| Club: | Rangers |
| Season: | 1898–99 |
| Mgrtitle: | Match Secretary |
| Manager: | William Wilton |
| Chrtitle: | President |
| Chairman: | James Henderson |
| Stdtitle: | Ground |
| Stadium: | Ibrox Park |
| League: | Scottish League Division One |
| League Result: | 1st P18 W18 D0 L0 F79 A18 Pts36 |
| Cup1: | Scottish Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Runners-up |
| Season Topscorer: | Robert Hamilton (25) |
| League Topscorer: | Robert Hamilton (21) |
| Prevseason: | 1897–98 |
| Nextseason: | 1899–1900 |
The 1898–99 season was the 25th season of competitive football played by Rangers F.C.
Rangers played a total of 39 competitive matches during the 1898–99 season.[1] They finished top of Scottish League Division One with a one hundred percent record of 18 wins from 18 matches.
The club ended the season without any other trophies: in the Scottish Cup, despite beating Hearts and St Mirren en route to the final, they lost to Celtic 2–0.[2] [3] Earlier in the season they had also lost in the final of the less important Glasgow Cup 1–0 to Queen's Park,[4] [5] and at its end they lost in the minor Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup final, another 2–0 loss to Celtic,[6] also finishing as runners-up to the same opponents in the supplementary Glasgow Football League.[7]
Regardless of these setbacks, the perfect league campaign of 1898–99 remains a unique achievement in the annals of British football.[8] [9] [10] [11]
All results are written with Rangers' score first.
| Date | Opponent | Venue | data-sort-type="number" | Result! | Attendance | Scorers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 August 1898 | Partick Thistle | H | 6–2 | 7,000 | Hamilton (3), Sharp, Neil, Millar | |
| 27 August 1898 | St Mirren | A | 3–1 | A.Smith, Hamilton, McPherson | ||
| 3 September 1898 | Heart of Midlothian | A | 3–2 | 17,500 | Hamilton (2), Wilkie | |
| 10 September 1898 | Third Lanark | H | 4–1 | 18,000 | Millar, McPherson, Campbell, Neil (pen.) | |
| 19 September 1898 | St Bernard's | A | 2–0 | 8,000 | A.Smith, Neil (pen.) | |
| 24 September 1898 | Celtic | A | 4–0 | 45,000 | Neil (pen.), McPherson, Campbell, Millar | |
| 26 September 1898 | Third Lanark | A | 3–2 | 14,000 | Campbell (2), McPherson | |
| 1 October 1898 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 3–1 | 25,000 | Hamilton (2), A.Smith | |
| 8 October 1898 | Dundee | A | 2–1 | 7,500 | Hamilton, Wilkie | |
| 5 November 1898 | Partick Thistle | A | 5–0 | 5,000 | Hamilton (2), Millar (2), Sharp | |
| 19 November 1898 | Hibernian | A | 4–3 | 10,000 | Millar, A.Smith, Hamilton, Neil (pen.) | |
| 26 November 1898 | Clyde | H | 8–0 | 4,000 | Millar (3), Sharp (2), Gibson (2), Watson (o.g.) | |
| 3 December 1898 | St Bernard's | H | 5–2 | 3,000 | Campbell (4), Hamilton | |
| 17 December 1898 | Dundee | H | 9–0 | 3,000 | Hamilton (3), A.Smith (2), McPherson (2), Gibson (pen.), Campbell | |
| 24 December 1898 | Hibernian | H | 10–0 | 7,000 | A.Smith (4), Hamilton (2), McPherson, Millar, Gibson (pen.), Campbell | |
| 31 December 1898 | St Mirren | H | 3–2 | 5,000 | Campbell (2), A.Smith | |
| 2 January 1899 | Celtic | H | 4–1 | 30,000 | Hamilton (3), Campbell | |
| 7 January 1899 | Clyde | A | 3–0 | 4,000 | A.Smith, Millar, Neil (pen.) |
| Date | Round | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 January 1899 | R1 | Heart of Midlothian | H | 4–1 | 25,612 | Gibson (2), Neil (pen.), Hamilton | |
| 11 February 1899 | R2 | Ayr Parkhouse | A | 4–1 | 5,000 | Hamilton (2), Campbell, A.Smith | |
| 18 February 1899 | Clyde | H | 4–0 | 6,000 | Low, McPherson, Gibson (pen.), Hamilton | ||
| 15 April 1899 | St Mirren | A | 2–1 | 10,000 | McPherson, Millar | ||
| 22 April 1899 | Celtic | N | 0–2 | 25,000 |
| Player | Position | Appearances | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew Dickie | GK | 23 | 0 | |
| Robert Hamilton | FW | 23 | 25 | |
| Robert Neil | DF | 22 | 7 | |
| Alex Smith | FW | 22 | 13 | |
| David Crawford | DF | 22 | 0 | |
| Neilly Gibson | MF | 22 | 6 | |
| John Campbell | MF | 21 | 13 | |
| Jimmy Millar | FW | 21 | 12 | |
| John McPherson | MF | 20 | 8 | |
| David Mitchell | MF | 18 | 0 | |
| Nicol Smith | DF | 17 | 0 | |
| Jock Drummond | DF | 6 | 0 | |
| Jimmy E. Millar | DF | 5 | 0 | |
| Andrew Sharp | MF | 4 | 3 | |
| Jack Wilkie | FW | 4 | 2 | |
| James Sharp | MF | 1 | 1 | |
| Tommy Low | MF | 1 | 1 | |
| Jimmy Oswald | FW | 1 | 0 |