Scottish Premier Division 1996-97

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Scottish Premier Division
Season	1996-97
Champions	Rangers
Relegated	Raith Rovers
Champions League	Rangers
UEFA Cup	Celtic, Dundee United
Cup Winners Cup	Kilmarnock
Top goalscorer	Jorge Cadete (25)
Biggest home win	Celtic 6-0 Kilmarnock (08 Jan)
Biggest away win	Raith Rovers 0-6 Rangers (15 Apr)
Total goals	504 (27)
Average goals/game	2.8
Highest attendance	50,210, Rangers 2-0 Celtic (28 Sep)
Lowest attendance	3,052, Raith Rovers 1-5 Motherwell (18 Feb)
Average attendance	17,194 (2,159)
← Previous season 1995-96	Next season → 1997-98

The 1996-97 Scottish Premier Division season was the penultimate season of Scottish Premier Division football before the change to the Scottish Premier League. It began on 10 August 1996.

1 Overview
2 Promotion and relegation from 1995-96
3 Events
4 Table
5 Results
- 5.1 Matches 1-18
- 5.2 Matches 19-36
6 Top scorers
7 Managerial changes
8 References
9 See also

[edit] Overview

The 1996-97 Scottish Premier Division season ended in success for Rangers who won the title by five points from nearest rivals Celtic to clinch nine titles in a row. Raith Rovers were relegated to the First Division after finishing bottom. As champions, Rangers qualified for the Champions League while Celtic were joined by third-placed Dundee United in qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Seventh-placed Kilmarnock qualified for the penultimate Cup Winners' Cup as Scottish Cup winners.^[1]

The season began on 10 August with the first goal of the season scored by Dundee United's Gary McSwegan as they drew 1-1 at home to Motherwell. The season ended on 10 May with Celtic's Tommy Johnson netting a late goal to cap a 3-0 win at home to Dundee United to claim the final goal of the season.

[edit] Promotion and relegation from 1995-96

Promoted from First Division to Premier League

Dunfermline Athletic
Dundee United (via play-off)

Relegated from Premier Division to Scottish First Division

Partick Thistle (via play-off)
Falkirk

[edit] Events

17 Aug: Ally McCoist hits the first hat-trick of the season in a 5-2 win at Dunfermline.
07 May: Rangers win the title with a 1-0 win at Dundee United

[edit] Table

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rangers (C)	36	25	5	6	85	33	52	80	UEFA Champions League 1997-98 First qualifying round
2	Celtic	36	23	6	7	78	32	46	75	UEFA Cup 1997-98 First qualifying round
3	Dundee United	36	17	9	10	46	33	13	60	UEFA Cup 1997-98 First qualifying round
4	Hearts	36	14	10	12	46	43	3	52
5	Dunfermline Athletic	36	12	9	15	52	65	-13	45
6	Aberdeen	36	10	14	12	45	54	-9	44
7	Kilmarnock	36	11	6	19	41	61	-20	39	Cup Winners' Cup 1997-98 Qualifying round
8	Motherwell	36	9	11	16	44	55	-11	38
9	Hibernian	36	9	11	16	38	55	-17	38
10	Raith Rovers (R)	36	6	7	23	29	73	-44	25	Relegation to Scottish_First_Division_1997-98

Source: Soccerbot
Rules for classification: 1^st points; 2^nd goal difference; 3^rd goals scored.
P = Position; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points; (C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted.

[edit] Results

[edit] Matches 1-18

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

Home \ Away¹	ABER	CELT	DUNU	DUNF	HEAR	HIBS	KILM	WELL	RARO	RANG
Aberdeen		2–2	3–3	3–0	4–0	0–2	3–0	0–0	1–0	0–3
Celtic	1–0		1–0	5–1	2–2	5–0	6–0	1–0	4–1	0–1
Dundee United	1–0	1–2		1–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	1–0
Dunfermline Athletic	2–3	0–2	1–1		2–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	2–5
Hearts	1–2	2–2	1–0	2–0		0–0	3–2	1–1	0–0	1–4
Hibernian	0–1	0–4	1–1	0–0	1–3		1–2	2–0	1–0	2–1
Kilmarnock	3–0	1–3	0–2	2–2	2–0	4–2		2–4	2–1	1–4
Motherwell	2–2	2–1	1–3	2–3	0–2	1–1	1–0		0–1	0–1
Raith Rovers	1–4	1–2	2–3	1–2	1–1	0–3	1–0	0–3		2–2
Rangers	2–2	2–0	1–0	3–1	3–0	4–3	4–2	5–0	1–0

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

[edit] Matches 19-36

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

Home \ Away¹	ABER	CELT	DUNU	DUNF	HEAR	HIBS	KILM	WELL	RARO	RANG
Aberdeen		1–2	1–1	0–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	2–2
Celtic	3–0		3–0	4–2	2–0	4–1	0–0	5–0	2–0	0–1
Dundee United	4–0	1–0		2–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–2	2–1	0–1
Dunfermline Athletic	3–0	1–1	2–3		2–3	1–1	3–1	3–1	2–0	0–3
Hearts	0–0	1–2	1–2	1–1		1–0	2–0	4–1	3–2	3–1
Hibernian	3–1	1–3	2–0	1–0	0–4		0–1	1–1	1–1	1–2
Kilmarnock	1–1	2–0	2–3	2–1	1–0	1–1		1–0	0–1	1–1
Motherwell	2–2	0–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	2–1	2–0		5–0	1–3
Raith Rovers	2–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	1–5		0–6
Rangers	4–0	3–1	0–2	4–0	0–0	3–1	1–2	0–2	4–0

[edit] Top scorers

Player	Goals	Team
Jorge Cadete	25	Celtic
Brian Laudrup	16	Rangers
Paul Wright	15	Kilmarnock
Billy Dodds	14	Aberdeen
John Robertson		Hearts
Pierre van Hooijdonk		Celtic
Gerry Britton	13	Dunfermline Athletic
Paul Gascoigne	13	Rangers
Paolo di Canio	12	Celtic
Kjell Olofsson	12	Dundee United
Tommy Coyne	11	Motherwell
Darren Jackson	11	Hibernian
Jorg Albertz	10	Rangers
Ally McCoist		Rangers
Andy Smith		Dunfermline
Dean Windass		Aberdeen

Source: Soccerbot

[edit] Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Raith Rovers	Tommy McLean	Resigned	10 September 1996	Iain Munro	16 September 1996
Dundee United	Billy Kirkwood	Sacked	10 September 1996	Tommy McLean	10 September 1996
Hibernian	Alex Miller	Sacked	30 September 1996	Jim Duffy	30 December 1996
Kilmarnock	Alex Totten	Sacked	30 November 1996	Bobby Williamson	07 December 1996