1970–71 in Scottish football

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

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 v t e	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	Relegated to 1971–72 Second Division

Source: Soccerbase and League Tables

Champions: Celtic
Relegated: St Mirren, Cowdenbeath

Scottish League Division Two

Pos	Team v t e	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	Promotion to the 1971–72 First Division
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

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

National

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

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

Highland League

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

Award	Winner	Club
Footballer of the Year	Martin Buchan	Aberdeen

Scotland national team

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

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

External links

Scottish Football Historical Archive

[1] "1970/71 - the Scottish Football League". Archived from the original on 10 September 2012.

[Scotland_score-2] Scotland's score is shown first.

[1]

[2]

v t e 1970–71 in Scottish football
« 1969–70 1971–72 »
Domestic leagues	Football League Division One Division Two Highland League
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final League Cup Final Junior Cup
European competitions	European Cup European Cup Winners' Cup Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Texaco Cup
Related to national team	Results Euro 1972 qualifying (Group 5) British Home Championship
Club seasons
Division One	Aberdeen Airdrieonians Ayr United Celtic Clyde Cowdenbeath Dundee Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Falkirk Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Kilmarnock Morton Motherwell Rangers St. Johnstone St. Mirren
Division Two	Albion Rovers Alloa Athletic Arbroath Berwick Rangers Brechin City Clydebank Dumbarton East Fife East Stirlingshire Forfar Athletic Hamilton Academical Montrose Queen of the South Queen's Park Partick Thistle Raith Rovers Stenhousemuir Stirling Albion Stranraer