1978–79 in Scottish football

1978–79 in Scottish football
Premier Division champions
Celtic
First Division champions
Dundee
Second Division champions
Berwick Rangers
Scottish Cup winners
Rangers
League Cup winners
Rangers
Junior Cup winners
Cumnock Juniors
Teams in Europe
Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hibernian, Rangers
Scotland national team
1979 BHC, UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying
← 1977–78 1979–80 →

The 1978–79 season was the 106th season of competitive football in Scotland and the 82nd season of Scottish league football. ^[1]

Scottish Premier Division

Main article: 1978–79 Scottish Premier Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Celtic (C)	36	21	6	9	61	37	+24	48	Qualification for the European Cup first round
2	Rangers	36	18	9	9	52	35	+17	45	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round
3	Dundee United	36	18	8	10	56	37	+19	44	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4	Aberdeen	36	13	14	9	59	36	+23	40
5	Hibernian	36	12	13	11	44	48	−4	37
6	St Mirren	36	15	6	15	45	41	+4	36
7	Morton	36	12	12	12	52	53	−1	36
8	Partick Thistle	36	13	8	15	42	39	+3	34
9	Heart of Midlothian (R)	36	8	7	21	39	71	−32	23	Relegation to the 1979–80 Scottish First Division
10	Motherwell (R)	36	5	7	24	33	86	−53	17

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

Champions: Celtic
Relegated: Hearts, Motherwell

Scottish League First Division

Main article: 1978–79 Scottish First Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Dundee (C, P)	39	24	7	8	69	36	+33	55	Promotion to the Premier Division
2	Kilmarnock (P)	39	22	10	7	72	36	+36	54
3	Clydebank	39	24	6	9	78	50	+28	54
4	Ayr United	39	21	5	13	73	54	+19	47
5	Hamilton Academical	39	17	9	13	63	61	+2	43
6	Airdrieonians	39	16	8	15	72	61	+11	40
7	Dumbarton	39	14	11	14	58	50	+8	39
8	Stirling Albion	39	13	9	17	43	55	−12	35
9	Clyde	39	13	8	18	54	65	−11	34
10	Arbroath	39	11	11	17	50	61	−11	33
11	Raith Rovers	39	12	8	19	48	55	−7	32
12	St Johnstone	39	10	11	18	57	66	−9	31
13	Montrose (R)	39	8	9	22	55	92	−37	25	Relegation to the Second Division
14	Queen of the South (R)	39	8	8	23	43	93	−50	24

Source: RSSSF and statto ^[2]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Promoted: Dundee, Kilmarnock
Relegated: Montrose, Queen of the South

Scottish League Second Division

Main article: 1978–79 Scottish Second Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Berwick Rangers (C, P)	39	22	10	7	82	44	+38	54	Promotion to the First Division
2	Dunfermline Athletic (P)	39	19	14	6	66	40	+26	52
3	Falkirk	39	19	12	8	66	37	+29	50
4	East Fife	39	17	9	13	64	53	+11	43
5	Cowdenbeath	39	16	10	13	63	58	+5	42
6	Alloa Athletic	39	16	9	14	57	62	−5	41
7	Albion Rovers	39	15	10	14	57	56	+1	40
8	Forfar Athletic	39	13	12	14	55	52	+3	38
9	Stranraer	39	18	2	19	52	66	−14	38
10	Stenhousemuir	39	12	8	19	54	58	−4	32
11	Brechin City	39	9	14	16	49	65	−16	32
12	East Stirlingshire	39	12	8	19	61	87	−26	32
13	Queen's Park	39	8	12	19	46	57	−11	28
14	Meadowbank Thistle	39	8	8	23	37	74	−37	24

Source: "1978-1979 Second Division - SPFL Archive". SPFL. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Promoted: Berwick Rangers, Dunfermline Athletic

Cup honours

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Scottish Cup 1978–79	Rangers	3 – 2 (2nd rep.)	Hibernian
League Cup 1978–79	Rangers	2 – 1	Aberdeen
Junior Cup	Cumnock Juniors	1 – 0	Bo'ness United

Other honours

National

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Scottish Qualifying Cup – North	Brora Rangers	5 – 0 †	Peterhead
Scottish Qualifying Cup – South	Spartans	2 – 0 *	Coldstream

County

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Aberdeenshire Cup	Peterhead
Ayrshire Cup	Kilmarnock	4 – 0	Girvan
Fife Cup	East Fife	2 – 2 * ‡	Raith Rovers
Forfarshire Cup	Forfar Athletic	3 – 1	Dundee
Glasgow Cup	Rangers	3 – 1	Celtic
Renfrewshire Cup	St Mirren	10 – 1 *	Morton
Stirlingshire Cup	Clydebank	1 – 0	Dumbarton

^* – aggregate over two legs
† – replay
‡ – won on penalties

Highland League

Top Three

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Keith	30	21	6	3	67	25	+42	48
2	Inverness Caledonian	30	20	5	5	67	25	+42	45
3	Peterhead	30	19	5	6	62	32	+30	43

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}

Individual honours

Award	Winner	Club
Footballer of the Year	Andy Ritchie	Morton
Players' Player of the Year	Paul Hegarty	Dundee United
Young Player of the Year	Ray Stewart	Dundee United

Scotland national team

Main article: Scotland national football team 1960–79 results

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score [3]	Competition	Scotland scorer(s)
20 September 1978	Praterstadion, Vienna (A)	Austria	2–3	ECQG2	Gordon McQueen, Andy Gray
25 October 1978	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Norway	3–2	ECQG2	Kenny Dalglish (2), Archie Gemmill
29 November 1978	Estadio da Luz, Lisbon (A)	Portugal	0–1	ECQG2
19 May 1979	Ninian Park, Cardiff (A)	Wales	0–3	BHC
22 May 1979	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Northern Ireland	1–0	BHC	Arthur Graham
26 May 1979	Wembley Stadium, London (A)	England	1–3	BHC	John Wark
2 June 1979	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Argentina	1–3	Friendly	Arthur Graham
7 June 1979	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo (A)	Norway	4–0	ECQG2	Kenny Dalglish, Joe Jordan, Gordon McQueen, John Robertson

1979 British Home Championship – Third Place

Key:

• (H) = Home match
• (A) = Away match
• ECQG2 = European Championship qualifying – Group 2
• BHC = British Home Championship

Notes and references

1. "1978/79 - the Scottish Football League". Archived from the original on 10 September 2012.
2. "Scottish Division One 1978-1979 Season Summary". statto.com. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
3. Scotland's score is shown first.

External links

• Scottish Football Historical Archive