It was a ridiculously eventful climax to the Scottish Premiership on Sunday where Celtic, Aberdeen, Hibernian and Rangers enmeshed in a remarkable resolution of the final league placings.
Rangers made a miraculous comeback after being down 3-0 before Hibs managed to pull themselves level again at 5-5 in a fast pace, electrifying game. Celtic were guaranteed a seventh successive title party, which proceeded at Parkhead, but only after they lost at home to Aberdeen for the first time since Brendan Rodgers became manager in 2016.
The 2017/18 season has been one of ups, downs and surprising changes. And with only the Scottish Cup final where the Scottish champions will face Motherwell and Partick Thistle’s two-leg play-off with Livingston to go, we’re looking at a summary of all the season had to offer.
In documenting it, you have to begin with Celtic and their seventh successive title won. Despite being 24 points worse off in the table compared to this time last season, the Hoops have only lost four games the entire season. Meaning they’ve won 72 out of their past 76 premier league games if you include the 2016-17 season when they went the full campaign without tasting defeat.
When they needed to be, Celtic were excellent, and they played much better at home games than away games. However, they scored a lot less compared to last season. Scott Sinclair was their top goal scorer with only 10 league goals, compared to 21 last season.
The biggest letdown, however, was the return of Patrick Roberts. There was a massive hype when fans heard he would be returning to Parkhead on loan along with Charley Musonda, but they did not live up to expectations. Especially less so when compared with teammates James Forrest, Scott Brown, Mikael Lustig and Odsonne Édouard who have played a big role in helping Celtic go on to win a second treble.
Now the PR fanfare has returned again with the recent signing of goalkeeping hero, Scott Bain, who made his debut appearance in the 3-2 win over Rangers at Ibrox.
Like last season, Aberdeen sit second behind the Hoops – a place they really had to fight for this time around. With a new stadium to adjust to, the constant battle against the Old Firm teams, having to heavily recruit and trying hard to hold on to boss Derek McInnes, the Dons haven’t had it easy.
Not to mention the loss of Jonny Hayes, Ryan Jack and – to an extent – Niall McGinn, meant they lacked their usual pace and creativity with less goals hitting the back of the net.
It took their last game of the season before they finally beat Celtic, meaning they cemented their second place in the table with points total of only three less than last season.
The worry now, however, is the players. With Kenny McLean on the way out and injury prone Mikey Devlin on the way in, the Dons might have a bit of trouble. The only saving grace is Scott McKenna who is charging through at centre-half. They would do well to get get in defensive reinforcements for next season to fight off Rangers and Hibs who will likely be putting up a fight for second place.
Rangers just missed the second place spot on the table. They landed third, a place above and three points more than where they were this time last year. Although this might seem like a great improvement, the Gers have faced constant setbacks, challenges and problems, and their financial expenditure was shocking.
Over the 2017/18 season, Rangers spent more money than Aberdeen and Hibs combined on sixteen new players, so it’s easy to see that large amounts of money were wasted. They took a lot of gambles, most of which didn’t pay off.
The biggest example of this was in their managers. Rangers took on and got rid of managers and caretaker managers like they were going out of fashion, which included the unceremonious sacking of Graeme Murty – who took over from Pedro Caixinha back in October – and the failed bid for McInnes.
This led to an unrest in the dressing room, as did their failed attempt to close the gap on Celtic which lead to nine goals without replay in their last two Old Firm matches. Not to mention the suspension of the clubs two main captains Lee Wallace and Kenny Miller.
Things are starting to look up for the Ibrox side now with the new managerial appointment of Steven Gerrard. This glamorous signing finally brought fans some hope for next season, as they look to him to make better decisions in the market, bring in better players and bring the club forward in a significant way.
One club who have came a long way is Hibs. This season marked their return into the top flight for the first time in three years, and manager Neil Lennon brought them up to fourth place.
Despite their fight to come in second, the Hibees have done incredibly well to become a team who were a credible challenge to Rangers and Aberdeen when only last season they were in the Championships.
Hibs have proved themselves to be ambitious on the pitch with a manager who is just as ambitious off the pitch. Lennon has huge desire for the Easter Road side and is already looking to rebuild the squad over summer, which he’ll need to do anyway since he could lose a lot of players. Jamie Maclaren and Florian Kamberi were both on loan, so he’ll struggle to keep them and Dylan McGeouch is already on his way out.
He might be lucky and get to keep Scott Allen, but he’ll need to find a good replacement for John McGinn if he chooses to leave.
In an emotional post-match outburst after Hibs were defeated by Hearts, Lennon stated he would be reconsidering his future at the club. But he has since taken back the comment much the relief of fans who and have seen their side accumulate their best points total in Premiership history.
As good as Lennon has been for Hibs, the best managerial appointment goes to Kilmarnock. Steve Clarke was given the managers job back in October when Killie were eight games into the season and sitting at the bottom of the league with no wins and only three points.
From the outset, it looked like it was going to take a miracle, but Clarke brought class to their midfield by signing Youssouf Mulumbu, and illustrated the power of good decision making. As a whole, Kilmarnock scored more and miraculously went from 12th in the league to fifth in just seven months, and won 18 more points than last season.
Clarke was awarded Manager of the Month three times and the football writers’ made him manager of the year. But perhaps the most impressive thing is that he managed to achieve all of this with mostly the same group of players he inherited from Lee McCulloch eight months ago.
With the exception of the occasional good signing like Mulumbu, Clarke managed to take a struggling, unimpressive squad and turned it into one that can prove to be an impressive, pressing challenge to some of the country’s top teams.
The best example of this is how he improved Kris Boyd. The striker was ready for retirement when Clarke came to club, then he ended the season with 18 league goals – more goals than Sinclair at Celtic.
However, not all clubs have progressed this season. Hearts, who finished fifth last season, struggled to just make the top six. The Edinburgh side haven’t had it easy after the sacking of Ian Cathro back in August which left the club with Criag Levein and 11 teenagers.
Some of Hearts highlights include the elevation of Hearts’ youth, stopping Celtic’s undefeated domestic run with their 4-0 victory at Tynecastle, beating rivals Hibs in the Scottish Cup and the amount of goals from Kyle Lafferty who scored almost a third of Hearts total of 39 league goals on his own.
It if wasn’t for Hearts’ youth academy thee club would have struggled. Most of the time Hearts didn’t have enough pace, creativity or width, and since most of their squad – at least 12 – are 16-years-old, Levein will need to look for some heavy recruitment over summer.
For a team who finished under Hearts, Motherwell have done well to get to the Scottish Cup final against Celtic. Having only won 13 out of their 38 league games they still managed to climb two positions higher in the table than last season.
St Johnstone were another team that fell short of standards. Falling out of the top six seemed almost inevitable, but after finishing fourth last season, eighth left a bitter taste. It didn’t help that they lost their top goalscorer Danny Swanson, and now Steven Maclean is leaving for Hearts.
Tommy Wright needs to bounce back after summer or the Saints will slip further down.
Dundee managed to go from 10th last season to 9th this season, but, again, it wasn’t easy. Jack Hendry’s absence was palpable after he moved to Celtic mid-season, so every point was hard fought. With two points more from last season and one more victory, it’s progress all the same for Neil McCann’s side.
Hamilton Accies were another team that suffered a loss of players. Having lost Mikey Devlin to injury, Greg Docherty to Rangers and Eamonn Brophy to Killie, most expected them to be in the play-offs. However, Martin Canning’s side proved everyone wrong and made it work for his squad.
Someone had to end up in the play-offs since Hamilton Accies didn’t, and unfortunately that was Partick Thistle. Alan Archibald’s team went from fifth in the league last season to 11th, and now their fate will be decided in a two-leg play-off with Livingston.
They lost defender Liam Lindsay to Barnsley, which is the biggest reason why they conceded 61 goals. Having only netted the ball 31 times, this is disastrous. They have it all to play for against Livingston.
If one thing is for certain, however, it is saying goodbye to Ross County. They started the season in 10th position and one point clear of Partick Thistle and Killie, but in a rather strange move in August, Jim McIntyre was let go and replacement manager Owen Coyle joined and left again by March. At this point the Dingwall club were left three points adrift in 12th.
A bad decision at the start of the reason created a bad outcome for the club, and they will now be replaced by St Mirren next season.
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