1997–98 Scottish Premier Division

Scottish Premier Division
Season	1997–98
Champions	Celtic
Relegated	Hibernian
Champions League	Celtic
UEFA Cup	Rangers, Kilmarnock
Cup Winners' Cup	Heart of Midlothian
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)
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

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

1 Overview
2 Promotion and relegation from 1996–97
3 Events
4 Table
5 Results
- 5.1 Matches 1–18
- 5.2 Matches 19–36
6 Top scorers
7 Managerial changes
8 References

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. 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 multi-million 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.

Promotion and relegation from 1996–97

Promoted from First Division to Premier League

St. Johnstone

Relegated from Premier Division to First Division

Raith Rovers

Events

23 August: Marco Negri equals Paul Sturrock's record with five goals in one match in the 5–1 win over Dundee United
September: Darren Jackson undergoes surgery for hydrocephalus,^[2] returning to action within three months^[3]
9 May: Celtic win the title after a 2–0 home win over St Johnstone F.C

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Celtic (C)	36	23	8	5	64	24	+40	77	UEFA Champions League 1998-99 First qualifying round
2	Rangers	36	22	8	6	76	38	+38	74	1998–99 UEFA Cup Second qualifying round
3	Heart of Midlothian	36	19	9	8	70	46	+24	66	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	7	14	15	43	51	−8	35
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 the 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; (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; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Matches 1–18

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

Home \ Away¹	ABE	CEL	DUN	DNF	HOM	HIB	KIL	MOT	RAN	STJ
Aberdeen		1–1	1–1	1–2	1–4	2–0	0–0	1–3	0–2	1–1
Celtic	3–3		5–1	7–2	3–1	1–0	4–1	2–2	1–0	3–2
Dundee United	5–0	0–1		0–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	4–0	1–2	2–1
Dunfermline Athletic	1–1	0–0	3–3		2–1	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	2–2
Heart of Midlothian	4–1	2–5	2–1	3–1		2–0	5–3	2–0	1–2	2–1
Hibernian	2–2	3–4	1–3	5–2	0–1		4–0	1–1	2–1	1–1
Kilmarnock	1–0	0–3	1–3	2–1	0–3	2–1		2–1	0–0	0–1
Motherwell	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–4	1–1	0–1		2–3	0–1
Rangers	2–0	1–1	4–0	1–2	1–0	5–0	4–0	0–2		2–0
St. Johnstone	1–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–2	1–0	1–1	4–3	0–2

Source: Soccerbot
¹The 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 \ Away¹	ABE	CEL	DUN	DNF	HOM	HIB	KIL	MOT	RAN	STJ
Aberdeen		1–0	1–0	2–0	2–2	3–0	0–0	3–0	0–1	0–1
Celtic	2–0		4–1	2–2	1–0	3–0	0–1	2–0	2–0	2–1
Dundee United	0–0	0–1		2–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–2
Dunfermline Athletic	3–3	2–3	2–2		1–3	1–1	3–2	2–1	1–1	0–1
Heart of Midlothian	3–1	0–3	2–0	2–0		2–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–1
Hibernian	1–1	1–2	1–2	1–0	2–1		0–1	1–0	0–1	0–1
Kilmarnock	2–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	2–2	1–1		4–1	1–2	1–0
Motherwell	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–3	2–4	6–2	1–1		1–1	2–1
Rangers	3–1	2–0	1–1	5–1	0–0	0–0	4–0	4–1		2–0
St. Johnstone	0–1	2–0	1–1	0–0	2–3	1–1	1–0	3–2	1–0

Top scorers

Player	Goals	Team
Marco Negri	32	Rangers
Kjell Olofsson	18	Dundee United
Henrik Larsson	16	Celtic
Andy Smith	16	Dunfermline Athletic
Tommy Coyne	14	Motherwell
Jim Hamilton	14	Heart of Midlothian
Owen Coyle	11	Motherwell
Jorg Albertz	10	Rangers
Craig Burley		Celtic
Billy Dodds		Aberdeen
Simon Donnelly		Celtic
Neil McCann		Heart of Midlothian
George O'Boyle		St. Johnstone
Paul Wright		Kilmarnock

Source: Soccerbot

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Dundee United	Tommy McLean	Mutual consent	4 September 1997	Paul Sturrock	5 September 1997
St. Johnstone	Paul Sturrock	Resigned	5 September 1997	Sandy Clark	7 September 1997
Motherwell	Harri Kampman	Resigned	15 October 1997	Billy Davies	15 October 1997
Aberdeen	Alex Miller	Sacked	8 December 1997	Paul Hegarty (Caretaker)	8 December 1997
Dunfermline Athletic	Bert Paton	Resigned	5 January 1998	Dick Campbell (Caretaker)	5 January 1998
Rangers	Walter Smith	Resigned	May 1998	Dick Advocaat	June 1998
Celtic	Wim Jansen	Resigned	May 1998	Jozef Vengloš	June 1998

References

^ "1997/98 Scottish Premier Division". Soccerbot. http://www.soccerbot.com/scot/results/sdprem98.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
^ "Winners against the odds". BBC Sport website. 2000-07-20. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/848867.stm.
^ "The Scotland Squad". BBC News & Sport website. 1998-05-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_80000/newsid_84200/84229.stm. Retrieved 2008-06-03.

Scottish Premier League

2011–12 teams	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Motherwell Rangers St. Johnstone St. Mirren

Former teams	Dundee Falkirk Gretna Hamilton Academical Livingston Partick Thistle

Scottish Football League	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93

First Division	1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75

Premier Division	1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98

Premier League	1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12

Clubs Foreign players Hat-tricks scored Highest scoring games Monthly awards Club owners

1997–98 in Scottish football

Domestic leagues	Premier Division · First Division · Second Division · Third Division

Domestic cups	Scottish Cup (Final) · League Cup (Final) · Challenge Cup (Final) · Junior Cup

European competitions	Champions League · UEFA Cup · UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

Related to national team	Results · 1998 World Cup qualifying (Group 4) · 1998 World Cup

Club seasons

Premier Division	Dundee United · Hibernian · Rangers

1997–98 in European football (UEFA)

Domestic leagues	Albania · Andorra · Armenia '97 '98 · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus '97 '98 · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · Denmark · England · Estonia · Faroe Islands '97 '98 · Finland '97 '98 · France · Georgia · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland '97 '98 · Israel · Italy · Kazakhstan '97 '98 · Latvia '97 '98 · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Netherlands · Northern Ireland · Norway '97 '98 · Poland · Portugal · Republic of Ireland · Romania · Russia '97 '98 · San Marino · Scotland · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden '97 '98 · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · Wales · FR Yugoslavia

Domestic cups	Albania · Andorra · Armenia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · Denmark · England · Estonia · Faroe Islands '97 '98 · Finland '97 '98 · France · Georgia · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland '97 '98 · Israel · Italy · Latvia '97 '98 · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Republic of Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Netherlands · Northern Ireland · Norway '97 '98 · Poland · Portugal · Republic of Ireland · Romania · Russia · San Marino · Scotland · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden '97 '98 · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · Wales · Yugoslavia

League cups	England · Finland '97 '98 · France · Germany · Iceland '97 '98 · Israel · Northern Ireland · Republic of Ireland · Scotland · Wales

UEFA competitions	Champions League (Group stage, knockout stage, Final) · Cup Winners' Cup (Final) · UEFA Cup (Final) · Intertoto Cup · Super Cup