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)
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

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

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

League table


Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Celtic !Celtic (C)	36	22	8	6	64	24	+40	74	UEFA Champions League 1998-99 First qualifying round
2	Rangers !Rangers	36	21	9	6	76	38	+38	72	1998–99 UEFA Cup First qualifying round
3	Heart of Midlothian !Heart of Midlothian	36	19	10	7	70	46	+24	67	Cup Winners' Cup 1998-99 Qualifying round
4	Kilmarnock !Kilmarnock	36	13	11	12	40	52	−12	50	1998–99 UEFA Cup First qualifying round
5	St Johnstone !St Johnstone	36	13	9	14	38	42	−4	48
6	Aberdeen !Aberdeen	36	9	12	15	39	53	−14	39
7	Dundee United !Dundee United	36	8	13	15	43	51	−8	37
8	Dunfermline Athletic !Dunfermline Athletic	36	8	13	15	43	68	−25	37
9	Motherwell !Motherwell	36	9	7	20	46	64	−18	34
10	Hibernian !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	Aberdeen !ABE	Celtic !CEL	Dundee United !DUN	Dunfermline Athletic !DNF	Heart of Midlothian !HOM	Hibernian !HIB	Kilmarnock !KIL	Motherwell !MOT	Rangers !RAN	St Johnstone !STJ
Aberdeen !Aberdeen		0–2	1–1	1–2	1–4	2–0	0–0	1–3	1–1	1–1
Celtic !Celtic	2–0		4–0	1–2	1–0	5–0	4–0	0–2	1–1	2–0
Dundee United !Dundee United	5–0	1–2		0–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	4–0	0–1	2–1
Dunfermline Athletic !Dunfermline Athletic	1–1	0–2	3–3		2–1	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	2–2
Heart of Midlothian !Heart of Midlothian	4–1	1–2	2–1	3–1		2–0	5–3	2–0	2–5	2–1
Hibernian !Hibernian	2–2	2–1	1–3	5–2	0–1		4–0	1–1	2–1	1–1
Kilmarnock !Kilmarnock	1–0	0–0	1–3	2–1	0–3	2–1		2–1	0–3	0–1
Motherwell !Motherwell	1–2	2–3	1–0	2–0	1–4	1–1	0–1		0–0	0–1
Rangers !Rangers	2–0	1–0	4–0	1–2	1–0	5–0	4–0	0–2		2–0
St Johnstone !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	Aberdeen !ABE	Celtic !CEL	Dundee United !DUN	Dunfermline Athletic !DNF	Heart of Midlothian !HOM	Hibernian !HIB	Kilmarnock !KIL	Motherwell !MOT	Rangers !RAN	St Johnstone !STJ
Aberdeen !Aberdeen		0–1	1–0	2–0	2–2	3–0	0–0	3–0	1–0	0–1
Celtic !Celtic	3–1		1–1	5–1	0–0	0–0	4–0	4–1	2–0	2–0
Dundee United !Dundee United	0–0	0–1		2–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–2
Dunfermline Athletic !Dunfermline Athletic	3–3	1–1	2–2		1–3	1–1	3–2	2–1	2–3	0–1
Heart of Midlothian !Heart of Midlothian	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–0		2–2	1–1	1–1	0–3	1–1
Hibernian !Hibernian	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–0	2–1		0–1	1–0	1–2	0–1
Kilmarnock !Kilmarnock	2–1	1–2	1–0	3–0	2–2	1–1		4–1	1–1	1–0
Motherwell !Motherwell	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–3	2–4	6–2	1–1		1–0	2–1
Rangers !Rangers	3–1	2–0	1–1	5–1	0–0	0–0	4–0	4–1		2–0
St Johnstone !St Johnstone	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–3	1–1	1–0	3–2	2–0

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. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
↑ "Winners against the odds". BBC Sport website. 2000-07-20.
↑ "The Scotland Squad". BBC News & Sport website. 1998-05-03. Retrieved 2008-06-03.

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 2016–17

1997–98 in Scottish football

« 1996–97 1998–99 »

Domestic leagues	Football League Premier Division First Division Second Division Third Division Highland League

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	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Kilmarnock Motherwell Rangers St. Johnstone

First Division	Airdrieonians Ayr United Dundee Falkirk Greenock Morton Hamilton Academical Partick Thistle Raith Rovers St. Mirren Stirling Albion

Second Division	Brechin City Clyde Clydebank East Fife Forfar Athletic Inverness Caledonian Thistle Livingston Queen of the South Stenhousemuir Stranraer

Third Division	Albion Rovers Alloa Athletic Arbroath Berwick Rangers Cowdenbeath Dumbarton East Stirlingshire Montrose Queen's Park Ross County

1997–98 in European football (UEFA)

« 1996–97 1998–99 »

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 Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '97 '98 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden 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 (Qualifying rounds, Group stage, knockout stage, Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup

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