# 1995–96 Scottish Premier Division

The 1995–96 Scottish Premier Division season was the second season involving a relegation playoff with the Scottish First Division. The season began on 26 August 1995.

## Overview

The 1995–96 Scottish Premier Division season ended in success for Rangers who won the title by four points from nearest rivals Celtic to clinch eight titles in a row, despite Celtic losing only one league match in the entire season. Falkirk were relegated to the First Division after finishing bottom with Partick Thistle also being relegated after losing the relegation playoff to Dundee United. As champions, Rangers qualified for the Champions League while Celtic were joined by third-placed Aberdeen in qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Fourth-placed Hearts qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as Scottish Cup runners-up.
The season began on 26 August with the first goal of the season scored by Aberdeen's John Inglis as they won 3–2 away to Falkirk. The regular league season ended on 4 May with Hibernian's Darren Jackson netting a late winner in a 1–0 win at home to Partick Thistle to claim the final goal of the season.

## Clubs
### Promotion and relegation from 1994–95

Promoted from First Division to Premier League
* Raith Rovers
Relegated from Premier Division to First Division
* Dundee United

### Stadia and locations

| Team | Location | Stadium |
| Aberdeen | Aberdeen | Pittodrie Stadium |
| Celtic | Parkhead, Glasgow | Celtic Park |
| Falkirk | Falkirk | Brockville Park |
| Heart of Midlothian | Gorgie, Edinburgh | Tynecastle Park |
| Hibernian | Leith, Edinburgh | Easter Road |
| Kilmarnock | Kilmarnock | Rugby Park |
| Motherwell | Motherwell | Fir Park |
| Partick Thistle | Maryhill, Glasgow | Firhill Stadium |
| Raith Rovers | Kirkcaldy | Stark's Park |
| Rangers | Ibrox, Glasgow | Ibrox Park |

### Managers

| Team | Manager |
| Aberdeen | Roy Aitken |
| Celtic | Tommy Burns |
| Falkirk | Eamonn Bannon |
| Heart of Midlothian | Jim Jefferies |
| Hibernian | Alex Miller |
| Kilmarnock | Alex Totten |
| Motherwell | Alex McLeish |
| Partick Thistle | Murdo MacLeod |
| Raith Rovers | Jimmy Thomson |
| Rangers | Walter Smith |

#### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Date of vacancy | Manner of departure | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Heart of Midlothian | Tommy McLean | 21 July 1995 | Sacked | Jim Jefferies | 4 August 1995 |
| Falkirk | Jim Jefferies | 4 August 1995 | Signed by Heart of Midlothian | John Lambie | August 1995 |
| Partick Thistle | John Lambie | August 1995 | Signed by Falkirk | Murdo MacLeod | August 1995 |
| Raith Rovers | Jimmy Nicholl | February 1996 | Signed by Millwall | Jimmy Thomson | February 1996 |
| Falkirk | John Lambie | 16 March 1996 | Resigned | Eamonn Bannon | May 1996 |

## Events

* 14 October: Gordon Durie hits the first hat-trick of the season in a 4–0 win at Partick Thistle.
* 28 April: Rangers win the title at Ibrox as a Paul Gascoigne hat-trick helps them to a 3–1 win over Aberdeen.

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rangers (C) | 36 | 27 | 6 | 3 | 85 | 25 | +60 | 87 | Qualification for the Champions League qualifying round |
| 2 | Celtic | 36 | 24 | 11 | 1 | 74 | 25 | +49 | 83 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 3 | Aberdeen | 36 | 16 | 7 | 13 | 52 | 45 | +7 | 55 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 4 | Heart of Midlothian | 36 | 16 | 7 | 13 | 55 | 53 | +2 | 55 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round |
| 5 | Hibernian | 36 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 43 | 57 | −14 | 43 | |
| 6 | Raith Rovers | 36 | 12 | 7 | 17 | 41 | 57 | −16 | 43 | |
| 7 | Kilmarnock | 36 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 39 | 54 | −15 | 41 | |
| 8 | Motherwell | 36 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 28 | 39 | −11 | 39 | |
| 9 | Partick Thistle (R) | 36 | 8 | 6 | 22 | 29 | 62 | −33 | 30 | Qualification for the Play-off |
| 10 | Falkirk (R) | 36 | 6 | 6 | 24 | 31 | 60 | −29 | 24 | Relegation to the First Division |
* ↑ Aberdeen qualified for the UEFA Cup by winning the League Cup.
* ↑ As Rangers, the winners of the Scottish Cup, qualified for the Champions League via their league position, the place in the Cup Winners' Cup was passed to the cup runner-up, Heart of Midlothian.

## Results
### Matches 1–18

During matches 1–18 each team plays every other team twice (home and away).
| Home \ Away | ABE | CEL | FAL | HOM | HIB | KIL | MOT | PAR | RAI | RAN |
| Aberdeen | | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 |
| Celtic | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Falkirk | 2–3 | 0–1 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 1–2 | 0–4 | 4–1 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 4–2 | 0–2 |
| Hibernian | 1–1 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 2–2 | | 2–0 | 4–2 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–4 |
| Kilmarnock | 1–2 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 0–3 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 5–1 | 0–2 |
| Motherwell | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 | | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 |
| Partick Thistle | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 0–2 | 0–4 |
| Raith Rovers | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | | 2–2 |
| Rangers | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | |

### Matches 19–36

During matches 19–36 each team plays every other team a further two times (home and away).
| Home \ Away | ABE | CEL | FAL | HOM | HIB | KIL | MOT | PAR | RAI | RAN |
| Aberdeen | | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Celtic | 5–0 | | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 |
| Falkirk | 1–1 | 0–0 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 0–4 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 1–3 | 1–2 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–5 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Hibernian | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| Kilmarnock | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 3–2 | | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–3 |
| Motherwell | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–3 |
| Partick Thistle | 1–1 | 2–4 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | | 0–3 | 1–2 |
| Raith Rovers | 2–2 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | | 2–4 |
| Rangers | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 7–0 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 5–0 | 4–0 | |

## Play-off

A two leg play-off took place between the 9th placed team in the Premier Division (Partick Thistle) and the runner-up of the First Division (Dundee United) for a place in the 1996–97 Scottish Premier Division.
The first leg at Firhill Stadium finished 1–1 and the second leg at Tannadice Park four days later also finished 1–1 after 90 minutes, meaning extra time was required to separate the teams. Owen Coyle scored for Dundee United during extra time, meaning Dundee United won 3–2 on aggregate, and returned to the Premier Division and Partick Thistle were relegated to the First Division.

## Top scorers

| Player | Goals | Team |
| Pierre van Hooijdonk | 26 | Celtic |
| Gordon Durie | 17 | Rangers |
| Ally McCoist | 16 | Rangers |
| Paul Gascoigne | 14 | Rangers |
| Paul Wright | 13 | Kilmarnock |
| John Collins | 11 | Celtic |
| John Robertson | 11 | Heart of Midlothian |
| Darren Jackson | 10 | Hibernian |
| Colin Cameron | 10 | Raith Rovers |
| Scott Booth | 9 | Aberdeen |
| Joe Miller | 9 | Aberdeen |
| Keith Wright | 9 | Hibernian |
Source: Soccerbot Archived 6 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine

## Attendances

| # | Football club | Home games | Average attendance |
| 1 | Rangers FC | 18 | 44,661 |
| 2 | Celtic FC | 18 | 34,342 |
| 3 | Aberdeen FC | 18 | 12,764 |
| 4 | Heart of Midlothian | 18 | 12,077 |
| 5 | Hibernian FC | 18 | 9,842 |
| 6 | Kilmarnock FC | 18 | 8,719 |
| 7 | Motherwell FC | 18 | 7,222 |
| 8 | Partick Thistle | 18 | 6,458 |
| 9 | Falkirk FC | 18 | 5,885 |
| 10 | Raith Rovers | 18 | 5,784 |