2015–16 Scottish Premiership

Scottish Premiership
	Ladbrokes Premiership
Season	2015–16
Relegated	Dundee United
Matches played	170
Goals scored	478 (2.81 per match)
Top goalscorer	Leigh Griffiths; (30 goals)
Biggest home win	Celtic 8–1 Hamilton Academical; (19 January 2016)
Biggest away win	Kilmarnock 0–4 Dundee; (1 August 2015); Kilmarnock 0–4 Ross County; (22 August 2015); Aberdeen 1–5 St Johnstone; (3 October 2015); Partick Thistle 0–4 Heart of Midlothian; (31 October 2015); Kilmarnock 0–4 Aberdeen; (19 December 2015)
Highest scoring	Celtic 8–1 Hamilton Academical; (19 January 2016)
Longest winning run	8 matches:; Aberdeen
Longest unbeaten run	12 matches:; Aberdeen
Longest winless run	10 matches:; Dundee United
Longest losing run	5 matches:; Partick Thistle
Highest attendance	48,558; Celtic 6–0 Dundee; (20 September 2015)
Lowest attendance	1,555; Hamilton Academical 3–4 Inverness CT; (30 December 2015)
Total attendance	1,669,665
Average attendance	9,764
	← 2014–15 2016–17 → All statistics correct as of 10 March 2016.

The 2015–16 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the third season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The season began on 1 August 2015.^[3] Celtic are the defending champions.

Twelve teams contest the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Dundee United, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Inverness CT, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Ross County and St Johnstone.

Teams

Promoted from Scottish Championship

Heart of Midlothian

Relegated from Scottish Premiership

St Mirren

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee	Dundee United
Pittodrie Stadium	Celtic Park	Dens Park	Tannadice Park
Capacity: 20,897^[4]	Capacity: 60,355^[5]	Capacity: 11,506^[6]	Capacity: 14,229^[7]
	File:Celtic Park New.jpg
Hamilton Academical	Aberdeen Dundee Utd Dundee Heart of Midlothian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Ross County St. Johnstone Celtic Hamilton Motherwell Partick Thistle class=notpageimage\| Location of teams in 2015–16 Scottish Premiership		Heart of Midlothian
New Douglas Park			Tynecastle Stadium
Capacity: 6,078^[8]			Capacity: 17,529^[9]

Inverness Caledonian Thistle			Kilmarnock
Caledonian Stadium			Rugby Park
Capacity: 7,800^[10]			Capacity: 18,128^[11]

Motherwell	Partick Thistle	Ross County	St Johnstone
Fir Park	Firhill Stadium	Victoria Park	McDiarmid Park
Capacity: 13,677^[12]	Capacity: 10,102^[13]	Capacity: 6,541^[14]	Capacity: 10,696^[15]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aberdeen	Derek McInnes	Ryan Jack	Adidas	Saltire Energy
Celtic	Ronny Deila	Scott Brown	New Balance	Magners
Dundee	Paul Hartley	James McPake	Puma	Kilmac Energy
Dundee United	Mixu Paatelainen	Seán Dillon	Nike	Calor
Hamilton Academical	Martin Canning	Michael McGovern	Adidas^[16]	Nevis (H), Scotia Aid (A)
Heart of Midlothian	Robbie Neilson	Alim Öztürk	Puma	Save the Children
Inverness CT	John Hughes	Richie Foran	Carbrini	Subway
Kilmarnock	Lee Clark	Mark Connolly	Erreà	QTS
Motherwell	Mark McGhee	Keith Lasley	Macron	Cash Converters
Partick Thistle	Alan Archibald	Abdul Osman	Joma	Kingsford Capital Management
Ross County	Jim McIntyre	Andrew Davies	Carbrini	Stanley CRC Evans Offshore
St Johnstone	Tommy Wright	Dave Mackay	Joma	Invest in Perth

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Motherwell	Ian Baraclough	Sacked	23 September 2015^[17]	10th	Mark McGhee	13 October 2015^[18]
Dundee United	Jackie McNamara	Sacked	26 September 2015^[19]	11th	Mixu Paatelainen	14 October 2015^[20]
Kilmarnock	Gary Locke	Resigned	30 January 2016^[21]	11th	Lee McCulloch (interim)	30 January 2016^[21]
Kilmarnock	Lee McCulloch (interim)	End of interim	15 February 2016^[22]	10th	Lee Clark	15 February 2016^[22]

Tournament format and regulations

Basic

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 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 will be played, with 38 matches played by each team.

Promotion and relegation

Heart of Midlothian were promoted as 2014–15 Scottish Championship winners. On the 2nd of May, bottom club Dundee United were defeated 2-1 away to their city rivals Dundee FC, a defeat which confined them to relegation of the Championship. Craig Wighton, a local Dundee fan, scored the winning goal in the 92nd minute of the game. The champion of that league will be promoted to the Premiership for the 2016–17 season. The team that finishes 11th in the Premiership will play the winner of the Championship playoffs (teams that finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Championship) in two playoff games, with the winner securing a Premiership spot for the 2016–17 season.

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation^[a]
1	Celtic (C)	38	26	8	4	93	31	+62	86	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Aberdeen	38	22	5	11	62	48	+14	71	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	Heart of Midlothian	38	18	11	9	59	40	+19	65	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
4	St Johnstone	38	16	8	14	58	55	+3	56
5	Motherwell	38	15	5	18	47	63	−16	50
6	Ross County	38	14	6	18	55	61	−6	48

7	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	38	14	10	14	54	48	+6	52
8	Dundee	38	11	15	12	53	57	−4	48
9	Partick Thistle	38	12	10	16	41	50	−9	46
10	Hamilton Academical	38	11	10	17	42	63	−21	43
11	Kilmarnock (O)	38	9	9	20	41	64	−23	36	Qualification for the Premiership play-off final
12	Dundee United^[b] (R)	38	8	7	23	45	70	−25	28	Relegation to the Scottish Championship

Source: Scottish Premiership, Soccerway (first phase), Soccerway (second phase)
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).^[24]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).
^ Dundee United were deducted three points for fielding an ineligible player in their win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 6 May 2016.^[23]

Results

Matches 1–22

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

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4 May 2016	Raith Rovers	1–0	Hibernian	Stark's Park, Kirkcaldy
19:45	Panayiotou 75'	BBC Report		Attendance: 5,330 Referee: Kevin Clancy

7 May 2016	Hibernian	v	Raith Rovers	Easter Road, Edinburgh
12:30

10 May 2016	Winner of Quarter-final	v	Falkirk
19:45

13 May 2016	Falkirk	v	Winner of Quarter-final	Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk
19:45

Teams

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Tournament format and regulations

Basic

Promotion and relegation

League table

Results

Matches 1–22

Matches 23–33

Matches 34–38

Top six

Bottom six

Premiership play-offs

Quarter-final

First leg

Second leg

Semi-final

First leg

Second leg

Final

First leg

Second leg

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Awards

Monthly awards

References

External links