Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League was the top-level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League. It was abolished in 2013, when the SPL and SFL merged to form the new Scottish Professional Football League, with its top division being known as the Scottish Premiership. A total of 19 clubs competed in the SPL, but only the Old Firm clubs of Glasgow—Celtic and Rangers— won the league championship.
Background
For most of its history, the Scottish Football League had a two divisional structure between which clubs were promoted and relegated at the end of each season. However, by the mid-1970s, this organisation was perceived to be stagnant, and it was decided to split into a three divisional structure: Premier Division, First Division and a newly added Second Division. This system came into force for the 1975–76 season. This setup continued until the 1994–95 season, when – in response to an attempt by the biggest clubs to form a breakaway 'Super League' in 1992 – a four divisional structure was introduced. This involved the creation of a Third Division, with all four divisions consisting of ten clubs.On 8 September 1997, the clubs in the Premier Division decided to split from the Scottish Football League and form a Scottish Premier League. This followed an earlier example in England, which came into force during the 1992–93 season. This decision was fuelled by a desire by the top clubs in Scotland to retain more of the revenue generated by the game. Originally, league sponsorship money was divided proportionally between clubs in all four divisions. After the SPL was formed, its clubs retained all of its commercial revenues except for an annual payment to the SFL and a parachute payment to recently relegated clubs.
Competition format
Teams received three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points were awarded for a loss. Teams were ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the club with the most points was crowned league champion. If points were equal, the goal difference and then goals scored determine the winner.Split
Originally the SPL contained 10 clubs, but it subsequently enlarged to 12 for the 2000–01 season and retained this structure until 2013. The increase from 10 clubs to 12 was part of the deal offered to obtain approval from SFL member clubs. After the expansion to 12 clubs, the SPL operated a "split" format. This was done to prevent the need for a 44-match schedule, based on playing each other four times. That format had been used in the Scottish Premier Division but was considered to be too high a number of matches in a league season.A season, which runs from August until May, was divided into two phases. During the first phase, each club played three matches against every other team, either once at home and twice away, or vice versa. After this first phase of matches, by which time all clubs had played 33 matches, the league split into a "top six" and a "bottom six". Each club then played a further five matches against the other five teams in their own section. Points achieved during the first phase of 33 matches were carried forward to the second phase, but the teams competed only within their own sections during the second phase. After the first phase was completed, clubs could not move out of their own section in the league, even if they achieved more or fewer points than a higher or lower ranked team, respectively.
At the beginning of each season, the SPL "predicted" the likely positions of each club in order to produce a fixture schedule that ensured the best possible chance of all clubs playing each other twice at home and twice away. This was known as the league seeding and was based on clubs' performance in previous years. If a club did not finish in the half where it was predicted to finish, it faced the possibility of playing an unequal number of home and away matches. For example, one club would sometimes play another three times at home and once away.
There was criticism of the split season format. However, the SPL defended the split format, dismissing the possibility of expanding the league due to a lack of strong enough clubs within the Scottish Football League. In March 2008, Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies was the latest to call for a league revamp, claiming the potential for four matches per season against the same opponent was too many.
Promotion and relegation
The bottom placed SPL club at the end of the season was relegated, and swapped places with the winner of the Scottish First Division, provided that the winner satisfied the SPL entry criteria. These promotion criteria sometimes caused controversy. In 2003, the chairmen of the member clubs voted against Falkirk's proposed ground share with Airdrie United and stopped the club from having the 10,000 capacity stadium it required, therefore saving Motherwell from relegation.The same situation nearly materialised in 2004. After several votes and discussion, including threats of court cases from Partick Thistle, the team threatened with relegation, Inverness Caledonian Thistle were promoted on the basis that they would ground share with Aberdeen at Pittodrie. In 2005, the stadium size criterion for entry to the SPL was reduced to 6,000, thereby allowing Inverness Caledonian Thistle to return to their home stadium during the 2005–06 season.
Old Firm dominance
One of the main criticisms of the SPL was the dominance of the two Old Firm clubs, Celtic and Rangers. No team outside the Old Firm has won the Scottish league championship since 1985. Until Rangers were ejected from the SPL due to their liquidation, there was only one SPL season where both clubs failed to occupy first and second positions, with Hearts finishing second behind Celtic. While other European leagues were dominated by a few clubs in the 2000s, the Old Firm dominance in Scotland dated back to the beginning of Scottish league football, with a few exceptional periods. The average home attendances of both clubs is significantly higher than the other Scottish clubs, which resulted in the Old Firm having far greater revenues and therefore more money to spend on players. Both clubs also received significant revenues from participation in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.Despite having more resources than other Scottish clubs, the Old Firm experienced difficulty in competing with big clubs from other leagues in terms of transfer fees and player wages due to the SPL's relatively low television revenue. A recurring theme during the existence of the SPL was the prospect of the two clubs leaving the Scottish football set-up to join the English football league system, an Atlantic League with clubs from countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal, or forming a new European Super League. While some observers believed the departure of the Old Firm from the Scottish football setup would be detrimental to Scottish football as a whole, others, such as Craig Levein, believed it would benefit Scottish football due to increased competition among the remaining clubs for the SPL title. World football's governing body FIFA ruled out the prospect of any Old Firm move to the English set-up. The duopoly was effectively broken when Rangers entered administration in 2012 and was liquidated after it failed to reach an agreement with creditors. Rangers was relaunched by a new company and were voted into the Scottish Football League Third Division.
In March 2013, Rangers chief executive Charles Green suggested that Rangers could join the Football Conference and that EU competition law banning restraints of trade could be used to overcome any legal barriers to such a plan. Green also suggested that Rangers and Celtic would not be playing in the Scottish league system in ten years time. Scotland manager Gordon Strachan said he believed the Old Firm clubs would join a future new 38-club two-division European Super League.
Winter break
The SPL instituted a "winter break" during the January of each season, beginning with the 1998-99 season. However, this practice was removed beginning in the 2000–01 season, forcing clubs to play throughout January and sometimes resulting in postponement of matches and significant damage to clubs' pitches. Managers Martin O'Neill, Jim Duffy and Walter Smith were among those who called for the winter break to be reinstated. Alex McLeish accused the SPL of taking Scottish football "back to the Dark Ages" after its decision to scrap the mid-season hiatus.European qualification
In the seasons after the SPL's inception, Scotland's UEFA coefficient improved significantly, having been ranked 26th in 1998–99, they reached a high of 10th at the end of the 2007–08 season. The SPL ranking thereafter declined, the league falling back to the 24th position at the end of 2012–13.In 2003, Celtic became the first Scottish club since Dundee United in 1987 to reach a European final, eventually losing 3–2 to Porto after extra time in the UEFA Cup final. In 2003–04, two Scottish clubs, Celtic and Rangers, qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time. In 2005–06, Rangers became the first Scottish club to reach the knockout stage of the Champions League, a feat repeated by Celtic the following two seasons. In the 2007–08 season, three Scottish clubs were competing in Europe after Christmas for the first time since 1970, while in the same season, Rangers reached the 2008 UEFA Cup final, but lost 2–0 to Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg. During the season, Scotland's European representatives collected the most coefficient points since the 1982–83 season.
Players
Scottish Premier League clubs had almost complete freedom to sign whatever number and category of players they wish. There was no team or individual salary cap, no squad size limit, no age restrictions other than those applied by general employment law, no restrictions on the overall number of foreign players and few restrictions on individual foreign players. All players with EU nationality, including those able to claim an EU passport through a parent or grandparent, were eligible to play, and top players from outside the EU were able to obtain UK work permits.The only restriction on selection was the "Under-21 rule". This rule stated that each club must include at least three players under the age of 21 in its matchday squad. Opinions on this rule were divided among SPL managers. Walter Smith, Gus MacPherson and Jim Jefferies expressed their disapproval of the policy. John Collins approved of the ruling, claiming it is healthy for Scottish football and encouraged the development of young players.
A decline in television revenue resulted in relatively little spending among SPL clubs, with major transfer spending mostly limited to the Old Firm clubs. As a result, most clubs became reliant on developing their own young players and selling them on for profit. This also resulted in a large proportion of SPL clubs' squads being made up of Scottish players.