# 2011–12 Scottish Premier League

The 2011–12 Scottish Premier League was the fourteenth season of the Scottish Premier League, the highest division of Scottish football, since its inception in 1998. The season started on 23 July 2011 and ended on 13 May 2012.
A total of twelve teams contested the league: eleven sides that competed in the 2010–11 SPL and one club promoted from the First Division. The new entry was First Division champions Dunfermline Athletic, who replaced relegated Hamilton Academical.
Since Scotland climbed from sixteenth to fifteenth place in the UEFA association coefficient rankings at the end of the 2010–11 season, the league re-gained an additional third qualifying round berth for the UEFA Champions League. However, it lost that berth again the following season. Despite finishing in the second qualifying position for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League, the eventual liquidation of Rangers allowed Motherwell to take their place in the competition for the first time in the club's history.
On 7 April, Celtic won the title after a 6–0 away win against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. It was their first title in four years.

## Teams

The team ending the 2010–11 season at the bottom of the table, Hamilton Academical, were relegated to the 2011–12 Scottish First Division. Hamilton were replaced by Dunfermline Athletic, champions of the First Division.

### Stadia and locations

| Team | Stadium | Capacity |
| Aberdeen | Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen | 22,199 |
| Celtic | Celtic Park, Glasgow | 60,355 |
| Dundee United | Tannadice Park, Dundee | 14,209 |
| Dunfermline Athletic | East End Park, Dunfermline | 12,509 |
| Heart of Midlothian | Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh | 17,420 |
| Hibernian | Easter Road, Edinburgh | 20,421 |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | Caledonian Stadium, Inverness | 7,918 |
| Kilmarnock | Rugby Park, Kilmarnock | 18,128 |
| Motherwell | Fir Park, Motherwell | 13,742 |
| Rangers | Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow | 51,082 |
| St Johnstone | McDiarmid Park, Perth | 10,673 |
| St Mirren | St Mirren Park, Paisley | 8,016 |

### Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Aberdeen | Craig Brown | Russell Anderson | adidas | Team Recruitment |
| Celtic | Neil Lennon | Scott Brown | Nike | Tennents |
| Dundee United | Peter Houston | Jon Daly | Nike | Calor |
| Dunfermline | Jim Jefferies | Austin McCann | Puma | The Purvis Group |
| Hearts | Paulo Sergio | Marius Zaliukas | Umbro | Wonga.com |
| Hibernian | Pat Fenlon | Ian Murray | Puma | Crabbie's |
| Inverness CT | Terry Butcher | Richie Foran | Erreà | Orion Group |
| Kilmarnock | Kenny Shiels | Manuel Pascali | Killie 1869 | verve.net |
| Motherwell | Stuart McCall | Stephen Craigan | Puma | Cash Converters |
| Rangers | Ally McCoist | Steven Davis | Umbro | Tennents |
| St Johnstone | Steve Lomas | Jody Morris | Joma | GS Brown Construction |
| St Mirren | Danny Lennon | Jim Goodwin | diadora | diadora |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Rangers | Walter Smith | End of contract | 15 May 2011 | Pre-season | Ally McCoist | 1 June 2011 |
| Heart of Midlothian | Jim Jefferies | Contract terminated | 2 August 2011 | 9th | Paulo Sergio | 3 August 2011 |
| St Johnstone | Derek McInnes | Signed by Bristol City | 19 October 2011 | 4th | Steve Lomas | 3 November 2011 |
| Hibernian | Colin Calderwood | Contract terminated | 6 November 2011 | 9th | Pat Fenlon | 25 November 2011 |
| Dunfermline | Jim McIntyre | Contract terminated | 16 March 2012 | 12th | Jim Jefferies | 20 March 2012 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Celtic (C) | 38 | 30 | 3 | 5 | 84 | 21 | +63 | 93 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 2 | Rangers (D, R) | 38 | 26 | 5 | 7 | 77 | 28 | +49 | 73 | |
| 3 | Motherwell | 38 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 49 | 44 | +5 | 62 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Dundee United | 38 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 62 | 50 | +12 | 59 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Heart of Midlothian | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | 45 | 43 | +2 | 52 | Qualification for the Europa League play-off round |
| 6 | St Johnstone | 38 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 43 | 50 | −7 | 50 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 7 | Kilmarnock | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 44 | 61 | −17 | 47 | |
| 8 | St Mirren | 38 | 9 | 16 | 13 | 39 | 51 | −12 | 43 | |
| 9 | Aberdeen | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 36 | 44 | −8 | 41 | |
| 10 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 38 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 42 | 60 | −18 | 39 | |
| 11 | Hibernian | 38 | 8 | 9 | 21 | 40 | 67 | −27 | 33 | |
| 12 | Dunfermline Athletic (R) | 38 | 5 | 10 | 23 | 40 | 82 | −42 | 25 | Relegation to the First Division |
* ↑ Rangers were deducted 10 points for entering administration. As Rangers did not exit administration by 31 March, they were ineligible to compete in Europe in the 2012–13 season. Rangers were unable to agree a CVA with their creditors and the club entered proceedings to be liquidated. After being reformed in a new corporate structure, Rangers were admitted into the 2012–13 Scottish Third Division in time for the start of the season.
* 1 2 Hearts qualified for the Europa League as 2011–12 Scottish Cup winners. Since they finished fifth in the league, the sixth-placed team, St Johnstone, also qualified for the Europa League.

## Results
### Matches 1–22

Teams play each other twice, once at home, once away
| Home \ Away | ABE | CEL | DUN | DNF | HOM | HIB | INV | KIL | MOT | RAN | STJ | STM |
| Aberdeen | | 0–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 |
| Celtic | 2–1 | | 5–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 5–0 |
| Dundee United | 1–2 | 0–1 | | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Dunfermline Athletic | 3–3 | 0–3 | 1–4 | | 0–2 | 2–2 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 0–0 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 | | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 |
| Hibernian | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 1–3 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 1–2 |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Kilmarnock | 2–0 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 3–6 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| Motherwell | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 4–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 | | 0–3 | 0–3 | 1–1 |
| Rangers | 2–0 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| St Johnstone | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 0–2 | | 0–1 |
| St Mirren | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | |

### Matches 23–33

Teams play every other team once (either at home or away)
| Home \ Away | ABE | CEL | DUN | DNF | HOM | HIB | INV | KIL | MOT | RAN | STJ | STM |
| Aberdeen | | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | | | 0–1 | 0–0 | | | 0–0 | |
| Celtic | | | 2–1 | 2–0 | | | 1–0 | | 1–0 | | 2–0 | |
| Dundee United | | | | 3–0 | | | 3–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 0–0 |
| Dunfermline Athletic | | | | | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–1 | | 0–2 | 1–4 | | 1–1 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 3–0 | 0–4 | 0–2 | | | 2–0 | | | | | | 5–2 |
| Hibernian | 0–0 | 0–5 | 0–2 | | | | | | 1–1 | | 2–3 | 0–0 |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | | | | | 1–0 | 2–3 | | 1–1 | | 1–4 | | 0–0 |
| Kilmarnock | | 0–6 | | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–3 | | | 2–0 | | 0–0 | |
| Motherwell | 1–0 | | | | 3–0 | | 0–1 | | | 1–2 | 3–2 | |
| Rangers | 1–1 | 3–2 | | | 1–2 | 4–0 | | 0–1 | | | | 3–1 |
| St Johnstone | | | 1–5 | 3–1 | 2–1 | | 0–0 | | | 1–2 | | |
| St Mirren | 1–1 | 0–2 | | | | | | 4–2 | 0–0 | | 0–3 | |

### Matches 34–38

After 33 matches, the league splits into two sections of six teams each, with teams playing every other team in their section once (either at home or away). The exact matches are determined upon the league table at the time of the split.

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

    As of 31 May 2012
| Rank | Scorer | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Gary Hooper | Celtic | 24 |
| 2 | Jon Daly | Dundee United | 19 |
| 3 | Michael Higdon | Motherwell | 14 |
| 3 | Nikica Jelavić | Rangers | 14 |
| 3 | Francisco Sandaza | St Johnstone | 14 |
| 6 | Steven Thompson | St Mirren | 13 |
| 7 | Garry O'Connor | Hibernian | 12 |
| 7 | Dean Shiels | Kilmarnock | 12 |
| 7 | Rudolf Skácel | Hearts | 12 |
| 7 | Anthony Stokes | Celtic | 12 |
| 7 | Sone Aluko | Rangers | 12 |

### Clean sheets

    As of 31 May 2012
| Rank | Player | Team | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Fraser Forster | Celtic | 21 |
| 2 | Allan McGregor | Rangers | 17 |
| 3 | Darren Randolph | Motherwell | 15 |
| 4 | Dušan Perniš | Dundee United | 13 |
| 4 | Craig Samson | St Mirren | 13 |
| 6 | Peter Enckelman | St Johnstone | 10 |
| 7 | Cameron Bell | Kilmarnock | 9 |
| 8 | Marián Kello | Hearts | 8 |
| 9 | Jason Brown | Aberdeen | 6 |
| 9 | Ryan Esson | Inverness CT | 6 |

## Awards
### Monthly awards

    As of 31 May 2012
| Month | Manager | Player | Young Player |
| July/August | Stuart McCall (Motherwell) | Paul Gallacher (Dunfermline Athletic) | Johnny Russell (Dundee United) |
| September | Ally McCoist (Rangers) | Steven Davis (Rangers) | James Forrest (Celtic) |
| October | Stuart McCall (Motherwell) | Keith Lasley (Motherwell) | Kenny McLean (St Mirren) |
| November | Neil Lennon (Celtic) | Gary Hooper (Celtic) | James Forrest (Celtic) |
| December | Neil Lennon (Celtic) | Paul McGowan (St Mirren) | Victor Wanyama (Celtic) |
| January | Craig Brown (Aberdeen) | Scott Brown (Celtic) | Henrik Ojamaa (Motherwell) |
| February | Neil Lennon (Celtic) | Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic) | Gary Mackay-Steven (Dundee United) |
| March | Peter Houston (Dundee United) | Jon Daly (Dundee United) | Gary Mackay-Steven (Dundee United) |
| April | Neil Lennon (Celtic) | Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic) | Shaun Hutchinson (Motherwell) |