The 2004–05 season was the 125th 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 ...

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 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 ...

crown, which

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 ...

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 f ...

made several summer signings, with the signature of Frenchman Jean-Alain Boumsong being his biggest coup. Others included strikers Dado Prso and Nacho Novo, 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 and the other in the League. They also ended a poor run of results 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 ...

, 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 Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

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

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Rangers were beaten in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,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 ...

. 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 ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

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