1996–97 Scottish Premier Division

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.

Scottish Premier Division

Season	1996–97
Dates	10 August 1996 – 10 May 1997
Champions	Rangers 12th Premier Division title 47th Scottish title
Promoted	Dunfermline Dundee United
Relegated	Raith Rovers
Champions League	Rangers
UEFA Cup	Celtic Dundee United
Cup Winners' Cup	Kilmarnock
Goals scored	504 (27)
Average goals/game	2.8
Top goalscorer	Jorge Cadete (25)
Biggest home win	Celtic 6–0 Kilmarnock (08 Jan)
Biggest away win	Raith Rovers 0–6 Rangers (15 Apr)
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)
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

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, equalling Celtic's record from the 1973–74 season. 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.

Clubs

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 First Division

• Partick Thistle (via play-off)
• Falkirk

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen

Celtic

Dundee Utd

Dunfermline Athletic

Hearts

Hibernian

Kilmarnock

Motherwell

Raith Rovers

Rangers

Location of clubs in the 1996–97 Scottish Premier Division

Team	Location	Stadium
Aberdeen	Aberdeen	Pittodrie Stadium
Celtic	Parkhead, Glasgow	Celtic Park
Dundee United	Dundee	Tannadice Park
Dunfermline Athletic	Dunfermline	East End Park
Heart of Midlothian	Gorgie, Edinburgh	Tynecastle Park
Hibernian	Leith, Edinburgh	Easter Road
Kilmarnock	Kilmarnock	Rugby Park
Motherwell	Motherwell	Fir Park
Raith Rovers	Kirkcaldy	Stark's Park
Rangers	Ibrox, Glasgow	Ibrox Park

Managers

Team	Manager
Aberdeen	Roy Aitken
Celtic	Billy Stark (caretaker)
Dundee United	Tommy McLean
Dunfermline Athletic	Bert Paton
Heart of Midlothian	Jim Jefferies
Hibernian	Jim Duffy
Kilmarnock	Bobby Williamson
Motherwell	Alex McLeish
Raith Rovers	Steve Kirk Miodrag Krivokapić (joint caretakers)
Rangers	Walter Smith

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Raith Rovers	Jimmy Thomson	24 August 1996	Resigned	Tommy McLean	2 September 1996
Hibernian	Alex Miller	30 September 1996	Sacked	Jocky Scott (interim) Jim Duffy (permanent)	30 September 1996 30 December 1996
Dundee United	Billy Kirkwood	10 September 1996[2]	Sacked	Tommy McLean	10 September 1996[2]
Raith Rovers	Tommy McLean	10 September 1996[2]	Signed by Dundee United	Iain Munro	20 September 1996
Kilmarnock	Alex Totten	4 December 1996[3]	Sacked	Bobby Williamson	4 December 1996[3]
Raith Rovers	Iain Munro	14 April 1997[4]	Sacked	Steve Kirk Miodrag Krivokapić (joint caretakers)	16 April 1997[5]
Celtic	Tommy Burns	2 May 1997	Resigned	Billy Stark (caretaker)	2 May 1997

Events

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

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rangers (C)	36	25	5	6	85	33	+52	80	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Celtic	36	23	6	7	78	32	+46	75	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round[a]
3	Dundee United	36	17	9	10	46	33	+13	60
4	Heart of Midlothian	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	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round[b]
8	Motherwell	36	9	11	16	44	55	−11	38
9	Hibernian (O)	36	9	11	16	38	55	−17	38	Qualification for the Play-off
10	Raith Rovers (R)	36	6	7	23	29	73	−44	25	Relegation to the First Division

Source: Soccerbase
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. As the League Cup winners Rangers had qualified for European competition via their league position, the place in the UEFA Cup was passed to the next highest placed team in the league, Dundee United.
2. Kilmarnock qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as the winners of the Scottish Cup.

Results

Matches 1–18

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

Home \ Away	ABE	CEL	DUN	DNF	HOM	HIB	KIL	MOT	RAI	RAN
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
Heart of Midlothian	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
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36

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

Home \ Away	ABE	CEL	DUN	DNF	HOM	HIB	KIL	MOT	RAI	RAN
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
Heart of Midlothian	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

Source: Soccerbot
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-off

A two leg play-off took place between the 9th placed team in the Premier Division (Hibernian) and the runner-up of the First Division (Airdrieonians) for a place in the 1997–98 Scottish Premier Division.

Hibernian won the first leg 1–0 at Easter Road, and went on to win the second leg by 4 goals to 2 at Broadwood Stadium.^[6] Therefore, Hibernian maintained their Premier Division status for another season, 5–2 on aggregate.

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		Rangers
Paolo Di Canio	12	Celtic
Kjell Olofsson		Dundee United
Tommy Coyne	11	Motherwell
Darren Jackson		Hibernian
Jörg Albertz	10	Rangers
Ally McCoist		Rangers
Andy Smith		Dunfermline Athletic
Dean Windass		Aberdeen

Source: Soccerbot Archived 2013-05-17 at the Wayback Machine

References

1. "Scottish Premier Division 1996/97". Soccerbot. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
2. "McLean quits Raith to join his brother". The Herald. 10 September 1996. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
3. "Youth is name of the game as Totten is pushed out by Kilmarnock". The Herald. 4 December 1996. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
4. "Photographer claims club chairman kicked and punched him outside ground Raith chief 'went berserk'". The Herald. 16 April 1997. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
5. "Nicholl rejects Raith's offer". The Independent. 14 April 1997. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
6. "Airdrie captain sent off as Hibs secure premier division status Jackson at the double on a night of penalties". The Herald. 23 May 1997. Retrieved 17 February 2018.