Scottish Premiership: Five key questions ahead of the new season
Friday 4 August 2017 06:47, UK
With the Scottish Premiership starting this weekend, we look at the five key questions entering the new season.
Celtic kick off the new campaign against Hearts on Saturday lunchtime, while on Sunday, a new-look Rangers side will look to get off to a strong start at Motherwell, with both games live on Sky Sports.
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From the Glasgow battle to the top-six scrap, we assess five of the big questions ahead of the 2017/18 term...
Can Celtic be invincible again?
Under the guidance of former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, Celtic went on to achieve a remarkable unbeaten season, finishing the 2016/17 Scottish Premiership campaign on 106 points and only drew four times. Can they do it again and remain unbeaten for the entirety of this season as well?
Should Celtic qualify for the Champions League group stage, the ambition may be more difficult to achieve. And what could make matters worse is the potential departure of key forward Moussa Dembele.
Sky sources understand Marseille and AC Milan are interested in signing the 21-year-old, who has scored 32 goals in 50 appearances for the Hoops, and either club may be able to get him should Celtic fail to qualify for the Champions League.
Despite the potential distractions, captain Scott Brown is confident.
"We want to try and push that [unbeaten run] as far as we can, every game is going to be hard, especially the opening game of the season. Our fans will be there and will be behind us all," Brown told Sky Sports News.
"We've got to maintain our levels that we played at last season. It was an exciting start last season and we kicked on. Nobody thought we could go all the way [unbeaten], but we managed to do that."
Can Rangers close the gap?
Aberdeen finished second last season but fierce rivals Rangers - third last term - will be under pressure to make Celtic work harder for glory. Pedro Caixinha has signed 11 new players in a bid for a first Scottish top-tier title since 2011, recruiting a mixture of domestic talent and internationals.
Portugal international Bruno Alves is one of the most well-known names on the list of foreign imports, but Graham Dorrans and Ryan Jack have been introduced to help improve the domestic core in the team.
Caixinha insists his side have shrugged off their humbling early exit to Progres Niederkorn in Europe and are focused on a domestic tilt. He said: "We needed to change the personality and the character of the players and have men in our squad. Now we have men. Bruno Alves? He's a massive player. He's a fantastic leader, a fantastic safety for us at the back.
"Now we have confidence in training and in matches. We had players who were terrific on the training pitch but when they got into a game they didn't do the same. But now we have players who train hard, work hard and play hard. I'm not worried about the past. I know we have the tools."
Stability has been the key at Aberdeen, who finished runners-up in the Scottish and League Cups last season. Manager Derek McInnes, who has a 58 per cent win record, turned down Sunderland and committed his future to Pittodrie, signing a new contract until 2020 alongside assistant Tony Docherty.
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Despite operating on a tight budget, the Dons have signed five new players including Gary Mackay-Steven from Celtic and Nicky Maynard from MK Dons. As well as having Rangers in their sights, a first-place finish ahead of Celtic will be in their mind, too.
"I am not going to lie - I did expect him [McInnes] to go," Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie said. "Big players left and that's football, but the gaffer has done really well in how he has recruited."
"The squad is looking better than what we had, so it is just a case of trying to gel and get to know each other as quickly as we can and look to have a positive start to the season."
Why is a top-six finish important?
For those operating on far smaller budgets than the top three, a finish in the top six is the widespread ambition.
The Scottish Premiership season, which contains 12 clubs, splits into two ahead of the final five league games and being in the top half is crucial for the interests of increased attendances and greater prize money.
Partick Thistle upset the odds last season by finishing sixth in the Scottish Premiership table, and those who finished below them will be vying for that position.
Before the split, those positioned in sixth to 10th were separated by just nine points, so the goal is realistic for most teams regardless of their budgets.
Who could qualify for Europe?
First to fourth are pivotal positions in the Scottish Premiership as they define whether you are in Champions League or Europa League qualifying, and the stage you enter the competitions.
Celtic's 48th championship win last season meant they qualified for the Champions League second qualifying round, and they are now in the play-offs having beaten Rosenborg in their third-round qualifier on Wednesday. For financial and reputation reasons, Aberdeen and Rangers will want to challenge for top spot.
Finishing second means a place in the Europa League second qualifying round. Aberdeen, who have finished league runners-up in the last three seasons, will look to repeat the same feat again if not going one step further.
Rangers's third-place finish meant they were back for pre-season in June ahead of a first-round Europa League qualifier. However, Caixinha's men were embarrassingly defeated by Luxembourg minnows Progres Niederkorn over two legs.
St Johnstone have defied the odds to qualify for Europe in five of last six seasons, while Hibernian are back in the Premiership undoubtedly looking to challenge for a place.
New Hibs defender Stephen Whittaker said: "It's a squad that is on the up. They have had two successful seasons and there is a good feeling about the club.
"The manager has come in and demanded high standards so we will look to carry that on this season. I think [second place] is something we need to aim for, something we need to believe we can achieve. We can't go in thinking we're going to be mediocre."
Hearts, who are regularly one of the contestants for a European spot, sacked head coach Ian Cathro on Monday. Whether that will have a positive or detrimental effect on the team going into the new season remains to be seen.
Who could be in a relegation battle?
The bottom two places in the Scottish Premiership table are relegation places. The team who finishes 12th goes down automatically while the club in 11th enters a relegation play-off.
The second-bottom team plays the winner the of the Championship play-offs for a place in the Premier League. Last season, Hamilton Accies remained in the Premiership after defeating Dundee United 1-0 on aggregate.
Because the league table is so small, it is very easy for teams to drop into the bottom spots, or steer well clear of them. Partick were bottom of the table at Christmas last season, but ended up finishing in the top six.
Due to their inferior budget, Hamilton are regularly tipped for relegation, but have silenced their critics in recent years. Again this season, the Accies will still be expected to battle it out with Motherwell, Kilmarnock, Ross County - and potentially others - to survive.
Sky Sports will show 30 games from the Scottish Premiership, including every Old Firm derby, exclusively live during the 2017/18 season.
