1997–98 in Scottish football

1997–98 in Scottish football
Premier League champions
Celtic
Division One champions
Dundee
Division Two champions
Stranraer
Division Three champions
Alloa Athletic
Scottish Cup winners
Heart of Midlothian
League Cup winners
Celtic
Challenge Cup winners
Falkirk
Junior Cup winners
Arthurlie
Teams in Europe
Celtic, Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Rangers
Scotland national team
1998 World Cup qualification, 1998 World Cup

The 1997–98 season was the 101st season of competitive football in Scotland. Celtic halted Rangers in their bid for a record 10-in-a-row.

Scottish Premier Division

Main article: 1997–98 Scottish Premier Division

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Celtic	36	22	8	6	64	24	40	74
2	Rangers	36	21	9	6	76	38	38	72
3	Heart of Midlothian	36	19	10	7	70	46	24	67
4	Kilmarnock	36	13	11	12	40	52	−12	50
5	St. Johnstone	36	13	9	14	38	42	−4	48
6	Aberdeen	36	9	12	15	39	53	−14	39
7	Dundee United	36	8	13	15	43	51	−8	37
8	Dunfermline Athletic	36	8	13	15	43	68	−25	37
9	Motherwell	36	9	7	20	46	64	−18	34
10	Hibernian	36	6	12	18	38	59	−21	30

Top scorers

P	Name	Goals
1	Marco Negri (Rangers)	32
2	Kjell Olofsson (Dundee United)	18
3	Henrik Larsson(Celtic)	16
4	Jim Hamilton (Hearts)	14
5	Craig Burley (Celtic)	10
=	Simon Donnelly (Celtic)	10
=	Jorg Albertz (Rangers)	10
=	Neil McCann (Hearts)	10
=	Paul Wright (Kilmarnock)	10
=	George O'Boyle (St Johnstone)	10
=	Eoin Jess (Aberdeen)	10

Scottish League Division One

Main article: 1997–98 Scottish First Division

Table

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Dundee	36	20	10	6	52	24	28	70
2	Falkirk	36	19	8	9	56	41	15	65
3	Raith Rovers	36	17	9	10	51	33	18	60
4	Airdrieonians	36	16	12	8	42	35	7	60
5	Greenock Morton	36	12	10	14	47	48	−1	46
6	St. Mirren	36	11	8	17	41	53	−12	41
7	Ayr United	36	10	10	16	40	56	−16	40
8	Hamilton Academical	36	9	11	16	43	56	−13	38
9	Partick Thistle	36	8	12	16	45	55	−10	36
10	Stirling Albion	36	8	10	18	40	56	−16	34

Top scorers

P	Name	Goals
1	James Grady (Dundee)	15
2	Alex Bone (Stirling Albion)	13
3	Eddie Annand (Dundee)	12
=	Brian McPhee (Airdrieonians)	12
=	David Moss (Falkirk)	12
6	Stephen Cooper (Airdrieonians)	11
7	Laurent D'Jaffo (Ayr United)	10
=	Paul Hartley (Raith Rovers)	10
=	Warren Hawke (Morton)	10
=	Marino Keith (Falkirk)	10

Scottish League Division Two

Main article: 1997–98 Scottish Second Division

Table

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Stranraer	36	18	7	11	62	44	18	61
2	Clydebank	36	16	12	8	48	31	17	60
3	Livingston	36	16	11	9	56	40	16	59
4	Queen of the South	36	15	9	12	57	51	6	54
5	Inverness CT	36	13	10	13	65	51	14	49
6	East Fife	36	14	6	16	51	59	−8	48
7	Forfar Athletic	36	12	10	14	51	61	−10	46
8	Clyde	36	10	12	14	40	53	−13	42
9	Stenhousemuir	36	10	10	16	44	53	−9	40
10	Brechin City	36	7	11	18	42	73	−31	32

Top scorers

P	Name	Goals
1	Iain Stewart (Inverness CT)	16
2	G Harvey (Livingston)	15
=	Ian Little(Stenhousemuir)	15
4	Martin McLauchan (Forfar Athletic)	14
5	Colin McDonald (Clydebank)	13
=	B Thomson(Inverness CT)	13
7	Ben Honeyman (Forfar Athletic)	12
8	Tommy Bryce (Queen of the South)	11
=	Matthew Dyer (East Fife)	11
=	Gordon Young(Stranraer)	11

Scottish League Division Three

Main article: 1997–98 Scottish Third Division

Table

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Alloa Athletic	36	24	4	8	78	39	39	76
2	Arbroath	36	20	8	8	67	39	28	68
3	Ross County	36	19	10	7	71	36	35	67
4	East Stirlingshire	36	17	6	13	50	48	2	57
5	Albion Rovers	36	13	5	18	60	73	−13	44
6	Berwick Rangers	36	10	12	14	47	55	−8	42
7	Queen's Park	36	10	11	15	42	55	−13	41
8	Cowdenbeath	36	12	2	22	33	57	−24	38
9	Montrose	36	10	8	18	53	80	−27	38
10	Dumbarton	36	7	10	19	42	61	−19	31

Top scorers

P	Name	Goals
1	Colin McGlashan (Montrose)	20
2	William Irvine (Alloa)	18
3	Billy Spence (Arbroath)	16
4	Derek Adams (Ross County)	15
5	Willie Watters (Albion Rovers)	13
=	Davie Watt (East Stirlingshire)	13
7	Paul Forrester (Berwick Rangers)	10
=	Brian Grant (Arbroath)	10
=	Lee Gardner (Albion Rovers)	10
=	Colin McKinnon (Dumbarton)	10

Other honours

Cup honours

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Report
Scottish Cup 1997–98	Heart of Midlothian	2 – 1	Rangers	Wikipedia article
League Cup 1997–98	Celtic	3 – 0	Dundee United	Wikipedia article
Challenge Cup 1997–98	Falkirk	1 – 0	Queen of the South	Wikipedia article
Youth Cup	Heart of Midlothian	2 – 0	Dundee United
Junior Cup	Arthurlie	4 – 0	Pollok

Individual honours

SPFA awards

Award	Winner	Club
Players' Player of the Year	Jackie McNamara	Celtic
Young Player of the Year	Gary Naysmith	Heart of Midlothian

SFWA awards

Award	Winner	Club
Footballer of the Year	Craig Burley	Celtic
Young Player of the Year	Unknown	Unknown
Manager of the Year	Wim Jansen	Celtic

Scottish clubs in Europe

Club	Competition(s)	Final round	Coef.
Rangers	UEFA Champions League UEFA Cup	Second qualifying round First round	2.50
Kilmarnock	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	First round	2.50
Celtic	UEFA Cup	First round	5.00
Dundee United	UEFA Cup	Second qualifying round	2.50

Average coefficient - 3.125

Scotland national team

Main article: Scotland national football team results and fixtures

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score	Competition	Scotland scorer(s)
7 September	Pittodrie, Aberdeen (H)	Belarus	4–1	WCQG4	Kevin Gallacher (2), David Hopkin (2)
11 October	Celtic Park, Glasgow (H)	Latvia	2–0	WCQG4	Kevin Gallacher, Gordon Durie
12 November	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, St Etienne (A)	France	1–2	Friendly	Gordon Durie
25 March	Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow (H)	Denmark	0–1	Friendly
22 April	Easter Road, Edinburgh (H)	Finland	1–1	Friendly	Darren Jackson
23 May	Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ (A)	Colombia	2–2	Friendly	John Collins, Craig Burley
30 May	RFK Memorial Stadium, Washington DC (A)	USA	0–0	Friendly
10 June	Stade de France, Saint-Denis (N)	Brazil	1–2	WCGA	John Collins (pen.)
16 June	Stade Lescure, Bordeaux (N)	Norway	1–1	WCGA	Craig Burley
23 June	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, St Etienne (N)	Morocco	0–3	WCGA

Key:

• (H) = Home match
• (A) = Away match
• WCQG4 = World Cup qualifying - Group 4
• WCGA = World Cup - Group A

Notable events

• After the end of the season, the 10 Premier Division clubs formed a breakaway Scottish Premier League similar to the one formed in England six years earlier.
• Celtic won the Premier Division title after nine successive title wins by Rangers.
• Walter Smith resigned as manager of Rangers after seven years to be succeeded by Dutchman Dick Advocaat.
• Rangers lost the Scottish Cup final 2-1 to Hearts, leaving them without a major trophy for the first time since 1986.
• Paul Gascoigne left Rangers in March to return to England in a £3.4million move to Middlesbrough.
• Ally McCoist left Rangers after 15 years and more than 300 goals to sign for Kilmarnock on a free transfer.
• Goalkeeper Andy Goram left Rangers after seven years, having just walked out of the Scotland squad for the World Cup in France.
• Also leaving Rangers after seven years was Stuart McCall, who moved to England and signed for Bradford City.
• After signing from Perugia in a £3.5million deal at the start of the season, Italian striker Marco Negri had a dream start to his career at Rangers - scoring 23 goals in his first 10 league games. However, after playing 27 league games and scoring 32 goals, his season was ended by a serious eye injury off the field in March.
• Brian Laudrup ended his four-year spell with Rangers and signed for Chelsea at the end of the season.