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 recording 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 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

Relegated from Premier Division to First Division

Events

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 UEFA Champions League 1998-99 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 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 1–1 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 2–1 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 1–0 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
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 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 1–0
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

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

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

Source: Soccerbot

Managerial changes

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

References

  1. ↑ "1997/98 Scottish Premier Division". Soccerbot. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  2. ↑ "Winners against the odds". BBC Sport website. 2000-07-20.
  3. ↑ "The Scotland Squad". BBC News & Sport website. 1998-05-03. Retrieved 2008-06-03.