The 1998–99 season was the 102nd season of Scottish league

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 ...

League competitions

Scottish Premier League

Summary

The 1998–99 SPL season was one that ended in success for Rangers. Dutchman

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas "Dick" Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former association football, football player and coach. He is currently the manager of the Curaçao national football team. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a ...

was brought in to replace

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

at Rangers and made major changes, bringing in many players. Rangers were comfortable for most of the season, being top for most of it. Their main low of the season was a 5–1 defeat to

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 ...

Parkhead Parkhead () is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet (place), hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necro ...

. After beating

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 ...

3–1 at Ibrox on 25 April, Rangers had a chance to clinch the title at

on 2 May. Rangers did what they wanted to do with a 3–0 victory. Two goals from

Neil McCann Neil Doherty McCann (born 11 August 1974) is a Scottish Association football, football pundit, former professional Association football, player and former Manager (association football), manager. He has recently worked as a pundit for BBC Scotla ...

and a Jorg Albertz penalty gave Rangers their 100th league victory over Celtic. The match was overshadowed by the controversy during and after the game. Three players were sent off and referee Hugh Dallas was hit by a coin thrown from the Celtic end. Rangers were presented with the trophy the following week at home to Hearts. The match ended 0–0.

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

were relegated to the First Division.

Table

Scottish First Division

Scottish Second Division

Scottish Third Division

Other honours

Cup honours

The

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

(CIS Insurance Cup) began in August and ended in November. Eventual winners Rangers defeated

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. They compete in as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. According to the official club hist ...

, Ayr United and Airdrieonians en route to the final which was held at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

. Rangers defeated SPL side St Johnstone 2–1 to give

his first trophy as Rangers manager. The ( Tennents)

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a 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 resident population of 32,422 at the ...

and St Johnstone en route the final. At the new

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

, Rangers met

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

rivals Celtic. A

Rod Wallace Rodney Seymour Wallace (born 2 October 1969) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, Wallace started his football career at Southampton in 1987, playing 128 league games and scoring 45 goals. This form earned him a transfer ...

goal clinched a

domestic treble A treble in association football is achieved when a club team wins three trophies in a single season. A continental treble involves winning the club's top-level domestic league competition, main domestic cup competition, and main continental tro ...

for Rangers in Dick Advocaat's first season as manager.

Individual honours

SPFA awards

SFWA awards

Scottish clubs in Europe

Average coefficient �
5.625
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Scotland national team

Key: *(A) = Away match *(H) = Home match *WCQG6 = World Cup Qualifying – Group 6

Notable events

*The

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

was formed as a breakaway league from the Scottish Premier Division, in a similar fashion to how the leading

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

clubs in England broke away to form the

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

in 1992. *Rangers won the Scottish domestic treble in their first season under the management of

. *Following the resignation of manager

Wim Jansen Wilhelmus Marinus Antonius "Wim" Jansen (; 28 October 1946 – 25 January 2022) was a Dutch professional association football, football player and manager. As a midfielder or defender (association football), defender, he spent most of his caree ...

, Celtic appointed 62-year-old former

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

and

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

manager

Jozef Venglos Jozef ( Creole, Dutch, Breton, and Slovak) or Józef ( Polish) are variants of the masculine given name Joseph in several European languages. A selection of people with that name follows. For a comprehensive list, see and . * Józef Beck (1894� ...

as his successor. However, the appointment was not a success as Celtic finished the season without a major trophy and Venglos departed to be succeeded by the new management team of director of football

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

and head coach

John Barnes John Charles Bryan Barnes (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. Often considered one of the greatest England players of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, Barnes currently works as an ...

. *

Paul Sturrock Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956) is a Scottish former football coach and former player. As a player, Sturrock spent his entire senior career with Dundee United, making more than five hundred appearances between 1974 and 1989. He w ...

departed St Johnstone at the start of the season to take over at Dundee United. *New St Johnstone manager

Sandy Clark Alexander Clark (born 28 October 1956) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who manages Scottish Lowland Football League club Albion Rovers. Career Clark played for several clubs in his playing career including his h ...

guided St Johnstone to the club's best ever finish of third in the SPL, earning

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

qualification for only the second time. The Saints also reached the final of the League Cup and the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup. *Four years after leaving

Broomfield Park Broomfield Park was a association football, football stadium in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, home of Airdrieonians F.C. (1878), Airdrieonians from 1892 until it was closed after the 1993–94 in Scottish football, 1993–94 football season.It w ...

and ground-sharing with Clyde at

Broadwood Stadium Broadwood Stadium is a multi-use community stadium and sports complex in the Westfield, Cumbernauld, Westfield area of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. The stadium is currently the home of Scottish League One side Hamilton Academical F.C., Hamilt ...

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; ) is a large town in the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, most-populous locality in Scotl ...

, Airdrieonians returned to their hometown to the new 10,000-seat

Excelsior Stadium The Excelsior Stadium, officially The Albert Bartlett Stadium, is a football stadium in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the home ground of Airdrieonians of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). Since the 2021–22 season ...

. *Hibernian returned to the top flight at the first time of asking as Division One champions. *28-year-old Rangers defender Alan McLaren, who was capped 24 times for Scotland between 1992 and 1995, retired at the end of the season after two years out of action due to injury. *

, who was part of the

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

team that won the English league title in 1992, joined Rangers at the start of the season and added the Scottish title and both domestic cups to his list of honours. *After 11 years in England with

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, veteran striker Brian McClair rejoined his old club Motherwell but played just 11 games for them before moving back south of the border in December to become assistant manager to former Manchester United coach

Brian Kidd Brian Kidd (born 29 May 1949) is an English football coach and former player, who was most recently assistant coach of Manchester City. Kidd, a striker, played for Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, Everton, Bolton Wanderers, Fort La ...

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. Ironically, McClair was initially reported to be leaving Scotland for the Manchester United assistant manager's job left vacant by Kidd's move to Blackburn.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:1998-99 in Scottish football Seasons in Scottish football