The 1989–90 season was the 93rd season of competitive
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
in Scotland.
Notable events
Rangers won their third league title in four seasons under the management of
Graeme Souness
Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit.
A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...
.
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
won their first major honours since the departure of
Alex Ferguson
Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...
, winning a cup double of the Scottish Cup and the League Cup.
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 Foot ...
finished the season without winning a trophy, mounting the pressure on manager
Billy McNeill
William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He had a long association with Celtic F.C., Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, m ...
.
Rangers abandoned their longstanding
signing policy by acquiring
Mo Johnston, who was the first high-profile
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
player to sign for Rangers. Johnston joined Rangers after having come close to rejoining his old club Celtic from French club Nantes. Also arriving at Rangers was the
Everton and
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
winger
Trevor Steven, filling the gap on the right wing left by club hero
David Cooper, who signed for Motherwell.
Rangers had four players – more than any other club – selected for the England
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
squad. Goalkeeper
Chris Woods
Christopher Charles Eric Woods (born 14 November 1959) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, who is goalkeeping coach for the Scotland national team.
As a player, he was a goalkeeper (association football), goalke ...
, defenders
Gary Stevens and
Terry Butcher, and winger
Trevor Steven helped them reach the semi-finals.
Scottish Premier Division
Champions: Rangers
Relegated: Dundee
Scottish League Division One
Promoted: St Johnstone
Relegated: Albion Rovers, Alloa Athletic
Scottish League Division Two
Promoted: Brechin City, Kilmarnock
Other honours
Cup honours
Senior
Individual honours
SPFA awards
SFWA awards
Scotland national team
Key:
*(H) = Home match
*(A) = Away match
*WCQG5 = World Cup qualifying – Group 5
*WCGC = World Cup – Group C
See also
*
1989–90 Aberdeen F.C. season
*
1989–90 Dundee United F.C. season
*
1989–90 Rangers F.C. season
Notes and references
{{DEFAULTSORT:1989-90 in Scottish football
Seasons in Scottish football