The Premier league was mostly about survival too. 10 clubs playing against each other 4 times during the season did one thing for sure: the worse teams fell far behind, having to play too many games against teams too strong for them. Whatever talent remained in Scotland was concentrated in two clubs – by now, there was not enough talent even for them. Aberdeen, still in the making, inevitably dropped a bit after a great 1977-78 season; Dundee United was able to keep strong enough team for comfortable third place – not capable to challenge the big two clubs, but far better than the rest of the league. Hibernian was slowly declining. The rest of the league just made the numbers… Adjustment to the small league format was not easy for many smaller clubs, but Heart of Midlothian suffered the most: one of the better Scottish clubs no long ago, they were in dire straits since the top league was reduced. The Hearts were relegated in 1977. Came back right away in 1978 – only to be relegated again in 1979.
Hearts finished 9th, but it was not bad luck – they were hopeless outsiders. With 23 points, they were 11 points behind the 8th placed Partick Thistle. Down to second league football again… once upon champions, now the Hearts were seemingly becoming ‘unsettled’ club: too strong for second division, yet, too weak for top flight.
Motherwell were even worse.
Dead last with 17 points. Unable even to fight for 9th place. A typical mid-table club in the old big league, they were steadily going down since the new format was introduced – and finally sunk right to the bottom.
Greenock Morton had strong season on the other hand – strong, by their standards anyway.
They were relegated in the last ‘bid league’ season – 1974-75 – when they finished 17th. Did not really matter, since half the league was demoted anyway. 1975-76 was shaky – 11th in second division, three points above relegation. In 1976-77 they finished 4th, but were not contenders. In 1977-78 they were second league champions on goal-difference and one point better than third placed Dundee FC. Nothing much was expected from them – certainly less than Heart of Midlothian – but Greenock Morton played surprisingly well and finished at 7th place. A success, when compared to the fate of the Hearts. As for lasting… it was doubtful. May be playing hide and seek with relegation a season or two.
Hibernian finished 5th, but the decline was detectable. The only interesting thing about them was that they were still the only Scottish club using shirt adds. Did not appear helpful…
Dundee United were on their own: much better than most of the league and not a match for the best two clubs, they were steadily… third. Back in the first season of the reduced league, 1975-76, they stumbled and escaped relegation only on better goal-difference, but after that… it looked like the new format was the best for them. No worries about relegation – constantly finishing with medals instead. Fewer teams meant fewer options for better players – those not good enough for Celtic and Rangers were easily going to Dundee United, making a stronger squad than most of the league had. Stronger, yet, not excellent… but collecting medals in a league traditionally dominated by two clubs was sweet, almost big success. Dundee United finished 4 points ahead of promising, but still shaky Aberdeen of young Alex Ferguson.
Before the start of the season Glasgow Rangers was a sure bet – Celtic had disastrous previous season, when Rangers won every trophy. They had better squad than Celtic. Expectations were confirmed quickly: Rangers had surprisingly strong European performance, going up to the ¼ finals of the European Champions Cup – no Scottish club played so well at international stage recently. Meantime Celtic had a new young and inexperienced coach and no great additions to the roster… May be Rangers was too concentrated on international games; may be Celtic was spurred by shame and boosted by new coach – it was not another triumphal year for Rangers at all. Yes, they added two more trophies, but lost the championship. Not an easy wins either – the F.A. Cup final against Hibernian was undecided at first – 0-0. The replay ended again 0-0 after extra-time. A third match was played, also going to overtime, when finally Rangers prevailed 3-2. Big drama, sturdy Hibernian, but… not confident Rangers too. The League Cup final opposed them to Aberdeen and again it was difficult victory by small margin:2-1.
Two cups, but without a title… good team, but not exceptional. And by Rangers’ standards… may be a poor season: here they pose with three cups won in 1977-78. Now – one less. Title lost to arch-enemy…
Which was not supposed to win. The year before Celtic finished 5th, almost 20 points behind Rangers. The only real fight they did was at the League Cup final, yet, they lost it. The legendary Jock Stein was ‘sacked’, or ‘retired’, or whatever. The former club’s star Billy McNeil was hired to manage the team – a radical change: McNeil was very young coach with minimal experience – just a few month with Aberdeen, not as head coach on top of it. The team was not greatly improved with new recruits: yes, there were decent players like Danny McGrain, the Icelandic international Johannes Edvaldsson, Roy Aitken, Ronnie Glavin, the promising George McCluskey and Peter Latchford, but it was a lesser team than Rangers’, perhaps best defined by Alfie Conn – a huge promise a few years back, but a failure with Tottenham Hotspur, and back to Celtic. Where he did not last very long… Patrick Bonner, a future Scottish national team regular, was very young and neither well known, nor a potential starter. Celtic did not appear potential champion at first – and certainly was not a great team yet: it was perhaps more enthusiasm than real quality. But it worked – McNeil obviously was a great find, the risk paid off. Celtic was not overwhelming, but won the title – three points ahead of Rangers.
Nothing new at the end… one more title for Celtic. Very promising beginning for McNeil, but real fruits could be expected after a year or two, it seemed. A great team this one was not – well, Celtic fans beg to differ. They are right about one thing, though: the wings of Rangers were clipped for quite a long time. Nobody knew it yet, but perhaps this season really was the end for this Rangers’ vintage. The time of new crop of managers started and Rangers did not see it coming.