The 2023–24 Scottish Premiership (known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football, and the 127th edition overall of the top national league competition, not including one cancelled due to World War II. The season began on 5 August 2023.
Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, Ross County, St Johnstone and St Mirren.
On 15 May 2024, Celtic successfully defended their title, securing a tenth Premiership title and 54th Scottish league title overall, following a 5–0 victory away to Kilmarnock.
Teams
The following teams changed division after the 2022–23 season.
Promoted from the Championship Dundee
Relegated to the Championship Dundee United
Stadia and locations AberdeenCelticDundeeHeart of MidlothianPittodrie StadiumCeltic ParkDens ParkTynecastle ParkCapacity: 20,866Capacity: 60,411Capacity: 11,775Capacity: 19,852HibernianKilmarnockEaster RoadRugby ParkCapacity: 20,421Capacity: 15,003LivingstonMotherwellAlmondvale StadiumFir ParkCapacity: 9,713Capacity: 13,677RangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenIbrox StadiumVictoria ParkMcDiarmid ParkSt Mirren ParkCapacity: 50,987Capacity: 6,541Capacity: 10,696Capacity: 7,937
Personnel and kits
TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsorAberdeen (Interim) AdidasTEXOCeltic AdidasDafabetDundee MacronCrown Engineering ServicesHeart of Midlothian UmbroMND Scotland (Home)Stellar Omada (Away)Hibernian (Interim) JomaBevvy.comKilmarnock HummelJames Frew LtdLivingston JomaEmptezMotherwell MacronG4 ClaimsRangers CastoreUnibetRoss County (Interim) JomaRoss-shire EngineeringSt Johnstone MacronGS Brown ConstructionSt Mirren MacronDigby Brown
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment Dundee Gary Bowyer End of contract 10 May 2023 Pre-season Tony Docherty 29 May 2023 Celtic Ange Postecoglou Signed by Tottenham Hotspur 6 June 2023 Brendan Rodgers 19 June 2023 Hibernian Lee Johnson Sacked 27 August 2023 12th Nick Montgomery 11 September 2023 Rangers Michael Beale 1 October 2023 3rd Philippe Clement 15 October 2023 St Johnstone Steven MacLean 29 October 2023 12th Craig Levein 5 November 2023 Ross County Malky Mackay 15 November 2023 11th Derek Adams 20 November 2023 Aberdeen Barry Robson 31 January 2024 8th Neil Warnock 5 February 2024 Ross County Derek Adams Resigned 7 February 2024 11th Don Cowie (Interim) 8 February 2024 Aberdeen Neil Warnock 9 March 2024 10th Peter Leven (Interim) 9 March 2024 Hibernian Nick Montgomery Sacked 14 May 2024 9th David Gray (Interim) 14 May 2024
Format In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league splits into two sections of six teams, with each team playing each other once 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 played, with 38 matches played by each team.
League table
Results
Matches 1–22 Teams played each other twice, once at home and once away.
Matches 23–33 Teams played each other once, either home or away.
Matches 34–38 After 33 matches, the league was 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 were determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.
Top six
Bottom six
Season statistics Top scorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Lawrence ShanklandHeart of Midlothian242 Matt O'RileyCeltic183 James TavernierRangers174 Cyriel DessersRangers16 Bojan MiovskiAberdeen6 Theo BairMotherwell157 Kyōgo FuruhashiCeltic14 Simon MurrayRoss County9 Abdallah SimaRangers1110 Myziane MaolidaHibernian10 Luke McCowanDundee Source:
Clean sheets Rank Player Club Cleansheets1 Jack ButlandRangers182 Zander ClarkHeart of Midlothian15 Joe HartCeltic4 Will DennisKilmarnock145 Zach HemmingSt Mirren10 Kelle RoosAberdeen7 David MarshallHibernian98 Trevor CarsonDundee8 Dimitar MitovSt Johnstone10 Shamal GeorgeLivingston7 Source:
Awards MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the MonthManagerClubPlayerClubAugust Stephen RobinsonSt Mirren Ryan StrainSt MirrenSeptember Brendan RodgersCeltic Matt O'RileyCelticOctober Derek McInnesKilmarnock Abdallah SimaRangersNovember Steven NaismithHeart of Midlothian Lawrence ShanklandHeart of MidlothianDecember Derek McInnesKilmarnockJanuary Philippe ClementRangers Alan ForrestFebruary Blair SpittalMotherwellMarch Tony DochertyDundee Myziane MaolidaHibernianApril Brendan RodgersCeltic Luke McCowanDundee
The SPFL Premiership manager of the year was Derek McInnes of Kilmarnock.
The SPFL Premiership player of the year was Lawrence Shankland of Heart of Midlothian. Annual awards Award Winner Club Scottich Premiership Player of the Year Lawrence Shankland Heart of Midlothian PFA Scotland Premiership Player of the Year Lawrence Shankland Heart of Midlothian PFA Scotland SPFL Young Player of the Year David Watson Kilmarnock PFA Scotland SPFL Manager of the Year John McGlynn Falkirk PFA Scotland Goal of the Season Rabbi Matondo Rangers SFWA Player of the Year Lawrence Shankland Heart of Midlothian PFA Scotland Team of the Year Goalkeeper Jack Butland(Rangers) Defenders James Tavernier(Rangers) Cameron Carter-Vickers(Celtic) Liam Scales(Celtic) Owen Beck(Dundee) Midfielders Matt O'Riley(Celtic) John Lundstram(Rangers) Callum McGregor(Celtic) Forwards Bojan Miovski(Aberdeen) Lawrence Shankland(Heart of Midlothian) Theo Bair(Motherwell)
Premiership play-offs The quarter-final was contested by the teams placed third and fourth in the 2023–24 Scottish Championship, Partick Thistle and Airdrieonians. Partick Thistle advanced to the semi-final to face the team placed second in the Championship, Raith Rovers. The final was contested by Raith Rovers and the team placed eleventh in the Premiership, Ross County, who won the tie to secure a place in the 2024–25 Scottish Premiership.
Qualified teams Team Rank Ross County 1 Raith Rovers 2 Partick Thistle 3 Airdrieonians 4
Quarter-final First leg
Second leg
Semi-final First leg
Second leg
Final First leg
Second leg
Attendances
Celtic FC drew the highest average home attendance in the 2023-24 edition of the Scottish Premiership.
References
External links Official website