2016–17 Scottish Premiership

Scottish Premiership 2016-17
Season information
Winners	Celtic
Relegated	Inverness
Domestic cup winners
Scottish Cup	Celtic
Scottish League Cup	Celtic
Continental cup qualifiers
Champions League	Celtic
Europa League	Aberdeen Rangers St Johnstone
Season statistics
Matches played	228
Goals scored	628
Average	(2.75 per match)
Top goalscorer	Liam Boyce (23 goals)
Biggest home win	Celtic 6–1 Kilmarnock (24 September 2016) Aberdeen 7–2 Motherwell (15 February 2017)
Biggest away win	Dundee 0–7 Aberdeen (31 March 2017)
Highest scoring	Aberdeen 7–2 Motherwell (15 February 2017)
← 2015–16	2017–18 →

The 2016–17 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the fourth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 17 June 2016. The season began on 6 August 2016. Celtic were the defending champions.

On 2 April 2017, Celtic won their sixth consecutive title and 48th overall after a 5-0 win away to Heart of Midlothian, with eight rounds still to play.

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

Teams

Promoted from Scottish Championship

• Rangers

Relegated from Scottish Premiership

• Dundee United

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee	Hamilton Academical
Pittodrie Stadium	Celtic Park	Dens Park	New Douglas Park
Capacity: 20,897	Capacity: 60,355	Capacity: 11,506	Capacity: 6,078
Heart of Midlothian	Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Tynecastle Stadium	Caledonian Stadium
Capacity: 17,529	Capacity: 7,800
Motherwell	Partick Thistle
Fir Park	Firhill Stadium
Capacity: 13,677	Capacity: 10,102
Rangers	Ross County	St Johnstone	Kilmarnock
Ibrox Stadium	Victoria Park	McDiarmid Park	Rugby Park
Capacity: 50,817	Capacity: 6,541	Capacity: 10,696	Capacity: 17,891

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen	McInnes, DerekDerek McInnes	Jack, RyanRyan Jack	Adidas	Saltire Energy
Celtic	Rodgers, BrendanBrendan Rodgers	Brown, ScottScott Brown	New Balance	Dafabet
Dundee	Hartley, PaulPaul Hartley	McPake, JamesJames McPake	Puma	McEwan Fraser Legal
Hamilton Academical	Canning, MartinMartin Canning	Devlin, MichaelMichael Devlin	Adidas	Nevis (H), Scotia Aid (A)
Heart of Midlothian	Neilson, RobbieRobbie Neilson	Öztürk, AlimAlim Öztürk	Puma	Save the Children
Inverness CT	Hughes, JohnJohn Hughes	Foran, RichieRichie Foran	Carbrini	McEwan Fraser Legal
Kilmarnock	McCulloch, LeeLee McCulloch (interim)	Smith, StevenSteven Smith	Nike	QTS
Motherwell	McGhee, MarkMark McGhee	Lasley, KeithKeith Lasley	Macron	Cash Converters
Partick Thistle	Archibald, AlanAlan Archibald	Osman, AbdulAbdul Osman	Joma	Kingsford Capital Management
Rangers	Warburton, MarkMark Warburton	Wallace, LeeLee Wallace	Puma	32Red
Ross County	McIntyre, JimJim McIntyre	Davies, AndrewAndrew Davies	Macron	Stanley CRC Evans Offshore
St Johnstone	Wright, TommyTommy Wright	Mackay, DaveDave Mackay	Joma	Invest in Perth

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Celtic	Deila, RonnyRonny Deila	Resigned	15 May 2016	Pre-season	Rodgers, BrendanBrendan Rodgers	20 May 2016
Inverness CT	Hughes, JohnJohn Hughes	Resigned	20 May 2016		Foran, RichieRichie Foran	30 May 2016
Heart of Midlothian	Neilson, RobbieRobbie Neilson	Signed by MK Dons	2 December 2016	2nd	Cathro, IanIan Cathro	5 December 2016
Rangers	Warburton, MarkMark Warburton	Resigned	10 February 2017	3rd	Caixinha, PedroPedro Caixinha	13 March 2017
Kilmarnock	Clark, LeeLee Clark	Signed by Bury	15 February 2017	6th	McCulloch, LeeLee McCulloch (interim)	15 February 2017
Motherwell	McGhee, MarkMark McGhee	Sacked	28 February 2017	10th	Robinson, SteveSteve Robinson	28 February 2017
Dundee	Hartley, PaulPaul Hartley	Sacked	17 April 2017	11th	McCann, NeilNeil McCann (interim)	18 April 2017

a.^Initially interim, made permanent 15 March 2017

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Celtic  (C)	38	34	4	0	106	25	+81	106	Qualification for the  UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Aberdeen	38	24	4	10	74	35	+39	76	Qualification for the  UEFA Europa League First qualifying round
3	Rangers	38	19	10	9	56	44	+12	67
4	St Johnstone	38	17	7	14	51	45	+6	58
5	Heart of Midlothian	38	12	10	16	55	52	+3	46
6	Partick Thistle	38	10	12	16	38	54	−16	42
7	Ross County	38	11	13	14	48	58	−10	46
8	Kilmarnock	38	9	14	15	36	56	−20	41
9	Motherwell	38	10	8	20	46	69	−23	38
10	Dundee	38	10	7	21	38	62	−24	37
11	Hamilton Academical  (Q)	38	7	14	17	37	56	−19	35	Qualification to Scottish Premiership play-offs
12	Inverness Caledonian Thistle  (R)	38	7	13	18	41	71	−30	34	Relegation to the Scottish Championship

Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

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 second qualifying round
	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
	Qualification to Premiership play-off final
	Relegation to 2017–18 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	3	5	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	1
Aberdeen	7	9	4	7	7	4	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Rangers	6	1	1	2	3	5	7	5	4	5	5	2	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
St Johnstone	8	2	7	9	5	3	4	4	5	4	3	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Heart of Midlothian	9	11	5	3	2	2	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Partick Thistle	2	3	8	11	12	12	12	12	11	11	9	7	8	11	12	11	12	12	9	6	7	6	7	9	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
Ross County	11	8	3	4	4	7	6	7	8	7	10	11	12	8	8	7	7	6	6	8	6	7	8	7	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	7	8	7	7
Kilmarnock	10	6	10	10	10	9	11	11	9	8	7	8	7	9	11	6	6	7	8	10	10	8	9	8	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	7	8	8
Motherwell	4	7	9	8	8	6	5	6	6	9	11	9	10	6	6	9	9	8	10	7	9	10	6	6	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	10	11	11	10	9	9
Dundee	1	4	6	5	6	8	9	10	12	12	12	12	11	12	7	10	10	10	7	9	8	9	10	10	6	6	7	8	8	8	9	9	11	9	9	9	10	10
Hamilton Academical	5	10	11	6	9	10	10	9	10	10	8	10	9	10	10	8	8	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	12	11	11	12	11	11	10	9	10	10	11	11	11
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	12	12	12	12	11	11	8	8	7	6	6	6	6	7	9	12	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	11	12	12	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12

Source: BBC Sport

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of matches played on 21 May 2017

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Liam Boyce	Ross County	23
2	Scott Sinclair	Celtic	21
3	Moussa Dembélé	Celtic	17
4	Stuart Armstrong	Celtic	15
	Louis Moult	Motherwell
6	Kris Doolan	Partick Thistle	14
7	Jamie Walker	Hearts	12
	Adam Rooney	Aberdeen
	Leigh Griffiths	Celtic
10	Kenny Miller	Rangers	11

Source:

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Liam Boyce	Ross County	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	3–2 (A)	13 August 2016
Moussa Dembélé	Celtic	Rangers	5–1 (H)	10 September 2016
Louis Moult4	Motherwell	Hamilton Academical	4–2 (H)	17 September 2016
Moussa Dembélé	Celtic	St Johnstone	5–2 (A)	5 February 2017
Adam Rooney	Aberdeen	Motherwell	7–2 (H)	15 February 2017
Andrew Considine	Aberdeen	Dundee	7–0 (A)	31 March 2017
Scott Sinclair	Celtic	Heart of Midlothian	5–0 (A)	2 April 2017
Liam Boyce4	Ross County	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	4–0 (H)	28 April 2017
Scott Wright	Aberdeen	Partick Thistle	6–0 (A)	21 May 2017

Notes

• (H) – Home ; (A) – Away
• ⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Premiership play-offs

The quarter-final was contested between the 3rd and 4th placed teams (Dundee United and Greenock Morton) in the Scottish Championship. After defeating Greenock Morton 5–1 over two legs, Dundee United advanced to the semi-finals to face the 2nd placed team (Falkirk) in the Championship. The winners of the semi-final will advance to the final to play-off against the 11th placed team in the Premiership, with the winners securing a place in the 2017–18 Scottish Premiership.

Quarter-final

First leg

9 May 2017	Greenock Morton	1–2	Dundee United	Cappielow, Greenock
19:45	O'Ware  7'	BBC Report	Murray  51' Spittal  65'	Attendance: 3,306 Referee: Willie Collum

Second leg

12 May 2017	Dundee United	3–0 (5–1 agg.)	Greenock Morton	Tannadice Park, Dundee
19:45	Murray  52' Kuaté  64' Spittal  81'	BBC Report		Attendance: 6,606 Referee: Andrew Dallas

Semi-final

First leg

16 May 2017	Dundee United	2–2	Falkirk	Tannadice Park, Dundee
19:45	Murray  16' Spittal  53'	Report	Craigen  27' McKee  59'	Attendance: 7,034 Referee: Bobby Madden

Second leg

19 May 2017	Falkirk	1–2 (3–4 agg.)	Dundee United	Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk
19:45	Craigen  11'	Report	Murray  76' Dixon  87'	Attendance: 7,926 Referee: Kevin Clancy

Final

First leg

25 May 2017	Dundee United	0–0	Hamilton Academical	Tannadice Park, Dundee
19:45		Report		Attendance: 9,386 Referee: Steven McLean

Second leg

28 May 2017	Hamilton Academical	1–0 (1–0 agg.)	Dundee United	New Douglas Park, Hamilton
15:00	Docherty  64'	Report		Attendance: 5,027 Referee: Craig Thomson

External links

• Official Site

Football Seasons in Scotland

Football League

Division One

Premier Division

Premier League

2010–11 · 2011–12 · 2012–13

Premiership

2013–14 · 2014–15 · 2015–16 · 2016–17 · 2017–18 · 2018–19 · 2019–20 · 2020–21 · 2021–22 · 2022–23 · 2023–24 · 2024–25 ·