2007–08 Scottish Premier League
The 2007–08 Scottish Premier League season was the tenth season of the Scottish Premier League. It began on 4 August 2007 and was originally due to end on 18 May 2008. Due to the death of Phil O'Donnell and extremely poor weather causing the postponement of fixtures during the winter, as well as a backlog of Rangers fixtures and their progression to the UEFA Cup Final, the SPL decided to move the final round of fixtures back four days to 22 May 2008. It was the first season under the sponsorship of the Clydesdale Bank.
| Season | 2007–08 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 4 August 2007 – 22 May 2008 |
| Champions | Celtic 6th Premier League title 42nd Scottish title |
| Relegated | Gretna |
| Champions League | Celtic Rangers |
| UEFA Cup | Motherwell |
| Intertoto Cup | Hibernian |
| Matches played | 228 |
| Goals scored | 610 (2.68 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Scott McDonald (25) |
| Biggest home win | Rangers 7–2 Falkirk (18 August) Inverness CT 6–1 Gretna (3 May) Celtic 5–0 Hearts (25 August) Celtic 5–0 Inverness CT (15 September) |
| Biggest away win | Aberdeen 1–5 Celtic (10 February) St Mirren 1–5 Celtic (2 September) St Mirren 1–5 Falkirk (1 December) Gretna 0–4 Falkirk (4 August) Gretna 0–4 Inverness CT (27 October) Hearts 0–4 Rangers (27 February) |
| Highest attendance | 60,000, Celtic 0–0 Kilmarnock (5 August) |
| Lowest attendance | 431, Gretna 1–2 Inverness CT (5 April) |
← 2006–07 2008–09 → | |
Gretna were promoted from the First Division the previous season and played in the SPL for the first time, replacing Dunfermline Athletic. Gretna did not play at their home stadium Raydale Park as it did not meet the SPL stadia criteria of 6,000 and instead used Motherwell's Fir Park for all but one of their games; that match was at Livingston's Almondvale Stadium.
Champions Celtic qualified directly for the Champions League, while second-placed Rangers qualified for the Second qualifying round. Third-placed Motherwell qualified for the UEFA Cup and Hibernian qualified for the Intertoto Cup. First Division side Queen of the South also qualified for the UEFA Cup after reaching the Scottish Cup Final. Gretna were relegated after just one season in the SPL and were replaced by First Division champions Hamilton Academical for the following season.
The championship was determined on the final day of the season with Celtic and Rangers even on 86 points. Celtic travelled to Tannadice to play Dundee United knowing that a win would likely secure the title due to their superior goal difference (+57 to +53). Meanwhile, Rangers needed to better Celtic's result in their match against Aberdeen at Pittodrie (a Ranger win and Celtic draw or a Ranger draw coupled with a Celtic loss). If both teams won or lost, then Rangers must better better Celtic's goal difference by 4 or more. As it turned out, Celtic won 1–0 following Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's second-half header, while Aberdeen F.C. beat Rangers 2–0 thanks to goals from Lee Miller and Steve Lovell.