Scotland – ranked 7th. At the top – a huge return of Glasgow Rangers, which will become something entirely new and unprecedented in the history of Scottish football. At the bottom – the already establsihed dark reality: whoever climbed up almost immediately went back to second level. 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie.
Second Division – Scottish Division 1.
Dunfermline Athletic finished 2nd with 56 points. Quite successful run up for them: in the previous season they won promotion from 3rd level and now – returning to top flight for the first time since the reorganization before 1982-83 season.
Greenock Morton won the second level championship with 57 points: 24 wins, 9 ties, 11 losses, 88-56. One more attempt to find place among the best… winning and promoted from second level in 1983-84, they were relegated back to it the next season.
First Division – Scottish Premier. The last 2 relegated, as usual. And it was just usual the newly promoted to find top flight hostile environment…
Hamilton Academicals finished last with 21 points. They won Second Division in the previous season, but were going back to it immediately.
Clydebank – 11th with 24 points and relegated. Promoted in 1984-85, last in 1985-86 and staying in the league only because the enlargement of it to 12 teams… now: out.
Falkirk – 10th with 26 points. Just promoted and nothing much – one of the three outsiders this season, but the lucky one.
Hibernian – 9th with 33 points. Belonging to a group of 3 teams much stronger than the outsiders, but also significantly weaker than the best 6 teams.
Motherwell – 8th with 34 points.
St. Mirren – 7th with 36 points. Weak, but this season was also one of their best achievements.
Dundee – 6th with 48 points. Perfect mid-table team… nothing to do with the strongest, but nothing to do with the weak either.
Aberdeen – 4th with 58 points. Strong, but… the good years were over. And Alex Ferguson was not with them anymore.
Dundee United – 3rd with 60 points. Running strong, but like Aberdeen, a title was somewhat unthinkable.
Celtic – 2nd with 63 points. Retrospectively, one can say Celtic missed the boat this season: Rangers changed the whole approach and Celtic was going to play second fiddle for quite a long time. And second fiddle is not what they want.
Glasgow Rangers came back with a vengeance: 31 wins, 7 ties, 6 losses, 85-23 and 69 points – 6 points ahead of Celtic. Almost 10 terrible years ended and Rangers was champion again! But there was more to it: traditionally, Scottish clubs were exporters, not importers – their best talent went to England. Coming back was the occasional veteran, going home to play his last days. Prime English talent going to play in Scotland? Unthinkable. But that was exactly what Rangers did, wisely deciding that the time demanded new approach – it was no longer enough to depend on home-grown Scots. If a club wanted to be really strong in the 1980s, it had to spend a lot and bring top stars. Rangers decided to spend a fortune and really gamble with its money: spend a lot and may be there will be returns making the books. So, Graeme Souness, Terry Butcher, and Chris Woods arrived. Souness – well, tradition, one may still say – a great Scot, coming back to help in his last playing days. But English stars Butcher and Woods were entrirely new thing: not some tired old men, but stars at their prime, Butcher fresh from the 1986 World Cup finals… No wander Rangers won the cchampionship with confidence.