The 2004–05 season was the 125th season of competitive football by Rangers.

Overview

Rangers played a total of 51 competitive matches during the 2004–05 season. They went into the season looking to recapture their Scottish Premier League crown, which Celtic had won the season before. Manager

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for ...

made several summer signings, with the signature of Frenchman

Jean-Alain Boumsong Jean-Alain Boumsong Somkong (born 14 December 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender. He began his senior career with French club Le Havre in 1997 before joining AJ Auxerre in 2000. His performances at Auxerre ...

being his biggest coup. Others included strikers Dado Prso and

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 ...

, as well as the experienced midfielder Alex Rae and future Ibrox favourite

Marvin Andrews Marvin Andrews CM (born 22 December 1975) is a Trinidadian former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Andrews's career includes spells at Livingston, with whom he won the Scottish League Cup in 2004, and Rangers, where he ...

. Rangers League form began poorly picking up only 8 points from their first 5 matches. Rangers lost the first Old Firm derby of the season 1–0 at Celtic Park and fell behind Celtic in the league. Rangers form improved following the loss to Celtic and they weren't to lose again in the league until April. This run of form included two wins over Celtic in November, once in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and the other in the League. They also ended a poor run of results at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

, with a 2–0 victory in February. A 2–1 loss to Celtic at home in April left Rangers five points behind with just four games left of the season. Celtic led by two points on the final day of the season and were winning 1–0 against Motherwell, but two late goals for Motherwell coupled with Rangers 1–0 win over Hibernian saw Rangers win the title, Helicopter Sunday. Rangers also won the

this season, with a 5–1 victory over Motherwell in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. Rangers were beaten in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. Rangers managed to qualify for the newly formed group stages with a penalty shoot-out win over Maritimo. Rangers failed to progress beyond the group stages however, a 2–0 loss at home to

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

seeing them fail to stay in Europe beyond Christmas.

Players

Squad information

Transfers

In

Total spending: £8.45m

Out

Total received: £10.825m

Squad statistics

Goal scorers

Disciplinary record

Club

Board of directors

Coaching staff

Other staff

Matches

Friendlies

Scottish Premier League

Scottish League Cup

Scottish Cup

UEFA Champions League

UEFA Cup

Competitions

Overall

Scottish Premier League

Standings

UEFA Cup table

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2004-05 Rangers F.C. season Rangers F.C. seasons Rangers Scottish football championship-winning seasons