The 1995–96 season was the 99th season of competitive
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
in Scotland.
Scottish Premier Division
Summary
Rangers won the Premier Division with a record 87 points, finishing four ahead of rivals
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
. Aberdeen were third with 55 points (on goal difference).
Falkirk
Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...
were relegated after finishing bottom. Partick Thistle were relegated via the play-offs, losing 3–2 on aggregate to
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...
, who returned to the Premier Division at the first attempt. This was the only occasion on which this short-lived play-off system relegated a team from the Premier Division.
Rangers qualified for the
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...
, with Celtic and Aberdeen making it into the
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
. All three clubs entered at the qualifying round stage.
Celtic's Pierre van Hooijdonk was the top scorer with 26 goals, ahead of the Rangers trio of Gordon Durie (17),
Ally McCoist
Alistair Murdoch McCoist (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who has since worked as a Manager (association football), manager and TV pundit.
McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Jo ...
(16) and Paul Gascoigne (14).
Rangers recorded the biggest win of the campaign with a 7–0 home win over Hibernian, with Gordon Durie scoring four times. Incredibly, Hibs had won 1–0 at Ibrox just three months earlier, and Hearts won 3–0 there just three weeks after the 7–0 match.
Celtic went 31 games unbeaten, from 4 October to the end of the season.
Motherwell
Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
had the best winning run with five consecutive successes, while
Falkirk
Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...
lost eight in a row.
Meadowbank Thistle, who had been relegated from the Second Division, were renamed Livingston to reflect their relocation from
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
to Livingston for this season. The renamed club ended the season as Third Division champions.
Promoted: Dunfermline Athletic, Dundee United
Relegated: Hamilton Academical, Dumbarton
Scottish League Division Two
Promoted: Stirling Albion, East Fife
Relegated: Forfar Athletic, Montrose
Scottish League Division Three
Promoted: Livingston, Brechin City
Other honours
Cup honours
Rangers won the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Coca-Cola Cup went to Aberdeen, who beat Dundee 2–0 to win the trophy for the sixth time.The 1945–46 competition was not competed for by all clubs, owing to wartime restrictions, and does not usually count towards official records, often being referred to as the 'Southern League Cup'. However, Aberdeen include it on their honour roll.
The
Challenge Cup
The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...
was won by Stenhousemuir, who beat Dundee United on penalties after a 0–0 draw. United never conceded a goal in the competition.
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
recorded home wins over Greece, Finland and San Marino between August and November in the European Championship qualifiers to secure qualification, keeping a clean sheet in each match. The final three friendly matches before Euro 96 were lost, including two just two weeks before the first match.
In the competition, Scotland battled to a 0–0 draw in the opener against
the Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
at
Villa Park
Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...
. They were then beaten 2–0 at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...
by hosts
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
David Seaman
David Andrew Seaman (born 19 September 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career lasting from 1981 to 2004, he is best known for his time playing for Arsenal. He won 75 caps for England, and is the country ...
when the score was 1–0 to England. Moments later, Paul Gascoigne scored one of the great Wembley goals to make the score 2–0 and effectively win the match.
Going into the final match at Villa Park, Scotland had to beat
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
and hope that England beat the Netherlands, while also needing a five-goal swing in their favour. A goal by
Ally McCoist
Alistair Murdoch McCoist (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who has since worked as a Manager (association football), manager and TV pundit.
McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Jo ...
put Scotland on their way to a 1–0 victory and with England leading 4–0 against the Dutch, Scotland were going through. But
Patrick Kluivert
Patrick Stephan Kluivert (; born 1 July 1976) is a Dutch football coach and former player who is currently the head coach of the Indonesia national team. As a player, he played as a striker for Ajax, Barcelona and the Netherlands national te ...
scored a 78th-minute goal against England, which was enough to send Craig Brown's squad out of the tournament on goals scored (
goal difference
Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...
was tied).
Key:
*(H) = Home match
*(A) = Away match
*ECQ8 = European Championship qualifying - Group 8
*ECGA = European Championship - Group A