2019–20 Scottish Premiership
# 2019–20 Scottish Premiership

The 2019–20 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 21 June 2019 and the season began on 3 August 2019. Celtic were the defending champions.

Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell, Rangers, Ross County, St Johnstone and St Mirren.

On 13 March 2020, the Scottish football season was suspended with immediate effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Premiership was curtailed on 18 May 2020, with average points per game used to determine final league positions. As a result, Celtic were awarded a ninth consecutive title, whilst Hearts were relegated to the Championship, a decision which prompted the Edinburgh-based club to pursue ultimately unsuccessful legal action.

## Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2018–19 season.

Promoted from Scottish Championship

* Ross County

Relegated to Scottish Championship

* Dundee

### Stadia and locations

| Aberdeen | Celtic | Hamilton Academical | Heart of Midlothian |
| - | - | - | - |
| Pittodrie Stadium | Celtic Park | New Douglas Park | Tynecastle Park |
| Capacity: 20,866 | Capacity: 60,411 | Capacity: 6,018 | Capacity: 20,099 |
| Hibernian | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | Kilmarnock |
| Easter Road | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | Rugby Park |
| Capacity: 20,421 | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | Capacity: 17,889 |
| Livingston | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | Motherwell |
| Almondvale Stadium | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | Fir Park |
| Capacity: 9,512 | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | AberdeenHeartsHibernianKilmarnockLivingstonRangersRoss CountySt JohnstoneSt MirrenCelticHamiltonMotherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Premiership | Capacity: 13,677 |
| Rangers | Ross County | St Johnstone | St Mirren |
| Ibrox Stadium | Victoria Park | McDiarmid Park | St Mirren Park |
| Capacity: 50,817 | Capacity: 6,541 | Capacity: 10,696 | Capacity: 7,937 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Aberdeen | Derek McInnes | Joe Lewis | Adidas | Saltire Energy |
| Celtic | Neil Lennon | Scott Brown | New Balance | Dafabet |
| Hamilton Academical | Brian Rice | Brian Easton | Adidas | Euro Mechanical Handling |
| Heart of Midlothian | Daniel Stendel | Steven Naismith | Umbro | Save the Children |
| Hibernian | Jack Ross | David Gray | Macron | Hibernian Community Foundation |
| Kilmarnock | Alex Dyer | Gary Dicker | Nike | QTS |
| Livingston | Gary Holt | Alan Lithgow | Nike | Phoenix Drilling Ltd |
| Motherwell | Stephen Robinson | Peter Hartley | Macron | Paddy Power (unbranded) |
| Rangers | Steven Gerrard | James Tavernier | Hummel | 32Red |
| Ross County | Steven Ferguson and Stuart Kettlewell | Marcus Fraser | Macron | McEwan Fraser Legal |
| St Johnstone | Alec Cleland (caretaker) | Jason Kerr | Macron | Binn Group |
| St Mirren | Jim Goodwin | Stephen McGinn | Joma | Skyview Capital |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Kilmarnock | Steve Clarke | Signed by Scotland | 20 May 2019 | Pre-season | Angelo Alessio | 16 June 2019 |
| Celtic | Neil Lennon | End of interim spell | 25 May 2019 | Pre-season | Neil Lennon | 31 May 2019 |
| St Mirren | Oran Kearney | Mutual consent | 26 June 2019 | Pre-season | Jim Goodwin | 29 June 2019 |
| Heart of Midlothian | Craig Levein | Sacked | 31 October 2019 | 11th | Daniel Stendel | 7 December 2019 |
| Hibernian | Paul Heckingbottom | Sacked | 4 November 2019 | 10th | Jack Ross | 15 November 2019 |
| Kilmarnock | Angelo Alessio | Sacked | 17 December 2019 | 5th | Alex Dyer | 30 December 2019 |
| St Johnstone | Tommy Wright | Resigned | 2 May 2020 | 7th | Alec Cleland (caretaker) | 2 May 2020 |

## Format

In the initial phase of the season, the 12 teams play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams three times. After 33 games, the league splits into two sections of six teams, with each team playing each other in that section. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section play each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches were due be played (38 matches by each team).

## League summary

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | PPG | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Celtic (C) | 30 | 26 | 2 | 2 | 89 | 19 | +70 | 80 | 2.67 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Rangers | 29 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 64 | 19 | +45 | 67 | 2.31 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Motherwell | 30 | 14 | 4 | 12 | 41 | 38 | +3 | 46 | 1.53 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 40 | 36 | +4 | 45 | 1.50 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Livingston | 30 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 41 | 39 | +2 | 39 | 1.30 | |
| 6 | St Johnstone | 29 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 28 | 46 | −18 | 36 | 1.24 | |
| 7 | Hibernian | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 42 | 49 | −7 | 37 | 1.23 | |
| 8 | Kilmarnock | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 31 | 41 | −10 | 33 | 1.10 | |
| 9 | St Mirren | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 24 | 41 | −17 | 29 | 0.97 | |
| 10 | Ross County | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 29 | 60 | −31 | 29 | 0.97 | |
| 11 | Hamilton Academical | 30 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 30 | 50 | −20 | 27 | 0.90 | |
| 12 | Heart of Midlothian (R) | 30 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 31 | 52 | −21 | 23 | 0.77 | Relegation to the Championship |

* ↑ All play-off matches were cancelled, as clubs voted to curtail the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
* ↑ Since the 2019–20 Scottish Cup was postponed and could not be completed by the UEFA registration deadline of 3 August 2020, the spot awarded to the Scottish Cup winners (Europa League second qualifying round) was passed to the second-placed team, while the fourth-placed team also qualified for European competition.

### Positions by round

| 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 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Celtic | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Rangers | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Motherwell | 6 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Aberdeen | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Livingston | 7 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| St Johnstone | 12 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
| Hibernian | 5 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| Kilmarnock | 9 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| St Mirren | 10 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
| Ross County | 2 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
| Hamilton Academical | 11 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 8 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |

* Leader and Champions League first qualifying round
* Europa League second qualifying round
* Europa League first qualifying round
* Relegated to the Championship

## Results

### Matches 1–22

Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.

| Home \ Away | ABE | CEL | HAM | HOM | HIB | KIL | LIV | MOT | RAN | ROS | STJ | STM |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Aberdeen | — | 0–4 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Celtic | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 6–0 | 7–0 | 2–0 |
| Hamilton Academical | 0–1 | 0–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | — | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 5–2 |
| Hibernian | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | — | 2–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| Kilmarnock | 0–0 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | — | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Livingston | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | — | 0–0 | 0–2 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Motherwell | 0–3 | 2–5 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | — | 0–2 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 2–0 |
| Rangers | 5–0 | 0–2 | 5–0 | 5–0 | 6–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | N/A | 1–0 |
| Ross County | 1–3 | 1–4 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 0–4 | — | 2–2 | 2–1 |
| St Johnstone | 1–1 | 0–3 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 |
| St Mirren | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | — |

### Matches 23–33

Teams play each other once, either home or away.

| Home \ Away | ABE | CEL | HAM | HOM | HIB | KIL | LIV | MOT | RAN | ROS | STJ | STM |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Aberdeen | — | 1–2 | — | N/A | 3–1 | — | — | — | — | 1–2 | 0–1 | — |
| Celtic | — | — | — | 5–0 | — | 3–1 | — | — | — | 3–0 | N/A | 5–0 |
| Hamilton Academical | 1–3 | 1–4 | — | — | N/A | 1–0 | 2–4 | 0–0 | — | — | — | — |
| Heart of Midlothian | — | — | 2–2 | — | — | 2–3 | — | 1–1 | 2–1 | N/A | — | — |
| Hibernian | — | N/A | — | 1–3 | — | — | 1–1 | — | — | 3–0 | N/A | 2–2 |
| Kilmarnock | 2–2 | — | — | — | 1–2 | — | N/A | — | 2–1 | 3–1 | — | N/A |
| Livingston | N/A | 2–2 | — | N/A | — | — | — | 1–0 | — | — | — | 2–1 |
| Motherwell | N/A | 0–4 | — | — | 0–0 | N/A | — | — | — | 4–1 | — | 1–2 |
| Rangers | 0–0 | N/A | 0–1 | — | 2–1 | — | 1–0 | N/A | — | — | — | — |
| Ross County | — | — | N/A | — | — | — | 2–0 | — | 0–1 | — | 1–1 | N/A |
| St Johnstone | — | — | N/A | 3–3 | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | — | — | — |
| St Mirren | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | — | — | — | N/A | — | 0–0 | — |

### Matches 34–38

It was intended that after 33 matches, the league would split 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 would be determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split. However, the season's premature finish, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meant that this split was never applied.

## Season statistics

### Scoring

**Top scorers**

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Odsonne Édouard | Celtic | 22 |
| 2 | Jermain Defoe | Rangers | 13 |
| 3 | Christian Doidge | Hibernian | 12 |
| 3 | Alfredo Morelos | Rangers | 12 |
| 5 | Sam Cosgrove | Aberdeen | 11 |
| 5 | Ryan Christie | Celtic | 11 |
| 7 | James Forrest | Celtic | 10 |

**Hat-tricks**

| Player | For | Against | Score | Date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Ryan Christie | Celtic | St Johnstone | 7–0 (H) | 3 August 2019 |
| Jermain Defoe | Rangers | Hibernian | 6–1 (H) | 11 August 2019 |
| Jermain Defoe | Rangers | Hamilton Academical | 5–0 (H) | 6 October 2019 |
| Christian Doidge | Hibernian | St Johnstone | 1–4 (A) | 9 November 2019 |
| Lyndon Dykes | Livingston | Ross County | 4–0 (H) | 21 December 2019 |
| Leigh Griffiths | Celtic | St Mirren | 5–0 (H) | 7 March 2020 |

### Attendances

These are the average attendances of the teams.

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Celtic | 869,160 | 59,131 | 54,584 | 57,944 | $+0.3%^†$ |
| 2 | Rangers | 689,327 | 50,012 | 47,583 | 49,237 | $−0.7%^†$ |
| 3 | Heart of Midlothian | 251,262 | 19,313 | 14,681 | 16,750 | $−4.6%^†$ |
| 4 | Hibernian | 250,923 | 20,197 | 14,486 | 16,728 | $−5.7%^†$ |
| 5 | Aberdeen | 207,540 | 16,410 | 12,325 | 13,836 | $−7.3%^†$ |
| 6 | Kilmarnock | 87,844 | 9,196 | 4,083 | 5,856 | $−15.1%^†$ |
| 7 | Motherwell | 83,618 | 8,822 | 3,191 | 5,574 | $+2.3%^†$ |
| 8 | St Mirren | 80,647 | 7,332 | 4,240 | 5,376 | $+0.5%^†$ |
| 9 | Ross County | 65,302 | 6,575 | 3,301 | 4,664 | $+21.2%^†$ |
| 10 | St Johnstone | 65,461 | 8,743 | 2,231 | 4,091 | $+5.1%^†$ |
| 11 | Livingston | 49,598 | 8,640 | 1,076 | 3,542 | $−3.3%^†$ |
| 12 | Hamilton Academical | 41,044 | 5,300 | 1,075 | 2,565 | $−9.3%^†$ |
| | League total | 2,741,726 | 59,131 | 1,075 | 15,316 | $−4.1%^†$ |

Source:

* ↑ Club was playing in the Scottish Championship in the previous season.

## 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 | Neil Lennon | Celtic | Odsonne Édouard | Celtic | |
| September | Steven Gerrard | Rangers | Alfredo Morelos | Rangers | |
| October | Angelo Alessio | Kilmarnock | Mohamed Elyounoussi | Celtic | |
| November | Neil Lennon | Celtic | Christian Doidge | Hibernian | |
| December | Steven Gerrard | Rangers | Martin Boyle | Hibernian | |
| January | Gary Holt | Livingston | Odsonne Édouard | Celtic | |
| February | Neil Lennon | Celtic | Billy Mckay | Ross County | |

## Broadcasting

### Live matches

The SPFL permits Sky Sports and BT Sport up to six live home matches between the broadcasters from each club - although this is only four for Rangers and Celtic. Sky Sports and BT Sport's deal allows them to broadcast 30 games each (and the play-offs for BT). The deal roughly provides £21m to SPFL per season. This is the final season of the contract; from 2020–21, Sky Sports will have exclusive rights to Scottish Premiership matches.

### Highlights

Sky Sports hold the rights to Saturday night highlights - however, they do not broadcast a dedicated programme and instead merely show the goals of the Premiership matches on Sky Sports News in their Goals Express programme - which primarily is focused on goals from the English Football League. Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba has the rights to broadcast the repeat in full of 38 Saturday 3pm matches "as live" at 5.30pm. The main Premiership highlights programme is BBC Scotland's Sportscene programme, which shows in-depth highlights of all six Premiership matches every weekend. The SPFL also uploads the goals from every Premiership match onto its YouTube channel - available from 6pm on a Sunday for UK and Ireland viewers and 10pm on a Saturday for those worldwide.

