The long-awaited return of professional football for Scotland kicks off once again with the 2020/21 Premiership season on the 1st of August 2020. This season sees Celtic aim for a historic, record-breaking 10th title in a row with Rangers having to do all they can in order to stop Celtic dominating a decade of league football.
Dundee United have also returned to the league after a 4-year absence and will be looking to compete for a top-six spot against the other traditional big clubs such as Aberdeen, Hibs and Motherwell. The relegation battle will also be as interesting as ever with everyone’s favourite to face the drop year on year Hamilton Academical looking to extend their impressive 6-year stay in the top league.
Aberdeen: The Dons will be looking to secure a 3rd place finish and hope to play some more attractive football than has previously been seen, consisting of playing the ball up to a single target man in the form of Sam Cosgrove or Curtis Main.
Aberdeen has strengthened with the signing of Celtic left-back Johnny Hayes, who returns after 3 years away from the club. Aberdeen will also be keen to keep a hold of midfielder Lewis Ferguson who won the SFWA young player of the year award last season, leading to interest from rivals Rangers.
Aberdeen fans have been left frustrated with manager Derek Mcinnes’ tactics however after finishing 4th last season, they have secured a European spot and will look to establish themselves once again, as the best team outside of Celtic and Rangers.
Predicted Finish: 3rd
Celtic: The current 9-in-a-row champions will be looking to continue their dominance by adding an unbelievable 10th league title in 10 years to their trophy cabinet, which would give them the bragging rights over rivals Rangers as they would be the first team in Scottish football history to achieve this feat.
Celtic will want to ensure they keep a hold of top goal scorer and player of the year winner Odsonne Edouard who has received interest from clubs in England and across Europe. Celtic will also be keen to bring back former goalkeeper Fraser Forster who enjoyed an extremely successful loan spell with the club last season.
Forster played a massive role in beating high calibre teams in Europe such as Lazio and being Celtics main reason why they won the league cup final against rivals Rangers. Celtic have also re-signed tricky winger Mohamed Elyounoussi on a season-long loan from Southampton and are the bookies favourite to reclaim the title.
Predicted Finish: 1st
Dundee United: Easily the best team in the Championship last season and deserved to go up, Dundee United will be looking to finish around mid-table this season under new manager Micky Mellon. The former Tranmere Rovers boss was appointed after the departure of Robbie Neilson who left the club for recently relegated Hearts. This was an interesting move for Neilson as he is dropping back into the division he just managed to get Dundee United out of.
Dundee United will want to move on quickly under Mellon and focus on keeping their biggest talent Lawrence Shankland who scored an incredible 28 goals in 33 games in the championship last season, with the star striker also scoring on his Scotland debut in October 2019. This will be Shanklands first official season in the Premiership and if United can keep him and continue giving him quality service, then United could see a successful return to the top 6 of Scottish Football.
Predicted Finish: 7th
Hamilton Academical: Since being promoted in 2014 to the Premiership, the majority of Scottish football fans have predicted that Hamilton would be relegated season after season. However, Hamilton has constantly defied the odds and survived even if it’s by the skin of their teeth.
Hamilton will be hoping for similar results again this season by just managing to keep their Premiership status, even if it means going through the playoff system, the same way they entered the league in 2014.
Hamilton did manage to record an unlikely victory at Ibrox last season along with being agonisingly close to getting a point at Celtic Park, while also causing problems for local rivals Motherwell who came 3rd in the league. These results against last seasons top 3 show that Hamilton can be a tough team to play on their day however it may not be enough to save them from the drop this season.
Predicted Finish: 11th
Hibernian: The only team from the capital playing in the Premiership this season after Hearts relegation, Hibs will be looking to have a much better season after coming 7th in the last campaign despite having a squad which could be argued as the third-best in the country.
If players such as Scott Allan and Steven Mallan can get good service to Christian Doidge and he performs well, then Hibs can likely be seen in the top 6 this season. Hibs have signed prolific striker Kevin Nisbet from Dunfermline in order to deal with the lack of depth upfront, as Florian Kamberi is expected to leave the club following a brief loan spell at Rangers from January 2020.
The signing of Nisbet eases the pressure on Christian Doidge as the only starting striker as his only backup was 21-year-old Jamie Gullan who did score 9 goals in 18 games for Raith Rovers in League 1 last season.
Other signings include Alex Gogic who was a standout player in keeping Hamilton up last season, along with signing winger Drey Wright from St Johnstone. Hibs will be looking to secure a European spot in Jack Ross’s first full season as manager and establish themselves as the major Edinburgh club while Hearts are absent from the league.
Predicted Finish: 4th
Kilmarnock: Very similar to Hibs, Kilmarnock will be attempting to compete and finish within the top 6 after an unsuccessful campaign last season saw them finish in 8th. Alex Dyer is the current manager and took over from Angelo Alessio who was sacked in December 2019 after a poor run of form although the club was fifth at the time.
Kilmarnock does have Scotland internationals in their team including Stuart Findlay and Eamonn Brophy, however, their squad lacks depth which may be the reason they didn’t do as well as they should have last season. Kilmarnock have attempted to fix this by replacing Scotland right-back Stephen O’Donnell with Hamilton right-back Aaron McGowan and also signing former AFC Wimbledon winger Mitch Pinnock on a one year deal.
They have also signed Zeno Rossi on loan from Bournemouth in order to help the defence. Kilmarnock may be able to break into the top 6 this season however it will be a while before they reach the success that they managed under now Scotland manager Steve Clarke during the 18/19 season which saw them come third and qualify for Europe.
Predicted Finish: 6th
Livingston: Following promotion to the Premiership in 2018, Livingston has surprised many by managing to not just survive, but thrive in the top league by finishing 5th last season and only being 6 points behind a European spot. Livingston can credit this top 6 finish to their terrific home record and tough to break down tactics that cause problems for any team in the league, with Celtic still not managing to beat them at home since they got promoted.
Livingston also has striker Lyndon Dykes at the club who scored 9 goals in 25 appearances last season, attracting interest from Rangers who may view the 24-year-old as a replacement for Alfredo Morelos who has rumoured interest from all over Europe.
Livingston has also strengthened by signing Rangers goalkeeper Robby McCrorie again on loan, Defender Jack Fitzwater from West Bromwich Albion along with Slovenian attacker Matej Poplatnik. Livi have also signed striker Salim Kouider-Aissa from Queens Park who at one point just over a year ago was playing non-league football in Scotland, showing that he is determined to succeed. The club will once again be hoping to keep their Premiership status with finishing above 10th deemed a success.
Predicted Finish: 9th
Motherwell: Following an extremely successful campaign last season which saw The Well come 3rd and secure a European spot, Motherwell will be looking to have similar levels of success. This saw them play attractive football and put on the verge of record season ticket sales for the upcoming campaign.
Motherwell have managed to convince young manager Stephen Robinson to remain at the club despite heavy interest from Northern Ireland which will be crucial in keeping Motherwell as one of the top clubs in the Premiership. Motherwell will be keen to hold onto young Scottish midfield duo Allan Campbell and David Turnbull, with the latter receiving interest from both Celtic and Stoke City.
Motherwell have replaced goalkeeper Mark Gillespie with Scott Fox from Partick Thistle, and also brought back Jake Hastie on a season-long loan from Rangers who left the club for Rangers only a year prior. Mark O’Hara has also re-joined the club on a permanent basis along with striker Chris Long who signed a 1-year-deal after a successful season for Motherwell last year.
Three more signings include Ricki Lamie from Livingston, Jordan White from Inverness Caley Thistle, and Nathan McGinley from Forest Green Rovers. Motherwell is showing big intent with the signings they are bringing in, and if they can keep a hold of their star players then they will comfortably be in the top 6 once again.
Predicted Finish: 5th
Rangers: This season is arguably Rangers manager Steven Gerrard’s biggest along with one of the biggest seasons in the club’s history as they look to stop Celtics 10 in a row dominance by pipping them to the league title. Rangers have shown that they are capable of doing this due to last season’s Old Firm performances which saw them beat Celtic away for the first time in 9 years, however, Rangers lacked what Celtic had and that was consistency.
Far too often Rangers slipped up against lower teams in the league, for example losing to Hamilton at home and losing to Hearts away which gave away their advantage on Celtic. Steven Gerrard is facing the pressure as he is yet to deliver a trophy to the Ibrox cabinet after two seasons in charge, which at a club like Rangers, second best is just not good enough to the Ibrox faithful.
However, Rangers have played brilliantly in the Europa League which saw them beat teams such as Porto, Braga, and Feyenoord which has arguably kept fans and the board on Gerrard’s side. Rangers have replaced outgoing goalkeeper Wes Foderingham with Jon McLaughlin from Sunderland along with bringing in young Left Back Calvin Bassey from Leicester City.
Rangers have also made the loan move of Ianis Hagi from KRC Genk permanent at a cost of £3 million, with the young attacking midfielder showing massive promise during his short loan spell at the club. Rangers may look to cash in on their highly-rated striker Alfredo Morelos, however, his goals and ability will be missed as last season he dragged Rangers through certain games on his own. If Rangers can find the consistency they have been lacking over the past few seasons then they will be able to seriously challenge Celtic for the title.
Predicted Finish: 2nd
Ross County: The only highland team in the Premiership for the second season running, Ross County will once again just be aiming to stay above the drop which is what they just managed to do last season, finishing 6 points above relegation in 10th. Ross County have brought in 5 signings so far including highly-rated young midfielder Stephen Kelly from Rangers on a season-long loan along with the signing of defender Connor Randall who is a former Liverpool youngster.
County have also signed defender Alex Iacovitti from Oldham Athletic and Midfielder Regan Charles-Cook from Gillingham. County also secured the services of former Inverness man Carl Tremarco on a 1-year-deal. Ross County have had to bolster their defensive options as last season they had the worst goal difference at -31, something they will have to improve on if they want to avoid the drop this season. Young manager Stuart Kettlewell is also going into this season as the sole manager of Ross County after his co-manager Steve Ferguson was appointed chief executive of the club.
Predicted Finish: 10th
St Johnstone: The Perth side are going into the season under new management for the first time in seven years after Northern Irishman Tommy Wright left his role in May 2020. St Johnstone has appointed Callum Davidson as their new manager who was previously the assistant manager at Millwall and a former player at the club he is now managing.
St Johnstone will be aiming for a mid-table finish this year, similar to what they achieved last year in which they came 6thdespite having one less point than Hibernian in 7thwhich was due to the Play-Off rules of the premiership. St Johnstone also have club legend Steven MacLean as part of Davidson’s backroom staff while also making three signings so far.
These include 23-year-old Shaun Rooney, a Full Back who joins from Inverness Caledonian Thistle on a two-year-deal, along with Milwall duo Isaac Olaofe and Danny McNamara on loan. St Johnstone look set for another season in the premiership as long as players such as Captain Jason Kerr, young promising midfielder Ali McCann, and striker Stevie May manage to consistently perform well.
Predicted Finish: 8th
St Mirren: Along with Hamilton Academical, St Mirren will be one of the favourites to face relegation this season as they have narrowly avoided the drop for the last couple of seasons, including staying up through the playoffs in 2019. St Mirren finished on the same points as Ross County last season but had a better goal difference leaving them in 9thposition and for the majority of the season was involved in the relegation battle.
In order to improve their chances of survival in the upcoming season, St Mirren have signed goalkeeper Jak Alnwick from Rangers after star keeper Vaclav Hladky left the club along with 6 others fit for the first-team. Included in these players is club captain Stephen McGinn which is a big blow to the side as he has been captain for the last 3 years.
St Mirren has also signed Right Back Richard Tait from Motherwell on a two-year-deal along with defensive midfielder Nathan Sheron on loan from Fleetwood Town. St Mirren will treat success as a matter of just staying up and hope to continue their build towards solidifying their stay in the premiership under young manager Jim Goodwin.
Predicted Finish: 12th
