1996–97 Scottish Premier Division

Scottish Premier Division

Season	1996–97
Champions	Rangers
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 →

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.

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. 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.

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.

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

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

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	1997–98 UEFA Champions League First qualifying round
2	Celtic	36	23	6	7	78	32	+46	75	1997–98 UEFA Cup First qualifying round
3	Dundee United	36	17	9	10	46	33	+13	60	1997–98 UEFA Cup First qualifying round
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	1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Qualifying round
8	Motherwell	36	9	11	16	44	55	−11	38
9	Hibernian	36	9	11	16	38	55	−17	38
10	Raith Rovers (R)	36	6	7	23	29	73	−44	25	Relegation to Scottish First Division

Source: Soccerbot
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	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
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	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
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
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
Jorg Albertz	10	Rangers
Ally McCoist		Rangers
Andy Smith		Dunfermline Athletic
Dean Windass		Aberdeen

Source: Soccerbot

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Raith Rovers	Tommy McLean	Resigned	10 September 1996	Iain Munro	16 September 1996
Dundee United	Billy Kirkwood	Sacked	10 September 1996	Tommy McLean	10 September 1996
Hibernian	Alex Miller	Sacked	30 September 1996	Jim Duffy	30 December 1996
Kilmarnock	Alex Totten	Sacked	30 November 1996	Bobby Williamson	7 December 1996