Scottish Premier League
Season2006–07
Dates29 July 2006 – 20 May 2007
ChampionsCeltic
5th Premier League title
41st Scottish title
RelegatedDunfermline
Champions LeagueCeltic
Rangers
UEFA CupAberdeen
Dunfermline
Intertoto CupNone
Matches played228
Goals scored560 (2.46 per match)
Top goalscorerKris Boyd (20)
Biggest home winMotherwell 5–0 Kilmarnock (30 September)
Biggest away winMotherwell 1–6 Hibernian (18 November)

The 2006–07 Scottish Premier League season was the ninth season of the Scottish Premier League. It began on 29 July 2006.

The league champions, Celtic and runners-up, Rangers, qualified for the UEFA Champions League on the return of Walter Smith as manager following a brief and disastrous reign by Frenchman Paul Le Guen. The team finishing third, Aberdeen qualified for the UEFA Cup, as did the Scottish Cup finalists Dunfermline Athletic. However, being the bottom-placed team in the SPL, Dunfermline were also relegated to the First Division.

Teams

Promotion and relegation from 2005–06

Promoted from First Division to Premier League

Relegated from Premier League to First Division

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen Celtic Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic
Pittodrie Stadium Celtic Park Tannadice Park East End Park
Capacity: 20,866[1] Capacity: 60,411[2] Capacity: 14,223[3] Capacity: 12,509[4]
Falkirk


Heart of Midlothian
Falkirk Stadium Tynecastle Park
Capacity: 7,937[5] Capacity: 17,420[6]
Hibernian Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Easter Road Caledonian Stadium
Capacity: 16,531[7] Capacity: 7,500[8]
Kilmarnock Motherwell Rangers St Mirren
Rugby Park Fir Park Ibrox Stadium Love Street
Capacity: 17,889[9] Capacity: 13,677[10] Capacity: 50,817[11] Capacity: 10,800[12]

Personnel

Team Manager
Aberdeen Scotland Jimmy Calderwood
Celtic Scotland Gordon Strachan
Dundee United Scotland Craig Levein
Dunfermline Athletic Republic of Ireland Stephen Kenny
Falkirk Scotland John Hughes
Heart of Midlothian Ukraine Anatoliy Korobochka
Hibernian Scotland John Collins
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Scotland Charlie Christie
Kilmarnock Scotland Jim Jefferies
Motherwell Scotland Maurice Malpas
Rangers Scotland Walter Smith
St Mirren Scotland Gus MacPherson

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Manner of departure Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Rangers Scotland Alex McLeish 8 May 2006 Sacked Pre-season France Paul Le Guen 9 May 2006
Motherwell England Terry Butcher 17 May 2006 Signed by Sydney FC Scotland Maurice Malpas 17 May 2006
Hibernian England Tony Mowbray 13 October 2006 Signed by West Bromwich Albion 7th Scotland John Collins 31 October 2006
Dunfermline Athletic Scotland Jim Leishman 26 October 2006 Became Director of Football 11th Republic of Ireland Stephen Kenny 10 November 2006
Dundee United Scotland Craig Brewster 29 October 2006 Sacked 12th Scotland Craig Levein 30 October 2006
Rangers France Paul Le Guen 4 January 2007 Mutual consent 2nd Scotland Walter Smith 10 January 2007
Heart of Midlothian Lithuania Valdas Ivanauskas 20 March 2007 Mutual consent 4th Ukraine Anatoliy Korobochka 20 March 2007 (caretaker)
30 July 2007 (permanent)

Events

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1]
1 Celtic 38 26 6 6 65 34 +31 84 Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
2 Rangers 38 21 9 8 61 32 +29 72 Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
3 Aberdeen 38 19 8 11 55 38 +17 65 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4 Heart of Midlothian 38 17 10 11 47 35 +12 61
5 Kilmarnock 38 16 7 15 47 54 7 55
6 Hibernian 38 13 10 15 56 46 +10 49
7 Falkirk 38 15 5 18 49 47 +2 50
8 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 38 11 13 14 42 48 6 46
9 Dundee United 38 10 12 16 40 59 19 42
10 Motherwell 38 10 8 20 41 61 20 38
11 St Mirren 38 8 12 18 31 51 20 36
12 Dunfermline Athletic 38 8 8 22 26 55 29 32 Relegation to the Scottish First Division and
qualification for UEFA Cup second qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
Source: Scottish Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
Notes:
  1. 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.
  2. As Celtic, the Scottish Cup winners, qualified for the Champions League via their league position, the place in the UEFA Cup was passed to Dunfermline Athletic, the cup runner-up.

Results

Matches 1–22

During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away).

Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN DNF FAL HOM HIB INV KIL MOT RAN STM
Aberdeen 0–1 3–1 1–0 2–1 1–3 2–1 1–1 3–1 2–1 1–2 2–0
Celtic 1–0 2–2 1–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 3–0 4–1 2–1 2–0 2–0
Dundee United 3–1 1–4 0–0 1–2 0–1 0–3 3–1 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–0
Dunfermline Athletic 0–3 1–2 2–1 0–3 1–2 0–4 0–0 3–2 0–2 1–1 2–1
Falkirk 0–2 0–1 5–1 1–0 1–1 2–1 3–1 1–2 0–1 1–0 1–1
Heart of Midlothian 0–1 2–1 4–0 1–1 0–0 3–1 4–1 0–2 4–1 0–1 0–1
Hibernian 1–1 2–2 2–1 2–0 0–1 2–2 2–0 2–2 3–1 2–1 5–1
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1–1 1–1 0–0 1–0 3–2 0–0 0–0 3–4 0–1 2–1 1–2
Kilmarnock 1–0 1–2 0–0 5–1 2–1 0–0 2–1 1–1 1–2 2–2 1–1
Motherwell 0–2 1–1 2–3 2–1 4–2 0–1 1–6 1–4 5–0 1–2 0–0
Rangers 1–0 1–1 2–2 2–0 4–0 2–0 3–0 0–1 3–0 1–1 1–1
St Mirren 1–1 1–3 1–3 0–0 1–0 2–2 1–0 1–1 0–1 2–0 2–3
Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33

During matches 23–33 each team played every other team once (either at home or away).

Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN DNF FAL HOM HIB INV KIL MOT RAN STM
Aberdeen 1–2 2–4 3–0 1–0 1–1
Celtic 2–1 2–1 4–0 2–0 0–1 3–1
Dundee United 0–3 0–0 1–5 0–0 1–1
Dunfermline Athletic 0–1 1–0 1–1 0–1 0–0
Falkirk 1–2 1–0 1–0 0–2 1–2 2–1
Heart of Midlothian 1–4 0–4 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–1
Hibernian 0–0 2–0 0–1 2–0 0–2
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1–2 1–0 1–3 1–1 3–0 2–1
Kilmarnock 1–2 1–0 0–2 3–2 1–3
Motherwell 0–2 2–0 0–2 1–0 0–1 0–1
Rangers 3–0 5–0 2–1 0–0 1–1
St Mirren 0–2 0–1 1–1 0–2 0–0 0–1
Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 34–38

During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once.

Goals

Top scorers

Scorer Team Appearances Goals Average
Scotland Kris Boyd Rangers 32 20 0.63
Australia Scott McDonald Motherwell 32 15 0.47
Scotland Steven Naismith Kilmarnock 37 15 0.41
Republic of Ireland Anthony Stokes Falkirk 16 14 0.86
New Zealand Chris Killen Hibernian 18 13 0.72
Scotland Darren Mackie Aberdeen 36 13 0.36
Netherlands Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink Celtic 21 13 0.62
Scotland Colin Nish Kilmarnock 33 12 0.36
Scotland Charlie Adam Rangers 32 11 0.34
Scotland Barry Robson Dundee United 29 11 0.38
England John Sutton St Mirren 33 11 0.33
Scotland Craig Dargo Inverness CT 27 10 0.37
Republic of Ireland Noel Hunt Dundee United 28 10 0.36
England Steve Lovell Aberdeen 27 9 0.33
Japan Shunsuke Nakamura Celtic 37 9 0.24
Lithuania Andrius Velicka Heart of Midlothian 27 8 0.30

Hat-tricks

Scorer For Against Date
Japan Shunsuke NakamuraCelticDundee United14 October 2006
Republic of Ireland Anthony StokesFalkirkDundee United28 October 2006
Republic of Ireland Anthony StokesFalkirkDunfermline Athletic4 November 2006
Denmark Thomas GravesenCelticSt Mirren12 November 2006
Republic of Ireland Anthony StokesFalkirkInverness CT30 December 2006
Netherlands Jan Vennegoor of HesselinkCelticSt Mirren20 January 2007
Scotland Kris BoydRangersKilmarnock11 February 2007
Scotland Kris BoydRangersAberdeen17 March 2007
Scotland Barry RobsonDundee UnitedHeart of Midlothian17 March 2007

Attendances

Overall 3.7 million spectators attended an average per match of just over 8,090. The average and highest attendances for SPL clubs during the 2006/07 season are shown below:

Club Average Highest
Celtic 57,928 59,659
Rangers 49,955 50,488
Hearts 16,937 17,369
Hibernian 14,587 16,747
Aberdeen 12,475 20,045
Dundee United 7,147 12,329
Kilmarnock 6,807 13,506
Dunfermline Athletic 6,106 8,561
Motherwell 5,877 11,745
St Mirren 5,609 10,251
Falkirk 5,387 7,245
Inverness CT 4,879 7,522

Source: SPL official website

Monthly awards

MonthManagerPlayerYoung Player
AugustScotland Jim Jefferies (Kilmarnock)Trinidad and Tobago Russell Latapy (Falkirk)Republic of Ireland Aiden McGeady (Celtic)
SeptemberScotland Gordon Strachan (Celtic)Scotland Allan McGregor (Rangers)Republic of Ireland Aiden McGeady (Celtic)
OctoberScotland Charlie Christie (Inverness CT)England Lee Naylor (Celtic)Republic of Ireland Anthony Stokes (Falkirk)
NovemberScotland Craig Levein (Dundee United)Scotland Russell Anderson (Aberdeen)Republic of Ireland Anthony Stokes (Falkirk)
DecemberScotland John Hughes (Falkirk)Poland Artur Boruc (Celtic)Scotland Darren Barr (Falkirk)
JanuaryScotland Gordon Strachan (Celtic)Netherlands Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic)Scotland Christophe Berra (Hearts)
FebruaryScotland Maurice Malpas (Motherwell)Japan Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic)Scotland Lewis Stevenson (Hibernian)
MarchScotland Craig Levein (Dundee United)Scotland Alan Hutton (Rangers)Scotland Steven Naismith (Kilmarnock)
AprilRepublic of Ireland Stephen Kenny (Dunfermline Athletic)Northern Ireland Neil Lennon (Celtic)Scotland Mark Reynolds (Motherwell)

See also

References

  1. "Aberdeen Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  2. "Celtic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  3. "Dundee United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  4. "Dunfermline Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  5. "Falkirk Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  6. "Heart of Midlothian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  7. "Hibernian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  8. "Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  9. "Kilmarnock Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  10. "Motherwell Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  11. "Rangers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 November 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. "St Mirren Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 November 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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