2004–05 Rangers F.C. season

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 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.

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, 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 League Cup this season, with a 5–1 victory over Motherwell in the final. Rangers were beaten in the Scottish Cup however, losing 2–1 to Celtic in the third round.

After losing to CSKA Moscow in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, Rangers entered the UEFA Cup. 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 seeing them fail to stay in Europe beyond Christmas.

Players

Squad information

Transfers

In

Out

• Expenditure: £8,950,000
• Income: £10,975,000
• Total loss/gain: £2,025,000

Squad statistics

Disciplinary record

Club

Board of directors

Coaching staff

Other staff

Matches

Friendlies

Novo (2) Løvenkrands Pršo (pen.) Rae Pršo Bellamy Bernard Dyer Ricksen

Scottish Premier League

Hughes Hughes Arveladze Pršo Boumsong Løvenkrands Novo Novo Pršo Novo Løvenkrands Novo Ricksen Novo Novo Thompson Namouchi Pršo Sutton Pršo de Vries Novo Novo Pršo Malcolm Novo Arveladze Thompson Andrews Rae McNaughton Novo Ricksen Pršo Buffel Novo Novo Mikoliūnas Pršo Ricksen Ricksen Corrigan Vignal Pršo Ferguson Bellamy Pršo Pršo Andrews Arveladze Arveladze Buffel

Scottish League Cup

Thompson Malcolm Arveladze Pršo Buffel Ricksen Thompson Novo Thompson Kyrgiakos Ricksen Novo Kyrgiakos

Scottish Cup

Hartson

UEFA Champions League

Jarošík

UEFA Cup

Novo Ricksen Arveladze Thompson Arveladze Namouchi Kalou

Competitions

Overall

Scottish Premier League

Main article: 2004–05 Scottish Premier League

Standings

UEFA Cup table

References

References

1. (25 June 2004). "Gers sign Serb midfielder". BBC.
2. (14 December 2003). "Rangers seal Boumsong deal". BBC Sport.
3. (9 May 2004). "Rangers get Prso". BBC.
4. (18 May 2004). "Rangers seal Rae deal". [[BBC]].
5. (26 May 2004). "New Ranger thanks God". BBC.
6. (6 July 2004). "Rangers sign Novo". BBC.
7. (5 August 2004). "Vignal makes Rangers switch". BBC.
8. (18 August 2004). "Carcary moves to Ibrox". BBC Sport.
9. (1 January 2005). "Rangers wrap up move for Djordjic". BBC Sport.
10. (5 January 2005). "Rangers secure Buffel signature". BBC Sport.
11. (22 January 2005). "Eck swoops for Norwegian ace to partner on-loan Greek". Daily Record.
12. (31 January 2005). "Keeper Waterreus joins Rangers". BBC Sport.
13. (31 January 2005). "Ferguson clinches Rangers return". BBC Sport.
14. (3 May 2004). "Rangers pay off Nerlinger". BBC Sport.
15. (18 May 2004). "Rangers seal Rae deal". [[BBC]].
16. (18 May 2004). "Capucho leaves Rangers". BBC Sport.
17. (10 March 2004). "Rangers start clear-out". BBC Sport.
18. (10 March 2004). "Rangers start clear-out". BBC Sport.
19. (2 June 2004). "Ray hand de Boer a dream job". Daily Record.
20. (7 May 2004). "Thistle bosses sign on". BBC Sport.
21. (23 June 2004). "de Boers reunited in Qatar". BBC Sport.
22. (25 June 2004). "Falkirk win Duffy chase". BBC Sport.
23. (7 July 2004). "Owls complete MacLean deal". BBC Sport.
24. (8 July 2004). "Double signing for Killie". BBC Sport.
25. (10 July 2004). "Arteta completes Real move". BBC Sport.
26. (13 July 2004). "Three new faces for Cowden". BBC Sport.
27. (26 July 2004). "Jags sign defender Dowie". BBC Sport.
28. (11 August 2004). "Loan blow for McGregor". BBC Sport.
29. (1 September 2004). "County to mould a proper Charlie". Daily Record.
30. (31 August 2004). "Scunthorpe sign striker". BBC Sport.
31. (2 January 2005). "Magpies complete Boumsong signing". BBC Sport.
32. (3 January 2005). "Moore completes Borussia switch". BBC Sport.
33. (18 January 2005). "Vanoli leaves Rangers for Vicenza". BBC Sport.
34. (11 February 2005). "Sociedad complete Mladenovic loan". BBC.
35. (27 August 2004). "Murray returns as chairman". BBC.
36. (11 February 2005). "Rangers board promotion for Bain". BBC.
37. "Rangers retail director resigns to 'pursue other interests'".