# 2016–17 Scottish Premiership

The 2016–17 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 17 June 2016. The season began on 6 August 2016. Celtic were the defending champions.
Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Inverness CT, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Ross County and St Johnstone.
On 2 April 2017, Celtic won their sixth consecutive title and 48th overall after a 5–0 win away to Hearts, with eight matches still to play and would go on to complete the season unbeaten.

## Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2015–16 season.

### To Premiership

Promoted from Scottish Championship
* Rangers

### From Premiership

Relegated to Scottish Championship
* Dundee United

### Stadia and locations

| Aberdeen | Celtic | Dundee | Hamilton Academical |
| Pittodrie Stadium | Celtic Park | Dens Park | New Douglas Park |
| Capacity: 20,866 | Capacity: 60,411 | Capacity: 11,506 | Capacity: 5,510 |
| Heart of Midlothian | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | Inverness Caledonian Thistle |
| Tynecastle Stadium | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | Caledonian Stadium |
| Capacity: 17,480 | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | Capacity: 7,512 |
| Kilmarnock | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | Motherwell |
| Rugby Park | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | Fir Park |
| Capacity: 17,891 | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenDundeeHeart of MidlothianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersRoss CountySt. JohnstoneCelticHamiltonMotherwellPartick Thistleclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2016–17 Scottish Premiership | Capacity: 13,677 |
| Partick Thistle | Rangers | Ross County | St Johnstone |
| Firhill Stadium | Ibrox Stadium | Victoria Park | McDiarmid Park |
| Capacity: 10,102 | Capacity: 50,817 | Capacity: 6,541 | Capacity: 10,696 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Aberdeen | Derek McInnes | Ryan Jack | Adidas | Saltire Energy |
| Celtic | Brendan Rodgers | Scott Brown | New Balance | Dafabet |
| Dundee | Neil McCann (interim) | James McPake | Puma | McEwan Fraser Legal |
| Hamilton Academical | Martin Canning | Michael Devlin | Adidas | SuperSeal (H), NetBet (A) |
| Heart of Midlothian | Ian Cathro | Perry Kitchen | Puma | Save the Children |
| Inverness CT | Richie Foran | Gary Warren | Carbrini | McEwan Fraser Legal |
| Kilmarnock | Lee McCulloch (interim) | Steven Smith | Nike | QTS |
| Motherwell | Stephen Robinson | Keith Lasley | Macron | Motorpoint |
| Partick Thistle | Alan Archibald | Abdul Osman | Joma | Kingsford Capital Management |
| Rangers | Pedro Caixinha | Lee Wallace | Puma | 32Red |
| Ross County | Jim McIntyre | Paul Quinn | Macron | Stanley CRC Evans Offshore |
| St Johnstone | Tommy Wright | Steven Anderson | Joma | Alan Storrar Cars |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Celtic | Ronny Deila | Resigned | 15 May 2016 | Pre-season | Brendan Rodgers | 20 May 2016 |
| Inverness CT | John Hughes | Resigned | 20 May 2016 | Pre-season | Richie Foran | 30 May 2016 |
| Heart of Midlothian | Robbie Neilson | Signed by MK Dons | 2 December 2016 | 2nd | Ian Cathro | 5 December 2016 |
| Rangers | Mark Warburton | Resigned | 10 February 2017 | 3rd | Pedro Caixinha | 13 March 2017 |
| Kilmarnock | Lee Clark | Signed by Bury | 15 February 2017 | 6th | Lee McCulloch (interim) | 15 February 2017 |
| Motherwell | Mark McGhee | Sacked | 28 February 2017 | 10th | Stephen Robinson | 28 February 2017 |
| Dundee | Paul Hartley | Sacked | 17 April 2017 | 11th | Neil McCann (interim) | 18 April 2017 |
a.^ Initially interim, made permanent 15 March 2017

## Format

In the initial phase of the season, each of the twelve teams play the other eleven teams three times. After 33 rounds, the league splits into two sections, a top six and a bottom six, with each team playing all the other teams in their section once. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section have played each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches will be played, with 38 matches played by each team.

## League summary
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Celtic (C) | 38 | 34 | 4 | 0 | 106 | 25 | +81 | 106 | Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Aberdeen | 38 | 24 | 4 | 10 | 74 | 35 | +39 | 76 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Rangers | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 56 | 44 | +12 | 67 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | St Johnstone | 38 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 50 | 46 | +4 | 58 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Heart of Midlothian | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 55 | 52 | +3 | 46 | |
| 6 | Partick Thistle | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 38 | 54 | −16 | 42 | |
| 7 | Ross County | 38 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 48 | 58 | −10 | 46 | |
| 8 | Kilmarnock | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 36 | 56 | −20 | 41 | |
| 9 | Motherwell | 38 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 46 | 69 | −23 | 38 | |
| 10 | Dundee | 38 | 10 | 7 | 21 | 38 | 62 | −24 | 37 | |
| 11 | Hamilton Academical (O) | 38 | 7 | 14 | 17 | 37 | 56 | −19 | 35 | Qualification for the Premiership play-off final |
| 12 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle (R) | 38 | 7 | 13 | 18 | 44 | 71 | −27 | 34 | Relegation to the Scottish Championship |
* ↑ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
* ↑ Since the winners of the 2016–17 Scottish Cup, Celtic, qualified for European competition based on league position, the spot awarded to the Scottish cup winners (Europa League second qualifying round) was passed to the second-placed team and the spot awarded to the second-placed team (Europa League first qualifying round) was passed to the fourth-placed team.

### Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.
* Leader – Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
* Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
* Qualification to Premiership play-off final
* Relegation to 2017–18 Scottish Championship
| Team \ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Celtic | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Aberdeen | 7 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Rangers | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| St Johnstone | 8 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 9 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Partick Thistle | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Ross County | 11 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| Kilmarnock | 10 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| Motherwell | 4 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
| Dundee | 1 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
| Hamilton Academical | 5 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
Source: BBC Sport

## Results
### Matches 1–22

Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.
| Home \ Away | ABE | CEL | DND | HAM | HOM | INV | KIL | MOT | PAR | RAN | ROS | STJ |
| Aberdeen | — | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 7–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 |
| Celtic | 4–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 6–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Dundee | 1–3 | 0–1 | — | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| Hamilton Academical | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | — | 3–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | — | 5–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 1–3 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–3 | — | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 |
| Kilmarnock | 0–4 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–1 |
| Motherwell | 1–3 | 3–4 | 0–0 | 4–2 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 0–2 | 4–1 | 1–2 |
| Partick Thistle | 1–2 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| Rangers | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | — | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Ross County | 2–1 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | — | 0–2 |
| St Johnstone | 0–0 | 2–4 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–4 | — |

### Matches 23–33

Teams play every other team once (either at home or away).
| Home \ Away | ABE | CEL | DND | HAM | HOM | INV | KIL | MOT | PAR | RAN | ROS | STJ |
| Aberdeen | — | — | — | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | — |
| Celtic | 1–0 | — | — | 2–0 | — | — | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | — |
| Dundee | 0–7 | 1–2 | — | 0–2 | — | — | 1–1 | — | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | — |
| Hamilton Academical | 1–0 | — | — | — | — | 3–0 | 1–1 | — | — | — | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Heart of Midlothian | — | 0–5 | 1–0 | 4–0 | — | 1–1 | — | — | — | 4–1 | 0–1 | — |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | — | 0–4 | 2–2 | — | — | — | 1–1 | — | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 |
| Kilmarnock | 1–2 | — | — | — | 0–0 | — | — | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | — |
| Motherwell | — | — | 1–5 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 4–2 | — | — | — | — | — | 1–2 |
| Partick Thistle | — | — | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | — | — | 2–1 | 0–1 |
| Rangers | — | — | — | 4–0 | — | — | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | 1–1 | 3–2 |
| Ross County | — | 2–2 | 2–1 | — | — | — | 1–2 | 1–2 | — | — | — | 1–2 |
| St Johnstone | 1–2 | 2–5 | 2–0 | — | 1–0 | — | 0–2 | — | — | — | — | — |

### Matches 34–38

After 33 matches, the league splits 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 are determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

    As of matches played on 21 May 2017
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Liam Boyce | Ross County | 23 |
| 2 | Scott Sinclair | Celtic | 21 |
| 3 | Moussa Dembélé | Celtic | 17 |
| 4 | Stuart Armstrong | Celtic | 15 |
| 4 | Louis Moult | Motherwell | 15 |
| 6 | Kris Doolan | Partick Thistle | 14 |
| 7 | Adam Rooney | Aberdeen | 12 |
| 7 | Leigh Griffiths | Celtic | 12 |
| 7 | Jamie Walker | Hearts | 12 |
| 10 | Kenny Miller | Rangers | 11 |
Source:

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Liam Boyce | Ross County | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 3–2 (A) | 13 August 2016 |
| Moussa Dembélé | Celtic | Rangers | 5–1 (H) | 10 September 2016 |
| Louis Moult$^4$ | Motherwell | Hamilton Academical | 4–2 (H) | 17 September 2016 |
| Moussa Dembélé | Celtic | St Johnstone | 5–2 (A) | 5 February 2017 |
| Adam Rooney | Aberdeen | Motherwell | 7–2 (H) | 15 February 2017 |
| Andrew Considine | Aberdeen | Dundee | 7–0 (A) | 31 March 2017 |
| Scott Sinclair | Celtic | Heart of Midlothian | 5–0 (A) | 2 April 2017 |
| Liam Boyce$^4$ | Ross County | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 4–0 (H) | 28 April 2017 |
| Scott Wright | Aberdeen | Partick Thistle | 6–0 (A) | 21 May 2017 |

#### Notes

* (H) – Home; (A) – Away
* $^4$ Player scored 4 goals

## Awards

| Month | Manager of the Month | Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | Player of the Month | Ref. |
| Month | Manager | Club | Player | Club | Ref. |
| August | Brendan Rodgers | Celtic | Liam Boyce | Ross County | |
| September | Richie Foran | Inverness CT | Moussa Dembélé | Celtic | |
| October | Brendan Rodgers | Celtic | Adam Barton | Partick Thistle | |
| November | Robbie Neilson | Heart of Midlothian | Bjørn Johnsen | Heart of Midlothian | |
| December | Brendan Rodgers | Celtic | Stuart Armstrong | Celtic | |
| January | No awards due to winter break | No awards due to winter break | No awards due to winter break | No awards due to winter break | |
| February | Paul Hartley | Dundee | Moussa Dembélé | Celtic | |
| March | Derek McInnes | Aberdeen | Stuart Armstrong | Celtic | |
| April | Brendan Rodgers | Celtic | Liam Boyce | Ross County | |

## Premiership play-offs

The quarter-final was contested between the 3rd and 4th placed teams (Dundee United and Greenock Morton) in the Scottish Championship. After defeating Greenock Morton 5–1 over two legs, Dundee United advanced to the semi-finals to face the 2nd placed team (Falkirk) in the Championship. Dundee United progressed to the play-off final following a 4–3 aggregate victory, but then lost 1–0 on aggregate to Hamilton Academical in the final. Hamilton therefore retained their place in the Premiership for the 2017–18 season.

### Final
#### First leg
#### Second leg
## Attendances

These are the average attendances of the teams.
| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Celtic | 1,037,864 | 58,967 | 37,404 | 54,624 | +21.8%$^†$ |
| 2 | Rangers | 928,974 | 50,126 | 46,563 | 48,893 | +7.9%$^†$ |
| 3 | Heart of Midlothian | 310,192 | 16,803 | 15,470 | 16,325 | −0.6%$^†$ |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 240,176 | 19,332 | 8,195 | 12,640 | −3.5%$^†$ |
| 5 | Dundee | 122,200 | 9,702 | 4,708 | 6,431 | +5.0%$^†$ |
| 6 | Kilmarnock | 94,310 | 11,800 | 3,056 | 4,963 | +24.3%$^†$ |
| 7 | Motherwell | 85,229 | 8,535 | 3,131 | 4,485 | −8.7%$^†$ |
| 8 | St Johnstone | 83,451 | 7,979 | 2,549 | 4,392 | +13.2%$^†$ |
| 9 | Partick Thistle | 85,648 | 7,951 | 2,257 | 4,282 | +12.7%$^†$ |
| 10 | Ross County | 73,861 | 6,590 | 2,511 | 4,103 | +1.7%$^†$ |
| 11 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 74,968 | 7,012 | 2,473 | 3,945 | +5.1%$^†$ |
| 12 | Hamilton Academical | 48,082 | 5,292 | 1,548 | 2,530 | −16.4%$^†$ |
| | League total | 3,184,955 | 58,967 | 1,548 | 13,969 | +44.8%$^†$ |
Updated to games played on 21 May 2017 Source: