2015–16 Scottish Premiership

Scottish Premiership

Season	2015–16
Matches played	148
Goals scored	434 (2.93 per match)
Top goalscorer	Leigh Griffiths (22 goals)^[1]
Biggest home win	Celtic 8–1 Hamilton Academical^[2] (19 January 2016)
Biggest away win	Kilmarnock 0–4 Dundee^[2] (1 August 2015) Kilmarnock 0–4 Ross County^[2] (22 August 2015) Aberdeen 1–5 St Johnstone^[2] (3 October 2015) Partick Thistle 0–4 Heart of Midlothian^[2] (31 October 2015) Kilmarnock 0–4 Aberdeen^[2] (19 December 2015)
Highest scoring	Celtic 8–1 Hamilton Academical^[2] (19 January 2016)
Longest winning run	8 matches:^[2] Aberdeen
Longest unbeaten run	12 matches:^[2] Aberdeen
Longest winless run	10 matches:^[2] Dundee United
Longest losing run	5 matches:^[2] Partick Thistle
Highest attendance	48,558^[2] Celtic 6–0 Dundee (20 September 2015)
Lowest attendance	1,555^[2] Hamilton Academical 3–4 Inverness Caledonian Thistle (30 December 2015)
Total attendance	1,449,776^[2]
Average attendance	9,795^[2]
← 2014–15 2016–17 → All statistics correct as of 15 February 2016.

The 2015–16 Scottish Premiership (know as the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the third season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The season began on 1 August 2015.^[3] Celtic are the defending champions.

Twelve teams contest the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Dundee United, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Inverness CT, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Ross County and St Johnstone.

Teams

Promoted from Scottish Championship

Heart of Midlothian

Relegated from Scottish Premiership

St Mirren

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee	Dundee United
Pittodrie Stadium	Celtic Park	Dens Park	Tannadice Park
Capacity: 20,897^[4]	Capacity: 60,355^[5]	Capacity: 11,506^[6]	Capacity: 14,229^[7]

Hamilton Academical	Aberdeen Dundee Utd Dundee Heart of Midlothian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Ross County St. Johnstone Celtic Hamilton Motherwell Partick Thistle Location of teams in 2015–16 Scottish Premiership		Heart of Midlothian
New Douglas Park			Tynecastle Stadium
Capacity: 6,078^[8]			Capacity: 17,529^[9]

Inverness Caledonian Thistle			Kilmarnock
Caledonian Stadium			Rugby Park
Capacity: 7,800^[10]			Capacity: 18,128^[11]

Motherwell	Partick Thistle	Ross County	St Johnstone
Fir Park, Motherwell	Firhill Stadium	Victoria Park	McDiarmid Park
Capacity: 13,677^[12]	Capacity: 10,102^[13]	Capacity: 6,541^[14]	Capacity: 10,696^[15]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen	McInnes, DerekDerek McInnes	Jack, RyanRyan Jack	Adidas	Saltire Energy
Celtic	Deila, RonnyRonny Deila	Brown, ScottScott Brown	New Balance	Magners
Dundee	Hartley, PaulPaul Hartley	McPake, JamesJames McPake	Puma	Kilmac Energy
Dundee United	Paatelainen, MixuMixu Paatelainen	Dillon, SeánSeán Dillon	Nike	Calor
Hamilton Academical	Canning, MartinMartin Canning	McGovern, MichaelMichael McGovern	Adidas^[16]	Nevis (H), Scotia Aid (A)
Heart of Midlothian	Neilson, RobbieRobbie Neilson	Öztürk, AlimAlim Öztürk	Puma	Save the Children
Inverness CT	Hughes, JohnJohn Hughes	Foran, RichieRichie Foran	Carbrini	Subway
Kilmarnock	Clark, LeeLee Clark	Connolly, MarkMark Connolly	Erreà	QTS
Motherwell	McGhee, MarkMark McGhee	Lasley, KeithKeith Lasley	Macron	Cash Converters
Partick Thistle	Archibald, AlanAlan Archibald	Osman, AbdulAbdul Osman	Joma	Kingsford Capital Management
Ross County	McIntyre, JimJim McIntyre	Davies, AndrewAndrew Davies	Carbrini	Stanley CRC Evans Offshore
St Johnstone	Wright, TommyTommy Wright	Mackay, DaveDave Mackay	Joma	Invest in Perth

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Motherwell	Baraclough, IanIan Baraclough	Sacked	23 September 2015^[17]	10th	McGhee, MarkMark McGhee	13 October 2015^[18]
Dundee United	McNamara, JackieJackie McNamara	Sacked	26 September 2015^[19]	11th	Paatelainen, MixuMixu Paatelainen	14 October 2015^[20]
Kilmarnock	Locke, GaryGary Locke	Resigned	30 January 2016^[21]	11th	Lee McCulloch (interim)	30 January 2016^[21]
Kilmarnock	Lee McCulloch (interim)	End of interim	15 February 2016^[22]	10th	Lee Clark	15 February 2016^[22]

Tournament format and regulations

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 each other in that section. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section play 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.

Promotion and relegation

Heart of Midlothian were promoted as 2014–15 Scottish Championship winners. The team that finishes 12th will be relegated to the Championship, while the champion of that league will be promoted to the Premiership for the 2016–17 season. The team that finishes 11th in the Premiership will play the winner of the Championship playoffs (teams that finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Championship) in two playoff games, with the winner securing a Premiership spot for the 2016–17 season.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation^{[lower-alpha 1]}
1	Celtic	25	18	4	3	66	21	+45	58	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	Aberdeen	26	17	4	5	45	29	+16	55	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
3	Heart of Midlothian	24	12	8	4	45	24	+21	44	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
4	Ross County	26	10	3	13	40	42	−2	33
5	Dundee	25	8	9	8	39	41	−2	33
6	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	24	8	8	8	33	33	0	32
7	St Johnstone	24	9	5	10	39	40	−1	32
8	Motherwell	26	8	5	13	29	41	−12	29
9	Hamilton Academical	26	7	8	11	30	45	−15	29
10	Partick Thistle	23	7	7	9	22	28	−6	28
11	Kilmarnock	26	7	6	13	29	48	−19	27	Qualification to Relegation play-offs
12	Dundee United	25	3	5	17	24	49	−25	14	Relegation to Scottish Championship

Updated to match(es) played on 16 February 2016. Source: Scottish Premiership, Soccerway
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).^[23]
Notes:

↑ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

Results

Matches 1–22

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

Home ╲ Away	Aberdeen !ABE	Celtic !CEL	Dundee !DND	Dundee United !DUN	Hamilton Academical !HAM	Heart of Midlothian !HOM	Inverness Caledonian Thistle !INV	Kilmarnock !KIL	Motherwell !MOT	Partick Thistle !PAR	Ross County !ROS	St Johnstone !STJ
Aberdeen !Aberdeen		2–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	0–0	3–1	1–5
Celtic !Celtic	3–1		6–0	5–0	8–1	0–0	4–2	0–0	1–2	1–0	2–0	3–1
Dundee !Dundee	0–2			2–1	4–0	1–2	1–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	3–3	2–1
Dundee United !Dundee United	0–1	1–3	2–2		1–2	0–1	1–1	1–2		0–1	1–0	1–2
Hamilton Academical !Hamilton Academical	1–1	1–2	1–1	4–0		3–2	3–4	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–3	2–4
Heart of Midlothian !Heart of Midlothian	1–3	2–2	1–1	3–2	2–0			1–1	2–0	3–0	2–0	4–3
Inverness Caledonian Thistle !Inverness Caledonian Thistle	2–1	1–3	1–1	2–2	0–2	2–0		2–1	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–1
Kilmarnock !Kilmarnock	0–4	2–2	0–4	1–1	1–2	2–2	2–0		0–1	2–5	0–4	2–1
Motherwell !Motherwell	1–2	0–1	3–1	0–2	3–3	2–2	1–3	1–0		2–1	1–1	2–0
Partick Thistle !Partick Thistle	0–2	0–2	0–1	3–0	1–1	0–4	2–1	2–2	1–0		1–0
Ross County !Ross County	2–0	1–4	5–2	2–1	2–0	1–2	1–2	3–2	3–0	1–0		2–3
St Johnstone !St Johnstone	3–4	0–3	1–1	2–1	4–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	1–1

Updated to games played on 6 February 2016.
Source: Scottish Premiership
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33

Teams play every other team once (either at home or away).

Home ╲ Away	Aberdeen !ABE	Celtic !CEL	Dundee !DND	Dundee United !DUN	Hamilton Academical !HAM	Heart of Midlothian !HOM	Inverness Caledonian Thistle !INV	Kilmarnock !KIL	Motherwell !MOT	Partick Thistle !PAR	Ross County !ROS	St Johnstone !STJ
Aberdeen !Aberdeen		2–1	1–0
Celtic !Celtic											2–0	3–1
Dundee !Dundee									2–2			2–0
Dundee United !Dundee United	a	1–4	a					5–1
Hamilton Academical !Hamilton Academical				0–0		0–0			a
Heart of Midlothian !Heart of Midlothian									6–0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle !Inverness Caledonian Thistle	a									0–0
Kilmarnock !Kilmarnock					0–1		2–1
Motherwell !Motherwell								0–2			1–2
Partick Thistle !Partick Thistle			2–4
Ross County !Ross County	2–3					0–3	a
St Johnstone !St Johnstone				a	0–0

Updated to games played on 13 February 2016.
Source: Scottish Premiership
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 34–38

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

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

As of 12 February 2016^[1]^[24]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Leigh Griffiths	Celtic	21
2	Adam Rooney	Aberdeen	18
3	Kane Hemmings	Dundee	15
4	Liam Boyce	Ross County	13
5	Steven MacLean	St Johnstone	10
5	Louis Moult	Motherwell	10
7	Juanma	Hearts	9
	Billy Mckay	Dundee United
	Osman Sow	Hearts
10	Josh Magennis	Kilmarnock	8

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Ref.
Month	Manager	Club	Player	Club	Ref.
August	Derek McInnes	Aberdeen	Leigh Griffiths	Celtic	^[25]
September	Derek McInnes	Aberdeen	Niall McGinn	Aberdeen
October	Ronny Deila	Celtic	Leigh Griffiths	Celtic
November	Alan Archibald	Partick Thistle	Michael O'Halloran	St Johnstone
December	Mark McGhee	Motherwell	Liam Boyce	Ross County
January	Ronny Deila	Celtic	Kane Hemmings	Dundee

References

1 2 "2015–16 Scottish Premiership scorers". ESPN. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "2015–16 Scottish Premiership performance". ESPN. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
↑ "Scottish Premiership 2015/16 campaign set for start on August 1". STV. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
↑ "Aberdeen Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Celtic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Dundee Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Dundee United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Hamilton Academical Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Heart of Midlothian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Kilmarnock Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Motherwell Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Partick Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "Ross County Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ "St Johnstone Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
↑ http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/hamilton-chairman-les-gray-says-5904034
↑ "Ian Baraclough: Motherwell part with manager after nine months". BBC Sport. BBC. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
↑ "Motherwell name Mark McGhee as manager for second spell". BBC Sport. BBC. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
↑ "Jackie McNamara: Dundee United confirm manager's exit". BBC Sport. BBC. 26 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
↑ "Mixu Paatelainen: Dundee United appoint Finn as new manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
1 2 "Kilmarnock manager Gary Locke resigns after Hamilton loss". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
1 2 "Lee Clark: Kilmarnock appoint former Blackpool manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 15 February 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
↑ "Premiership 2015/2016 - Season rules". Scoresway. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
↑ "Scottish Premiership Top Scorers". BBC. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
↑ "SPFL monthly awards". www.spfl.co.uk. Scottish Professional Football League. 9 November 2015.

External links

Official website

2015–16 in Scottish football

« 2014–15 2016–17 »

Domestic leagues	SPFL Premiership Championship League One League Two Highland Lowland East of Scotland South of Scotland North Caledonian SJFA West Premier SJFA East Superleague SJFA North Superleague SPFL Development League Women's Premier League

Domestic cups	Scottish Cup League Cup (Final) Challenge Cup (Final) Junior Cup Youth Cup Women's Cup

European competitions	Champions League Europa League Youth League

Related to national team	Results UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group D

Transfers	Summer 2015 Winter 2015–16

Club seasons

Premiership	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United Hamilton Academical Heart of Midlothian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Motherwell Partick Thistle Ross County St Johnstone

Championship	Alloa Athletic Dumbarton Falkirk Greenock Morton Hibernian Livingston Queen of the South Raith Rovers Rangers St. Mirren

League One	Airdrieonians Albion Rovers Ayr United Brechin City Cowdenbeath Dunfermline Athletic Forfar Athletic Peterhead Stenhousemuir Stranraer

League Two	Annan Athletic Arbroath Berwick Rangers Clyde East Fife East Stirlingshire Elgin City Montrose Queen's Park Stirling Albion

Top division football seasons in Scotland

Football League	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93

Division One	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 2012–13

Premiership	2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

2015–16 in European football (UEFA)

« 2014–15 2016–17 »

Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '15 '16 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '15 '16 Faroe Islands '15 '16 Finland '15 '16 France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland '15 '16 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '15 '16 Latvia '15 '16 Lithuania '15 '16 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '15 '16 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '15 '16 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '15 '16 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '15 '16 Finland '15 '16 France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland '15 '16 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '15 '16 Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '15 '16 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '15 '16 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

League cups	England Estonia Finland '15 '16 France Gibraltar Iceland '15 '16 Israel Latvia Northern Ireland Portugal Republic of Ireland '15 '16 Romania Scotland Wales

Supercups	Albania Andorra Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic England Estonia Faroe Islands France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Hungary Iceland Israel Italy Kazakhstan Lithuania Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '15 '16 Romania Russia San Marino Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Turkey Ukraine

UEFA competitions	Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round group stage knockout phase Final Europa League qualifying phase and play-off round group stage knockout phase Final Super Cup Youth League UEFA Champions League Path Domestic Champions Path knockout phase Women's Champions League qualifying round knockout phase Final

International competitions	UEFA Euro 2016 qualification 2017 Euro Under-21 qualification 2016 Euro Under-19 qualification 2016 Euro Under-17 qualification 2017 Women's Euro qualification 2016 Women's Euro Under-19 qualification 2016 Women's Euro Under-17 qualification Football at the 2016 Summer Olympics women's qualification

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, February 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.