1980–81 Scottish Premier Division

75th season of top-tier football league in Scotland Football league season

Scottish Premier Division
Season	1980–81
Champions	Celtic 3rd Premier Division title 32nd Scottish title
Relegated	Kilmarnock Heart of Midlothian
European Cup	Celtic
UEFA Cup	Aberdeen Dundee United
Cup Winners' Cup	Rangers
Matches played	180
Goals scored	481 (2.67 per match)
Top goalscorer	Frank McGarvey (23)
Biggest home win	Dundee United 7–0 Kilmarnock
Biggest away win	Kilmarnock 1–8 Rangers
← 1979–80 1981–82 →

The 1980–81 Scottish Premier Division was the sixth season of the Premier Division, and the 75th edition overall of the top national league competition.

Ten teams contested the league. Eight teams from the 1979–80 season (Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Morton, Partick Thistle, Rangers, and St Mirren) plus two clubs promoted from the 1979–80 Scottish First Division (Heart of Midlothian and Airdrieonians).

Aberdeen were the defending champions, having won their first title in 25 years in the previous season.

The title was won by Celtic on 22 April 1981, after defeating Dundee United 3–2 at Tannadice Park, with two matches still to play. They finished seven points ahead of closest challengers Aberdeen. At the end of the season, Kilmarnock and Heart of Midlothian were relegated.

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Celtic (C)	36	26	4	6	84	37	+47	56	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Aberdeen	36	19	11	6	61	26	+35	49	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Rangers	36	16	12	8	60	32	+28	44	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round
4	St Mirren	36	18	8	10	56	47	+9	44
5	Dundee United	36	17	9	10	66	42	+24	43	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
6	Partick Thistle	36	10	10	16	32	48	−16	30
7	Airdrieonians	36	10	9	17	36	55	−19	29
8	Morton	36	10	8	18	36	58	−22	28
9	Kilmarnock (R)	36	5	9	22	23	65	−42	19	Relegation to the 1981–82 Scottish First Division
10	Heart of Midlothian (R)	36	6	6	24	27	71	−44	18	Relegation to the 1981–82 Scottish First Division

Source: Statto
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Matches 1–18

During matches 1–18 each team plays every other team twice (home and away).

Home \ Away	ABE	AIR	CEL	DNU	HEA	KIL	MOR	PAR	RAN	STM
Aberdeen		4–1	2–2	1–1	4–1	2–0	6–0	2–1	2–0	3–2
Airdrieonians	0–4		1–4	0–0	3–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–2
Celtic	0–2	1–1		2–0	3–2	4–1	2–1	4–1	1–2	1–2
Dundee United	1–3	1–0	0–3		1–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	2–4	2–0
Heart of Midlothian	0–1	0–2	0–2	0–3		2–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–1
Kilmarnock	1–1	1–1	0–3	0–1	0–1		3–3	0–1	1–8	1–6
Morton	1–0	3–1	2–3	0–2	2–2	2–0		1–2	2–2	1–4
Partick Thistle	0–1	2–1	0–1	2–3	3–2	0–1	0–0		1–1	1–0
Rangers	1–1	0–0	3–0	1–4	3–1	2–0	0–1	4–0		2–0
St Mirren	0–1	2–2	0–2	2–0	1–3	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–0

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36

During matches 19–36 each team plays every other team twice (home and away).

Home \ Away	ABE	AIR	CEL	DNU	HEA	KIL	MOR	PAR	RAN	STM
Aberdeen		3–0	4–1	1–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	3–1	0–0	1–2
Airdrieonians	0–0		1–2	0–5	1–2	3–0	3–2	2–0	1–1	0–2
Celtic	1–1	2–1		2–1	6–0	1–1	3–0	4–1	3–1	7–0
Dundee United	0–0	4–1	2–3		4–1	7–0	1–0	3–2	2–1	1–2
Heart of Midlothian	0–2	2–3	0–3	0–4		1–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–2
Kilmarnock	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–0		0–0	0–1	1–1	2–0
Morton	1–3	0–1	0–3	2–0	3–0	1–0		2–0	0–2	1–3
Partick Thistle	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–1	3–1		1–1	0–0
Rangers	1–0	2–0	0–1	2–1	4–0	2–0	4–0	1–1		1–0
St Mirren	1–1	2–1	3–1	3–3	2–1	1–1	2–0	3–2	2–1

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

References

1980–81 Scottish Premier Division – Statto

v t e Top division football seasons in Scotland
Football League	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93
Division One	1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15
Football League	1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21
Division One / A	1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75
Premier Division	1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98
Premier League	1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13
Premiership	2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Winners	List of champions Winning managers

v t e 1980–81 in European football (UEFA)
« 1979–80 1981–82 »
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '80 '81 England Faroe Islands '80 '81 Finland '80 '81 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '80 '81 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '80 '81 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '80 '81 Spain Sweden '80 '81 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '80 '81 Finland '80 '81 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '80 '81 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '80 '81 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union '81 Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Republic of Ireland Scotland
Super cups	Soviet Union '81
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Super Cup
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup

v t e 1980–81 in Scottish football
« 1979–80 1981–82 »
Domestic leagues	Football League Premier Division First Division Second Division Highland League
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final League Cup Final Drybrough Cup Junior Cup
European competitions	European Cup European Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup Anglo-Scottish Cup
Related to national team	Results World Cup 1982 qualifying (Group 6) British Home Championship
Club seasons
Premier Division	Aberdeen Airdrieonians Celtic Dundee United Heart of Midlothian Kilmarnock Morton Partick Thistle Rangers St. Mirren
First Division	Ayr United Berwick Rangers Clydebank Dundee Dunfermline Athletic Dumbarton East Stirlingshire Falkirk Hamilton Academical Hibernian Motherwell Raith Rovers St. Johnstone Stirling Albion
Second Division	Albion Rovers Alloa Athletic Arbroath Brechin City Clyde Cowdenbeath East Fife Forfar Athletic Meadowbank Thistle Montrose Queen of the South Queen's Park Stenhousemuir Stranraer

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