1990–91 Scottish Premier Division

85th season of top-tier football league in Scotland Football league season

Scottish Premier Division
Season	1990–91
Champions	Rangers 6th Premier Division title 41st Scottish title
European Cup	Rangers
UEFA Cup	Aberdeen Celtic
Cup Winners' Cup	Motherwell
Matches played	180
Goals scored	447 (2.48 per match)
Top goalscorer	Tommy Coyne (Celtic, 18)
← 1989–90 1991–92 →

The 1990–91 Scottish Premier Division season was won by Rangers, two points ahead of Aberdeen. Rangers had seemed on course for a comfortable victory in the championship, but a loss of form around the time of manager Graeme Souness leaving the club allowed a surging Aberdeen to take the lead in the championship after 35 games. Rangers won a league deciding match against Aberdeen in the final game of the season at Ibrox. Mark Hateley scored twice in a 2–0 victory for Rangers, giving them their third successive league championship. Due to a league expansion from 10 to 12 teams, no clubs were relegated.

Clubs

Stadia and locations

St Mirrenclass=notpageimage| Location of clubs in the 1991–92 Scottish Premier Division

Team	Location	Stadium
Aberdeen	Aberdeen	Pittodrie Stadium
Celtic	Parkhead, Glasgow	Celtic Park
Dundee United	Dundee	Tannadice Park
Dunfermline Athletic	Dunfermline	East End Park
Heart of Midlothian	Gorgie, Edinburgh	Tynecastle Park
Hibernian	Leith, Edinburgh	Easter Road
Motherwell	Motherwell	Fir Park
Rangers	Ibrox, Glasgow	Ibrox Park
St Johnstone	Perth	McDiarmid Park
St Mirren	Paisley	Love Street

Managers

Team	Manager
Aberdeen	Alex Smith and Jocky Scott (co-managers)
Celtic	Billy McNeill
Dundee United	Jim McLean
Dunfermline Athletic	Iain Munro
Heart of Midlothian	Joe Jordan
Hibernian	Alex Miller
Motherwell	Tommy McLean
Rangers	Walter Smith
St Johnstone	Alex Totten
St Mirren	Tony Fitzpatrick

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Dunfermline Athletic	Jim Leishman	31 May 1990	Resigned	Iain Munro	27 July 1990
Heart of Midlothian	Alex MacDonald	9 September 1990	Sacked	Joe Jordan	10 September 1990
Rangers	Graeme Souness	16 April 1991	Signed by Liverpool	Walter Smith	19 April 1991

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rangers (C)	36	24	7	5	62	23	+39	55	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Aberdeen	36	22	9	5	62	27	+35	53	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Celtic	36	17	7	12	52	38	+14	41	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4	Dundee United	36	17	7	12	41	29	+12	41
5	Heart of Midlothian	36	14	7	15	48	55	−7	35
6	Motherwell	36	12	9	15	51	50	+1	33	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round
7	St Johnstone	36	11	9	16	41	54	−13	31
8	Dunfermline Athletic	36	8	11	17	38	61	−23	27
9	Hibernian	36	6	13	17	24	51	−27	25
10	St Mirren	36	5	9	22	28	59	−31	19

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

Results

Matches 1–18

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

Home \ Away	ABE	CEL	DNU	DUF	HOM	HIB	MOT	RAN	STJ	STM
Aberdeen		3–0	1–1	3–2	3–0	2–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–1
Celtic	0–3		0–0	1–2	3–0	2–0	2–1	1–2	0–0	4–1
Dundee United	2–3	3–1		3–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–0
Dunfermline Athletic	1–1	1–1	1–0		2–0	1–1	3–3	0–1	1–2	0–0
Heart of Midlothian	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1		1–1	3–2	1–3	2–3	1–1
Hibernian	1–1	0–3	0–0	1–1	0–3		1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0
Motherwell	0–0	2–0	0–2	2–0	1–1	4–1		2–4	3–0	1–1
Rangers	2–2	1–1	1–2	3–1	4–0	4–0	1–0		4–1	5–0
St Johnstone	5–0	3–2	1–3	3–2	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–0		0–1
St Mirren	0–4	2–3	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	0–3	2–2

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 a further two times (home and away).

Home \ Away	ABE	CEL	DNU	DUF	HOM	HIB	MOT	RAN	STJ	STM
Aberdeen		1–0	0–1	0–0	5–0	2–0	3–0	1–0	2–1	1–0
Celtic	1–0		1–0	5–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	3–0	3–0	1–0
Dundee United	1–2	2–1		1–0	2–1	0–0	3–0	1–2	0–0	3–2
Dunfermline Athletic	1–4	0–1	1–0		3–1	1–1	2–5	0–1	3–2	2–2
Heart of Midlothian	1–4	0–1	2–1	4–1		3–1	2–1	0–1	2–1	2–0
Hibernian	2–4	0–2	3–0	1–0	1–4		1–1	0–2	0–1	4–3
Motherwell	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–3	1–0		3–0	2–2	3–1
Rangers	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–0		3–0	1–0
St Johnstone	0–1	2–3	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–0	1–4	1–1		2–1
St Mirren	0–1	0–2	0–1	2–2	0–0	1–0	2–2	0–1	0–1

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

References

^ McDaid, David (20 May 2008). "SPL title battle hangs in balance". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
"Rangers and Aberdeen's epic duel for the 1991 Scottish title – 25 years ago". BBC Sport. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
"Flashback: 1991, Mark Walters and Scott Booth recall their part in Smith's maiden final-day triumph". The Herald. 14 May 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
"Scottish Premier Division 1991-1992 Table". statto.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2012-03-27.

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 1990–91 in Scottish football
« 1989–90 1991–92 »
Domestic leagues	Football League Premier Division First Division Second Division Highland League
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final League Cup Final Challenge Cup Final Junior Cup Tennent's Sixes
European competitions	European Cup European Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup
Related to national team	Results Euro 1992 qualifying (Group 2)
Club seasons
Premier Division	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Motherwell Rangers St. Johnstone St. Mirren
First Division	Airdrieonians Ayr United Brechin City Clyde Clydebank Dundee Falkirk Forfar Athletic Hamilton Academical Kilmarnock Meadowbank Thistle Morton Partick Thistle Raith Rovers
Second Division	Albion Rovers Alloa Athletic Arbroath Berwick Rangers Cowdenbeath Dumbarton East Fife East Stirlingshire Montrose Queen of the South Queen's Park Stenhousemuir Stirling Albion Stranraer

v t e 1990–91 in European football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '90 '91 England Faroe Islands '90 '91 Finland '90 '91 France Georgia '90 '91 Germany (Eastern, Western) Greece Hungary Iceland '90 '91 Israel Italy Lithuania '90 '91 Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '90 '91 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union '90 '91 Spain Sweden '90 '91 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '90 '91 Finland '90 '91 France Georgia Germany (Eastern, Western) Greece Hungary Iceland '90 '91 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Lithuania '90 '91 Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '90 '91 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania San Marino Scotland Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Scotland Soviet Union '90
Supercups	England Italy Spain Switzerland Turkey West Germany
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Super Cup
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup Baltic League

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