The 2007–08 Scottish Premier League season was the tenth season of the Scottish Premier League. It began on 4 August 2007 and was originally due to end on 18 May 2008. Due to the death of Phil O'Donnell and extremely poor weather causing the postponement of fixtures during the winter, as well as a backlog of Rangers fixtures and their progression to the UEFA Cup Final, the SPL decided to move the final round of fixtures back four days to 22 May 2008.[1] It was the first season under the sponsorship of the Clydesdale Bank.
Gretna were promoted from the First Division the previous season and played in the SPL for the first time, replacing Dunfermline Athletic. Gretna did not play at their home stadium Raydale Park as it did not meet the SPL stadia criteria of 6,000 and instead used Motherwell's Fir Park for all but one of their games; that match was at Livingston's Almondvale Stadium.
The championship was determined on the final day of the season with Celtic and Rangers even on 86 points. Celtic travelled to Tannadice to play Dundee United knowing that a win would likely secure the title due to their superior goal difference (+57 to +53). Meanwhile, Rangers needed to better Celtic's result in their match against Aberdeen at Pittodrie (a Ranger win and Celtic draw or a Ranger draw coupled with a Celtic loss). If both teams won or lost, then Rangers must better better Celtic's goal difference by 4 or more. As it turned out, Celtic won 1–0 following Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's second-half header, while Aberdeen F.C. beat Rangers 2–0 thanks to goals from Lee Miller and Steve Lovell.
29 May:Gretna were demoted to the Third Division after administrator David Elliot could not guarantee the Football League that the club would fulfil its fixtures next season.[28]
2 June:Gretna resigned from the Scottish Football League because the administrator concluded that the club could not continue to run as a business.[29]
^At the end of the season, Gretna were relegated to the Third Division due to their financial struggles. However, as no buyer was found for the club, they resigned from the Scottish Football League and were subsequently liquidated.
Results
Matches 1–22
During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away).
1 Gretna were sharing Motherwell's stadium whilst Raydale Park was being upgraded. However, in March the Fir Park pitch was considered unplayable so the game between Gretna and Celtic was played instead at Almondvale, the home of First Division club Livingston.[31]
Setanta Sports provided domestic TV live coverage and highlights as in previous seasons, with STV and BBC Scotland also broadcasting free-to-air highlights. BBC Radio Scotland continued to provide domestic radio coverage, with many games also available internationally, and all domestically, through their website. The BBC held rights to show highlights online and do so through the BBC Sport website. Internationally, the Premier League's overseas television broadcasting partner was TWI, with coverage of the SPL available in over 100 territories worldwide.Overseas Broadcasting | Scottish Premier League | Broadcasting | Overseas