The 1999-2000 Scottish Premier League season was one to forget for Rangers fans. The team, led by manager Dick Advocaat, was on a quest to win their 10th consecutive league title, a feat that would have cemented their dominance in Scottish football. However, fate had other plans.
A serious injury to key player, Paul Gascoigne, in a Scottish Cup tie against Hearts, proved to be a turning point in the season. Gascoigne, who had been instrumental in Rangers’ success, suffered a severe hamstring injury that kept him out of action for several months.
Without Gascoigne, Rangers struggled to maintain their momentum, and their title hopes began to slip away. The team’s performances became inconsistent, and they eventually finished the season in second place, behind Celtic.
Meanwhile, a £3.5m signing, made by Rangers during the same season, proved to be a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing campaign. The player, Michael Mols, a Dutch striker, had been signed from FC Utrecht and went on to have a remarkable season.
Mols’ goal-scoring form was impressive, and he outscored two of the world’s top strikers, George Weah and Gabriel Batistuta, in the UEFA Champions League. Weah, who played for AC Milan, and Batistuta, who played for Fiorentina, were two of the most feared strikers in the world at the time, but Mols’ performances eclipsed theirs in the Champions League.
Mols’ success was a rare highlight in an otherwise disappointing season for Rangers. Despite the team’s failure to win their 10th consecutive title, Mols’ performances gave fans hope for the future.
In the end, Rangers’ failure to win the title was a significant setback, but the team regrouped and refocused, and they went on to win the league title the following season. The injury to Gascoigne was a significant blow, but the emergence of Mols as a top-class striker was a welcome boost to the team.
The 1999-2000 season may have been one to forget for Rangers fans, but the performances of Michael Mols provided a glimpse of what was to come. The team’s resilience and determination ultimately paid off, and they went on to achieve great success in the years that followed.