2018–19 Scottish Premiership

Scottish Premiership
Season 2018–19
Dates 4 August 2018 – 19 May 2019
Matches played 48
Goals scored 124 (2.58 per match)
Top goalscorer Steven Naismith (5 goals)[1][2]
Biggest home win Hibernian 6–0 Hamilton Academical[3]
(6 October 2018)
Biggest away win St Johnstone 0–6 Celtic[3]
(7 October 2018)
Highest scoring Motherwell 3–3 Rangers[3]
(26 August 2018)
Rangers 5–1 St Johnstone[3]
(23 September 2018)
Hibernian 6–0 Hamilton Academical[3]
(6 October 2018)
St Johnstone 0–6 Celtic[3]
(7 October 2018)
Longest winning run 5 matches:[3]
Heart of Midlothian
Longest unbeaten run 7 matches:[3]
Heart of Midlothian
Longest winless run 6 matches:[3]
Dundee
Longest losing run 6 matches:[3]
Dundee
Highest attendance 59,143[3]
Celtic 1–0 Aberdeen
(29 September 2018)
Lowest attendance 1,342[3]
Livingston 1–0 Hamilton Academical
(15 September 2018)
Total attendance 727,468[3]
Average attendance 15,814 ( 118)[3]
All statistics correct as of 7 October 2018.

The 2018–19 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the sixth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 15 June 2018 and the season began on 4 August 2018.[4]

Twelve teams will contest the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, St Johnstone and St Mirren. Celtic are the defending champions.

Teams

To Premiership

St Mirren secured the Championship title and promotion to the Premiership on 14 April 2018 after a goalless draw with Livingston,[5] who were also promoted after winning the play-off final.[6]

To Championship

Ross County were relegated to the Championship on 12 May 2018 after a 1–1 draw with St Johnstone.[7] Partick Thistle were also relegated following a 3–1 aggregate defeat to Livingston in the play-off final.[6]

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Hamilton Academical
Pittodrie Stadium Celtic Park Dens Park New Douglas Park
Capacity: 20,866[8] Capacity: 60,411[9] Capacity: 11,506[10] Capacity: 5,510[11]
Heart of Midlothian Hibernian
Tynecastle Park Easter Road
Capacity: 20,099[12] Capacity: 20,421[13]
Kilmarnock Livingston
Rugby Park Almondvale Stadium
Capacity: 17,889[14] Capacity: 9,512[15]
Motherwell Rangers St Johnstone St. Mirren
Fir Park Ibrox Stadium McDiarmid Park St Mirren Park
Capacity: 13,677[16] Capacity: 50,817[17] Capacity: 10,696[18] Capacity: 8,023[19]

Personnel and kits

Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen Scotland Derek McInnes Scotland Graeme Shinnie Adidas Saltire Energy
Celtic Northern Ireland Brendan Rodgers Scotland Scott Brown New Balance Dafabet
Dundee Scotland Neil McCann Finland Glen Kamara Puma McEwan Fraser Legal
Hamilton Academical Scotland Martin Canning Scotland Darian MacKinnon Adidas Euro Mechanical Handling
Heart of Midlothian Scotland Craig Levein Scotland Christophe Berra Umbro Save the Children
Hibernian Northern Ireland Neil Lennon Scotland David Gray Macron Marathonbet
Kilmarnock Scotland Steve Clarke Scotland Kris Boyd Nike QTS
Livingston Scotland Gary Holt Scotland Craig Halkett FBT Tony Macaroni
Motherwell Northern Ireland Stephen Robinson England Peter Hartley Macron BetPark
Rangers England Steven Gerrard England James Tavernier Hummel 32Red
St Johnstone Northern Ireland Tommy Wright Republic of Ireland Joe Shaughnessy BLK Binn Group
St Mirren Northern Ireland Oran Kearney Scotland Stephen McGinn Joma Skyview Capital

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Rangers Northern Ireland Jimmy Nicholl End of interim 13 May 2018[20] Pre-season England Steven Gerrard 1 June 2018[21]
St Mirren Scotland Jack Ross Signed by Sunderland 25 May 2018[22] England Alan Stubbs 8 June 2018[23]
Livingston Scotland David Hopkin Contract expired 31 May 2018[24] Scotland Kenny Miller 30 June 2018[25]
Livingston Scotland Kenny Miller Mutual consent 20 August 2018[26] 9th Scotland Gary Holt 23 August 2018[27]
St Mirren England Alan Stubbs Sacked 3 September 2018[28] 11th Northern Ireland Oran Kearney 7 September 2018[29]

Format

Basic

In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams will play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league splits into two sections of six teams, with each team playing every other team in their section once. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section have played each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches will be played, with 38 matches played by each team.

League summary

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1]
1 Heart of Midlothian 8 6 1 1 14 6 +8 19 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Hibernian 8 5 2 1 19 6 +13 17 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3 Celtic 8 5 1 2 13 4 +9 16
4 Kilmarnock 8 5 1 2 13 7 +6 16
5 Livingston 8 4 3 1 8 5 +3 15
6 Rangers 8 4 2 2 18 8 +10 14
7 Aberdeen 8 3 3 2 9 7 +2 12
8 St Johnstone 8 2 2 4 7 18 −11 8
9 Hamilton Academical 8 2 0 6 6 16 −10 6
10 Motherwell 8 1 2 5 8 14 −6 5
11 St Mirren 8 1 1 6 4 17 −13 4 Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
12 Dundee 8 1 0 7 5 16 −11 3 Relegation to the Scottish Championship
Updated to match(es) played on 7 October 2018. Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Play-off (only if deciding champion, UEFA competitions qualification and second stage group allocation).
Notes:
  1. ↑ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

Leader – Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
Qualification to Premiership play-off final
Relegation to 2019–20 Championship
Team \ Round 1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738
Heart of Midlothian11111111
Hibernian22365322
Celtic36222653
Kilmarnock44637544
Livingston99743435
Rangers73474266
Aberdeen65588777
St Johnstone1010856888
Hamilton Academical11891011999
Motherwell12121199101010
St Mirren57101110111111
Dundee811121212121212

Source: BBC Sport

Results

Matches 1–22

Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.

Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN HAM HOM HIB KIL LIV MOT RAN STJ STM
Aberdeen — 0–2 1–0 1–1 4–1
Celtic 1–0 — 1–0 3–1 1–0
Dundee 0–1 — 0–3 1–2 1–3 a
Hamilton Academical 0–2 — 1–4 a 1–2 3–0
Heart of Midlothian 1–0 — a 0–0 2–1 4–1
Hibernian 1–1 6–0 a — 3–2 3–0
Kilmarnock 2–1 0–1 — 3–1 2–0
Livingston 1–0 2–1 0–0 — 1–0
Motherwell 0–1 0–1 1–1 — 3–3
Rangers a a 4–0 3–1 — 5–1 2–0
St Johnstone 1–1 0–6 1–0 1–1 —
St Mirren 0–0 2–1 0–1 0–2 —
Updated to match(es) played on 6 October 2018. Source: SPFL
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 23–33

Teams play each other once.

Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN HAM HOM HIB KIL LIV MOT RAN STJ STM
Aberdeen — — — — — a —
Celtic — — — — a — —
Dundee — — — — — —
Hamilton Academical — — — — — — —
Heart of Midlothian — — — a — — —
Hibernian — — — — — — —
Kilmarnock — — — — — — —
Livingston — — — — — —
Motherwell — — — a — — — —
Rangers — — — — — — —
St Johnstone a — — — — — — —
St Mirren — — — — — —
First match(es) will be played on 23 January 2019. Source: SPFL
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 34–38

After 33 matches, the league splits into two sections of six teams i.e. the top six and the bottom six, with the teams playing every other team in their section once (either at home or away). The exact matches are determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of 7 October 2018[1][2]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Scotland Steven Naismith Heart of Midlothian 5
2 Scotland James Forrest Celtic 4
Scotland Stevie Mallan Hibernian
Scotland Eamonn Brophy Kilmarnock
Northern Ireland Kyle Lafferty Rangers and Heart of Midlothian
3 England Mickel Miller Hamilton Academical 3
Austria Peter Haring Heart of Midlothian
Scotland Martin Boyle Hibernian
Switzerland Florian Kamberi Hibernian
Scotland Greg Stewart Kilmarnock
Colombia Alfredo Morelos Rangers
England James Tavernier Rangers

Hat-tricks

Updated 7 October 2018

No. Player For Against Date Score
1 Scotland James Forrest Celtic St Johnstone 7 October 2018 6–0 (4 goals)

Attendances

These are the average attendances of the teams.

Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Aberdeen 61,324 19,046 14,003 15,331 −2.8%†
2 Celtic 232,830 59,143 56,044 58,207 +0.9%†
3 Dundee 23,952 7,581 5,137 5,988 +0.7%†
4 Hamilton Academical 10,173 3,764 1,788 2,543 −17.8%†
5 Heart of Midlothian 71,865 19,113 17,240 17,966 −2.5%†
6 Hibernian 70,556 18,583 16,857 17,639 −2.7%†
7 Kilmarnock 26,961 10,988 4,644 6,740 +25.0%†
8 Livingston 18,479 9,246 1,342 4,619 +242.7%†
9 Motherwell 25,826 9,545 4,256 6,456 +18.5%†
10 Rangers 148,539 50,130 48,729 49,513 +0.7%†
11 St Johnstone 19,769 5,993 4,259 4,942 +29.7%†
12 St Mirren 23,187 7,288 4,347 5,796 +30.3%†
League total 727,468 59,143 1,342 15,814 −0.7%†

Updated to games played on 7 October 2018
Source: [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35][36] [37][38] [39] [40] [41]

Awards

Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month Ref.
Manager Club Player Club
August Scotland Craig Levein Hearts Scotland Tony Watt St Johnstone [42]
September Scotland Gary Holt Livingston
October
November
December
January Winter Break
February
March
April

Premiership play-offs

The quarter-final will be contested between the third and fourth-placed teams in the 2018–19 Championship, with the winners advancing to the semi-final to face the second-placed Championship side. The last remaining Championship team will play-off against the eleventh-placed Premiership team in the final, with the winners securing the last place in the 2019–20 Premiership.

Broadcasting

Live Matches

The SPFL allows Sky Sports and BT Sport to broadcast up to six live home matches (combined) for each club, although this is only four for Celtic and Rangers. The TV deal allows the broadcasters to show 30 games each (and the play-offs for BT Sport) and provides approximately £21m to the SPFL per season.[43]

Highlights

Sky Sports hold the rights to Saturday night highlights and show the Premiership goals on Sky Sports News in their Goals Express programme. Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba can broadcast in full the repeat of 38 Saturday 3pm matches "as live" at 5.30pm. The main Premiership highlights programme is BBC Scotland's Sportscene programme, which shows in-depth highlights of all six Premiership matches every weekend. STV show the goals on Monday nights during the Sport section of their News at Six programme. The SPFL also uploads the goals from every Premiership match onto its YouTube channel — available from 6pm on a Sunday for UK and Ireland viewers and 10pm on a Saturday for those worldwide.

References

  1. 1 2 "Scottish Premiership Top Scorers". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 "2018–19 Scottish Premiership scorers". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "2018–19 Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  4. ↑ "2018/19 fixture release day confirmed". SPFL. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  5. ↑ "St Mirren 0–0 Livingston". BBC Sport. BBC. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Partick Thistle 0–1 Livingston (agg 1–3)". BBC Sport. BBC. 20 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  7. ↑ "St Johnstone 1–1 Ross County". BBC Sport. BBC. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  8. ↑ "Aberdeen Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  9. ↑ "Celtic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  10. ↑ "Dundee Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  11. ↑ "Hamilton Academical Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  12. ↑ McLean, David (21 June 2017). "Demolition of Tynecastle main stand nears completion". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  13. ↑ "Hibernian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  14. ↑ "Kilmarnock Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  15. ↑ "Livingston Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  16. ↑ "Motherwell Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  17. ↑ "Rangers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  18. ↑ "St Johnstone Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  19. ↑ "St Mirren Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  20. ↑ "Hibernian 5–5 Rangers". BBC Sport. BBC. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  21. ↑ "Steven Gerrard: Rangers name former Liverpool captain as their manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  22. ↑ "Jack Ross: Sunderland name St Mirren boss as new manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  23. ↑ "Alan Stubbs: St Mirren appoint former Hibs boss as new manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 8 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  24. ↑ "Livingston start new manager search after David Hopkin departs". BBC Sport. BBC. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  25. ↑ "Kenny Miller: Livingston appoint former Rangers striker player-manager on two-year deal". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  26. ↑ "Livingston: Kenny Miller leaves player-manager role after just seven weeks". BBC Sport. BBC. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  27. ↑ "Livingston: Gary Holt agrees to replace Kenny Miller as head coach". BBC Sport. BBC. 23 August 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  28. ↑ "Alan Stubbs: St Mirren part with manager after less than three months in the job". BBC Sport. BBC. 3 September 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  29. ↑ "St Mirren appoint Oran Kearney as manager on a three-year deal". BBC Sport. BBC. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  30. ↑ "Aberdeen Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  31. ↑ "Celtic Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  32. ↑ "Dundee Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  33. ↑ "Hamilton Academical Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  34. ↑ "Heart of Midlothian Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  35. ↑ "Hibernian Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  36. ↑ "Kilmarnock Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  37. ↑ "Livingston Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  38. ↑ "Motherwell Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  39. ↑ "Rangers Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  40. ↑ "St Johnstone Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  41. ↑ "St Mirren Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  42. ↑ "SPFL monthly awards". www.spfl.co.uk. Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  43. ↑ Kyle, Gregor (2015-09-10). "SPFL strike TV deal with Sky and BT for Premiership and Play Off coverage". dailyrecord. Retrieved 2017-08-15.
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