2014–15 Scottish Premiership

Scottish Premiership

Season	2014–15
Champions	Celtic
Relegated	St Mirren
Champions League	Celtic
Europa League	Aberdeen Inverness CT St Johnstone
Matches played	151
Goals scored	394 (2.61 per match)
Top goalscorer	Adam Rooney (18)
Biggest home win	Celtic 6–1 Dundee United (16 August 2014) Hamilton 5–0 Motherwell (1 January 2015) Partick Thistle 5–0 Hamilton (21 January 2015) Celtic 5–0 Dundee (1 May 2015)
Biggest away win	Ross County 0–5 Celtic (18 October 2014)
Highest scoring	Dundee United 6–2 Dundee (1 January 2015)
Longest winning run	8 games Aberdeen Celtic
Longest unbeaten run	12 games Aberdeen
Longest winless run	11 games Ross County
Longest losing run	7 games Ross County
Highest attendance	55,638 Celtic 5–0 Inverness CT (24 May 2015)
Lowest attendance	1,577 Hamilton Academical 1–0 St Johnstone (16 August 2014)
Average attendance	8,806
← 2013–14 2015–16 → All statistics correct as of 15 February 2015.

The 2014–15 Scottish Premiership was the second season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The season began on 9 August 2014 and ended on the 31 May 2015. Celtic are the defending champions.

Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Dundee United, Hamilton Academical, Inverness CT, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Ross County, St Johnstone and St Mirren. Due to the relegation of Edinburgh-based teams Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian in 2014, this season marked the first time in football history in which Scotland's capital city had no representatives in the top league.

On 2 May, Celtic clinched their fourth title in a row after Aberdeen lost 1–0 away at Dundee United, leaving Celtic 11 points clear with three games to play.

Teams

Dundee were promoted from the Scottish Championship. Heart of Midlothian were relegated from the Scottish Premiership.

Hibernian finished in the play-off position in the Scottish Premiership. They lost to Hamilton Academical who took the final place in the second edition of the competition, a result which left the Scottish capital Edinburgh without a club in the top flight of Scottish football for the 2014–15 season.

Stadiums by capacity and locations

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee	Dundee United
Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen	Celtic Park, Glasgow	Dens Park, Dundee	Tannadice Park, Dundee
Capacity: 20,897	Capacity: 60,355	Capacity: 11,506	Capacity: 14,229
Hamilton Academical	Aberdeen Dundee Utd Dundee Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Ross County St. Johnstone St Mirren Celtic Hamilton Motherwell Partick Thistle Location of teams in 2014–15 Scottish Premiership		Inverness Caledonian Thistle
New Douglas Park, Hamilton			Caledonian Stadium, Inverness
Capacity: 6,078			Capacity: 7,800
Kilmarnock			Motherwell
Rugby Park, Kilmarnock			Fir Park, Motherwell
Capacity: 18,128			Capacity: 13,677
Partick Thistle	Ross County	St Johnstone	St Mirren
Firhill Stadium, Glasgow	Victoria Park, Dingwall	McDiarmid Park, Perth	St Mirren Park, Paisley
Capacity: 10,102	Capacity: 6,541	Capacity: 10,696	Capacity: 8,023

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen	Derek McInnes	Russell Anderson	Adidas	Saltire Energy
Celtic	Ronny Deila	Scott Brown	Nike	Magners
Dundee	Paul Hartley	Kevin Thomson	Puma	Hangar Records
Dundee United	Jackie McNamara	Seán Dillon	Nike	Calor
Hamilton Academical	Martin Canning	Martin Canning	1874 Accies, Nike	M&H Logistics (H), Life Skills Centres (A)
Inverness CT	John Hughes	Richie Foran	Erreà	Subway
Kilmarnock	Gary Locke	Manuel Pascali	Erreà	QTS
Motherwell	Ian Baraclough	Keith Lasley	Macron	Cash Converters
Partick Thistle	Alan Archibald	Sean Welsh	Joma	macb
Ross County	Jim McIntyre	Richard Brittain	Carbrini	Stanley CRC Evans Offshore
St Johnstone	Tommy Wright	Dave Mackay	Joma	GS Brown Construction
St Mirren	Gary Teale	Steven Thompson	Carbrini	JD Sports

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
St Mirren	Danny Lennon	End of contract	12 May 2014	Pre-season	Tommy Craig	13 May 2014
Celtic	Neil Lennon	Resigned	22 May 2014	Pre-season	Ronny Deila	6 June 2014
Ross County	Derek Adams	Sacked	28 August 2014	12th	Jim McIntyre	9 September 2014
Motherwell	Stuart McCall	Resigned	2 November 2014	11th	Ian Baraclough	13 December 2014
St Mirren	Tommy Craig	Sacked	9 December 2014	11th	Gary Teale	29 January 2015
Hamilton Academical	Alex Neil	Signed by Norwich City	9 January 2015	3rd	Martin Canning	23 January 2015
Kilmarnock	Allan Johnston	Resigned	6 February 2015	8th	Gary Locke	6 February 2015 (interim)

Tournament format and regulations

Basic

In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams played a round-robin tournament whereby each team played each one of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league split 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 were played, with 38 matches played by each team.

Promotion and relegation

The team that finished 12th (St Mirren) was relegated to the Championship, while the champion of that league (Heart of Midlothian) was promoted to the Premiership for the 2015–16 season. The team that finished 11th in the Premiership (Motherwell) played the winner of the Championship playoffs (Rangers) in two playoff games, with the winner (Motherwell) securing a Premiership spot for the 2015–16 season.

Results

Matches 1–22

Teams played each other twice, once at home, once away.

Home ╲ Away

ABE

CEL

DND

DUN

HAM

INV

KIL

MOT

PAR

ROS

STJ

STM

Aberdeen

1–2

3–3

0–3

3–0

3–2

1–0

1–0

2–0

3–0

2–0

2–2

Celtic

2–1

2–1

6–1

0–1

1–0

2–0

1–1

1–0

0–0

0–1

4–1

Dundee

2–3

1–1

1–4

2–0

1–2

1–1

4–1

1–1

1–1

1–1

1–3

Dundee United

0–2

2–1

6–2

2–2

1–1

3–1

1–0

1–0

2–1

2–0

3–0

Hamilton Academical

3–0

0–2

2–1

2–3

0–2

0–0

5–0

3–3

4–0

1–0

3–0

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

0–1

1–0

0–0

1–0

4–2

2–0

3–1

0–4

1–1

2–1

1–0

Kilmarnock

0–2

0–2

1–3

2–0

1–0

1–2

2–0

3–0

0–3

0–1

2–1

Motherwell

0–2

0–1

1–3

1–0

0–4

0–2

1–1

1–0

2–2

0–1

1–0

Partick Thistle

0–1

0–3

1–1

2–2

1–2

3–1

1–1

3–1

4–0

0–0

1–2

Ross County

0–1

0–5

2–1

2–3

0–1

1–3

1–2

1–2

1–0

1–2

1–2

St Johnstone

1–0

0–3

0–1

2–1

0–1

1–0

1–2

2–1

2–0

2–1

1–2

St Mirren

0–2

1–2

0–1

0–3

0–2

0–1

1–2

0–1

0–1

2–2

0–1

Source: Scottish Premiership
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33

Teams played every other team once (either at home or away).

Home ╲ Away

ABE

CEL

DND

DUN

HAM

INV

KIL

MOT

PAR

ROS

STJ

STM

Aberdeen

1–0

1–0

2–1

0–0

4–0

3–0

Celtic

4–0

3–0

4–0

4–1

4–0

2–0

Dundee

1–1

1–2

3–1

1–1

1–0

1–0

Dundee United

1–0

3–1

0–2

1–2

0–2

Hamilton Academical

0–3

0–2

0–0

2–2

1–1

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

1–1

1–1

2–1

3–3

1–1

2–0

Kilmarnock

1–2

3–2

1–2

2–2

1–0

Motherwell

0–1

4–0

2–1

1–1

5–0

Partick Thistle

5–0

1–0

2–0

1–3

3–0

0–1

Ross County

0–1

1–0

2–1

3–2

1–0

St Johnstone

1–1

1–2

1–0

0–0

2–0

St Mirren

0–2

1–2

1–1

1–0

1–2

0–3

Source: Scottish Premiership
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 34–38

After 33 matches, the league split into two sections of six teams each, with teams playing every other team in their section once (either at home or away). The exact matches were determined upon the league table at the time of the split.

Top six

Home ╲ Away	ABE	CEL	DND	DUN	INV	STJ
Aberdeen		0–1				0–1
Celtic			5–0		5–0
Dundee	1–1				0–1	0–2
Dundee United	1–0	0–3	3–0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	1–2			3–0
St Johnstone		0–0		1–1	1–1

Source: BBC Sport
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom six

Home ╲ Away	HAM	KIL	MOT	PAR	ROS	STM
Hamilton Academical			2–0	1–1		1–0
Kilmarnock	2–3				1–2
Motherwell		3–1		0–0	1–1
Partick Thistle		1–4				3–0
Ross County	2–1			1–2		1–2
St Mirren		4–1	2–1

Top scorers

As of 24 May 2015

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Adam Rooney	Aberdeen	18
2	Leigh Griffiths	Celtic	14
	Nadir Çiftçi	Dundee United	14
4	Greg Stewart	Dundee	13
5	Anthony Andreu	Hamilton Academical	12
	John Sutton	Motherwell	12
7	Ali Crawford	Hamilton Academical	11
8	Billy McKay	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	10
	Liam Boyce	Ross County	10
	Kris Commons	Celtic	10

Premiership play-offs

Quarter-final

First leg

Queen of the South v Rangers

9 May 2015 17:30

Queen of the South	1–2	Rangers
Lyle  64'	BBC Report	Smith  44' Shiels  75'

Palmerston Park, Dumfries Attendance: 5,224 Referee: Alan Muir

Second leg

Rangers v Queen of the South

17 May 2015 15:30

Rangers	1–1	Queen of the South
Wallace  60'	BBC Report	Lyle  35'

Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Attendance: 48,035 Referee: Kevin Clancy

Rangers won 3–2 on aggregate.

Semi-final

First leg

Rangers v Hibernian

20 May 2015 19:45

Rangers	2–0	Hibernian
Clark  44' Miller  63'	BBC Report

Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Attendance: 41,236 Referee: Calum Murray

Second leg

Hibernian v Rangers

23 May 2015 12:00

Hibernian	1–0	Rangers
Cummings  90+4'	BBC Report

Easter Road, Edinburgh Attendance: 14,742 Referee: John Beaton

Rangers won 2–1 on aggregate.

Final

First leg

Rangers v Motherwell

28 May 2015 19:45

Rangers	1–3	Motherwell
McGregor  82'	BBC Report	Erwin  27' McManus  40' Ainsworth  47'

Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow Attendance: 49,200 Referee: Bobby Madden

Second leg

Motherwell v Rangers

31 May 2015 15:00

Motherwell	3–0	Rangers
Johnson  52' Ainsworth  70' Sutton  90+3' (pen.)	BBC Report

Fir Park, Motherwell Attendance: 9,220 Referee: Craig Thomson

Motherwell won 6–1 on aggregate.

External links

• Official website