2017–18 Scottish Premiership

Scottish Premiership
Season 2017–18
Dates 5 August 2017 – 13 May 2018
Champions Celtic
5th Premiership title
49th Scottish title
Relegated Partick Thistle
Ross County
Champions League Celtic
Europa League Aberdeen
Rangers
Hibernian
Matches played 228
Goals scored 594 (2.61 per match)
Top goalscorer Kris Boyd (18 goals)
Biggest home win Celtic 5–0 Rangers
(29 April 2018)
Biggest away win St Johnstone 0–4 Celtic
(4 November 2017)
Dundee 0–4 St Johnstone
(10 March 2018)
Motherwell 1–5 St Johnstone
(5 May 2018)
Highest scoring Hibernian 5–5 Rangers
(13 May 2018)
Longest winning run 6 matches:
Kilmarnock
Longest unbeaten run 17 matches:
Celtic
Longest winless run 12 matches:
Ross County
Longest losing run 6 matches:
Hamilton Academical
Highest attendance 59,259
Celtic 2–2 Hibernian
(30 September 2017)
Lowest attendance 1,272
Hamilton Academical 3–2 Ross County
(16 December 2017)
Total attendance 3,632,642
Average attendance 15,932 (1,963)
2018–19 →
All statistics correct as of 13 May 2018.

The 2017–18 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. The season began on 5 August 2017. Celtic were the defending champions.

Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Ross County and St Johnstone.

The season's average attendance was 15,932, the highest level since 2006–07.

On 29 April 2018, Celtic won their seventh consecutive title and 49th overall after a 5–0 win at home to Rangers.

Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2016–17 season.

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Hamilton Academical
Pittodrie Stadium Celtic Park Dens Park New Douglas Park
Capacity: 20,866 Capacity: 60,411 Capacity: 11,506 Capacity: 5,510
Heart of Midlothian
Hibernian
Tynecastle Park Easter Road
Capacity: 20,099 Capacity: 20,421
Kilmarnock Motherwell
Rugby Park Fir Park
Capacity: 17,889 Capacity: 13,677
Partick Thistle Rangers Ross County St Johnstone
Firhill Stadium Ibrox Stadium Victoria Park McDiarmid Park
Capacity: 10,102 Capacity: 50,817 Capacity: 6,541 Capacity: 10,696

Personnel and kits

Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen Derek McInnes Graeme Shinnie Adidas Saltire Energy
Celtic Brendan Rodgers Scott Brown New Balance Dafabet
Dundee Neil McCann Darren O'Dea Puma McEwan Fraser Legal
Hamilton Academical Martin Canning Dougie Imrie Adidas SuperSeal (H), NetBet (A)
Heart of Midlothian Craig Levein Christophe Berra Umbro Save the Children
Hibernian Neil Lennon David Gray Macron Marathonbet
Kilmarnock Steve Clarke Steven Smith Nike QTS
Motherwell Steve Robinson Carl McHugh Macron McEwan Fraser Legal
Partick Thistle Alan Archibald Abdul Osman Joma Just Employment Law
Rangers Jimmy Nicholl (interim) Lee Wallace Puma 32Red
Ross County Steven Ferguson and Stuart Kettlewell Andrew Davies Macron Stanley CRC Evans Offshore
St Johnstone Tommy Wright Steven Anderson Joma Alan Storrar Cars

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Dundee Neil McCann End of interim 20 May 2017 Pre-season Neil McCann 1 June 2017
Kilmarnock Lee McCulloch 20 May 2017 Lee McCulloch 5 June 2017
Heart of Midlothian Ian Cathro Sacked 1 August 2017 Craig Levein 28 August 2017
Ross County Jim McIntyre 25 September 2017 10th Owen Coyle 28 September 2017
Kilmarnock Lee McCulloch Resigned 1 October 2017 12th Steve Clarke 14 October 2017
Rangers Pedro Caixinha Sacked 26 October 2017 4th Graeme Murty (interim) 26 October 2017
Rangers Graeme Murty End of interim 22 December 2017 3rd Graeme Murty 22 December 2017
Ross County Owen Coyle Resigned 1 March 2018 12th Steven Ferguson and Stuart Kettlewell 2 March 2018
Rangers Graeme Murty Sacked 1 May 2018 3rd Jimmy Nicholl (interim) 1 May 2018

Format

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.

Prize money

In April 2018, the SPFL confirmed the prize money to be allocated to the league members at the conclusion of the competitions. The Premiership winners would receive £3.176 million, with a total pot of £24.5m to be distributed across the four divisions.

League summary

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Celtic (C) 38 24 10 4 73 25 +48 82 Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2 Aberdeen 38 22 7 9 56 37 +19 73 Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
3 Rangers 38 21 7 10 76 50 +26 70 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
4 Hibernian 38 18 13 7 62 46 +16 67
5 Kilmarnock 38 16 11 11 49 47 +2 59
6 Heart of Midlothian 38 12 13 13 39 39 0 49
7 Motherwell 38 13 9 16 43 49 −6 48
8 St Johnstone 38 12 10 16 42 53 −11 46
9 Dundee 38 11 6 21 36 57 −21 39
10 Hamilton Academical 38 9 6 23 47 68 −21 33
11 Partick Thistle (R) 38 8 9 21 31 61 −30 33 Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
12 Ross County (R) 38 6 11 21 40 62 −22 29 Relegation to the Championship
Source: Soccerway BBC
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).
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Teams play each other three times (33 matches) before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).
  2. Since the winners of the 2017–18 Scottish Cup, Celtic, qualified for European competition based on league position, the spot awarded to the Scottish Cup winners (Europa League second qualifying round) was passed to the second-placed team and the spot awarded to the second-placed team (Europa League first qualifying round) was passed to the fourth-placed team.

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

Leader – Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
Qualification to Premiership play-off final
Relegation to 2018–19 Scottish Championship
Team \ Round 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38
Celtic 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Aberdeen 3 4 3 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 2 2 2
Rangers 4 6 6 5 4 3 5 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 3 3 3 3
Hibernian 2 3 5 6 6 6 4 6 6 7 5 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Kilmarnock 8 9 10 10 11 12 12 12 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 10 8 8 8 6 7 6 7 7 7 7 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Heart of Midlothian 12 8 7 8 8 7 7 7 7 5 7 7 6 7 7 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Motherwell 9 11 8 7 5 5 6 5 4 4 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 7 8 8 8 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
St Johnstone 6 1 2 3 3 4 3 4 5 6 6 6 7 6 6 7 7 7 6 7 6 7 8 8 8 8 9 8 8 8 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Dundee 7 12 12 11 12 9 9 8 8 9 10 12 12 12 11 9 10 11 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 8 9 10 10 10 10 10 9 10 9 9 9
Hamilton Academical 11 5 4 4 7 8 8 9 9 10 9 8 9 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 11 11 10 9 9 9 9 9 10 9 10 10 10
Partick Thistle 10 10 11 12 10 11 11 11 12 12 12 10 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 11 12 11 11 11 11 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 11 11 11 11 11
Ross County 5 7 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 8 8 9 8 9 9 11 11 10 11 12 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 11 11 12 12 12 12 12

Source: BBC Sport

Results

Matches 1–22

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

Home \ Away ABE CEL DND HAM HOM HIB KIL MOT PAR RAN ROS STJ
Aberdeen — 0–3 2–1 2–0 0–0 4–1 1–1 0–2 1–0 1–2 2–1 3–0
Celtic 3–0 — 1–0 3–1 4–1 2–2 1–1 5–1 2–0 0–0 4–0 1–1
Dundee 0–1 0–2 — 1–3 2–1 1–1 0–0 0–1 3–0 2–1 1–2 3–2
Hamilton Academical 2–2 1–4 3–0 — 1–2 1–1 1–2 1–2 0–0 1–4 3–2 0–1
Heart of Midlothian 0–0 4–0 2–0 1–1 — 0–0 1–2 1–0 1–1 1–3 0–0 1–0
Hibernian 0–1 2–2 2–1 1–3 1–0 — 1–1 2–2 3–1 1–2 2–1 1–2
Kilmarnock 1–3 0–2 1–1 2–2 0–1 0–3 — 1–0 5–1 2–1 0–2 1–2
Motherwell 0–1 1–1 1–1 1–3 2–1 0–1 2–0 — 3–0 1–2 2–0 2–0
Partick Thistle 3–4 0–1 2–1 1–0 1–1 0–1 0–2 3–2 — 2–2 2–0 1–0
Rangers 3–0 0–2 4–1 0–2 0–0 2–3 1–1 2–0 3–0 — 2–1 1–3
Ross County 1–2 0–1 0–2 2–1 1–2 0–1 2–2 3–2 1–1 1–3 — 1–1
St Johnstone 0–3 0–4 0–2 2–1 0–0 1–1 1–2 4–1 1–0 0–3 0–0 —
Source: Scottish Premiership
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Matches 23–33

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

Home \ Away ABE CEL DND HAM HOM HIB KIL MOT PAR RAN ROS STJ
Aberdeen — 0–2 1–0 3–0 — — 3–1 — — — — 4–1
Celtic — — 0–0 — 3–1 1–0 — — — — 3–0 0–0
Dundee — — — — 1–1 0–1 — 0–1 — — 1–4 0–4
Hamilton Academical — 1–2 1–2 — 0–3 — — 2–0 2–1 3–5 — —
Heart of Midlothian 2–0 — — — — — 1–1 1–1 3–0 — — 1–0
Hibernian 2–0 — — 3–1 2–0 — — 2–1 2–0 — — —
Kilmarnock — 1–0 3–2 2–0 — 2–2 — — — — 3–2 2–0
Motherwell 0–2 0–0 — — — — 0–1 — 1–1 2–2 2–0 —
Partick Thistle 0–0 1–2 1–2 — — — 0–1 — — 0–2 — —
Rangers 2–0 2–3 4–0 — 2–0 1–2 0–1 — — — — —
Ross County 2–4 — — 2–2 1–1 1–1 — — 4–0 1–2 — —
St Johnstone — — — 1–0 — 1–1 — 0–0 1–3 1–4 2–0 —
Source: Scottish Premiership
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Matches 34–38

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

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of matches played on 13 May 2018
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Kris Boyd Kilmarnock 18
2 Alfredo Morelos Rangers 14
3 Josh Windass Rangers 13
4 Kyle Lafferty Heart of Midlothian 12
5 Alex Schalk Ross County 11
6 Scott Sinclair Celtic 10

Source:

Hat-tricks

Player For Against Result Date Reference
Adam Rooney Aberdeen St Johnstone 3–0 30 September 2017
Odsonne Édouard Celtic Motherwell 5–1 2 December 2017
Gary Mackay-Steven Aberdeen Hibernian 4–1 16 December 2017
Josh Windass Rangers Hamilton Academical 5–3 18 February 2018
Florian Kamberi Hibernian Hamilton Academical 3–1 3 April 2018
Alex Schalk Ross County Partick Thistle 4–0 3 April 2018
Steven MacLean St Johnstone Motherwell 5–1 5 May 2018
Jamie Maclaren Hibernian Rangers 5–5 13 May 2018

Discipline

Player

Club

Attendances

These are the average attendances of the teams.

Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Celtic 1,096,356 59,259 53,883 57,702 +5.6%†
2 Rangers 934,298 50,215 47,272 49,173 +0.6%†
3 Heart of Midlothian 331,725 32,852 15,357 18,429 +12.9%†
4 Hibernian 344,355 20,193 15,459 18,123 +17.7%†
5 Aberdeen 299,734 20,528 13,531 15,775 +24.8%†
6 Dundee 113,000 9,193 4,863 5,947 −7.5%†
7 Motherwell 108,969 9,974 3,196 5,448 +21.5%†
8 Kilmarnock 102,424 11,490 3,337 5,390 +8.6%†
9 Ross County 86,260 6,590 3,021 4,540 +10.7%†
10 Partick Thistle 84,393 8,264 2,452 4,441 +3.7%†
11 St Johnstone 72,371 6,887 2,037 3,809 −13.3%†
12 Hamilton Academical 58,807 5,406 1,272 3,095 +22.3%†
League total 3,632,642 59,259 1,272 15,932 +14.1%†

Updated to games played on 13 May 2018
Source:

Awards

Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month Ref.
Manager Club Player Club
August Tommy Wright St Johnstone Michael O'Halloran St Johnstone
September Brendan Rodgers Celtic Louis Moult Motherwell
October Neil Lennon Hibernian Kieran Tierney Celtic
November Martin Canning Hamilton Academical David Templeton Hamilton Academical
December Steve Clarke Kilmarnock Kris Boyd Kilmarnock
January No awards due to winter break
February Steve Clarke Kilmarnock Josh Windass Rangers
March Steve Clarke Kilmarnock Stephen O'Donnell Kilmarnock

Premiership play-offs

The quarter-final will be contested between the third and fourth-placed teams (Dundee United and Dunfermline Athletic) in the Scottish Championship, with the winners advancing to the semi-final to face the second-placed Championship side (Livingston). The last remaining Championship team will play-off against the eleventh-placed Premiership team in the final, with the winners securing the last place in the 2018–19 Scottish Premiership.

Quarter-final

First leg

1 May 2018 Dunfermline Athletic 0–0 Dundee United Dunfermline
19:45 BBC Report Stadium: East End Park
Attendance: 6,474
Referee: Bobby Madden

Second leg

4 May 2018 Dundee United 2–1
(2–1 agg.) 		Dunfermline Athletic Dundee
19:45 McDonald 57'
Stanton 70' 		BBC Report McManus 14' Stadium: Tannadice Park
Attendance: 7,994
Referee: Willie Collum

Semi-final

First leg

7 May 2018 Dundee United 2–3 Livingston Dundee
19:45 Mikkelsen 3'
Ralston 28' 		BBC Report De Vita 2'
Mullin 77'
Pittman 80' 		Stadium: Tannadice Park
Attendance: 5,610
Referee: Nick Walsh

Second leg

11 May 2018 Livingston 1–1
(4–3 agg.) 		Dundee United Livingston
19:45 Lithgow 6' BBC Report Fraser 21' Stadium: Almondvale Stadium
Attendance: 4,508
Referee: Don Robertson

Final

First leg

17 May 2018 Livingston 2–1 Partick Thistle Livingston
19:45 Jacobs 13'
Pittman 74' 		BBC Report Doolan 10' Stadium: Almondvale Stadium
Attendance: 5,469
Referee: Craig Thomson

Second leg

20 May 2018 Partick Thistle 0–1
(1–3 agg.) 		Livingston Glasgow
15:30 Report Jacobs 46' Stadium: Firhill Stadium
Attendance: 7,122
Referee: John Beaton

Livingston were promoted to the Premiership.

Broadcasting

Live Matches

The SPFL permits Sky Sports and BT Sport to show up to six live home matches between the broadcasters from each club - although this is only four for Rangers and Celtic. Sky Sports and BT Sport's deal allows them to broadcast 30 games each (and the play-offs for BT). The deal roughly provides £21m to SPFL per season.

Highlights

Sky Sports hold the rights to Saturday night highlights - however, they do not broadcast a dedicated programme and instead merely show the goals of the Premiership matches on Sky Sports News in their Goals Express programme - which primarily is focused on goals from the English Football League. Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba has the rights to broadcast the repeat in full of 38 Saturday 3pm matches "as live" at 5.30pm. The main Premiership highlights programme is BBC Scotland's Sportscene programme hosted on a Sunday which shows in depth highlights of all six Premiership matches every weekend. STV show the goals the weekend matches on Monday nights during the Sport section of their News at Six programme as well as during their weeknight football-debate show on STV2. The SPFL also uploads the goals from every Premiership match onto its YouTube channel - available from 6pm on a Sunday for UK and Ireland viewers and 10pm on a Saturday for those worldwide.

See also