Davis, StevenSteven Davis	Fulham	01£3,000,000	[8]
22 Aug 2008	Edu, MauriceMaurice Edu	Toronto FC	02£2,600,000	[9]

[edit] Out

Date	Player	To	Fee	Source
28 May 2008	Nicholas Gallacher	Motherwell	10Released	[10]
28 May 2008	Lacine Cherif	Kilmarnock	10Released	[10]
28 May 2008	Alistair Park	Hibernian	10Released	[10]
28 May 2008	Michael Donald	Scholarship	10 Released	[10]
28 May 2008	Calum Reidford	Dunfermline Athletic	10Released	[11]
28 May 2008	Chris Smith	Morton	10Released	[12]
28 May 2008	Jeroen Van den Broeck	AGOVV Apeldoorn	10Released	[13]
28 May 2008	Luis Borja Lázaro	Sporting de Gijón B	10Released
29 May 2008	Filip Šebo	Valenciennes	05£1,000,000	[14]
01 Jul 2008	Thomas Buffel	Cercle Brugge	09Free	[15]
12 Aug 2008	Carlos Cuéllar	Aston Villa	01£7,800,000	[16]
16 Aug 2008	Steven Lennon	Partick Thistle	11Loan	[17]
16 Aug 2008	Mark Weir	Kilmarnock	11Loan	[17]
18 Aug 2008	Andy Webster	Bristol City	11Loan	[18]
27 Aug 2008	Dean Furman	Bradford City	11Loan	[19]
30 Aug 2008	Alan Lowing	Clyde	11Loan	[20]
30 Aug 2008	Paul Emslie	Clyde	11Loan	[20]
01 Sep 2008	Scott Gallacher	Cowdenbeath	11Loan	[21]
01 Sep 2008	Daniel Cousin	Hull City	04£1,500,000	[22]
01 Sep 2008	Alan Gow	Blackpool	11Loan	[22]
02 Oct 2008	Lee Robinson	St. Johnstone	11Loan	[23]
19 Nov 2008	Andrew Shinnie	Dundee	11Loan	[24]
07 Dec 2008	Steven Kinniburgh	Queen of the South	11Loan	[25]
12 Dec 2008	Rory Loy	Dunfermline Athletic	11Loan	[26]
20 Dec 2008	William McLachlan	Airdrie United	11Loan
30 Dec 2008	Lee Robinson	Queen of the South	11Loan	[27]
01 Jan 2009	Jean-Claude Darcheville	Valenciennes	09Free	[28]
07 Jan 2009	Jordan McMillan	Hamilton	11Loan	[29]
09 Jan 2009	Chris Burke	Cardiff City	09Free	[30]
01 Feb 2009	Georgios Efrem	Dundee	11Loan	[31]
02 Feb 2009	Alan Gow	Norwich City	11Loan	[32]
02 Feb 2009	Charlie Adam	Blackpool	11Loan	[33]
21 Mar 2009	Ross Harvey	Brechin City	11Loan	[34]
31 Mar 2009	Steven Kinniburgh	St Johnstone	11Loan	[35]

[edit] Results

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

[edit] Scottish Premier League

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
09 Aug 2008	Falkirk	A	1-0	6,669	Velička
16 Aug 2008	Hearts	H	2-0	48,191	Lafferty, Boyd (pen.)
23 Aug 2008	Aberdeen	A	1-1	16,489	Weir
31 Aug 2008	Celtic	A	4-2	58,595	Cousin, Miller (2), Mendes
13 Sep 2008	Kilmarnock	H	2-1	50,019	Boyd (2, 1st pen.)
21 Sep 2008	Motherwell	H	2-1	49,448	Davis, Novo
28 Sep 2008	Hibernian	A	3-0	15,292	Miller (2), Bougherra
05 Oct 2008	St. Mirren	A	0-1	7,520
25 Oct 2008	Hamilton	A	3-1	4,613	Boyd (2, 1st pen.), Novo
01 Nov 2008	Inverness CT	H	5-0	49,255	Novo, Boyd (3, 3rd pen.), Miller
04 Nov 2008[36]	Dundee United	H	3-3	48,686	Davis, Papac, Thomson
09 Nov 2008	Kilmarnock	A	4-0	10,153	Weir, Boyd, Miller, Whittaker
12 Nov 2008	Motherwell	A	0-0	9,600
15 Nov 2008	St. Mirren	H	2-1	49,321	Boyd, Davis
22 Nov 2008	Aberdeen	H	2-0	50,166	Darcheville, Boyd
29 Nov 2008	Hearts	A	1-2	15,710	Karipidis (o.g.)[37][38]
06 Dec 2008	Hamilton	H	7-1	48,282	Miller, Boyd (3, 3rd pen.), Lafferty, Novo, Davis
13 Dec 2008	Dundee United	A	2-2	11,362	Boyd, Lafferty
20 Dec 2008	Hibernian	H	1-0	49,538	Boyd
27 Dec 2008	Celtic	H	0-1	50,403
04 Jan 2009	Inverness CT	A	3-0	7,056	Mendes, Boyd (2)
17 Jan 2009	Falkirk	H	3-1	48,811	Boyd (2, 1st pen.), Davis
24 Jan 2009	Aberdeen	A	0-0	20,441
31 Jan 2009	Dundee United	H	2-0	49,911	Fleck (pen.), Lafferty
15 Feb 2009	Celtic	A	0-0	58,766
21 Feb 2009	Kilmarnock	H	3-1	50,301	Boyd, Miller (2)
28 Feb 2009	Hamilton	A	1-0	5,895	Ferguson
04 Mar 2009	Inverness CT	H	0-1	48,129
21 Mar 2009	Hearts	H	2-2	50,310	Lafferty, Ferguson
05 Apr 2009	Falkirk	A	1-0	6,853	Boyd
08 Apr 2009[39]	St. Mirren	A	2-1	6,231	Boyd, Edu
11 Apr 2009	Motherwell	H	3-1	50,080	Velička, Boyd (2, 2nd pen.)
19 Apr 2009	Hibernian	A	3-2	14,014	Whittaker, Velička, Edu
03 May 2009	Hearts	H	2-0	49,663	Velička, Boyd
09 May 2009	Celtic	H	1-0	50,321	Davis
13 May 2009	Hibernian	A	1-1	13,765	Novo
16 May 2009	Aberdeen	H	2-1	50,295	Foster (o.g.), Miller
24 May 2009	Dundee United	A	3-0	14,077	Lafferty, Mendes, Boyd

[edit] UEFA Champions League

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
30 Jul 2008	QR2	FBK Kaunas	H	0-0	34,847
05 Aug 2008	QR2	FBK Kaunas	A	1-2	5,500	Thomson

[edit] Scottish Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
13 Jan 2009	R4	St. Johnstone	A	2-0	7,746	McCaffrey (o.g.), Novo
18 Feb 2009	R5	Forfar Athletic	A	4-0	4,718	Papac, Miller (2), Niguez
08 Mar 2009	QF	Hamilton	H	5-1	27,588	Whittaker, Lafferty (2), Niguez (pen.), Davis
25 Apr 2009	SF	St. Mirren	N	3-0	32,431	Velička, Boyd, Miller
30 May 2009	F	Falkirk	N	1-0	50,956	Novo

[edit] League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
24 Sep 2008	R3	Partick Thistle	A	2-1	6,497	Boyd, Mendes
28 Oct 2008	QF	Hamilton	H	2-0	32,083	Boyd, Lafferty
27 Jan 2009	SF	Falkirk	N	3-0	24,507	Novo (2), Boyd
15 Mar 2009	F	Celtic	N	0-2	51,193

[edit] Friendlies

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
13 Jul 2008	Preußen Münster	A	1-0	5,211	Adam (pen.)
16 Jul 2008	Sportfreunde Lotte	A	3-1	3,000	Boyd (2), Fleck
19 Jul 2008	Schalke 04	A	0-1	28,350
22 Jul 2008	Clyde	A	1-0	7,653	Novo
26 Jul 2008	Raith Rovers	A	2-1	4,865	Novo, Cousin
02 Aug 2008	Liverpool	H	0-4	50,223
04 Feb 2009	A.C. Milan	H	2-2	45,197	Beasley, Papac

[edit] Player statistics

• ¹ Denotes player has left the club. ² Denotes player joined in the January transfer window.

No.	Player	Position	Appearances	Goals	YC	RC
1	McGregor, AllanAllan McGregor	GK	35	0	1	0
2	Edu, MauriceMaurice Edu	MF	16	2	0	0
3	Weir, DavidDavid Weir	DF	47	2	5	1
4	Mendes, PedroPedro Mendes	MF	42	4	7	0
5	Papac, SašaSaša Papac	DF	39	2	6	2
6	Ferguson, BarryBarry Ferguson	MF	27	2	3	0
7	Hemdani, BrahimBrahim Hemdani	MF	0	0	0	0
8	Thomson, KevinKevin Thomson	MF	14	2	4	0
9	Boyd, KrisKris Boyd	FW	46	31	6	0
10	Novo, NachoNacho Novo	FW	38	9	2	0
11	Adam, CharlieCharlie Adam	MF	11	0	2	0
12	McCulloch, LeeLee McCulloch	MF	20	0	6	0
14	Naismith, StevenSteven Naismith	FW	11	0	1	0
15	Gow, AlanAlan Gow	MF	0	0	0	0
16	Smith, GraemeGraeme Smith	GK	0	0	0	0
17	Burke, ChrisChris Burke¹	MF	2	0	0	0
18	Miller, KennyKenny Miller	FW	38	13	3	0
19	Darcheville, Jean-ClaudeJean-Claude Darcheville¹	FW	11	1	0	0
20	Beasley, DaMarcusDaMarcus Beasley	MF	12	0	0	0
21	Broadfoot, KirkKirk Broadfoot	DF	34	0	4	1
22	Webster, AndyAndy Webster	DF	0	0	0	0
23	Dailly, ChristianChristian Dailly	DF	14	0	4	0
24	Bougherra, MadjidMadjid Bougherra	DF	39	1	8	1
25	Alexander, NeilNeil Alexander	GK	14	0	0	0
26	Smith, StevenSteven Smith	DF	6	0	2	0
27	Lafferty, KyleKyle Lafferty	FW	32	9	6	0
28	Whittaker, StevenSteven Whittaker	DF	31	3	5	0
29	Cousin, DanielDaniel Cousin¹	FW	2	1	2	1
31	Ñíguez, AarónAarón Ñíguez	MF	5	2	1	0
35	Davis, StevenSteven Davis	MF	43	7	1	0
37	Velička, AndriusAndrius Velička	FW	11	5	0	0
45	Loy, RoryRory Loy	FW	1	0	0	0
53	Fleck, JohnJohn Fleck	MF	10	1	1	0
56	Little, AndrewAndrew Little	FW	1	0	0	0

[edit] Competitions

[edit] Overall

Competition	Started round	Current position / round	Final position / round	First match	Last match
Scottish Premier League	—	—	1st	9 August	24 May
UEFA Champions League	Second Qualifying Round	—	Second Qualifying Round	30 July	6 August
Scottish League Cup	3rd Round	—	Runners-up	24 September	15 March
Scottish Cup	4th Round	—	Winners	13 January	30 May

Last updated: 24 May
Source: Competitions' Wikipedia articles.

[edit] SPL

[edit] Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	86	26	8	4	77	28	+49	15	2	2	44	15	+29	11	6	2	33	13	+20

Last updated: 24 May 2009
Source: BBC Sport
Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

[edit] Results by round

Round	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A
Result	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	L	D	W	W	W	D	W	W	L	W	D	W	L	W	W	D	W	D	W	W	L	W	D	W	W	W	W	W	D	W	W

Last updated: 24 May 2009.
Source: BBC Sport
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Lose; W = Win; P = Postponed.

[edit] References

Rangers F.C. seasons v • d • e

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