2007–08 Scottish First Division

Irn-Bru Scottish First Division
Season	2007–08
Champions	Hamilton Academical
Promoted	Hamilton Academical
Relegated	Stirling Albion
UEFA Cup	Queen of the South
Top goalscorer	Richard Offiong (19)
Biggest home win	Livingston 6–1 Greenock Morton
Biggest away win	Stirling Albion 1–6 Dundee
	← 2006–07 2008–09 →

The 2007–08 First Division season was the 14th season of the First Division in its current format of ten teams.

The team which finished first were automatically promoted to the Scottish Premier League. The team which finished bottom were automatically relegated to the Second Division and the team which finished second bottom were entered into the First division play-offs with the teams which finished second, third and fourth in the Third Division for a place in the 2008–09 First Division.

Promotion and Relegation from 2006–07

SPL and First Division

Relegated from Premier League to First Division

Dunfermline Athletic

Promoted from First Division to Premier League

Gretna

First and Second Divisions

Relegated from First Division to Second Division

Ross County
Airdrie United (via play-offs)

Promoted from Second Division to First Division

Greenock Morton
Stirling Albion (via play-offs)

Events

29 March: Gretna are relegated from the SPL to the First Division after losing 2–0 to St Mirren.^[1]
5 April: Ross County win promotion to the First Division as Second Division champions after defeating Berwick Rangers 4–0 and second place Airdrie United losing 2–1 to Brechin City.^[2]
8 April: Stirling Albion are relegated from the First Division after a 1–0 defeat to Partick Thistle.^[3]
19 April: Hamilton Academical win promotion to the Scottish Premier League as First Division champions following a 2–0 over Clyde.^[4]
10 May: Clyde retain their First Division status after defeating Airdrie United 3–0 on aggregate in the First Division play-off final.^[5]
29 May: Play-off runners-up Airdrie United are promoted to the First Division following Gretna's demotion to the Third Division.^[6]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Hamilton Academical (C, P)	36	23	7	6	62	27	+35	76	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Dundee	36	20	9	7	58	30	+28	69
3	St Johnstone	36	15	13	8	60	45	+15	58
4	Queen of the South	36	14	10	12	47	43	+4	52	Qualification for the UEFA Cup second qualifying round^[a]
5	Dunfermline Athletic	36	13	12	11	36	41	−5	51
6	Partick Thistle	36	11	12	13	40	39	+1	45
7	Livingston	36	10	9	17	55	66	−11	39
8	Greenock Morton	36	9	10	17	40	58	−18	37
9	Clyde	36	9	10	17	40	59	−19	37	Qualification for the First Division Play-offs^[b]
10	Stirling Albion (R)	36	4	12	20	41	71	−30	24	Relegation to the Second Division

Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Queen of the South qualified for the UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round as Scottish Cup runners-up
^ The 9th placed team were entered into a play-off with the Second Division's 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed teams. The winning team were awarded a place in the 2008–09 First Division, Clyde won the play-off to stay in the division.

Results

Teams play each other four times in this league. In the first half of the season each team plays every other team twice (home and away) and then do the same in the second half of the season.

First half of season

Home \ Away	CLY	DND	DNF	GMO	HAM	LIV	PAR	QOS	STJ	STI
Clyde		1–2	2–1	0–1	0–2	2–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	1–3
Dundee	0–1		1–1	2–1	1–0	4–1	3–0	2–1	2–1	3–1
Dunfermline Athletic	1–1	0–1		0–1	0–5	0–4	1–0	2–0	0–0	2–1
Greenock Morton	3–2	0–2	0–1		0–2	2–2	4–2	0–1	2–2	1–1
Hamilton Academical	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–0		1–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	4–0
Livingston	4–2	0–2	1–1	4–0	2–0		0–4	2–2	0–2	4–3
Partick Thistle	4–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–3	3–0		2–0	2–2	1–1
Queen of the South	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–3	2–1	1–0	1–2		3–3	2–2
St Johnstone	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–2	4–1	5–2	2–1	2–0		2–2
Stirling Albion	0–2	2–2	3–0	0–0	2–4	3–3	1–1	1–3	0–0

Source: BBC Sport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

Home \ Away	CLY	DND	DNF	GMO	HAM	LIV	PAR	QOS	STJ	STI
Clyde		1–1	1–2	1–1	2–3	3–2	1–4	1–4	1–3	1–3
Dundee	2–0		0–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–3	3–2	3–0
Dunfermline Athletic	2–1	0–1		2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	4–0	0–1	2–1
Greenock Morton	1–2	1–2	3–0		1–3	1–1	0–0	0–3	1–2	2–1
Hamilton Academical	2–0	1–0	3–0	3–0		3–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–0
Livingston	0–0	1–1	0–2	6–1	1–3		1–0	1–0	0–2	2–1
Partick Thistle	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–3	3–0	2–1		0–0	0–0	1–0
Queen of the South	3–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–2	1–0	2–0		3–1	3–1
St Johnstone	1–2	1–1	1–1	3–2	2–1	5–2	2–0	2–1		2–1
Stirling Albion	1–1	1–6	2–3	1–2	0–1	1–4	1–0	0–0	3–1

Source: BBC Sport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Scorer	Goals	Team
Richard Offiong	19	Hamilton Academical
Stephen Dobbie	16	Queen of the South
Andy Jackson	14	St Johnstone
Chris Aitken	13	Stirling Albion
Graham Dorrans	11	Livingston
Liam Buchanan		Partick Thistle
Mark Burchill		Dunfermline Athletic
Kevin McDonald	9	Dundee
Robert Snodgrass		Livingston
Paul Sheerin		St Johnstone
Mickaël Antoine-Curier		Dundee
Peter Weatherson		Greenock Morton
Sean O'Connor	8	Queen of the South
Colin McMenamin		Dundee
Iain Russell		Greenock Morton
Robert Davidson		Dundee

Source: The League Insider

Attendances

Team	Stadium	Capacity	Highest	Lowest	Average
Dundee	Dens Park	11,856	6,192	3,146	4,264
Dunfermline Athletic	East End Park	11,998	4,946	2,444	3,754
St Johnstone	McDiarmid Park	10,673	6,279	1,686	2,969
Greenock Morton	Cappielow	5,741	3,818	2,228	2,727
Partick Thistle	Firhill Stadium	10,887	4,914	1,149	2,591
Hamilton Academical	New Douglas Park	5,396	5,078	1,410	2,468
Queen of the South	Palmerston Park	6,412	3,005	1,484	1,965
Livingston	Almondvale Stadium	10,016	2,865	1,125	1,726
Clyde	Broadwood Stadium	8,006	1,979	910	1,298
Stirling Albion	Forthbank Stadium	3,808	2,215	431	1,166

Source: The League Insider

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Clyde	Joe Miller	Mutual consent	25 May	Colin Hendry	11 June
St Johnstone	Owen Coyle	Mutual consent^[7]	22 November	Derek McInnes	27 November
Dunfermline Athletic	Stephen Kenny	Sacked	4 December	Jim McIntyre	3 January
Clyde	Colin Hendry	Resigned	18 January	John Brown	26 January
Greenock Morton	Jim McInally	Resigned	12 February	David Irons	19 February
Livingston	Mark Proctor	Sacked	3 June^[8]	Roberto Landi	11 June^[9]

Monthly awards

Month	First Division manager	SFL Player	SFL Young player
August	Billy Reid (Hamilton Academical)	Richard Offiong (Hamilton Academical)	Kevin McDonald (Dundee)
September	Owen Coyle (St Johnstone)	Second Division player	James McArthur (Hamilton Academical)
October	Billy Reid (Hamilton Academical)	Bryn Halliwell (Hamilton Academical)	James McCarthy (Hamilton Academical)
November	Alex Rae (Dundee)	Kenny Deuchar (St Johnstone)	Third Division player
December	Jim McIntyre (Dunfermline Athletic)	Second Division player	Kevin McDonald (Dundee)
January	Gordon Chisholm (Queen of the South)	Second Division player	Andy Jackson (St Johnstone)
February	Gordon Chisholm (Queen of the South)	Mickaël Antoine-Curier (Dundee)	Graham Dorrans (Livingston)
March	Ian McCall (Partick Thistle)	Jonathan Tuffey (Partick Thistle)	Leigh Griffiths (Livingston)
April	Gordon Chisholm (Queen of the South)	Mark McLaughlin (Hamilton Academical)	Brian Easton (Hamilton Academical)

First Division play-offs

Semi-finals

The ninth placed team in the First Division played the fourth placed team in the Second Division and third placed team in the Second Division played the second placed team in the Second Division. The play-offs were played over two legs, the winning team in each semi-final advanced to the final.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Alloa Athletic	5–6	Clyde	2–1	3–5
Raith Rovers	2–4	Airdrie United	0–2	2–2

First legs

30 April 2008

19:45

Alloa Athletic	2–1	Clyde
Scott 31' Coakley 83'	Report	Masterton 62'

Recreation Park, Alloa

Attendance: 1,026

Referee: D Somers

30 April 2008

19:45

Raith Rovers	0–2	Airdrie United
	Report	Russell 31' 39'

Stark's Park, Kirkcaldy

Attendance: 2,841

Referee: D McDonald

Second legs

3 May 2008

15:00

Clyde	5 – 3 (a.e.t.)	Alloa Athletic
J. Gibson 30' Arbuckle 64' B. Gibson 68' McSwegan 84' Clarke 111'	Report	B. Ferguson 40' Forrest 42' Bestvina 46' (o.g.)

Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld

Attendance: 1,548

Referee: M Tumilty

3 May 2008

15:00

Airdrie United	2–2	Raith Rovers
Prunty 10' Donnelly 77'	Report	Weir 18' 81' (pen.)

New Broomfield, Airdrie

Attendance: 2,077

Referee: C Thomson

Final

The two semi-final winners played each other over two legs, the home team in the 1st Leg was determined by a draw conducted on 1 April 2008. The winning team was awarded a place in the 2008–09 First Division.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Airdrie United	0–3	Clyde	0–1	0–2

First leg

7 May 2008

19:45

Airdrie United	0–1	Clyde
	Report	Clarke 77'

New Broomfield, Airdrie

Attendance: 1,878

Referee: I Brines

Second leg

10 May 2008

15:00

Clyde	2–0	Airdrie United
McSwegan 47' Clarke 65'	Report

Broadwood Stadium, Cumbernauld

Attendance: 2,548

Referee: J Underhill

Clyde remained in First Division.

Transfer deals

See: List of Scottish football transfers 2007–08

References

^ "St Mirren 2–0 Gretna". BBC Sport. 29 March 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
^ "Ross County 4–0 Berwick Rangers". BBC Sport. 5 April 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
^ "Partick Thistle 1–0 Stirling Alb". BBC Sport. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
^ "Hamilton Accies 2–0 Clyde". BBC Sport. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2008.
^ "Clyde 2–0 Airdrie United (3–0)". BBC Sport. 10 May 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
^ "Gretna demoted to Division Three". BBC Sport. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2008.
^ Coyle left St Johnstone to become manager of Burnley.
^ "Livingston sack manager Proctor". BBC Sport. 3 June 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2008.
^ "Landi teams up with Hay at Livi". BBC Sport. 11 June 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2008.

External links

Scottish First Division 2007–08 on BBC Sport: News Archived 14 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine – Recent results Archived 12 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine – Upcoming fixtures Archived 18 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine – Current standings
Official Football League site

[table_note_res_UC20.92961354177893-7] Queen of the South qualified for the UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round as Scottish Cup runners-up

[table_note_res_RP0.92961354177893-8] The 9th placed team were entered into a play-off with the Second Division's 2nd, 3rd and 4th placed teams. The winning team were awarded a place in the 2008–09 First Division, Clyde won the play-off to stay in the division.

[1] "St Mirren 2–0 Gretna". BBC Sport. 29 March 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.

[Ross_County_4-0_Berwick_Rangers-2] "Ross County 4–0 Berwick Rangers". BBC Sport. 5 April 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2008.

[Stirling_relegation-3] "Partick Thistle 1–0 Stirling Alb". BBC Sport. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2008.

[Hamilton_Accies_2-0_Clyde-4] "Hamilton Accies 2–0 Clyde". BBC Sport. 19 April 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2008.

[Clyde_2-0_Airdrie_United_(3-0)-5] "Clyde 2–0 Airdrie United (3–0)". BBC Sport. 10 May 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2008.

[Gretna_demoted_to_Division_Three-6] "Gretna demoted to Division Three". BBC Sport. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2008.

[9] Coyle left St Johnstone to become manager of Burnley.

[10] "Livingston sack manager Proctor". BBC Sport. 3 June 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2008.

[11] "Landi teams up with Hay at Livi". BBC Sport. 11 June 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2008.

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