The Premiership preview
The new league season is almost upon us, so it’s time for some ill informed opinion and subpar predictions.
On paper, the league looks as strong as it’s been for a while and we’ve got the full set of three city derbies making a welcome return to the top flight.
The race for European spots, top six and relegation looks as hard to call as it tends to be most seasons, and here we’ll assess some of the battles for these different league standings.
So sit back, relax and we’ll have a look at what the season ahead might have in store for Scotland’s premier division.
Title race
So, another two way, Glasgow based scrap for the crown of best team in the land.
Apologies to any optimistic Jambos.
I understand why they’re feeling good about things with three very strong league showings in the past three seasons since promotion from the Championship in 2021.
However, I’ll take the pessimistic view that Hearts, or any team in the country for that matter has a practically zero chance of being seriously involved in a serious title race with the Glasgow two unless something dramatically changes, unfortunately.
The difference in finances are just too much, and will only continue to grow, especially to Celtic given their continued involvement in the Champions League.
Looks like around 40 million quid just for being involved this season. Will probably end up being quite a bit more than that too.
Less of a gulf, more of a chasm between them and the rest.
So, to this season’s title race then.
Looking at the bookies odds, they certainly seem to see Celtic as strong favourites, currently sitting at around 1/2 with Rangers at 6/4.
On the face of it, it’s easy to see why.
12 out of the last 13 titles won.
Much better finances, that are only going to improve.
Stronger squad individually.
And that’s before we even get to the stadium debacle that’s going to leave Rangers playing home games at Hampden for the first part of the season.
Rangers are evidently in the midst of a rebuild, with a lot of players with a lot of games for the club departing the scene in recent times.
It’s only really the long term defensive duo of Tavernier and Goldson who remain of the ‘old guard’, and there has been a lot of speculation over the two of them, Goldson especially it seems just a matter of time before he packs his bags for pastures new (to the point I actually had to check if he was still at the club).
I think Tavernier will stay for another season at least, for me it would be a major loss to Rangers if he were to leave. Whilst undoubtedly sometimes found out defensively, his offensive contributions would take some replacing in terms of both goalscoring and creativity.
With not long until the season starts it still seems like there are a lot of gaps requiring plugging throughout the Rangers squad, and I don’t think there’ll be a lot of patience from the stands.
On the other hand, all seems fairly rosy over in the east end of the city.
Brendan Rodgers seems keen to stick around, at least for now, and the squad looks in good shape going into the new campaign.
It seems like last season’s POTY Matt O’Riley will move on at some point before the end of the transfer window, but Celtic’s finances are in a healthy place so they can hold out until they get an offer that meets their asking price.
Rumblings of discontent towards Peter Lawwell / the board / Rod Stewart never seem to be too far away at Celtic but at the moment it seems like everyone is getting along well.
The big test for Celtic, as is customary, will be in the newly revamped Champions League this season. The performances in Europe have been below par for a number of years now, and if they want to increase their lead over Rangers in terms of stature and, more importantly, finances then a strong showing this year would help their cause no end.
With this being the last season that our champion receives automatic Champions League qualification for the foreseeable future, it is important that Celtic make the most of this opportunity.
With the current goings on at Ibrox, I would not be surprised to see Celtic end up with all three domestic trophies yet again this season.
European spots
Unfortunately for the whole league, the season just past was the last one that we’ll have five European entrants, certainly for the time being.
Due to our coefficient (not something I totally understand but hey ho) being negatively impacted by overall poor showings from all clubs in the past few seasons, Rangers Europa League run being the exception, we find ourselves down a spot.
So, who might be in with a shout of picking up one of those coveted positions, and the financial benefits it can bring?
We’ll start with comfortably the best of the rest over the past few seasons, Hearts.
Third, fourth and third again in the past three seasons is about as good as it gets for a non Old Firm club, and the Gorgie boys seemed to have really emerged from their financial troubles of a decade or so ago a stronger unit and results on the pitch are reflecting that.
Keeping last season’s golden boot winner Lawrence Shankland around, even at the risk of losing him for free next summer, probably seems worthwhile in the eyes of most Hearts fans if it leads to yet another successful season.
Whilst under seemingly slightly unfair pressure at points last campaign, rookie manager Steven Naismith has built a strong and consistent squad, with plenty of strength in depth, which will come in vital if Hearts want to perform on both domestic and European stages this year.
Depending on where your loyalties lie, there will always be debate over where Hearts, Aberdeen and Hibs rank in terms of who’s the biggest club of the three, but there can’t be any serious debate that they along with the Glasgow pair make up the biggest five clubs in our country.
So, the general underperformance of Hibs and Aberdeen has been quite something to behold. Multiple managers have been and gone, some lasting longer than others, and in the main the standards at these clubs have been miles off where they should be.
We’ll look at this a bit more later on, but both clubs have fresh faces in the dugout, who will both be looking to get these clubs back to where they’ll believe they should be.
Both these sides have the resources to put together a credible challenge for third spot, but whether they can pull it together repeatedly over the full season remains to be seen.
Next up, we’ll look at our two surprise European qualifiers from last season in Kilmarnock and St Mirren.
In fairness to Stephen Robinson, his Saints side have been on course to reach Europe for the first time in about 40 years, with a 6th place finish in 2023 being bettered by one this time around. A 0-0 away in Iceland is far from a bad result, hopefully for them they can finish the job in the leafy suburbs of Paisley.
Killie, on the other hand, seemed to come from absolutely nowhere to finish in fourth and Europa League heaven. They were well involved in the relegation scrap the season before and might’ve seen themselves in a play off had it not been for Dundee United’s post split implosion.
I’ve always thought highly of Derek McInnes as a manager, but that sort of rise is pretty spectacular.
It is true that some of the aforementioned bigger clubs in the division were absolutely nowhere and that will have helped their case somewhat, but the league table does not lie and Kilmarnock were so consistent last season and more than deserve their shot at Europe this season.
Like St Mirren, a first leg draw is a decent result and they are far from out of it heading to Brugge for the second leg.
How both will fare in league season 24/25 is to be seen, but with astute managers at the helm I would not be surprised to see them there or thereabouts again this campaign.
‘And what about the chances for another surprise package?’ I hear you ask.
Up in the city of Discovery, you’ll find two fanbases who will be quietly (or not) hopeful of another successful season.
Tony Docherty has done a great job in his first full managerial role, and getting Dundee top six last season was probably way beyond pre season expectations, considering how many times Dundee have been up and down in recent years.
They’ll be hoping to at least match that this time around, and I’m sure they're all looking forward to a certain opening day fixture…
To the other side of the street, we find the good guys in tangerine and black.
I have found that expectations differ through the fanbase, some would take 10th and safety right now, others looking for a top six push at the very least.
United have experienced league European success recently, leading to a superb home performance and result at Tannadice against AZ Alkmaar (was in Ibiza for the second leg so can’t remember the outcome, sorry).
I would probably accept a season of consolidation, but our near neighbours have shown that if you can put together a solid run of results then a push up the table is definitely achievable.
Another wildcard for me, would be Motherwell.
Along with Celtic and Aberdeen, they have been a mainstay in the top flight for as long as I can remember, whilst most other clubs around them have suffered a capitulation or two in that period.
Stuart Kettlewell may have flown under the radar slightly, but that probably suits Motherwell and if they spend the money they got in for Theo ‘Canadian R9’ Bair, then they’ve got every chance of pushing towards the top six at least.
Aberdeen & Hibs new managers
As mentioned before, two of the biggest clubs in the country have a fresh face in the dugout this season.
Whilst David Gray is well known throughout Scottish football, this is his first non-temporary stint in the Easter Road hotseat. His hero status within the Hibs fanbase due to a certain late winner undoubtedly makes him a popular and easy choice, but will that translate to success on the pitch?
We are still yet to see the club flexing their new found financial muscle after their new link up with Bournemouth and after their underwhelming showing last time out, you would think they have a few more recruits to arrive before the end of the transfer window.
Their Premier Sports campaign got off to a great start with five goal wins over both Elgin and Queens Park, but their apparent allergy to any clubs containing the name ‘Hearts’ reared it’s head again as they lost 1-0 at Kelty.
A win today as I type against Peterhead at home will send them through, so pre season can probably be viewed as an overall success if they can pull that off.
Looking 120 miles or so up the east coast, the Jimmy Thelin revolution looks to be underway in Aberdeen.
Apart from season 22/23, they have consistently underperformed in the league recently and have gone through quite a few managers in that time, Neil Warnock being a particular highlight.
You feel like they’ve got to get it right eventually, and Thelin seems to come with decent pedigree from the Swedish league and it will be interesting to see how the Dons fare this season.
In the Premier Sports cup, it has been so far so good with three wins from three seeing them as good as through. Game four is at home to Dumbarton so it seems fairly likely they’ll finish maximum points from the group stages.
Looking at the fixtures, it seems to have been quite kind to Aberdeen for the opening few games, so I’m sure the new Dons management team will look to get off to a strong start this campaign, and push on from there.
Strongest league in a while on paper?
On the face if it, this certainly seems to look the strongest league we’ve had in a good while.
All of our biggest clubs have made a welcome return to the top flight, which should lead to an exciting battle for the coveted top six positions.
There doesn’t seem to be any obvious candidates for the relegation spots either. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us entering the latter stages of the season with some clubs both pushing for top six but also looking over their shoulders at the jeopardy of the bottom two spots.
Whatever the order of the the twelve teams in May 2025, you can be sure the league season will be full of thrills, spills and everything in between.
Here’s hoping that VAR and referees don’t continually take centre stage, but this being Scottish football I think that may be slightly optimistic…
Predictions
I, for one, cannot wait to watch these go out the window by mid-September.
Predictions for 2024/25 Premiership season
Champions - Celtic
European places - Rangers, Hearts, Aberdeen
Relegation play off - Ross County
Relegation - St Johnstone