2014–15 Scottish Premiership


The 2014–15 Scottish Premiership was the second season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The season began on 9 August 2014 and ended on the 31 May 2015. Celtic were the defending champions.
Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Dundee United, Hamilton Academical, Inverness CT, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Ross County, St Johnstone and St Mirren. Due to the relegation of Edinburgh-based teams Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian in 2014, this season marked the first time in football history in which a capital city had no representatives in the top league.
On 2 May, Celtic clinched their fourth title in a row after Aberdeen lost 1–0 away at Dundee United, leaving Celtic 11 points clear with three games to play.

Teams

Dundee were promoted from the Scottish Championship. Heart of Midlothian were relegated from the Scottish Premiership.
Hibernian finished in the play-off position in the Scottish Premiership. They lost to Hamilton Academical who took the final place in the second edition of the competition, a result which left the Scottish capital Edinburgh without a club in the top flight of Scottish football for the 2014–15 season.

Personnel and kits

TeamManagerCaptainKit manufacturerShirt sponsor
Aberdeensortname|Derek|McInnes

Managerial changes

TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment
St Mirrensortname|Danny|Lennon

Tournament format and regulations

Basic

In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams played a round-robin tournament whereby each team played each one of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league split 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 played, with 38 matches played by each team.

Promotion and relegation

The team that finished 12th was relegated to the Championship, while the champion of that league was promoted to the Premiership for the 2015–16 season. The team that finished 11th in the Premiership played the winner of the Championship playoffs in two playoff games, with the winner securing a Premiership spot for the 2015–16 season.

Results

Matches 1–22

Teams played each other twice, once at home, once away.

Matches 23–33

Teams played every other team once.

Matches 34–38

After 33 matches, the league split into two sections of six teams each, with teams playing every other team in their section once. The exact matches were determined upon the league table at the time of the split.

Top scorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1

Premiership play-offs

Quarter-final

Second leg

''Rangers won 3–2 on aggregate.''

Semi-final

Second leg

''Rangers won 2–1 on aggregate.''

Final

Second leg

''Motherwell won 6–1 on aggregate.''

Attendances

Source:
#Football clubAverage attendance
1Celtic FC44,585
2Aberdeen FC13,359
3Dundee United FC8,113
4Dundee FC6,966
5St. Johnstone FC4,592
6Motherwell FC4,286
7Kilmarnock FC4,076
8St. Mirren FC3,869
9Partick Thistle FC3,777
10Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC3,733
11Ross County FC3,525
12Hamilton Academical FC2,877