Scottish_Premier_League_2007–08

Scottish Premier League
Season	2007–08
Dates	4 August 2007 – 22 May 2008
Champions	Celtic ; 6th Premier League title ; 42nd Scottish title
Relegated	Gretna
Champions League	Celtic; Rangers
UEFA Cup	Motherwell
Intertoto Cup	Hibernian
Matches played	228
Goals scored	610 (2.68 per match)
Top goalscorer	Scott McDonald (25)
Biggest home win	Rangers 7–2 Falkirk (18 August); Inverness CT 6–1 Gretna (3 May); Celtic 5–0 Hearts (25 August); Celtic 5–0 Inverness CT (15 September)
Biggest away win	Aberdeen 1–5 Celtic (10 February); St Mirren 1–5 Celtic (2 September); St Mirren 1–5 Falkirk (1 December); Gretna 0–4 Falkirk (4 August); Gretna 0–4 Inverness CT (27 October); Hearts 0–4 Rangers (27 February)
Highest attendance	60,000, Celtic 0–0 Kilmarnock (5 August)
Lowest attendance	431, Gretna 1–2 Inverness CT (5 April)
	← 2006–07 2008–09 →

2007–08 Scottish Premier League

102nd season of top-tier football league in Scotland

The 2007–08 Scottish Premier League season was the tenth season of the Scottish Premier League. It began on 4 August 2007 and was originally due to end on 18 May 2008. Due to the death of Phil O'Donnell and extremely poor weather causing the postponement of fixtures during the winter, as well as a backlog of Rangers fixtures and their progression to the UEFA Cup Final, the SPL decided to move the final round of fixtures back four days to 22 May 2008.^[1] It was the first season under the sponsorship of the Clydesdale Bank.

Quick Facts Season, Dates ...

Gretna were promoted from the First Division the previous season and played in the SPL for the first time, replacing Dunfermline Athletic. Gretna did not play at their home stadium Raydale Park as it did not meet the SPL stadia criteria of 6,000 and instead used Motherwell's Fir Park for all but one of their games; that match was at Livingston's Almondvale Stadium.

Champions Celtic qualified directly for the Champions League, while second-placed Rangers qualified for the Second qualifying round. Third-placed Motherwell qualified for the UEFA Cup and Hibernian qualified for the Intertoto Cup. First Division side Queen of the South also qualified for the UEFA Cup after reaching the Scottish Cup Final. Gretna were relegated after just one season in the SPL and were replaced by First Division champions Hamilton Academical for the following season.

The championship was determined on the final day of the season with Celtic and Rangers even on 86 points. Celtic travelled to Tannadice to play Dundee United knowing that a win would likely secure the title due to their superior goal difference (+57 to +53). Meanwhile, Rangers needed to better Celtic's result in their match against Aberdeen at Pittodrie (a Ranger win and Celtic draw or a Ranger draw coupled with a Celtic loss). If both teams won or lost, then Rangers must better better Celtic's goal difference by 4 or more. As it turned out, Celtic won 1–0 following Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's second-half header, while Aberdeen F.C. beat Rangers 2–0 thanks to goals from Lee Miller and Steve Lovell.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Scottish_Premier_League_2007–08, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[30] Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.

[table_note_res_IC0.85216801280722-31] Hibernian qualified for the Intertoto Cup as the highest ranked club to apply for a place in the competition.

[table_hth_GRE0.85216801280722-32] Gretna were deducted 10 points for entering administration.

[table_note_res_REL0.85216801280722-33] At the end of the season, Gretna were relegated to the Third Division due to their financial struggles. However, as no buyer was found for the club, they resigned from the Scottish Football League and were subsequently liquidated.

[1] [1]
"SPL prepares for season extension". 22 April 2008 – via news.bbc.co.uk.

[2] [2]
"Aberdeen Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[3] [3]
"Celtic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[4] [4]
"Dundee United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[5] [5]
"Falkirk Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[6] [6]
Gretna played their home matches at Motherwell's Fir Park as their home ground, Raydale Park, did not meet the league's minimum standards. They also played one match against Celtic at Livingston's Almondvale Stadium as the pitch at Fir Park was considered unplayable.

[Motherwell_Football_Club-7] [7]
"Motherwell Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[8] [8]
"Heart of Midlothian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[9] [9]
"Hibernian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[10] [10]
"Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.^{[permanent dead link]}

[11] [11]
"Kilmarnock Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[12] [12]
"Rangers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 November 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[13] [13]
"St Mirren Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 November 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[Malpas_leaves-14] [14]
"Malpas leaves post at Motherwell". BBC Sport. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2018.

[15] [15]
"McGhee named new Motherwell boss". BBC Sport. 18 June 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2018.

[Alexander_sacked-16] [16]
"No return for Alexander at Gretna". BBC Sport. 14 June 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2018.

[Irons_appointed-17] [17]
"Irons will lead Gretna into SPL". BBC Sport. 18 July 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2018.

[Christie_resigns-18] [18]
"Christie quits as Inverness boss". BBC Sport. 20 August 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2018.

[Brewster_appointed-19] [19]
"Craig Brewster returns to Inverness". The Daily Telegraph. 28 August 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2018.

[Collins_resigns-20] [20]
"Collins stuns Hibernian with shock resignation". The Guardian. 20 December 2007. Retrieved 18 February 2018.

[Mixu_appointed-21] [21]
"Hibs appoint Paatelainen". World Soccer. 10 January 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2018.

[Frail_appointment-22] [22]
"Hearts to search for new manager". BBC Sport. 1 January 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2018.

[Irons_leaves-23] [23]
"Davie Irons resigns as Gretna manager and heads to Morton". The Scotsman. 19 February 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2018.

[24] [24]
Motherwell captain O'Donnell dies BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 December 2007

[25] [25]
"St Mirren 2-0 Gretna". BBC Sport. 29 March 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.

[Hamilton_Accies_2-0_Clyde-26] [26]
"Hamilton Accies 2-0 Clyde". BBC Sport. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2008.

[Dundee_United_0-1_Celtic-27] [27]
"Dundee United 0-1 Celtic". BBC Sport. 22 May 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2008.

[Gretna_demoted_to_Division_Three-28] [28]
"Gretna demoted to Division Three". BBC Sport. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2008.

[resign-29] [29]
"Gretna resign from Scottish Football League". The Times. London. 2 June 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2008.

[34] [30]
"Gretna 1-2 Inverness CT". 5 April 2008 – via news.bbc.co.uk.

[35] [31]
"Gretna return 'home' to Fir Park". BBC Sport. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2008.

[36] [32]
"Hearts confirm Frail's departure". BBC Sport. 9 July 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2008.

[37] [33]
"Hearts appoint Laszlo as manager". BBC Sport. 11 July 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2008.

[38] [34]
"Clydesdale Bank Premier League Awards Season 2007/08". Archived from the original on 10 April 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2010.

[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]

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]

[lower-alpha 4]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee United	Falkirk
Pittodrie Stadium	Celtic Park	Tannadice Park	Falkirk Stadium
Capacity: 20,866^[2]	Capacity: 60,411^[3]	Capacity: 14,223^[4]	Capacity: 7,937^[5]

Gretna	Aberdeen Dundee United Falkirk Gretna Hearts Hibernian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Rangers St Mirren Celtic Motherwell Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League		Heart of Midlothian
Fir Park, Motherwell^[6]			Tynecastle Park
Capacity: 13,677^[7]			Capacity: 17,420^[8]

Hibernian			Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Easter Road			Caledonian Stadium
Capacity: 16,531^[9]			Capacity: 7,500^[10]

Kilmarnock	Motherwell	Rangers	St Mirren
Rugby Park	Fir Park	Ibrox Stadium	Love Street
Capacity: 17,889^[11]	Capacity: 13,677^[7]	Capacity: 50,817^[12]	Capacity: 10,800^[13]

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Kit sponsor
Aberdeen	Jimmy Calderwood	Nike	Apex Tubulars
Celtic	Gordon Strachan	Nike	Carling
Dundee United	Craig Levein	hummel	Anglian Windows
Falkirk	John Hughes	Lotto	Central Demolition
Gretna	Mick Wadsworth (caretaker)	Crest Teamwear	Subway
Heart of Midlothian	Stephen Frail (caretaker)	Umbro	Ukio Bankas
Hibernian	Mixu Paatelainen	Le Coq Sportif	Whyte and Mackay
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Craig Brewster	Erreà	Flybe
Kilmarnock	Jim Jefferies	Lotto	www.smallworldmedia.com
Motherwell	Mark McGhee	Bukta	Anglian Home Improvements
Rangers	Walter Smith	Umbro	Carling
St Mirren	Gus MacPherson	hummel	Braehead Shopping Centre

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Motherwell	Maurice Malpas	1 June 2007^[14]	Sacked	Pre-season	Mark McGhee	18 June 2007^[15]
Gretna	Rowan Alexander	14 June 2007^[16]	Sacked	Pre-season	Davie Irons	18 July 2007^[17]
Inverness	Charlie Christie	20 August 2007^[18]	Resigned	12th	Craig Brewster	27 August 2007^[19]
Hibernian	John Collins	20 December 2007^[20]	Resigned	5th	Mixu Paatelainen	10 January 2008^[21]
Hearts	Anatoliy Korobochka	1 January 2008^[22]	Sacked	10th	Stephen Frail (caretaker)	1 January 2008
Gretna	Davie Irons	19 February 2008^[23]	Signed by Greenock Morton	12th	Mick Wadsworth (caretaker)	19 February 2008^[23]

Home \ Away	ABE	CEL	DUN	FAL	GRT	HOM	HIB	INV	KIL	MOT	RAN	STM
Aberdeen		1–3	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–1	4–0
Celtic	3–0		3–0	4–0	3–0	5–0	1–1	5–0	0–0	3–0	2–1	1–1
Dundee United	1–0	0–2		2–0	1–2	4–1	0–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–0
Falkirk	0–0	1–4	3–0		2–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–3	0–1
Gretna	1–1	1–2	3–2	0–4		1–1	0–1	0–4	1–2	1–2	1–2	0–0
Heart of Midlothian	4–1	1–1	1–3	4–2	1–1		0–1	2–3	1–1	1–2	4–2	0–1
Hibernian	3–3	3–2	2–2	1–1	4–2	1–1		1–0	4–1	1–0	1–2	0–1
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	1–2	3–2	0–3	4–2	3–0	2–1	2–0		3–1	0–3	0–3	1–0
Kilmarnock	0–1	1–2	2–1	0–1	3–3	3–1	2–1	2–2		0–1	1–2	0–0
Motherwell	3–0	1–4	5–3	0–3	3–0	0–2	2–1	2–1	1–2		1–1	1–1
Rangers	3–0	3–0	2–0	7–2	4–0	2–1	0–1	2–0	2–0	3–1		2–0
St Mirren	0–1	1–5	0–3	1–5	1–0	1–3	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	0–3

Home \ Away	ABE	CEL	DUN	FAL	GRT	HOM	HIB	INV	KIL	MOT	RAN	STM
Aberdeen		1–5		2–1	3–0	0–1				1–1		1–1
Celtic			0–0			3–0		2–1	1–0	0–1
Dundee United	3–0			0–0			1–1			2–0	3–3	1–1
Falkirk		0–1					0–2		0–0	0–0		4–0
Gretna		0–3	0–3	2–0				1–2	4–2	1–3
Heart of Midlothian			1–0	0–0	2–0		1–0				0–4
Hibernian	3–1	0–2			4–2			2–0	2–0			2–0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	3–4		1–1	0–1		0–3					0–1
Kilmarnock	3–1		1–2			0–0		4–1			0–2	1–0
Motherwell						0–1	1–0	3–1	1–0		1–1
Rangers	3–1	1–0		2–0	4–2		2–1					4–0
St Mirren		0–1			2–0	1–1		1–1		3–1

Scottish_Premier_League_2007–08

2007–08 Scottish Premier League

Clubs

Promotion and Relegation from 2006–07

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Notable events

League table

Results

Matches 1–22

Matches 23–33

Matches 34–38

Top six

Bottom six

Goals

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

Kits and shirt sponsors

Attendances

Managerial changes

Awards

Clydesdale Bank Premier League Monthly awards

Clydesdale Bank Premier League Awards

Broadcasting rights

Transfer deals

External links

References

Share this article:

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation^{[lower-alpha 1]}
1	Celtic (C)	38	28	5	5	84	26	+58	89	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Rangers	38	27	5	6	84	33	+51	86	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
3	Motherwell	38	18	6	14	50	46	+4	60	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4	Aberdeen	38	15	8	15	50	58	−8	53
5	Dundee United	38	14	10	14	53	47	+6	52
6	Hibernian	38	14	10	14	49	45	+4	52	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup second round^{[lower-alpha 2]}

7	Falkirk	38	13	10	15	45	49	−4	49
8	Heart of Midlothian	38	13	9	16	47	55	−8	48
9	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	38	13	4	21	51	62	−11	43
10	St Mirren	38	10	11	17	26	54	−28	41
11	Kilmarnock	38	10	10	18	39	52	−13	40
12	Gretna (R)	38	5	8	25	32	83	−51	13^{[lower-alpha 3]}	Resigned from the Scottish Football League and liquidated^{[lower-alpha 4]}

Player	Goals	Club
Scott McDonald	25	Celtic
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink	15	Celtic
Kris Boyd	14	Rangers
Chris Porter	14	Motherwell
Steven Fletcher	13	Hibernian
Noel Hunt		Dundee United
Barry Robson		Dundee United/Celtic
David Clarkson	12	Motherwell
Jean-Claude Darcheville		Rangers
Lee Miller		Aberdeen
Colin Nish	11	Kilmarnock/Hibernian
Daniel Cousin	10	Rangers
Nacho Novo	10	Rangers
Don Cowie	9	Inverness CT
Michael Higdon	8	Falkirk

Team	Stadium	Capacity	Lowest	Highest	Average
Celtic	Celtic Park	60,832	45,000	60,000	56,676
Rangers	Ibrox Stadium	51,082	47,419	50,440	48,090
Heart of Midlothian	Tynecastle Stadium	17,420	10,512	17,131	15,930
Hibernian	Easter Road	17,500	7,650	17,015	13,840
Aberdeen	Pittodrie	22,199	8,240	17,798	11,993
Dundee United	Tannadice Park	14,209	5,845	13,613	8,530
Kilmarnock	Rugby Park	18,128	4,456	11,544	6,181
Motherwell¹	Fir Park	13,742	4,086	10,445	6,598
Falkirk	Falkirk Stadium	6,935	4,490	6,803	5,657
Inverness CT	Caledonian Stadium	7,500	3,420	7,753	4,752
St Mirren	Love Street	10,800	3,163	7,840	4,547
Gretna¹	Fir Park	13,742	431	6,137	2,283

Month	Manager	Player	Young player	Rising star
August	Walter Smith (Rangers)	Carlos Cuéllar (Rangers)	Steven Fletcher (Hibernian)	Mark Staunton (Falkirk)
September	John Collins (Hibernian)	Scott McDonald (Celtic)	Andrew Driver (Heart of Midlothian)	Scott Anson (Kilmarnock)
October	Craig Levein (Dundee United)	Lee Wilkie (Dundee United)	Ross McCormack (Motherwell)	Jack Wilson (Hibernian)
November	Mark McGhee (Motherwell)	Aiden McGeady (Celtic)	Ross McCormack (Motherwell)	Liam Cusack (Gretna)
December	Craig Brewster (Inverness CT)	Marius Niculae (Inverness CT)	Scott Arfield (Falkirk)	—
January	Walter Smith (Rangers)	Barry Robson (Dundee United)	Danny Grainger (Dundee United)	—
February	Mixu Paatelainen (Hibernian)	Aiden McGeady (Celtic)	Steven Fletcher (Hibernian)	Ryan Strachan (Aberdeen)
March	Walter Smith (Rangers)	Darren Barr (Falkirk)	Garry Kenneth (Dundee United)	Ryan Crighton (St Mirren)
April	Gordon Strachan (Celtic)	Barry Robson (Celtic)	Gary Glen (Heart of Midlothian)	—

Award	Recipient
Player of the Season	Carlos Cuéllar (Rangers)
Manager of the Season	Walter Smith (Rangers)
Young Player of the Season	Aiden McGeady (Celtic)
Goal of the Season	Willo Flood (Dundee United v St Mirren)
Under-19 League Player of the Season	Scott Anson (Kilmarnock)
Best Club Media Relations	Kilmarnock
Best Fan Initiative	Heart of Midlothian
Best Matchday Hospitality Package	Rangers
Best Community Initiative	Falkirk
Best Away Ground	Tynecastle (Heart of Midlothian)