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 St Mirren
Relegated from Premier League to First Division Livingston
Stadia and locations
Aberdeen Celtic Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Pittodrie Stadium Celtic Park Tannadice Park East End Park Capacity: 20,866 Capacity: 60,411 Capacity: 14,223 Capacity: 12,509 Falkirk Heart of Midlothian Falkirk Stadium Tynecastle Park Capacity: 7,937 Capacity: 17,420 Hibernian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Easter Road Caledonian Stadium Capacity: 16,531 Capacity: 7,500 Kilmarnock Motherwell Rangers St Mirren Rugby Park Fir Park Ibrox Stadium Love Street Capacity: 17,889 Capacity: 13,677 Capacity: 50,817 Capacity: 10,800
Personnel
Team Manager Aberdeen Jimmy Calderwood Celtic Gordon Strachan Dundee United Craig Levein Dunfermline Athletic Stephen Kenny Falkirk John Hughes Heart of Midlothian Anatoliy Korobochka Hibernian John Collins Inverness Caledonian Thistle Charlie Christie Kilmarnock Jim Jefferies Motherwell Maurice Malpas Rangers Walter Smith St Mirren Gus MacPherson
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Manner of departure Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Rangers Alex McLeish8 May 2006SackedPre-season Paul Le Guen9 May 2006 Motherwell Terry Butcher17 May 2006Signed by Sydney FC Maurice Malpas17 May 2006 Hibernian Tony Mowbray13 October 2006Signed by West Bromwich Albion7th John Collins31 October 2006 Dunfermline Athletic Jim Leishman26 October 2006Became Director of Football11th Stephen Kenny10 November 2006 Dundee United Craig Brewster29 October 2006Sacked12th Craig Levein30 October 2006 Rangers Paul Le Guen4 January 2007Mutual consent2nd Walter Smith10 January 2007 Heart of Midlothian Valdas Ivanauskas20 March 2007Mutual consent4th Anatoliy Korobochka20 March 2007 (caretaker)30 July 2007 (permanent)
Events
On 22 April 2007 Celtic beat Kilmarnock 2–1 to win the title for the second season running thanks to goals from Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Shunsuke Nakamura who scored a free-kick in the dying second of the match to clinch the title for Celtic On 12 May 2007 Dunfermline Athletic were relegated to the First Division after a 2–1 defeat at Inverness CT and St Mirren came back from 2–0 down to win 3–2 at Motherwell. On 20 May 2007 Aberdeen beat Rangers 2–0 at home in their final game of the season to qualify for the UEFA Cup. For the second consecutive season, the top scorer was Kris Boyd of Rangers, with 20 goals.
League table
Results
Matches 1–22 During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away).
Matches 23–33 During matches 23–33 each team played every other team once (either at home or away).
Matches 34–38 During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once.
Top six
Bottom six
Goals
Top scorers ScorerTeamAppearancesGoalsAverage Kris BoydRangers32200.63 Scott McDonaldMotherwell32150.47 Steven NaismithKilmarnock37150.41 Anthony StokesFalkirk16140.86 Chris KillenHibernian18130.72 Darren MackieAberdeen36130.36 Jan Vennegoor of HesselinkCeltic21130.62 Colin NishKilmarnock33120.36 Charlie AdamRangers32110.34 Barry RobsonDundee United29110.38 John SuttonSt Mirren33110.33 Craig DargoInverness CT27100.37 Noel HuntDundee United28100.36 Steve LovellAberdeen2790.33 Shunsuke NakamuraCeltic3790.24 Andrius VelickaHeart of Midlothian2780.30
Hat-tricks
ScorerForAgainstDate Celtic Dundee United 14 October 2006 Falkirk Dundee United 28 October 2006 Falkirk Dunfermline Athletic 4 November 2006 Celtic St Mirren 12 November 2006 Falkirk Inverness CT 30 December 2006 Celtic St Mirren 20 January 2007 Rangers Kilmarnock 11 February 2007 Rangers Aberdeen 17 March 2007 Dundee United Heart of Midlothian 17 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:
ClubAverageHighestCeltic57,92859,659Rangers49,95550,488Hearts16,93717,369Hibernian14,58716,747Aberdeen12,47520,045Dundee United7,14712,329Kilmarnock6,80713,506Dunfermline Athletic6,1068,561Motherwell5,87711,745St Mirren5,60910,251Falkirk5,3877,245Inverness CT4,8797,522
Source: SPL official website
Awards
Monthly awards
MonthManagerPlayerYoung PlayerAugust Jim Jefferies (Kilmarnock) Russell Latapy (Falkirk) Aiden McGeady (Celtic)September Gordon Strachan (Celtic) Allan McGregor (Rangers) Aiden McGeady (Celtic) October Charlie Christie (Inverness CT) Lee Naylor (Celtic) Anthony Stokes (Falkirk)November Craig Levein (Dundee United) Russell Anderson (Aberdeen) Anthony Stokes (Falkirk)December John Hughes (Falkirk) Artur Boruc (Celtic) Darren Barr (Falkirk)January Gordon Strachan (Celtic) Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic) Christophe Berra (Hearts)February Maurice Malpas (Motherwell) Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic) Lewis Stevenson (Hibernian)March Craig Levein (Dundee United) Alan Hutton (Rangers) Steven Naismith (Kilmarnock)April Stephen Kenny (Dunfermline Athletic) Neil Lennon (Celtic) Mark Reynolds (Motherwell)
Annual awards AwardWinnerClubPFA Players' Player of the Year CelticPFA Young Player of the Year KilmarnockSFWA Footballer of the Year CelticSFWA Young Player of the Year HibernianPFA Manager of the Year CelticSFWA Manager of the Year Celtic PFA Scotland Team of the Year Goalkeeper Artur Boruc(Celtic) Defenders Steven Whittaker(Hibernian) Russell Anderson(Aberdeen) Stephen McManus(Celtic) Lee Naylor(Celtic) Midfielders Scott Brown(Hibernian) Barry Ferguson(Rangers) Shunsuke Nakamura(Celtic) Forwards Steven Naismith(Kilmarnock) Kris Boyd(Rangers) Scott McDonald(Motherwell)
See also 2006–07 Celtic F.C. season 2006–07 Dundee United F.C. season 2006–07 Hibernian F.C. season 2006–07 Kilmarnock F.C. season 2006–07 Rangers F.C. season
References