The 2019–20 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 21 June 2019 and the season began on 3 August 2019. Celtic were the defending champions.
Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, Ross County, St Johnstone and St Mirren.
On 13 March 2020, the Scottish football season was suspended with immediate effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Premiership was curtailed on 18 May 2020, with average points per game used to determine final league positions. As a result, Celtic were awarded a ninth consecutive title, whilst Hearts were controversially demoted to the Championship, a decision which prompted the Edinburgh-based club to pursue ultimately unsuccessful legal action.
Teams The following teams have changed division since the 2018–19 season.
Promoted from Scottish Championship Ross County
Relegated to Scottish Championship Dundee
Stadia and locations AberdeenCelticHamilton AcademicalHeart of MidlothianPittodrie StadiumCeltic ParkNew Douglas ParkTynecastle ParkCapacity: 20,866Capacity: 60,411Capacity: 6,018Capacity: 20,099HibernianKilmarnockEaster RoadRugby ParkCapacity: 20,421Capacity: 17,889LivingstonMotherwellAlmondvale StadiumFir ParkCapacity: 9,512Capacity: 13,677RangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenIbrox StadiumVictoria ParkMcDiarmid ParkSt Mirren ParkCapacity: 50,817Capacity: 6,541Capacity: 10,696Capacity: 7,937
Personnel and kits
TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsorAberdeen AdidasSaltire EnergyCeltic New BalanceDafabetHamilton Academical AdidasEuro Mechanical HandlingHeart of Midlothian UmbroSave the ChildrenHibernian MacronHibernian Community FoundationKilmarnock NikeQTSLivingston NikePhoenix Drilling LtdMotherwell MacronPaddy Power (unbranded)Rangers Hummel32RedRoss County and MacronMcEwan Fraser LegalSt Johnstone (caretaker) MacronBinn GroupSt Mirren JomaSkyview Capital
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Kilmarnock Steve Clarke Signed by Scotland 20 May 2019 Pre-season Angelo Alessio 16 June 2019 Celtic Neil Lennon End of interim spell 25 May 2019 Neil Lennon 31 May 2019 St Mirren Oran Kearney Mutual consent 26 June 2019 Jim Goodwin 29 June 2019 Heart of Midlothian Craig LeveinSacked 31 October 2019 11th Daniel Stendel 7 December 2019 Hibernian Paul Heckingbottom 4 November 2019 10th Jack Ross 15 November 2019 Kilmarnock Angelo Alessio 17 December 2019 5th Alex Dyer 30 December 2019 St Johnstone Tommy Wright Resigned 2 May 2020 7th Alec Cleland (caretaker) 2 May 2020
Format In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams 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 were due be played (38 matches by each team).
League summary
League table
Positions by round
Results
Matches 1–22 Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.
Matches 23–33 Teams play each other once, either home or away.
Matches 34–38 It was intended that after 33 matches, the league would split into two sections of six teams i.e. the top six and the bottom six, with the teams playing every other team in their section once (either at home or away). The exact matches would be determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split. However, the season's premature finish, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meant that this split was never applied.
Season statistics Scoring
Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Odsonne Édouard Celtic222 Jermain Defoe Rangers133 Christian Doidge Hibernian12 Alfredo Morelos Rangers5 Sam Cosgrove Aberdeen11 Ryan ChristieCeltic7 James Forrest Celtic10
Hat-tricks
PlayerForAgainstScore Date Ryan ChristieCelticSt Johnstone7–0 (H)3 August 2019 Jermain DefoeRangersHibernian6–1 (H)11 August 2019Hamilton Academical5–0 (H)6 October 2019 Christian DoidgeHibernianSt Johnstone1–4 (A)9 November 2019 Lyndon DykesLivingstonRoss County4–0 (H)21 December 2019 Leigh GriffithsCelticSt Mirren5–0 (H)7 March 2020
Attendances These are the average attendances of the teams.
Awards MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the MonthRef.ManagerClubPlayerClubAugust Neil LennonCeltic Odsonne ÉdouardCelticSeptember Steven GerrardRangers Alfredo MorelosRangersOctober Angelo AlessioKilmarnock Mohamed ElyounoussiCelticNovember Neil LennonCeltic Christian DoidgeHibernianDecember Steven GerrardRangers Martin BoyleHibernianJanuary Gary HoltLivingston Odsonne ÉdouardCelticFebruary Neil LennonCeltic Billy MckayRoss County Annual awards Award Winner Club SFWA Player of the Year Odsonne Édouard Celtic SFWA Young Player of the Year Lewis Ferguson Aberdeen SFWA Manager of the Year Neil Lennon Celtic SFWA International Player of the Year John McGinn Aston Villa SPFL Team of the Season Goalkeeper Fraser Forster(Celtic) Defenders Jeremie Frimpong(Celtic) Christopher Jullien(Celtic) Kristoffer Ajer(Celtic) Borna Barišić(Rangers) Midfielders Ryan Jack(Rangers) Callum McGregor(Celtic) James Forrest(Celtic) Forwards Mohamed Elyounoussi(Celtic) Alfredo Morelos(Rangers) Odsonne Édouard(Celtic)
Broadcasting Live matches The SPFL permits Sky Sports and BT Sport up to six live home matches between the broadcasters from each club - although this is only four for Rangers and Celtic. Sky Sports and BT Sport's deal allows them to broadcast 30 games each (and the play-offs for BT). The deal roughly provides £21m to SPFL per season. This is the final season of the contract; from 2020–21, Sky Sports will have exclusive rights to Scottish Premiership matches.
Highlights Sky Sports hold the rights to Saturday night highlights - however, they do not broadcast a dedicated programme and instead merely show the goals of the Premiership matches on Sky Sports News in their Goals Express programme - which primarily is focused on goals from the English Football League. Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba has the rights to broadcast the repeat in full of 38 Saturday 3pm matches "as live" at 5.30pm. The main Premiership highlights programme is BBC Scotland's Sportscene programme, which shows in-depth highlights of all six Premiership matches every weekend. The SPFL also uploads the goals from every Premiership match onto its YouTube channel - available from 6pm on a Sunday for UK and Ireland viewers and 10pm on a Saturday for those worldwide.
References
External links Official website