2007–08 Scottish Premier League
The 2007–08 Scottish Premier League season was the tenth season of the Scottish Premier League. It began on 4 August 2007 and was originally due to end on 18 May 2008. Due to the death of Phil O'Donnell and extremely poor weather causing the postponement of fixtures during the winter, as well as a backlog of Rangers fixtures and their progression to the [2008 2008–09 UEFA Cup|UEFA Cup Final|UEFA Cup Final], the SPL decided to move the final round of fixtures back four days to 22 May 2008. It was the first season under the sponsorship of the Clydesdale Bank.
Gretna had been promoted from the First Division and played in the SPL for the first time, replacing Dunfermline Athletic. Gretna did not play at their home stadium Raydale Park as it did not meet the SPL stadia criteria of 6,000 and instead used Motherwell's Fir Park for all but one of their games; that match was at Livingston's Almondvale Stadium.
The championship was determined on the final day of the season with Celtic and Rangers even on 86 points. Celtic travelled to Tannadice to play Dundee United knowing that a win would likely secure the title due to their superior goal difference. Meanwhile, Rangers needed to better Celtic's result in their match against Aberdeen at Pittodrie. As it turned out, Celtic won 1–0 following Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's second-half header, while Aberdeen beat Rangers 2–0 thanks to goals from Lee Miller and Steve Lovell.
Celtic qualified directly for the Champions League, while second-placed Rangers qualified for the Second qualifying round. Third-placed Motherwell qualified for the UEFA Cup and Hibernian qualified for the Intertoto Cup. First Division side Queen of the South also qualified for the UEFA Cup after reaching the Scottish Cup Final, losing to Rangers. Gretna were relegated after just one season in the SPL and were replaced by First Division champions Hamilton Academical for the following season.
Clubs
Promotion and Relegation from 2006–07
Promoted from First Division to Premier LeagueRelegated from Premier League to First Division
Notable events
- 29 December: Thirty-five-year-old Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell collapsed on the pitch at Fir Park during a match against Dundee United, and died later that evening.
- 29 March: Gretna were relegated after losing 2–0 to St Mirren at Love Street.
- 19 April: Hamilton Academical won promotion to the Scottish Premier League as First Division champions following a 2–0 over Clyde.
- 22 May: Celtic won their third successive SPL title after defeating Dundee United 1–0.
- 29 May: Gretna were demoted to the Third Division after administrator David Elliot could not guarantee the Football League that the club would fulfil its fixtures next season.
- 2 June: Gretna resigned from the Scottish Football League because the administrator concluded that the club could not continue to run as a business.
League table
Results
Matches 1–22
During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice.Matches 23–33
During matches 23–33 each team played every other team once.Matches 34–38
During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once.Goals
Top scorers
| Player | Goals | Club | ||||||||||||||||||
 Sortname|Scott|McDonaldHat-tricks
|
