The 2008–09 season was the 129th season of competitive

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

by Rangers.

Overview

Rangers played a total of 49 competitive matches during the 2008–09 season. The season began disastrously as the club exited the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and European football altogether, losing 2–1 on aggregate to

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

n side

FBK Kaunas Kauno futbolo ir beisbolo klubas, commonly known as FBK Kaunas, was a Lithuanian football club from the city of Kaunas. History Banga Kaunas (1960–1993) Originally the team was founded in 1960 as Banga Kaunas and played its first three years ...

in the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

. The first leg at Ibrox finished goalless, but the return leg ended in defeat for Rangers after an 87th-minute header from

Linas Pilibaitis Linas Pilibaitis (born 5 April 1985 in Kretinga) is a Lithuanian professional footballer. Career Pilibaitis joined Kaunas aged 17 in 2002, gradually working his way into the first team as he developed in the following years. This process was ...

. The financial consequences of the failures to qualify for the Champions League were revealed when the club posted a loss of £3.9m for the six months to December 2008, and in March decided to offer staff the option of voluntary redundancy as a way of cutting costs. There was also mounting pressure on the manager to reduce the first team squad from 28 players to a more manageable figure. The player excess was eased slightly with the departures of Chris Burke,

Jean-Claude Darcheville Jean-Claude Jacques Ducan Darcheville (; born 25 July 1975) is a French Guianese former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played for various clubs in France, England, Scotland, and Greece. He represented French Guiana at the ...

and a couple out on loan deals but the increased debt meant that the club needed to find a cash injection. This resulted in the attempted sale of

Kris Boyd Kris Boyd (born 18 August 1983) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Boyd grew up in the South Ayrshire village of Tarbolton and started his senior career with Kilmarnock. He transferred to Rangers in January ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

which fell through due to the players wage demands. In the first

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

game of the season, Rangers won 4–2, with

Pedro Mendes Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning " ...

scoring his first goal for the club, and

Kenny Miller Kenneth Miller (born 23 December 1979) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. Miller, who played as a striker, is one of only five post-war players to have played for both Rangers and Celtic. Miller began his career at ...

scoring a double against his former employers. But the team's 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 The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

on 21 February after a win against

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. The spell as league leaders lasted less than a fortnight. A defeat and a draw, both at home, to

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

and Hearts respectively, saw Smith's side sit second in the table, one point behind Celtic, at the split. The fourth

league meeting of the season finished with a 1–0 win to Rangers, thanks to a

Steven Davis Steven Davis (born 1 January 1985) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Rangers and captains the Northern Ireland national team. Davis made his full international debut in 2005 a ...

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 Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of , which makes it the fifth-larges ...

, and so Rangers were ahead by two points with one round of matches remaining. Smith's side just needed a win against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

to guarantee the club's 52nd league title. That is exactly what they got, goals from

Kyle Lafferty Kyle Joseph George Lafferty (born 16 September 1987) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who currently plays for NIFL Premiership club Linfield and the Northern Ireland national team. Lafferty began his professional career with Engl ...

and

sealed a 3–0 win and the club's 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 The 2009 Scottish League Cup Final was the final match of the 2008–09 Scottish League Cup, the 62nd season of the Scottish League Cup. The match was played at Hampden Park, Glasgow on 15 March 2009, and was won by Celtic, who beat Old Firm riv ...

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 Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. The match was

Walter Smith Walter Ferguson Smith (24 February 1948 – 26 October 2021) was a Scottish association football player, manager and director, primarily associated with his two spells as manager of Glasgow club Rangers. A defender, Smith's playing car ...

's first ever Old Firm final and was marred by a

Kirk Broadfoot Kirk John Broadfoot (born 8 August 1984) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a defender for Lowland League club Open Goal Broomhill. Broadfoot started his senior career with St Mirren and he helped the club gain promotion to the Scottish Pr ...

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 The 2009 Scottish Cup Final was the final of the 124th season of the main domestic football cup competition in Scotland, the Scottish Cup. The final was played at Hampden Park in Glasgow on 30 May 2009. The match was contested by Rangers, who we ...

after beating St Mirren 3–0 in the semi-final. The second goal of the game was scored by

and was his 100th goal for Rangers. The team faced

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

on 30 May 2009 in what was the club's 51st Scottish Cup Final appearance. A

Nacho Novo Ignacio Javier Gómez Novo (; born 26 March 1979) is a Spanish former association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Novo is currently an assistant coach for USL League One side Lexington SC, as well as ...

strike in the first minute of the second half gave Rangers a 1–0 win and completed the domestic double.

Players

Squad information

Transfers

In

Total spending: £17.8m

Out

Total income: £12.3m

Squad statistics

''List of squad players, including number of appearances by competition''

Top Scorer

Last updated: 24 May 2009
Source: Match reports
Only competitive matches

Disciplinary record

Last updated: 24 May 2009
Source: Match reports
Only competitive matches

Club

Board of directors

Coaching staff

Other staff

Matches

Scottish Premier League

UEFA Champions League

Scottish Cup

League Cup

Friendlies

Competitions

Overall

Scottish Premier League

Standings

Results summary

Results by round

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 Rangers F.C. season Rangers F.C. seasons Rangers Scottish football championship-winning seasons