1997–98 Scottish Premier Division

Scottish Premier Division
Season 1997–98
Champions Celtic
Promoted St Johnstone
Relegated Hibernian
Champions League Celtic
Cup Winners' Cup Heart of Midlothian
UEFA Cup Rangers
Kilmarnock
Goals scored 497 (7)
Average goals/game 2.8
Top goalscorer Marco Negri (32)
Biggest home win Rangers 7–0 Dunfermline (18 Oct)
Biggest away win Kilmarnock 0–3 Rangers (24 Sep)
Highest attendance 50,500, Celtic v St Johnstone (9 May)
Lowest attendance 4,385, St Johnstone v Kilmarnock (13 Dec)
Average attendance 18,036 (842)

The 1997–98 Scottish Premier Division season was the last season of Scottish Football League Premier Division football before the change to the Scottish Premier League. It began on 1 August 1997.

Overview

The 1997–98 Scottish Premier Division season ended in success for Celtic who won the title by two points from nearest rivals Rangers, beating St Johnstone on the last day to clinch the title. Claiming the title would have given Rangers a record breaking 10 Scottish League Championship in a row (having matched Celtic's record the previous season). Heart of Midlothian ran Celtic and Rangers very close to winning the title, and led for large spells of the season before falling away towards the end of the season. Hibernian were relegated to the First Division after finishing bottom. As champions, Celtic qualified for the Champions League while Rangers were joined by Kilmarnock in qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Third-placed Heart of Midlothian qualified for the last-ever Cup Winners' Cup as Scottish Cup winners.[1]

Rangers were involved in some of the season's big transfers with Lorenzo Amoruso and Marco Negri arriving in multimillion-pound deals. Paul Gascoigne also left the club, heading for Middlesbrough in a £3.5m deal. Negri went on to become only the second player to score five goals in a Scottish Premier Division match, equalling Paul Sturrock's record by netting all five goals in a 5–1 win over Dundee United.

The season began on 2 August with the first goal of the season scored by Dundee United's Kjell Olofsson as they drew 1–1 at newly promoted St Johnstone. The season ended on 9 May with Hibernian's Stevie Crawford netting a last-minute equaliser away to Kilmarnock to score the final goal of the season.

Clubs

Promotion and relegation from 1996–97

Promoted from First Division to Premier League

Relegated from Premier Division to First Division


Stadia and locations

Team Location Stadium
AberdeenAberdeenPittodrie Stadium
CelticParkhead, GlasgowCeltic Park
Dundee UnitedDundeeTannadice Park
Dunfermline AthleticDunfermlineEast End Park
Heart of MidlothianGorgie, EdinburghTynecastle Park
HibernianLeith, EdinburghEaster Road
KilmarnockKilmarnockRugby Park
MotherwellMotherwellFir Park
RangersIbrox, GlasgowIbrox Park
St JohnstonePerthMcDiarmid Park

Managers

Team Manager
Aberdeen Scotland Alex Miller
Celtic Netherlands Wim Jansen
Dundee United Scotland Tommy McLean
Dunfermline Athletic Scotland Bert Paton
Heart of Midlothian Scotland Jim Jefferies
Hibernian Scotland Alex McLeish
Kilmarnock Scotland Bobby Williamson
Motherwell Finland Harri Kampman
Rangers Scotland Walter Smith
St Johnstone Scotland Paul Sturrock

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Manner of departure Incoming manager Date of appointment
Celtic Scotland Billy Stark 11 May 1997 Caretaker spell ended Netherlands Wim Jansen 4 July 1997
Aberdeen Scotland Roy Aitken 10 November 1997[2] Sacked Scotland Alex Miller 21 November 1997[3]
Hibernian Scotland Jim Duffy 2 February 1998[4] Sacked Scotland Alex McLeish 11 February 1998
Motherwell Scotland Alex McLeish 11 February 1998 Signed by Hibernian Finland Harri Kampman 25 February 1998

Events

League table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Celtic (C) 36 22 8 6 64 24 +40 74 1998–99 UEFA Champions League First qualifying round
2 Rangers 36 21 9 6 76 38 +38 72 1998–99 UEFA Cup First qualifying round
3 Heart of Midlothian 36 19 10 7 70 46 +24 67 Cup Winners' Cup 1998-99
Qualifying round
4 Kilmarnock 36 13 11 12 40 52 −12 50 1998–99 UEFA Cup First qualifying round
5 St Johnstone 36 13 9 14 38 42 −4 48
6 Aberdeen 36 9 12 15 39 53 −14 39
7 Dundee United 36 8 13 15 43 51 −8 37
8 Dunfermline Athletic 36 8 13 15 43 68 −25 37
9 Motherwell 36 9 7 20 46 64 −18 34
10 Hibernian (R) 36 6 12 18 38 59 −21 30 Relegation to First Division

Source: Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Matches 1–18

During matches 1–18 each team plays every other team twice (home and away).

Home \ Away[1] ABE CEL DUNDNFHOMHIBKILMOTRANSTJ
Aberdeen 0–2 1–1 1–2 1–4 2–0 0–0 1–3 1–1 1–1
Celtic 2–0 4–0 1–2 1–0 5–0 4–0 0–2 1–1 2–0
Dundee United 5–0 1–2 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–2 4–0 2–1 2–1
Dunfermline Athletic 1–1 0–2 3–3 2–1 2–1 1–1 0–2 0–0 2–2
Heart of Midlothian 4–1 1–2 2–1 3–1 2–0 5–3 2–0 2–5 2–1
Hibernian 2–2 2–1 1–3 5–2 0–1 4–0 1–1 3–4 1–1
Kilmarnock 1–0 0–0 1–3 2–1 0–3 2–1 2–1 0–3 0–1
Motherwell 1–2 2–3 1–0 2–0 1–4 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–1
Rangers 3–3 1–0 5–1 7–0 3–1 1–0 4–1 2–2 3–2
St Johnstone 1–0 0–2 1–1 0–2 1–2 1–0 1–1 4–3 0–2

Source: Soccerbot
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Matches 19–36

During matches 19–36 each team plays every other team a further two times (home and away).

Home \ Away[1] ABE CEL DUNDNFHOMHIBKILMOTRANSTJ
Aberdeen 0–1 1–0 2–0 2–2 3–0 0–0 3–0 1–0 0–1
Celtic 3–1 1–1 5–1 0–0 0–0 4–0 4–1 2–0 2–0
Dundee United 0–0 0–1 2–2 0–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–2 0–2
Dunfermline Athletic 3–3 1–1 2–2 1–3 1–1 3–2 2–1 2–3 0–1
Heart of Midlothian 3–1 1–1 2–0 2–0 2–2 1–1 1–1 0–3 1–1
Hibernian 1–1 0–1 1–2 1–0 2–1 0–1 1–0 1–2 0–1
Kilmarnock 2–1 1–2 1–0 3–0 2–2 1–1 4–1 1–1 1–0
Motherwell 1–2 1–1 1–0 1–3 2–4 6–2 1–1 1–2 2–1
Rangers 2–0 2–0 4–1 1–1 2–2 1–0 0–1 1–0 2–1
St Johnstone 0–1 1–0 1–1 0–0 2–3 1–1 1–0 3–2 2–0

Source: Soccerbot
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Top scorers

PlayerGoalsTeam
Italy Marco Negri32Rangers
Sweden Kjell Olofsson18Dundee United
Sweden Henrik Larsson16Celtic
Scotland Andy SmithDunfermline Athletic
Republic of Ireland Tommy Coyne14Motherwell
Scotland Jim HamiltonHeart of Midlothian
Republic of Ireland Owen Coyle11Motherwell
Germany Jorg Albertz10Rangers
Scotland Craig BurleyCeltic
Scotland Billy DoddsAberdeen
Scotland Simon DonnellyCeltic
Scotland Neil McCannHeart of Midlothian
Northern Ireland George O'BoyleSt Johnstone
Scotland Paul WrightKilmarnock

Source: Soccerbot

References

  1. ↑ "1997/98 Scottish Premier Division". Soccerbot. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  2. ↑ "Roy Aitken". AFC Heritage. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "Miller takes Aberdeen call". The Independent. 22 November 1997. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  4. ↑ "Duffy is sacked by Hibernian". The Independent. 3 February 1998. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  5. ↑ "Winners against the odds". BBC Sport website. 2000-07-20.
  6. ↑ "The Scotland Squad". BBC News & Sport website. 1998-05-03. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
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