1970–71 in Scottish football

1970–71 in Scottish football
Division One champions
Celtic
Division Two champions
Partick Thistle
Scottish Cup winners
Celtic
League Cup winners
Rangers
Junior Cup winners
Cambuslang Rangers
Teams in Europe
Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Rangers
Scotland national team
1971 BHC, UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying

The 1970–71 season was the 98th season of competitive football in Scotland and the 74th season of Scottish league football.[1]

Scottish League Division One

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Aberdeen, with a 15-game unbeaten run, led the league from December until the last week of the season. Aberdeen faced Celtic in their penultimate game, needing a win to almost certainly clinch the title, but could only draw 1–1 and then they lost their last game, at Falkirk, allowing Celtic to take the championship by 2 points.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Celtic 34 25 6 3 89 23 +66 56 Champion
2 Aberdeen 34 24 6 4 68 18 +50 54
3 St Johnstone 34 19 6 9 59 44 +15 44
4 Rangers 34 16 9 9 58 34 +24 41
5 Dundee 34 14 10 10 53 45 +8 38
6 Dundee United 34 14 8 12 53 54 −1 36
7 Falkirk 34 13 9 12 46 53 −7 35
8 Morton 34 13 8 13 44 44 0 34
9 Airdrieonians 34 13 8 13 60 65 −5 34
10 Motherwell 34 13 8 13 43 47 −4 34
11 Heart of Midlothian 34 13 7 14 41 40 +1 33
12 Hibernian 34 10 10 14 47 53 −6 30
13 Kilmarnock 34 10 8 16 43 67 −24 28
14 Ayr United 34 9 8 17 37 54 −17 26
15 Clyde 34 8 10 16 33 59 −26 26
16 Dunfermline Athletic 34 6 11 17 44 56 −12 23
17 St Mirren 34 7 9 18 38 56 −18 23 Relegated to 1971–72 Second Division
18 Cowdenbeath 34 7 3 24 33 69 −36 17

Champions: Celtic
Relegated: St Mirren, Cowdenbeath

Scottish League Division Two

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 Partick Thistle 36 23 10 3 78 26 +52 56 Promotion to the 1971–72 First Division
2 East Fife 36 22 7 7 86 44 +42 51
3 Arbroath 36 19 8 9 80 52 +28 46
4 Dumbarton 36 19 6 11 87 46 +41 44
5 Clydebank 36 17 8 11 57 43 +14 42
6 Montrose 36 17 7 12 78 64 +14 41
7 Albion Rovers 36 15 9 12 53 52 +1 39
8 Raith Rovers 36 15 9 12 62 62 0 39
9 Stranraer 36 14 8 14 54 52 +2 36
10 Stenhousemuir 36 14 8 14 64 70 −6 36
11 Queen of the South 36 13 9 14 50 56 −6 35
12 Stirling Albion 36 12 8 16 61 61 0 32
13 Queen's Park 36 13 4 19 51 72 −21 30
14 Berwick Rangers 36 10 10 16 42 60 −18 30
15 Forfar Athletic 36 9 11 16 63 75 −12 29
16 Alloa Athletic 36 9 11 16 56 86 −30 29
17 East Stirlingshire 36 9 9 18 57 86 −29 27
18 Hamilton Academical 36 8 7 21 50 79 −29 23
19 Brechin City 36 6 7 23 30 73 −43 19
Source: "1970-1971 Second Division - SPFL Archive". SPFL. Retrieved 29 April 2021.

Promoted: Partick Thistle, East Fife

Cup honours

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Competition Winner Score Runner-up
Scottish Cup 1970–71 Celtic 2 – 1 (rep.) Rangers
League Cup 1970–71 Rangers 1 – 0 Celtic
Junior Cup Cambuslang Rangers 2 – 1 Newtongrange Star

Other honours

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National

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Competition Winner Score Runner-up
Scottish Qualifying Cup – North Inverness Caledonian 4 – 2 * † Elgin City
Scottish Qualifying Cup – South St Cuthbert Wanderers 5 – 3 * Burntisland Shipyard

County

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Competition Winner Score Runner-up
Aberdeenshire Cup Peterhead
Ayrshire Cup Ayr United 2 – 2 * ‡ Kilmarnock
East of Scotland Shield Hibernian 1 – 0 Hearts
Fife Cup Cowdenbeath 2 – 0 * Dunfermline Athletic
Forfarshire Cup Dundee 2 – 0 Dundee United
Lanarkshire Cup Airdrie Motherwell
Stirlingshire Cup Stenhousemuir 3 – 2 East Stirling

* – aggregate over two legs
† – play off
‡ – won on penalties

Top Three
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Inverness Caledonian 30 23 5 2 92 32 +60 51
2 Inverness Thistle 30 20 6 4 115 41 +74 46
3 Peterhead 30 19 7 4 98 45 +53 45
Source: [citation needed]

Individual honours

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Award Winner Club
Footballer of the Year Scotland Martin Buchan Aberdeen

Scotland national team

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Date Venue Opponents Score[2] Competition Scotland scorer(s)
11 November Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)  Denmark 1–0 ECQG5 John O'Hare
3 February Stade Sclessin, Liège (A)  Belgium 0–3 ECQG5
21 April Estadio da Luz, Lisbon (A)  Portugal 0–2 ECQG5
15 May Ninian Park, Cardiff (A)  Wales 0–0 BHC
18 May Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)  Northern Ireland 0–1 BHC
22 May Wembley Stadium, London (A)  England 1–3 BHC Hugh Curran
9 June Idraetsparken, Copenhagen (A)  Denmark 0–1 ECQG5
14 June Lenin Stadium, Moscow (A)  Soviet Union 0–1 Friendly

Key:

  • (H) = Home match
  • (A) = Away match
  • ECQG5 = European Championship qualifying – Group 5
  • BHC = British Home Championship

Notes and references

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  1. ^ "1970/71 - the Scottish Football League". Archived from the original on 10 September 2012.
  2. ^ Scotland's score is shown first.
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