Premiership Review | Season 2013/14

Club

Summary

Hit/ Miss or somewhere
in-between

1

Celtic    

Celtic hit top spot in the Premiership in the first week of October after a 2-0 win over Motherwell and they stayed there for the next 31 games.

Neil Lennon’s side won 31 of their 38 Premiership games and ended the season 29 points ahead of the second placed Fir Park side.

A league season where over 100 goals were scored and only one game was lost makes 2013-2014 a Hit for Celtic and their supporters.

The Group Stages of the Champions League were reached as well whilst domestically the only disappointment was the performance in the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup which were exited following home defeats from Morton and Aberdeen respectively.

Lennon left his position on Thursday and the new manager will instantly be expected to repeat the league success and improve on the cup runs.

Hit

2

Motherwell

A last gasp win at Aberdeen rounded off a fine second half to the season for Stuart McCall’s side. The Lanarkshire outfit climbed into second place as a result of Craig Reid’s goal and earned themselves an extra fortnight to prepare for European football compared to their hosts.

Three wins in their last three Premiership games ensured that Motherwell ended the season on a high and a second successive campaign in second place.

The first half of the season could have been viewed as a miss with a 1-0 defeat from Albion Rovers in the Scottish Cup adding to a 2-0 reverse against a 10 man visiting Aberdeen side in the Scottish League Cup.

Hit

3

Aberdeen

A very good season for Aberdeen as Derek McInnes blew away the cobwebs at Pittodrie and turned Aberdeen into a top half side again.

McInnes also turned the Dons back into winners with their Scottish League Cup success over Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Celtic Park for their first trophy in 19 years.

Aberdeen were the only team to defeat Celtic in the Premiership, they also beat them in the Scottish cup and they also ended over 1250 minutes of Celtic not conceding a League goal.

However a very good season would have been a great season if the Dons had not ran out of steam at the end where a Scottish Cup semi-final defeat from St Johnstone and their last day defeat from Motherwell left things flatter than they needed to be.

Hit

4

Dundee United

Jackie McNamara’s young guns showed the potential they have frequently this season especially last autumn when scouts from around Europe were flocking to Tannadice.

In what was McNamara’s first full season in charge and United only dropped as low as seventh in the table twice with the last time being at the end of August.

Their Scottish League Cup run ended up at Inverness however they gained revenge for that with a 5-0 win in the Scottish Cup en-route to the Final.

There will be disappointment at missing out on Europe and in losing the Scottish Cup Final to St Johnstone however it has been a season of progress for United.

Hit

5

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Caley led the Premiership for almost the first round of fixtures and they picked up 10 wins in their first 15 games.

By that time progression to the semi-final stages of the Scottish League Cup had been secured and manager Terry Butcher had moved to Hibs and was replaced by John Hughes.

The former Falkirk, Hibs and Livingston manager took the club to their first national Final in the League Cup where they just came up short against Aberdeen on penalties.

Wins were harder to come by in the second half of the season however Inverness finished in fifth place with 3 points more than they achieved last season when they finished fourth.

Hit

6

St Johnstone

A one hundred and thirty year wait for a national trophy ended for the Saints last weekend when they defeated Dundee United and won the Scottish Cup. That alone makes this season a hit especially after the disappointment of a Scottish League Cup semi-final defeat from Aberdeen.

The Perth side had a solid league campaign and whilst they never put in a strong challenge for a European place they always did enough to ensure that they would finish in the top half.

Manager Tommy Wright completed a fine first season in charge with his side’s success at Celtic Park and the Perth men qualified for Europe that way.

Hit

7

Ross County

Ross County had a mixed season however climbing away from danger and being the best in the bottom half of the table is a fine achievement for the Dingwall side.

Derek Adams’ team had a fantastic first season in the Premiership last season however they struggled to match that in the opening half of this campaign.

A disappointing 9 game run from October to Christmas produced only one point however a 1-0 win in a Highland Derby against Inverness at the beginning of 2014 signalled a change in fortune.

Safety was not assured until the second last game of the season however three wins in the last four games meant that everyone associated with County could look forward to their summer holidays.

Hit

8

St Mirren

The Paisley side lost their hold on the Scottish League Cup last August to Queen of the South and they also had a disappointing opening run in the Premiership.

Five defeats and two draws in the first seven games heaped pressure on manager Danny Lennon however things turned and four wins in five games lifted the mood at St Mirren Park.

A disappointing start to 2014 with only 2 wins in 15 games had the Saints slipping down the table again however a late rally saw them ease to eighth place.

Lennon however left as his contract was not renewed and he was replaced by his assistant Tommy Craig.

Hit

9

Kilmarnock

Kilmarnock’s season could be described as a hit but not by much and the deciding factor is that it was manager Allan Johnston’s first season in charge in the top flight.

He was tasked with keeping the Ayrshiremen in the Premiership and he did that with Kris Boyd’s winner against Hibs at Easter Road on the final day of the season sending the Edinburgh men into the play-off against Hamilton.

Killie had looked favourites to finish in eleventh after a miserable 5-0 defeat from Hearts on game day 36 however they rallied with wins over St Mirren and then Hibs.

A lack of Cup success will have been a disappointment however just a hit for Johnston and Co.

Hit

10

Partick Thistle

Partick built on their success of lifting the First Division title by securing Premiership football for a second season with a 4-2 success at Hearts in the penultimate game of the season.

The Jags were mid-table after the first quarter of games however only one win in 16 games made quarters two and three very long for fans of the Firhill club.

A well-deserved 3-1 win over an Aberdeen side that had been their bogey team all season in February secured a first win at home for Alan Archibald’s men with a 3-1 win over Hibs in their next home outing 3 weeks later now looking very significant indeed.

Staying up after promotion makes this season a hit for Thistle.

Hit

11

Hibernian

Hibs meet Hamilton in the second leg of their Play-off Final this weekend 2-0 ahead however even if they do come out on top and remain in the top flight their season has been a miss.

Terry Butcher was brought in to push for a top six place at the expense of Pat Fenlon, however an alarming slump in form in 2014 saw the Edinburgh side drop into second bottom spot.

Only one win in seventeen games was secured and two Derby defeats from Hearts also hurt the club.

Cup competitions were not much kinder with a Scottish League Cup defeat to hearts back in October and a Scottish Cup defeat from Raith Rovers in February.

Miss

12

Hearts

It would normally be fair to describe any season that ends in relegation as a miss however Hearts and their young squad have dropped down to the Championship with their reputations enhanced.

A 15 point penalty was always going to be a difficult to overcome and a fifth month period from August to January that only saw one win recorded added to that,

However Hearts ended the season with heads held high with a run of five wins in six unbeaten games being seen before defeat from Partick Thistle and a draw with St Mirren.

Hearts ended up 12 points behind Hibs and the Tynecastle fans were pleased with that.

Somewhere in-between