2018–19 Scottish Premiership

The 2018–19 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 15 June 2018 and the season began on 4 August 2018.^[4]

Scottish Premiership

Season	2018–19
Dates	4 August 2018 – 19 May 2019
Champions	Celtic 6th Premiership title 50th Scottish title
Relegated	Dundee
Champions League	Celtic
Europa League	Rangers Kilmarnock Aberdeen
Matches played	228
Goals scored	578 (2.54 per match)
Top goalscorer	Alfredo Morelos (18 goals)[1][2]
Biggest home win	Hibernian 6–0 Hamilton Academical[3] (6 October 2018) Rangers 7–1 Motherwell[3] (11 November 2018)
Biggest away win	St Johnstone 0–6 Celtic[3] (7 October 2018)
Highest scoring	Rangers 7–1 Motherwell[3] (11 November 2018)
Longest winning run	8 matches:[3] Celtic
Longest unbeaten run	16 matches:[3] Celtic
Longest winless run	12 matches:[3] St Mirren
Longest losing run	10 matches:[3] Dundee
Highest attendance	59,143[3] Celtic 1–0 Aberdeen (29 September 2018)
Lowest attendance	1,022[3] Livingston 2–0 Hamilton Academical (3 April 2019)
Total attendance	3,641,850[3]
Average attendance	15,973 (41)[3]
← 2017–18 2019–20 → All statistics correct as of 19 May 2019.

Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, St Johnstone and St Mirren.

On 4 May 2019, Celtic won their eighth consecutive title and 50th overall after a 3–0 win over Aberdeen.^[5]

Teams

To Premiership

St Mirren secured the Championship title and promotion to the Premiership on 14 April 2018 after a goalless draw with Livingston,^[6] who were also promoted after winning the play-off final.^[7]

To Championship

Ross County were relegated to the Championship on 12 May 2018 after a 1–1 draw with St Johnstone.^[8] Partick Thistle were also relegated following a 3–1 aggregate defeat to Livingston in the play-off final.^[7]

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee	Hamilton Academical
Pittodrie Stadium	Celtic Park	Dens Park	New Douglas Park
Capacity: 20,866[9]	Capacity: 60,411[10]	Capacity: 11,775[11]	Capacity: 6,018[12]
Heart of Midlothian	Aberdeen Dundee Hearts Hibernian Kilmarnock Livingston Rangers St Johnstone St Mirren Celtic Hamilton Motherwell Location of teams in 2018–19 Premiership		Hibernian
Tynecastle Park			Easter Road
Capacity: 20,099[13]			Capacity: 20,421[14]
Kilmarnock			Livingston
Rugby Park			Almondvale Stadium
Capacity: 17,889[15]			Capacity: 9,512[16]
Motherwell	Rangers	St Johnstone	St Mirren
Fir Park	Ibrox Stadium	McDiarmid Park	St Mirren Park
Capacity: 13,677[17]	Capacity: 50,817[18]	Capacity: 10,696[19]	Capacity: 7,937[20]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen	Derek McInnes	Graeme Shinnie	Adidas	Saltire Energy
Celtic	Neil Lennon (interim)	Scott Brown	New Balance	Dafabet
Dundee	James McPake (interim)	Kenny Miller	Puma	McEwan Fraser Legal
Hamilton Academical	Brian Rice	Darian MacKinnon	Adidas	Euro Mechanical Handling
Heart of Midlothian	Craig Levein	Christophe Berra	Umbro	Save the Children
Hibernian	Paul Heckingbottom	David Gray	Macron	Marathonbet
Kilmarnock	Steve Clarke	Kris Boyd	Nike	QTS
Livingston	Gary Holt	Craig Halkett	FBT	Tony Macaroni
Motherwell	Stephen Robinson	Peter Hartley	Macron	BetPark
Rangers	Steven Gerrard	James Tavernier	Hummel	32Red
St Johnstone	Tommy Wright	Joe Shaughnessy	BLK	Binn Group
St Mirren	Oran Kearney	Stephen McGinn	Joma	Skyview Capital

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Rangers	Jimmy Nicholl	End of interim	13 May 2018[21]	Pre-season	Steven Gerrard	1 June 2018[22]
St Mirren	Jack Ross	Signed by Sunderland	25 May 2018[23]		Alan Stubbs	8 June 2018[24]
Livingston	David Hopkin	Contract expired	31 May 2018[25]		Kenny Miller	30 June 2018[26]
	Kenny Miller	Mutual consent	20 August 2018[27]	9th	Gary Holt	23 August 2018[28]
St Mirren	Alan Stubbs	Sacked	3 September 2018[29]	11th	Oran Kearney	7 September 2018[30]
Dundee	Neil McCann		16 October 2018[31]	12th	Jim McIntyre	17 October 2018[32]
Hamilton Academical	Martin Canning	Mutual consent	29 January 2019[33]	10th	Brian Rice	31 January 2019[34]
Hibernian	Neil Lennon		30 January 2019[35]	8th	Eddie May (caretaker)	30 January 2019[36]
	Eddie May	End of caretaker spell	13 February 2019[37]	8th	Paul Heckingbottom	13 February 2019[37]
Celtic	Brendan Rodgers	Signed by Leicester City	26 February 2019[38]	1st	Neil Lennon (interim)	26 February 2019[39]
Dundee	Jim McIntyre	Sacked	12 May 2019[40]	12th	James McPake	13 May 2019[41]

Format

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 every other team in their section once. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section have played 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 summary

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
1	Celtic (C)	38	27	6	5	77	20	+57	87	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Rangers	38	23	9	6	82	27	+55	78	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	Kilmarnock	38	19	10	9	50	31	+19	67
4	Aberdeen	38	20	7	11	57	44	+13	67
5	Hibernian	38	14	12	12	51	39	+12	54
6	Heart of Midlothian	38	15	6	17	42	50	−8	51
7	St Johnstone	38	15	7	16	38	48	−10	52
8	Motherwell	38	15	6	17	46	56	−10	51
9	Livingston	38	11	11	16	42	44	−2	44
10	Hamilton Academical	38	9	6	23	28	75	−47	33
11	St Mirren (O)	38	8	8	22	34	66	−32	32	Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
12	Dundee (R)	38	5	6	27	31	78	−47	21	Relegation to the Championship

Source: Soccerway BBC SPFL
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).^[42]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (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).

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 for Champions League first qualifying round
	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
	Qualification for Premiership play-off final
	Relegation to 2019–20 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	6	2	2	2	6	5	3	2	3	2	2	1	1	2	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Rangers	7	3	4	7	4	2	6	6	5	5	4	3	3	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Kilmarnock	4	4	6	3	7	5	4	4	3	2	3	4	4	4	3	1	3	3	4	3	3	2	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	4	4	3	3	3
Aberdeen	6	5	5	8	8	7	7	7	7	8	8	7	6	6	7	6	6	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	3	3	4	4	4
Hibernian	2	2	3	6	5	3	2	2	6	6	5	6	8	7	8	8	8	8	7	8	8	8	7	7	8	8	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5
Hearts	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	3	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	6
St Johnstone	10	10	8	5	6	8	8	8	8	7	7	5	5	5	5	5	5	7	8	6	6	5	6	6	6	6	7	7	8	7	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	7
Motherwell	12	12	11	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	7	7	8	8	7	8	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Livingston	9	9	7	4	3	4	3	5	4	4	6	8	7	8	6	7	7	6	6	7	7	7	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Hamilton Academical	11	8	9	10	11	9	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
St Mirren	5	7	10	11	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	12	11	11	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11
Dundee	8	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	11	12	12	12	12	11	11	11	11	10	10	11	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12

Updated: 19 May 2019

Results

Matches 1–22

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

Home \ Away	ABE	CEL	DUN	HAM	HOM	HIB	KIL	LIV	MOT	RAN	STJ	STM
Aberdeen	—	3–4	5–1	3–0	2–0	1–0	0–2	3–2	1–0	1–1	0–2	4–1
Celtic	1–0	—	3–0	1–0	5–0	4–2	5–1	3–1	3–0	1–0	2–0	4–0
Dundee	0–1	0–5	—	4–0	0–3	0–3	1–2	0–0	1–3	1–1	0–2	1–1
Hamilton Academical	0–3	0–3	0–2	—	1–4	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–4	1–2	3–0
Heart of Midlothian	2–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	—	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	4–1
Hibernian	1–1	2–0	2–2	6–0	0–1	—	3–2	1–1	3–0	0–0	0–1	2–2
Kilmarnock	1–2	2–1	3–1	1–1	0–1	3–0	—	2–0	3–1	2–1	2–0	2–1
Livingston	1–2	0–0	4–0	1–0	5–0	2–1	0–0	—	2–0	1–0	0–1	3–1
Motherwell	3–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	—	3–3	0–1	0–1
Rangers	0–1	1–0	4–0	1–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	3–0	7–1	—	5–1	2–0
St Johnstone	1–1	0–6	1–0	4–0	2–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–2	1–2	—	2–0
St Mirren	1–2	0–0	2–1	1–3	2–0	0–1	1–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–1	—

Source: SPFL
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 each other once.

Home \ Away	ABE	CEL	DUN	HAM	HOM	HIB	KIL	LIV	MOT	RAN	STJ	STM
Aberdeen	—	—	—	0–2	—	—	0–0	1–1	3–1	2–4	—	2–2
Celtic	0–0	—	—	3–0	—	2–0	—	0–0	4–1	2–1	—	—
Dundee	0–2	0–1	—	—	0–1	2–4	2–2	—	0–1	—	—	—
Hamilton Academical	—	—	1–1	—	1–0	—	—	—	—	0–5	2–1	1–1
Heart of Midlothian	2–1	1–2	—	—	—	1–2	—	0–0	—	—	2–0	1–1
Hibernian	1–2	—	—	2–0	—	—	0–0	—	2–0	1–1	—	—
Kilmarnock	—	0–1	—	5–0	1–2	—	—	—	0–0	—	2–0	—
Livingston	—	—	1–2	2–0	—	1–2	1–0	—	—	0–3	3–1	—
Motherwell	—	—	—	3–0	2–1	—	—	3–0	—	0–3	3–0	—
Rangers	—	—	4–0	—	3–0	—	1–1	—	—	—	0–0	4–0
St Johnstone	0–2	0–2	2–0	—	—	1–2	—	—	—	—	—	1–0
St Mirren	—	0–2	2–1	—	—	1–3	0–1	1–0	1–2	—	—	—

Source: SPFL
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.^[43]

Top six Home \ Away ABE CEL HOM HIB KIL RAN Aberdeen — 0–3 2–1 — — — Celtic — — 2–1 — 1–0 — Heart of Midlothian — — — — 0–1 1–3 Hibernian 1–2 0–0 1–1 — — — Kilmarnock 0–1 — — 1–0 — 2–1 Rangers 2–0 2–0 — 1–0 — — 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.

Bottom six Home \ Away DUN HAM LIV MOT STJ STM Dundee — 0–1 — — — 2–3 Hamilton Academical — — 3–3 1–1 2–0 — Livingston 0–1 — — — — 1–3 Motherwell 4–3 — 3–2 — — 1–1 St Johnstone 2–0 — 1–1 2–0 — — St Mirren — 2–0 — — 1–1 — 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.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of 19 May 2019^[1][2]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Alfredo Morelos	Rangers	18
2	Sam Cosgrove	Aberdeen	17
3	Odsonne Édouard	Celtic	15
	David Turnbull	Motherwell
5	James Tavernier	Rangers	14
6	James Forrest	Celtic	11
	Eamonn Brophy	Kilmarnock
	Scott Arfield	Rangers
9	Steven Naismith	Heart of Midlothian	10

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Scottish Professional Football League hat-tricks § Scottish Premiership

Player	For	Against	Score	Date
Steven Naismith	Hearts	St Mirren	4–1 (H)	1 September 2018
James Forrest4	Celtic	St Johnstone	0–6 (A)	7 October 2018
Kenny Miller	Dundee	Hamilton Academical	4–0 (H)	5 December 2018
Scott Sinclair	Celtic	Aberdeen	3–4 (A)	26 December 2018
Scott Arfield	Rangers	Motherwell	0–3 (A)	7 April 2019
Cody Cooke	St Mirren	Dundee	2–3 (A)	18 May 2019

Note

⁴ Player scored four goals; (H) = Home, (A) = Away

Attendances

These are the average attendances of the teams.

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Celtic	1,097,782	59,143	54,563	57,778	+0.1%†
2	Rangers	941,720	50,130	48,729	49,564	+0.8%†
3	Hibernian	337,078	20,200	15,096	17,740	−2.1%†
4	Heart of Midlothian	333,724	19,967	15,147	17,564	−4.7%†
5	Aberdeen	283,567	20,027	12,252	14,924	−5.4%†
6	Kilmarnock	130,999	12,374	4,143	6,894	+27.9%†
7	Dundee	114,469	8,578	4,426	6,024	+1.3%†
8	Motherwell	103,518	9,545	3,662	5,448	0.0%†
9	St Mirren[a]	101,680	7,288	4,001	5,351	+20.3%†
10	St Johnstone	73,937	7,086	1,946	3,891	+2.2%†
11	Livingston[a]	69,616	9,246	1,022	3,664	+171.8%†
12	Hamilton Academical	53,760	5,827	1,135	2,829	−8.6%†
	League total	3,641,850	59,143	1,022	15,973	+0.3%†

Updated to games played on 19 May 2019
Source: ^{[3][44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49][50] [51][52] [53] [54] [55]}

1. Club was playing in the Scottish Championship in the previous season.

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Ref.
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Craig Levein	Hearts	Tony Watt	St Johnstone	[56]
September	Gary Holt	Livingston	Steven Naismith	Hearts
October	Brendan Rodgers	Celtic	James Forrest	Celtic
November	Tommy Wright	St Johnstone	Ryan Christie	Celtic
December	Derek McInnes	Aberdeen	Sam Cosgrove	Aberdeen
January	Winter Break
February	Stephen Robinson	Motherwell	Jake Hastie	Motherwell
March	Paul Heckingbottom	Hibernian	Odsonne Édouard	Celtic
April	Steven Gerrard	Rangers	Scott Arfield	Rangers

Premiership play-offs

The quarter-final was contested by Ayr United and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, with Inverness Caledonian Thistle advancing to the semi-final where they lost to Dundee United. Dundee United faced St Mirren in the final, with the Saints securing the last place in the 2019–20 Premiership after victory in a penalty shoot-out.^[57]

	Quarter-final							Semi-final							Final
															1	St. Mirren	0	1	1 (2)
								2	Dundee United	1	3	4			2	Dundee United	0	1	1 (0)
	3	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	3	1	4			3	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	0	0	0
	4	Ayr United	1	1	2

Quarter-final

First leg

Ayr United v Inverness Caledonian Thistle

7 May 2019	Ayr United	1–3	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Ayr
19:45	Rose 65'	BBC Report	Trafford 33' White 51', 76' (pen.)	Stadium: Somerset Park Attendance: 2,171 Referee: Alan Muir

Second leg

Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Ayr United

11 May 2019	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	1–1 (4–2 agg.)	Ayr United	Inverness
15:00	Donaldson 79'	BBC Report	McCowan 19'	Stadium: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2,323 Referee: Steven McLean

Semi-final

First leg

Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Dundee United

14 May 2019	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	0–1	Dundee United	Inverness
19:45		Report	McMullan 78'	Stadium: Caledonian Stadium Attendance: 2,604 Referee: Nick Walsh

Second leg

Dundee United v Inverness Caledonian Thistle

17 May 2019	Dundee United	3–0 (4–0 agg.)	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Dundee
19:45	Clark 45' (pen.) Sow 54' Šafranko 80'	Report		Stadium: Tannadice Park Attendance: 8,504 Referee: Kevin Clancy

Final

First leg

Dundee United v St Mirren

23 May 2019	Dundee United	0–0	St Mirren	Dundee
19:45		Report		Stadium: Tannadice Park Attendance: 11,062 Referee: Bobby Madden

Second leg

St Mirren v Dundee United

26 May 2019	St Mirren	1–1 (a.e.t.) (1–1 agg.) (2–0 p)	Dundee United	Paisley
15:00	Mullen 26'	Report	Clark 23' (pen.)	Stadium: St Mirren Park Attendance: 7,732 Referee: John Beaton
	Penalties
	McGinn Popescu Mužek		Pawlett Šafranko Sow Booth

Broadcasting

Live Matches

The SPFL allows Sky Sports and BT Sport to broadcast up to six live home matches (combined) for each club, although this is only four for Celtic and Rangers. The TV deal allows the broadcasters to show 30 games each (and the play-offs for BT Sport) and provides approximately £21m to the SPFL per season.^[58]

Highlights

Sky Sports hold the rights to Saturday night highlights and show the Premiership goals on Sky Sports News in their Goals Express programme. Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba can broadcast in full the repeat of 38 Saturday 3pm matches "as live" at 5.30pm. The main Premiership highlights programme is BBC Scotland's Sportscene programme, which shows in-depth highlights of all six Premiership matches every weekend. STV show the goals on Monday nights during the Sport section of their News at Six programme. 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

• Nine in a row