Antecedently a Scottish Football League had a deuce divisional structure (Divisions One & Both) between which clubs were promoted and relegated at a prevent of both year. Notwithstanding, per mid 1970s this organisation had get the bit stagnant & it was decided to split into a ternion divisional structure (Premier Section, Number one Section & 2nd Section).

This install continued till a mid 1990s when it was decided to split into the tetrad divisional structure using a addition of a Third Section.

Inside 1998 a football clubs in a Premier Division decided to split from either a Scottish Football League & form the Scottish Premier League (periodically branded when the Premierleague). This guide was fuelled per want per top clubs within Scotland wanting to locate sir thomas more of the revenue generated by the game.

Since 2000, the SPL has operated the "split league format". Under this formulas, fallowing 33 games (we.e. after each club has played each more club Threesome days, either twice away & it used to be that home, or even a other way around), the section is split into Two halves, & clubs play a farther Quintuplet matches, against the teams in their half of the section, ingesting their number to 38 games. This might (& typically does) symptom in a team set Seventh getting the higher points sum than the team situated Sixth, because their final Quintet games come well more comfortable!

Providing it meet certain criteria to run by having their bowl these are however imaginable for clubs to exist as promoted from either a Scottish Football League, 1st Section to the SPL.

Originally the SPL contained Ten clubs, however it later decided to enlarge itself to a membership of Twelve.

Inside 2003, the league's promotion criteria driven disputation when a chairmen of the member clubs voted against Falkirk's proposed ground part by having Airdrie United and stopped a club from either getting the 10,000 fan sports stadium capacity it expected, so saving Motherwell from relegation.

A equivalent situation about materialised inside 2004, but when many votes & discussion, Inverness Caledonian Thistle were finally allowed promotion provided that it groundshared by using in the north competition Aberdeen at Pittodrie, a ground all over 160 kilometre (Centred miles) away. Inside 2005 a stadia criteria for entry to the SPL was reduced to 6,000 thereby allowing Inverness Caledonian Thistle to go to to their personal sports stadium in the period of the year.

Current SPL members
Dundee was relegated at the prevent of the 2004-2005 season. A teams presently swimming in the SPL for the 2005-2006 season are:

Aberdeen Celtic Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Falkirk Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Livingston Motherwell Rangers

SPL managers

On this button occurs as names of the todays managers in the SPL. A listing is sequentially of the yearn serving manager foremost down to the shortest serving manager.

Manager	Club	Appointed
Alex McLeish	Rangers	December 11,2001
Jim Jefferies	Kilmarnock	February 28,2002
Terry Butcher	Motherwell	April 24,2002
John Hughes	Falkirk	January 31, 2003
Tony Mowbray	Hibernian	May 24,2004
Jimmy Calderwood	Aberdeen	May 28,2004
Craig Brewster	Inverness CT	November 25,2004
Gordon Chisholm	Dundee United	March 15,2005
Jim Leishman	Dunfermline Athletic	May 3,2005 (initially caretaker)
Gordon Strachan	Celtic	June 1,2005
Paul Lambert	Livingston	June 1,2005
George Burley	Hearts	June 30,2005

SPL Season Summary

Season	Winners	Runners-up	Relegated	Top Scorer	PFA Streaming video player of the Year	Writers Streaming video player of the Year
1998/99 Details	Rangers	Celtic	Dunfermline	Henrik Larsson 29 (Celtic)	Henrik Larsson (Celtic)	Henrik Larsson (Celtic)
1999/00 Details	Rangers	Celtic	No Relegation	Mark Viduka 25 (Celtic)	Mark Viduka (Celtic)	Barry Ferguson (Rangers)
2000/01 Details	Celtic	Rangers	St Mirren	Henrik Larsson 35 (Celtic)	Henrik Larsson (Celtic)	Henrik Larsson (Celtic)
2001/02 Details	Celtic	Rangers	St Johnstone	Henrik Larsson 29 (Celtic)	Lorenzo Amoruso (Rangers)	Paul Lambert (Celtic)
2002/03 Details	Rangers	Celtic	No Relegation	Henrik Larsson 28 (Celtic)	Barry Ferguson (Rangers)	Barry Ferguson (Rangers)
2003/04 Details	Celtic	Rangers	Partick Thistle	Henrik Larsson 30 (Celtic)	Chris Sutton (Celtic)	Jackie McNamara (Celtic)
2004/05 Details	Rangers	Celtic	Dundee	John Hartson 25 (Celtic)	John Hartson (Celtic) / Fernando Ricksen (Rangers)	John Hartson (Celtic)

SPL Records

Information exact when at 25 September 2005

Virtually all goals inside the year: Celtic, 105 goals, 2003/04

Virtually all points within a single year: Celtic, 103 points, 2001/02

Fewest goals conceded within 1 year: Celtic, Eighteen goals, 2001/02

Right goal difference around the year: Celtic, Eighty, 2003/04

Fewest goals inside the year: St Johnstone, Twenty-four goals, 2002/03

Virtually all goals conceded inside the year: Aberdeen, 83 goals, 1999/2000

Fewest points around the year: St Johnstone, Twenty-one points, 2001/02

Large win: Celtic 7-0 Aberdeen, 1999 & 2002; Rangers 7-0 St Johnstone, 1998

Top goalscorer in any 1 year: Henrik Larsson, 35 goals, 2000/01

A lot-instance SPL goalscorer Henrik Larsson, 158 goals, 1998-2004

Streaming video player by using virtually all hat tricks: Henrik Larsson, 12, 1998-2004

Oldest streaming video player: Jim Leighton, for Aberdeen vs Dundee, 41 years Half a dozen months & Twenty-eight days

Immature streaming video player: Greg Cameron, for Dundee United vs Kilmarnock, Sixteen years Ogdoad months & I day

Immature goalscorer: Robert Snodgrass, for Livingston vs Dunfermline, Seventeen years Single year & Niner days

Virtually all sequentially shut outs: Robert Douglas, Celtic, Septenary games, 16/12/00 - 21/2/01

Virtually all SPL appearances: Barry Smith, Dundee, 242

Also see
List of Scottish Football Clubs Scottish football seasons