1964–65 in Scottish football

The 1964–65 season was the 92nd season of competitive football in Scotland and the 68th season of Scottish league football.^[1]

1964–65 in Scottish football
Division One champions
Kilmarnock
Division Two champions
Stirling Albion
Scottish Cup winners
Celtic
League Cup winners
Rangers
Junior Cup winners
Linlithgow Rose
Teams in Europe
Celtic, Dundee, Dunfermline Athletic, Kilmarnock, Rangers
Scotland national team
1965 BHC, 1966 World Cup qualification

Scottish League Division One

Main article: 1964–65 Scottish Division One

In one of the closest finishes ever seen in a league competition in Britain, Hearts faced Kilmarnock on the last day of the season with a two-point lead over the Ayrshire club and a slightly better goal average (goals scored divided by goals conceded). Kilmarnock had to beat Hearts by at least 2–0 to win the title. Any worse result for Kilmarnock, including any other two goal winning margin, e.g. 3–1 or 4–2, would have made Hearts champions. Kilmarnock won 2–0, and were champions.

The 1964–65 season is notable for both Celtic and Rangers finishing in mid-table. It was, and remains as of 2021, only the fifth time that neither of them had finished in the top two, and the only time that both of the Old Firm clubs had failed to finish in the top three of the First Division in the same season.

The season was also interesting in that it was the one and only season that East Stirling Clydebank (E.S. Clydebank) competed in the Scottish League, reverting to East Stirlingshire for season 1965/66 with Clydebank entering the league the following year.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Kilmarnock	34	22	6	6	62	33	1.879	50	Division Champions
2	Hearts	34	22	6	6	90	49	1.837	50
3	Dunfermline Athletic	34	22	5	7	83	36	2.306	49
4	Hibernian	34	21	4	9	75	47	1.596	46
5	Rangers	34	18	8	8	78	35	2.229	44
6	Dundee	34	15	10	9	86	63	1.365	40
7	Clyde	34	17	6	11	64	58	1.103	40
8	Celtic	34	16	5	13	76	57	1.333	37
9	Dundee United	34	15	6	13	59	51	1.157	36
10	Morton	34	13	7	14	54	54	1.000	33
11	Partick Thistle	34	11	10	13	57	58	0.983	32
12	Aberdeen	34	12	8	14	59	75	0.787	32
13	St Johnstone	34	9	11	14	57	62	0.919	29
14	Motherwell	34	10	8	16	45	54	0.833	28
15	St Mirren	34	9	6	19	38	70	0.543	24
16	Falkirk	34	7	7	20	43	85	0.506	21
17	Airdrieonians	34	5	4	25	48	110	0.436	14	Relegated to the 1965–66 Second Division
18	Third Lanark	34	3	1	30	22	99	0.222	7

Source: RSSSF

Champions: Kilmarnock
Relegated: Airdrieonains, Third Lanark

Scottish League Division Two

Main article: 1964–65 Scottish Division Two

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Stirling Albion	36	26	7	3	84	31	+53	59	Promotion to the 1965–66 First Division
2	Hamilton Academical	36	21	8	7	86	53	+33	50
3	Queen of the South	36	16	13	7	84	50	+34	45
4	Queen's Park	36	17	9	10	57	41	+16	43
5	E. S. Clydebank	36	15	10	11	64	50	+14	40
6	Stranraer	36	17	6	13	74	64	+10	40
7	Arbroath	36	13	13	10	56	51	+5	39
8	Berwick Rangers	36	15	9	12	73	70	+3	39
9	East Fife	36	15	7	14	78	77	+1	37
10	Alloa Athletic	36	14	8	14	71	81	−10	36
11	Albion Rovers	36	14	5	17	56	60	−4	33
12	Cowdenbeath	36	11	10	15	55	62	−7	32
13	Raith Rovers	36	9	14	13	54	61	−7	32
14	Dumbarton	36	13	6	17	55	67	−12	32
15	Stenhousemuir	36	11	8	17	49	74	−25	30
16	Montrose	36	10	9	17	80	91	−11	29
17	Forfar Athletic	36	9	7	20	63	89	−26	25
18	Ayr United	36	9	6	21	49	67	−18	24
19	Brechin City	36	6	7	23	53	102	−49	19

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Promoted: Stirling Albion, Hamilton Academical

Cup honours

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Scottish Cup 1964–65	Celtic	3 – 2	Dunfermline Athletic
League Cup 1964–65	Rangers	2 – 1	Celtic
Junior Cup	Linlithgow Rose	4 – 1	Baillieston Juniors

Other honours

National

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Scottish Qualifying Cup - North	Inverness Caledonian	4 – 2 *	Ross County
Scottish Qualifying Cup - South	Gala Fairydean	9 – 5 *	Glasgow University

County

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Aberdeenshire Cup	Peterhead
Ayrshire Cup	Ayr United	1 – 0	Kilmarnock
East of Scotland Shield	Hearts	3 – 1	Hibernian
Fife Cup	Dunfermline Athletic	9 – 4 *	Raith Rovers
Forfarshire Cup	Dundee United	1 – 0	Dundee
Glasgow Cup	Celtic	5 – 0	Queens Park
Lanarkshire Cup	Airdrie
Renfrewshire Cup	Morton	7 – 4 *	St Mirren
Stirlingshire Cup	Dumbarton	4 – 2 *	Falkirk

^* - aggregate over two legs

Highland League

Top Three

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Elgin City	30	21	4	5	109	52	+57	46
2	Nairn County	30	21	3	6	99	64	+35	45
3	Inverness Caledonian	30	18	5	7	104	68	+36	41

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Individual honours

Award	Winner	Club
Footballer of the Year	Billy McNeill	Celtic

Scotland national team

Main article: Scotland national football team 1960–79 results

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score[2]	Competition	Scotland scorer(s)
3 October 1964	Ninian Park, Cardiff (A)	Wales	2–3	BHC	Stevie Chalmers, Dave Gibson
21 October 1964	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Finland	3–1	WCQG8	Denis Law, Dave Gibson, Stevie Chalmers
25 November 1964	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Northern Ireland	3–2	BHC	Davie Wilson (2), Alan Gilzean
10 April 1965	Wembley Stadium, London (A)	England	2–2	BHC	Denis Law, Ian St. John
8 May 1965	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Spain	0–0	Friendly
23 May 1965	Silesia Stadium, Chorzów / Katowice (A)	Poland	1–1	WCQG8	Denis Law
27 May 1965	Olympiastadion, Helsinki (A)	Finland	2–1	WCQG8	Davie Wilson, John Greig

• Scotland came third in the 1965 British Home Championship

Key:

• (H) = Home match
• (A) = Away match
• WCQG8 = World Cup qualifying - Group 8
• BHC = British Home Championship