1985–86 in Scottish football

1985–86 in Scottish football
Premier Division champions
Celtic
Division One champions
Hamilton Academical
Division Two champions
Dunfermline Athletic
Scottish Cup winners
Aberdeen
League Cup winners
Aberdeen
Junior Cup winners
Auchinleck Talbot
Teams in Europe
Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Rangers, St Mirren
Scotland national team
1986 World Cup qualification, 1986 World Cup, Rous Cup

The 1985–86 season was the 89th season of competitive football in Scotland. [1]

At a national level, Scotland's qualification for the 1986 world cup final in Mexico was marred by the death of manager Jock Stein. In the end caretaker manager Alex Ferguson was not able to take the team beyond the first round.

In club football, with Rangers once again failing to mount a title challenge, manager Jock Wallace's second spell as manager ended in April when he was sacked[2] and the club appointed Graeme Souness as player-manager, recruiting the former Liverpool midfielder from Sampdoria in Italy.[3] Celtic eventually won the league on the final day after Hearts threw away a two-point lead.

Impressively, Aberdeen won both the Scottish cup and the league cup.

Scottish Premier Division

Celtic won the League and became champions in one of the closest finishes in League history. On the final day of the season Hearts were leading Celtic by two points - a draw against Dundee would have been sufficient to see them win their first League title since the 1959–60 season. Hearts lost 2–0 to Dundee at Dens Park thanks to two late goals by substitute Albert Kidd, while Celtic beat St Mirren 5–0 at Love Street. As a result, Celtic won the league on goal difference.[4]

Relegation was suspended due to league reconstruction, therefore Motherwell and Clydebank retained their Premier Division status.

Much of the season was only viewed in the flesh as a dispute between television companies and the Scottish Football League resulted in no televised Scottish league football between September 1985 and March 1986.[5]

P Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Celtic 36 20 10 6 67 38 29 50
2 Heart of Midlothian 36 20 10 6 59 33 26 50
3 Dundee United 36 18 11 7 59 31 28 47
4 Aberdeen 36 16 12 8 62 31 31 44
5 Rangers 36 13 9 14 53 45 8 35
6 Dundee 36 14 7 15 45 51 −6 35
7 St Mirren 36 13 5 18 42 63 −21 31
8 Hibernian 36 11 6 19 49 63 −14 28
9 Motherwell 36 7 6 23 33 66 −33 20
10 Clydebank 36 6 8 22 29 77 −48 20

Champions: Celtic
No relegation

Scottish League Division One

P Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Hamilton Academical 39 24 8 7 77 44 33 56
2 Falkirk 39 17 11 11 57 39 18 45
3 Kilmarnock 39 18 8 13 62 49 13 44
4 Forfar Athletic 39 17 10 12 51 43 8 44
5 East Fife 39 14 15 10 54 46 8 43
6 Dumbarton 39 16 11 12 59 52 7 43
7 Morton 39 14 11 14 57 63 −6 39
8 Partick Thistle 39 10 16 13 53 64 −11 36
9 Airdrieonians 39 12 11 16 51 50 1 35
10 Brechin City 39 13 9 17 58 64 −6 35
11 Clyde 39 9 17 13 49 59 −10 35
12 Montrose 39 10 14 15 43 54 −11 34
13 Ayr United 39 10 11 18 41 60 −19 31
14 Alloa Athletic 39 6 14 19 49 74 −25 26

Promoted: Hamilton Academical, Falkirk
Relegated: Ayr United, Alloa Athletic.

Scottish League Division Two

P Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Dunfermline Athletic 39 23 11 5 91 47 44 57
2 Queen of the South 39 23 9 7 71 36 35 55
3 Meadowbank Thistle 39 19 11 9 68 45 23 49
4 Queen's Park 39 19 8 12 61 39 22 46
5 Stirling Albion 39 18 8 13 57 53 4 44
6 St Johnstone 39 18 6 15 63 55 8 42
7 Stenhousemuir 39 16 8 15 55 63 −8 40
8 Arbroath 39 15 9 15 56 50 6 39
9 Raith Rovers 39 15 7 17 67 65 2 37
10 Cowdenbeath 39 14 9 16 52 53 −1 37
11 East Stirlingshire 39 11 6 22 49 69 −20 28
12 Berwick Rangers 39 7 11 21 45 80 −35 25
13 Albion Rovers 39 8 8 23 38 86 −48 24
14 Stranraer 39 9 5 25 41 83 −42 23

Promoted: Dunfermline Athletic, Queen of the South

Other honours

Cup honours

Competition Winner Score Runner-up
Scottish Cup 1985–86 Aberdeen 3 – 0 Heart of Midlothian
League Cup 1985–86 Aberdeen 3 – 0 Hibernian
Youth Cup Aberdeen 2 – 0 Queen of the South
Junior Cup Auchinleck Talbot 3 – 2 Pollok

Individual honours

Award Winner Club
Footballer of the Year Scotland Sandy Jardine Heart of Midlothian
Players' Player of the Year Scotland Richard Gough Dundee United
Young Player of the Year Scotland Craig Levein Heart of Midlothian

Scotland national team

Date Venue Opponents Score[6] Competition Scotland scorer(s)
10 September 1985 Ninian Park, Cardiff (A)  Wales 1–1 WCQG7 Davie Cooper
16 October 1985 Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)  East Germany 0–0 Friendly
20 November 1985 Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)  Australia 2–0 WCQPO Davie Cooper, Frank McAvennie
4 December 1985 Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne (A)  Australia 0–0 WCQPO
28 January 1986 Ramat Gan Stadium, Tel-Aviv (A)  Israel 1–0 Friendly Paul McStay
26 March 1986 Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)  Romania 3–0 Friendly Gordon Strachan, Richard Gough, Roy Aitken
23 April 1986 Wembley Stadium, London (A)  England 1–2 Rous Cup Graeme Souness (pen.)
29 April 1986 Philips Stadion, Eindhoven (A)  Netherlands 0–0 Friendly
4 June 1986 Estadio Neza 86, Nezahualcóyotl (N)  Denmark 0–1 WCGE
8 June 1986 Estadio La Corregidora, Querétaro (N)  West Germany 1–2 WCGE Gordon Strachan
13 June 1986 Estadio Neza 86, Nezahualcóyotl (N)  Uruguay 0–0 WCGE

Key:

Death of Jock Stein

On 10 September 1985, the Scotland team travelled to Ninian Park, Cardiff, to take on Wales in their final qualifying game for the World Cup in Mexico. They needed at least a draw to secure a place in the qualification play-off, which they finally achieved in the 81st minute when a Davie Cooper penalty drew Scotland level with Wales, who had gone ahead earlier with a Mark Hughes goal. Just after the final whistle, Scotland manager Jock Stein collapsed from a heart attack at the side of the pitch and died in the medical room shortly afterwards. He was 62 years old.[7]

Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson, who had been Stein's assistant, was appointed caretaker manager of Scotland after Stein's death.[8] His first match was at Hampden Park on 20 November 1985, as Scotland took on Australia in the World Cup qualification playoff first leg. Goals from Davie Cooper and the debutant Frank McAvennie gave Scotland a 2-0 advantage, and they confirmed their place in Mexico by drawing the second leg 0-0 in Melbourne.[9] Scotland's World Cup campaign began on 4 June, when they took on Denmark in their opening group game, only to lose 1-0. Four days later, they took on West Germany and despite taking an early lead through Gordon Strachan, lost 2-1 and were left with virtually no hope of reaching the knockout stages. Any hope of progression ended five days later when they could only manage a goalless draw against Uruguay.[10]

Kenny Dalglish 100th cap

Three weeks after his 35th birthday, Kenny Dalglish became the Scotland team's first player to be capped 100 times as senior level in a friendly against Romania on 26 March 1986.[11][12]

See also

1985–86 Aberdeen F.C. season
1985–86 Dundee United F.C. season

Notes and references

  1. ↑ http://www.scottishfootballleague.com/stats/records/league-championship/league-tables/1980-1989/198586/
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "Celtic keep bargain with a little help from Dundee". Glasgow Herald (Page 10). 5 May 1986. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  5. ↑ "Dens memories reduce former Hearts manager to tears - Scotsman.com Sport". Archived from the original on 8 May 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
  6. ↑ Scotland's score is shown first.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ "Scotland's play-off past". BBC News. 14 November 2003.
  10. ↑
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ "Scotland 3 Rumania 0". Glasgow Herald (Page 28). 27 March 1986. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
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