2017–18 Scottish Premiership

Scottish Premiership 2017-18
Season information
Winners	Celtic 5th Premiership title 49th Scottish title
Relegated	Partick Thistle Ross County
Domestic cup winners
Scottish Cup	Celtic
Scottish League Cup	Celtic
Continental cup qualifiers
Champions League	Celtic
Europa League	Aberdeen Rangers Hibernian
Season statistics
Matches played	228
Goals scored	594
Average	(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)
← 2016–17	2018–19 →

The 2017–18 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the fifth and current 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 are 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.

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

Teams

Promoted from Scottish Championship

• Hibernian

Relegated from Scottish Premiership

• Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee	Heart of Midlothian
Pittodrie Stadium	Celtic Park	Dens Park	Tynecastle Park
Capacity: 20,866	Capacity: 60,411	Capacity: 11,506	Capacity: 17,480
Hibernian	Kilmarnock
Easter Road	Rugby Park
Capacity: 20,421	Capacity: 17,891
Motherwell	Partick Thistle
Fir Park	Firhill Stadium
Capacity: 13,677	Capacity: 10,102
Rangers	Ross County	St Johnstone
Ibrox Stadium	Victoria Park	McDiarmid Park
Capacity: 50,817	Capacity: 6,541	Capacity: 10,696

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	McCann, NeilNeil McCann	McPake, JamesJames McPake	Puma	McEwan Fraser Legal
Hamilton Academical	Canning, MartinMartin Canning	Devlin, MichaelMichael Devlin	Adidas	SuperSeal (H), NetBet (A)
Heart of Midlothian	Cathro, IanIan Cathro	Kitchen, PerryPerry Kitchen	Umbro	Save the Children
Hibernian	Neil Lennon	David Gray	Macron	Marathonbet
Kilmarnock	McCulloch, LeeLee McCulloch	Smith, StevenSteven Smith	Nike	QTS
Motherwell	Robinson, SteveSteve Robinson	Lasley, KeithKeith Lasley	Macron	Motorpoint
Partick Thistle	Archibald, AlanAlan Archibald	Osman, AbdulAbdul Osman	Joma	Kingsford Capital Management
Rangers	Caixinha, PedroPedro Caixinha	Wallace, LeeLee Wallace	Puma	32Red
Ross County	McIntyre, JimJim McIntyre	Davies, AndrewAndrew Davies	Macron	Stanley CRC Evans Offshore
St Johnstone	Wright, TommyTommy Wright	Anderson, StevenSteven 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	McCann, NeilNeil McCann	End of interim	20 May 2017	Pre-season	McCann, NeilNeil McCann	1 June 2017
Kilmarnock	McCulloch, LeeLee McCulloch		20 May 2017		McCulloch, LeeLee McCulloch	5 June 2017
Heart of Midlothian	Cathro, IanIan Cathro	Sacked	1 August 2017		Levein, CraigCraig Levein	28 August 2017
Ross County	McIntyre, JimJim McIntyre		25 September 2017	10th	Coyle, OwenOwen Coyle	28 September 2017
Kilmarnock	McCulloch, LeeLee McCulloch	Resigned	1 October 2017	12th	Clarke, SteveSteve Clarke	14 October 2017
Rangers	Caixinha, PedroPedro Caixinha	Sacked	26 October 2017	4th	Murty, GraemeGraeme Murty (interim)	26 October 2017
Rangers	Murty, GraemeGraeme Murty	End of interim	22 December 2017	3rd	Murty, GraemeGraeme Murty	22 December 2017
Ross County	Coyle, OwenOwen Coyle	Resigned	1 March 2018	12th	Ferguson, StevenSteven Ferguson and Kettlewell, StuartStuart Kettlewell	2 March 2018
Rangers	Murty, GraemeGraeme Murty	Sacked	1 May 2018	3rd	Nicholl, JimmyJimmy Nicholl (interim)	1 May 201

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.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Celtic  (C) (Q)	38	24	10	4	73	25	+48	82	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Aberdeen  (Q)	38	22	7	9	56	37	+19	73	Qualification for the Europa League (Round TBD)
3	Rangers  (Q)	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	Possible qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
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	6	11	21	40	62	−22	29
10	Hamilton Academical	38	9	6	23	47	68	−21	33
11	Partick Thistle  (Q)	38	8	9	21	31	61	−30	33	Qualification to Premiership play-offs
12	Ross County  (R)	38	6	11	21	40	62	−22	29	Relegation to the Championship

Updated to games played on 13 May 2018
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 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

Premiership play-offs

The quarter-finals will be contested between the 3rd and 4th placed teams in the Scottish Championship. The winners will advance to the semi-finals to face the 2nd placed team in the Championship, and the winners of that tie will advance to the final to play-off against the 11th placed team in the Premiership, with the winners securing a place in the 2018–19 Scottish Premiership.

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	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
April

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		https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44127662	Jacobs  46'	Stadium: Firhill Stadium Attendance: 7,122 Referee: John Beaton

Livingston were promoted to the Premiership.

Broadcasting

Live Matches

This is a list of the matches broadcast live on television in the UK: The SPFL permits Sky Sports and BT Sports 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.

In Scotland, unlike most other leagues the kick-off times for live TV matches are not set by the league but are by the broadcasters, which does allow for live matches in Scotland to move around the schedule - mostly to accommodate Premier League matches south of the Border - however, BT Sport mostly show their matches on a Friday Night - with a 30 minute debate show entitled "Scottish Football Extra" beforehand.

Date	Time	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Attendance	Channel	UK Viewing figures	No. of Live Games Used
5th August	12:30	Celtic	4-1	Heart of Midlothian	58,843	Sky Sports	121,000	1/4
6th August	13:30	Motherwell	1-2	Rangers	9,974	Sky Sports	174,000	1/6
11th August	19:45	Partick Thistle	0-1	Celtic	8,041	BT Sport		1/6
19th August	12:30	Kilmarnock	0-2	Celtic	10,069	Sky Sports		1/6
27th August	12:30	Dundee		Hibernian		Sky Sports		1/6
27th August	15:00	Ross County		Rangers		BT Sport		1/6
8th September	19:45	Hamilton Accies		Celtic		BT Sport		1/6
15th September	19:45	Partick Thistle		Rangers		BT Sport		2/6
23rd September	12:00	Rangers		Celtic		Sky Sports		1/4
24th September	12:15	Motherwell		Aberdeen		BT Sport		2/6
29th September	19:45	Hamilton Accies		Rangers		BT Sport		2/6
13th October	19:45	St Johnstone		Rangers		BT Sport		1/6
21st October	12:30	Rangers		Aberdeen		Sky Sports		2/4
24th October	19:45	Hibernian		Heart of Midlothian		BT Sport		1/6
25th October	19:45	Aberdeen		Celtic		BT Sport		1/6

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 evening at 6pm on BBC Two (repeated at 11pm on BBC One in HD) 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 it's YouTube channel - available from 6pm on a Sunday for UK and Ireland viewers and 10pm on a Saturday for those worldwide.

External links

• Official Site

Football Seasons in Scotland

Football League

Division One

Premier Division

Premier League

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Premiership

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