1980–81 Rangers F.C. season

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Rangers
1980–81 season
Chairman	Rae Simpson
Manager	John Greig
Ground	Ibrox Park
Scottish Premier Division	3rd P36 W16 D12 L8 F60 A32 Pts44
Scottish Cup	Winners
League Cup	Third round
Anglo-Scottish Cup	Quarter-final
Glasgow Cup	Semi-final
Top goalscorer	League: Colin McAdam (12) All: Colin McAdam (21)
← 1979–80 1981–82 →

The 1980–81 season was the 101st season of competitive football by Rangers.

Overview

Rangers played a total of 47 competitive matches during the 1980–81 season. The summer of 1980 saw Greig bring in Jim Bett from Lokeren for £150,000. Bett was joined by Colin McAdam a £165,000 signing from Partick Thistle. The side got off to a good start in the league, going on a fifteen match unbeaten run, including two Old Firm wins, was to end in November. A disastrous run in November and December all but ended the title challenge as the team finished third, twelve points behind champions Celtic.

The League Cup campaign was halted after a controversial defeat to Aberdeen in a match where the Dons were awarded two contentious penalties. Due to having no European participation, Rangers entered the Anglo-Scottish Cup which led to a defeat at the hands of English minnows, Chesterfield. The Third Division side held Rangers to a 1–1 draw at Ibrox before defeating Rangers 3–0 in the away leg at Saltergate. Rangers did win the 1981 Scottish Cup Final after beating Dundee United 4–1 in a final replay. After a tedious 0–0 draw where Ian Redford missed a last minute penalty, Rangers won the replay with goals from Davie Cooper, a John MacDonald double and Bobby Russell.

Results

All results are written with Rangers' score first.

Scottish Premier Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
9 August 1980	Airdrieonians	A	1–1	16,000	MacDonald
16 August 1980	Partick Thistle	H	4–0	25,898	Cooper, McAdam, MacDonald, Jardine
23 August 1980	Celtic	A	2–1	58,102	Bett, Miller
6 September 1980	Dundee United	A	4–2	16,269	Cooper, McAdam, MacDonald, Hegarty (o.g.)
13 September 1980	Aberdeen	H	1–1	34,000	McAdam
20 September 1980	Kilmarnock	A	8–1	15,021	MacDonald (3), Redford (2, 1 (pen.)), McAdam, Jardine, Bett
27 September 1980	St Mirren	H	2–0	30,000	Bett, Cooper
4 October 1980	Morton	A	2–2	15,000	Miller (pen), McAdam
11 October 1980	Heart of Midlothian	H	3–1	22,443	McAdam (2), Jefferies (o.g.)
18 October 1980	Airdrieonians	H	0–0	23,000
25 October 1980	Partick Thistle	A	1–1	14,250	McAdam
1 November 1980	Celtic	H	3–0	36,000	McAdam (2), MacDonald
8 November 1980	St Mirren	A	0–0	17,362
15 November 1980	Kilmarnock	H	2–0	25,791	Johnston, Jardine
22 November 1980	Heart of Midlothian	A	0–0	16,315
29 November 1980	Morton	H	0–1	20,000
13 December 1980	Aberdeen	A	0–2	22,500
20 December 1980	Kilmarnock	A	1–1	9,172	Russell
1 January 1981	Partick Thistle	H	1–1	21,326	McAdam
3 January 1981	Airdrieonians	A	1–1	11,800	Dawson
10 January 1981	Morton	A	2–0	13,000	MacDonald, Redford
31 January 1981	Aberdeen	H	1–0	32,500	Johnstone
7 February 1981	Dundee United	A	1–2	14,328	MacDonald
21 February 1981	Celtic	A	1–3	52,800	Johnstone
28 February 1981	Airdrieonians	H	2–0	12,200	MacDonald, Redford
14 March 1981	Heart of Midlothian	A	1–2	11,500	Redford
18 March 1981	Dundee United	H	1–4	14,000	McAdam
21 March 1981	Kilmarnock	H	2–0	8,488	Redford, Russell
28 March 1981	St Mirren	A	1–2	9,988	Dawson
1 April 1981	Morton	H	4–0	7,202	Johnstone (2), Redford, MacDonald
4 April 1981	Dundee United	H	2–1	16,000	Russell, Redford (pen.)
15 April 1981	St Mirren	H	1–0	10,000	Russell
18 April 1981	Celtic	H	0–1	36,000
22 April 1981	Aberdeen	A	0–0	11,500
25 April 1981	Partick Thistle	A	1–1	7,077	Russell
2 May 1981	Heart of Midlothian	H	4–0	9,770	Bett, Russell, Redford, Johnston

Scottish Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
24 January 1981	R3	Airdrieonians	A	5–0	16,054	Johnstone (2), Stevens, Redford, Bett
14 February 1981	R4	St Johnstone	A	3–3	17,595	Redford (2), McAdam
18 February 1981	R4 R	St Johnstone	H	3–1	30,000	McAdam (2), Stevens
7 March 1981	QF	Hibernian	H	3–1	26,345	Russell, McAdam, MacDonald
11 April 1981	SF	Morton	N	2–1	27,050	Jackson, Russell
9 May 1981	F	Dundee United	N	0–0	53,346
12 May 1981	F R	Dundee United	N	4–1	43,099	MacDonald (2), Cooper, Russell

League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
27 August 1980	R2 L1	Forfar Athletic	A	2–0	4,500	McAdam (2)
30 August 1980	R2 L2	Forfar Athletic	H	3–1	15,500	Miller (pen.), Johnstone, McAdam (pen.)
3 September 1980	R3 L1	Aberdeen	H	1–0	33,000	McAdam
24 September 1980	R3 L2	Aberdeen	A	1–3	23,926	McAdam

Anglo-Scottish Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers
30 July 1980	R1 L1	Partick Thistle	H	3–1	MacDonald (2), Jardine
6 August 1980	R1 L2	Partick Thistle	A	2–3
13 October 1980	R2 L1	Chesterfield	H	1–1	Dalziel
28 October 1980	R2 L2	Chesterfield	A	0–3

Glasgow Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
12 January 1981	SF	Partick Thistle	A	0–1	4,000

Appearances

Player	Position	Appearances	Goals
Peter McCloy	GK	34	0
Jim Stewart	GK	13	0
Sandy Jardine	DF	42	3
Alex Forsyth	DF	1	0
Tom Forsyth	DF	30	0
Colin Jackson	DF	38	1
Alex Miller	DF	33	3
Gregor Stevens	DF	14	2
Ally Dawson	DF	29	2
Jim Bett	MF	45	5
Davie Cooper	MF	34	4
Bobby Russell	MF	35	9
Colin McAdam	FW	40	21
Ian Redford	MF	46	12
John MacDonald	FW	38	14
Willie Johnston	MF	37	2
Derek Johnstone	FW	33	7
Tommy McLean	MF	34	0
Billy MacKay	MF	6	0
Robert Clark	DF	1	0

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Celtic (C)	36	26	4	6	84	37	+47	56	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Aberdeen	36	19	11	6	61	26	+35	49	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Rangers	36	16	12	8	60	32	+28	44	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round
4	St Mirren	36	18	8	10	56	47	+9	44
5	Dundee United	36	17	9	10	66	42	+24	43	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round

Source: Statto
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

References

Rangers F.C. seasons

1874–75
1875–76
1876–77
1877–78
1878–79
1879–80
1880–81
1881–82
1882–83
1883–84
1884–85
1885–86
1886–87
1887–88
1888–89
1889–90
1890–91
1891–92
1892–93
1893–94
1894–95
1895–96
1896–97
1897–98
1898–99
1899–1900
1900–01
1901–02
1902–03
1903–04
1904–05
1905–06
1906–07
1907–08
1908–09
1909–10
1910–11
1911–12
1912–13
1913–14
1914–15
1915–16
1916–17
1917–18
1918–19
1919–20
1920–21
1921–22
1922–23
1923–24
1924–25
1925–26
1926–27
1927–28
1928–29
1929–30
1930–31
1931–32
1932–33
1933–34
1934–35
1935–36
1936–37
1937–38
1938–39
1939–40
1940–41
1941–42
1942–43
1943–44
1944–45
1945–46
1946–47
1947–48
1948–49
1949–50
1950–51
1951–52
1952–53
1953–54
1954–55
1955–56
1956–57
1957–58
1958–59
1959–60
1960–61
1961–62
1962–63
1963–64
1964–65
1965–66
1966–67
1967–68
1968–69
1969–70
1970–71
1971–72
1972–73
1973–74
1974–75
1975–76
1976–77
1977–78
1978–79
1979–80
1980–81
1981–82
1982–83
1983–84
1984–85
1985–86
1986–87
1987–88
1988–89
1989–90
1990–91
1991–92
1992–93
1993–94
1994–95
1995–96
1996–97
1997–98
1998–99
1999–2000
2000–01
2001–02
2002–03
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2024–25

v t e 1980–81 in Scottish football
« 1979–80 1981–82 »
Domestic leagues	Football League Premier Division First Division Second Division Highland League
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final League Cup Final Drybrough Cup Junior Cup
European competitions	European Cup European Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup Anglo-Scottish Cup
Related to national team	Results World Cup 1982 qualifying (Group 6) British Home Championship
Club seasons
Premier Division	Aberdeen Airdrieonians Celtic Dundee United Heart of Midlothian Kilmarnock Morton Partick Thistle Rangers St. Mirren
First Division	Ayr United Berwick Rangers Clydebank Dundee Dunfermline Athletic Dumbarton East Stirlingshire Falkirk Hamilton Academical Hibernian Motherwell Raith Rovers St. Johnstone Stirling Albion
Second Division	Albion Rovers Alloa Athletic Arbroath Brechin City Clyde Cowdenbeath East Fife Forfar Athletic Meadowbank Thistle Montrose Queen of the South Queen's Park Stenhousemuir Stranraer

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