In 1976 the Scottish Football League decided that the new format 10-14-14 had been a success in the first season , however the 26 game format for First and Second Divisions was too short and the Spring Cup a failure.
It was decided to move to a 39 game season with each team playing each other 3 times and although it meant some teams having one more home game than away , that this was a minor issue in the cirecumstances.
The Scottish First Division comprised 10 teams from the previous season –
Airdrie, Arbroath, Dumbarton, East Fife , Falkirk, Hamilton , Montrose, Morton, Queen of the South & St Mirren. They were joined by the two teams relegated from the Premier Division – Dundee & St Johnstone along with the two promoted clubs from the Second Division – Clydebank & Raith Rovers.
The season began with League Cup sections.
Scottish League Cup
Group 1
Hearts opened with a 2-0 win over Dundee and had qualified by the time of their 3-2 defeat at Dens Park in the final game. Partick finished ahead of Motherwell who only managed 2 draws from their 6 games.
Group 2
Aberdeen beat Kilmarnock 2-0 at home in the opening game , with Kilmarnock finishing ahead of their local rivals Ayr Utd. St Mirren finished at the bottom with a home win over Kilmarnock and draws with both Ayrshire teams.
Group 3
Celtic proved too strong after an opening 1-0 away to Dundee Utd and despite a 3-3 draw at Dumbarton, comfortably won the group ahead of Dundee Utd, Dumbarton & Arbroath.
Group 4
Rangers opened with a 5-0 win over St Johnstone and would win every game except a 1-1 draw with Hibs at Easter Road who would finish second despite an incredible 9-2 win over St Johnstone. Saints would finish bottom behind Montrose who beat the Perth side 5-1.
Group 5
Airdrie would open with a 3-1 win over Queens Park which would see them win the group ahead of the Hampden side , with Clyde and Raith sharing the minor places.
Group 6
In a very tight group , Falkirk opened with a 1-0 win over Hamilton at Brockville before losing 5-0 at Stranraer. Accies then beat East Fife 5-0 and Stranraer 6-1 at home before drawing 1-1 at Stranraer and 3-3 at East Fife. Falkirk had back to back 5-1 wins at home to Stranraer and at East Fife to set up a winner take all match against Accies at Douglas Park. Falkirk ran out 2-1 victors to win the group.
Group 7
Morton won 1-0 at home to Stirling in the opening game and despite a 7-1 win over Cowdenbeath suffered home and away 1-1 draws with East Stirling and a 0-0 at Cowdenbeath. Stirling won 1-0 at Cowdenbeath , 6-0 at East Stirling to set up a decider at home to Morton. Stirling emerged with a 2-1 win to top the group.
Group 8
Clydebank’s opening day 1-0 defeat proved to be a blip as they won the other 5 games to top the group ahead of Alloa, Queen of the South and Dunfermline.
Group 9
This group featured the bottom 6 clubs from the 1974/75 season, the winners then faced a playoff with a randomly drawn Group winner for a Quarter Final place. The six teams played each team once so only played 5 games.
Albion Rovers were undefeated as they finished ahead of Brechin City. Meadowbank in third were also unbeaten having won and drawn 4 and were ahead of Stenhousemuir , Berwick Rangers and Forfar.
Playoff
Albion Rovers were drawn against local rivals Airdrie and performed well at Broomfield losing 3-2. In a major shock the Second Division side beat Airdrie 3-1 with a hat trick from John Brogan to reach the Quarter Finals.
Quarter Finals
Celtic won 1-0 at Cliftonhill and eased past Albion Rovers with a 5-0 home leg victory.
Hearts beat Falkirk 4-1 at home and qualified for the semi finals despite a 4-3 second leg loss.
Aberdeen’s 1-0 home win over Stirling Albion was matched by their opponents in the second leg with Stirling winning 1-0. Aberdeen were then taken to a replay at Dens Park which they won 2-0.
Rangers drew 3-3 with Clydebank at Ibrox in the first leg , before a 1-1 at Kilbowie forced a replay. The replay at Ibrox on Monday 18th October was drawn 0-0 , a game which saw Alex Miller miss a penalty for Rangers. The teams played again the following evening at Firhill where Rangers won 2-1.
These matches are remembered for the performances of Davie Cooper who would move from Clydebank to Rangers the following summer.
Semi Finals
Celtic beat Hearts 2-1 in the League Cup semi final, while in the other semi final Aberdeen beat Rangers 5-1.
Final
Aberdeen beat Celtic 2-1after extra time as Ally McLeod won his only trophy with the Dons.
SCOTTISH FIRST DIVISION LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
September 1976
Dundee opened the season as title favourites and despite three draws in the opening six games were in second place before two big wins 6-1 at Falkirk and 5-1 at home to Hamilton, moved them top by the end of September.
Newly promoted Clydebank were the early pacesetters winning four of the their first five games, their only blip being a 1-1 draw at Airdrie.
They would however end in the month in 2nd after a 2-2 draw at Montrose.
Airdie were also unbeaten through the month to lie 3rd after draws with in their opening two games at Queen of the South 2-2 and the draw with Clydebank. Airdrie also drew 2-2 at home to leaders Dundee.
At the bottom Falkirk lost 5 of their first 7 games with their only victory a 2-0 home win over St Mirren. Raith also only won one game in the month 1-0 at home to Arbroath while Arbroath only victory was 1-0 at home to Dumbarton.
October 1976
Clydebank had an amazing month which included 3 cup ties against Rangers and in 7 league games drew 0-0 at Morton and St Mirren , won 4 games and their only defeat was a 3-2 loss at Douglas Park against Hamilton Accies and they ended in month in top spot.
St Mirren after an opening day 1-1 draw to East Fife followed by a 2-0 defeat at Falkirk went on an unbeaten run that saw them climb to 2nd place by end of October.
Dundee dropped to 3rd after defeats at St Mirren 0-4, Hamilton 2-4 and Clydebank 1-2. Airdrie lost 4 of their opening 5 games in the month but ended with 2 wind to lie 4th.
East Fife sat bottom after only 1 point in the month below Raith who had picked up 2 draws in the month and Falkirk who has won 2-1 at Hamilton and a 1-0 home win over Airdrie.
November 1976
Clydebank after opening November with 2 wins , drew 0-0 at St Johnstone before suffering a 2-1 home defeat to Montrose to drop to 2nd place. St Mirren under Alex Ferguson after opening with a 3-3 draw at East Fife recorded three consecutive games with conceding a goal to move top of the table.
Dundee were in 3rd after three draws to open the month before beating Falkirk 2-0 at home while Airdrie sat in 4th. Queen of the South’s 9 match unbeaten run took them to 5th.
Raith were in 12th while Falkirk dropped to 13th after losing all 4 games in the month , were still ahead of bottom placed East Fife, who had drawn 1-1 at home to Hamilton as well as their drawn with St Mirren.
December 1976
The weather saw very few games played in December but the highlight was the Christmas Day meeting of the top two at Kilbowie , still the last professional football match to be played in the UK to date on 25th December.
In front of 7,675 fans , Mike Larnach gave Clydebank the half time lead before Billy McColl made it 2-0 early in the second half. St Mirren however fought back to draw 2-2 with goals by Bobby Torrance and Billy Stark.
St Mirren stayed top having also beaten Queen of the South 2-1 at home the previous week, while Clydebank’s only other December fixture saw them win 6-0 at East Fife.
East Fife’s 1-0 home win over Montrose saw them leapfrog Falkirk before they played out a 1-1 draw at Brockville to leave the Bairns bottom going into 1977.
January 1977
St Mirren opened the New Year with an incredible 6-3 win in the Renfrewshire Derby against Morton at Cappielow as they maintained their place at the top of the league throughout the month.
Clydebank kept up their promotion challenge including a remarkable 8-1 home win over Arbroath where Davie Cooper scored a hat trick but was outdone by teammate Joe McCallan who scored four. Dundee kept up the pressure with an 8-0 win over Falkirk.
The poor weather meant few fixtures during the month
February 1977
St Mirren won all three league games played in the month , extending their unbeaten run to 25 games from the second game of the season at Falkirk.
Clydebank kept up the pressure also winning all 4 fixtures in the month while Dundee lost away at both leaders as well as at home to Queen of the South to fall off the pace despite staying 3rd. Morton climbed to 4th place with 4 wins and 2 draws as Airdrie slipped to 6th after a poor run of 3 draws and 3 defeats in the month.
Falkirk remained bottom despite a 1-0 home win over Arbroath with St Johnstone dropping to 13th after a 6-0 defeat at Hamilton. Raith were 12th after 2 draws and 3 defeats while East Fife moved to 11th after 2-1 wins at Hamilton and at home to Airdrie.
March 1977
St Mirren opened March with a 3-1 win over title rivals Clydebank and their 7 game winning streak ended with a 1-1 home draw against St Johnstone.
St Mirren’s 28 game unbeaten run came to an end with a shock 3-0 derby defeat to Morton at Cappielow.
A late goal gave St Mirren a controversial 1-0 home win over Hamilton. The PA at Love Street announced that Clydebank game had finished as a draw while the St Mirren v Accies game was 0-0 late in the game. St Mirren then proceeded to score a late winner.
The teams drew 0-0 at Douglas Park the following week.
Clydebank stayed 2nd with Dundee in 3rd after home wins over Dumbarton 4-0 and Arbroath 5-2. Morton were gaining a head of steam following the win over St Mirren they had back to back 1-0 wins over Falkirk to end the month in 4th.
At the bottom , Falkirk stayed bottom despite a 1-0 home win over Hamilton while St Johnstone stayed 13th behind East Fife and Raith as the battle to avoid relegation tightened.
April 1977
St Mirren comfortably won promotion beating Airdrie 3-0 at home before winning 4-0 against Dundee at Dens Park while Clydebank claimed the other promotion spot.
Falkirk finished bottom taking only 1 point from their final 6 games.
St Johnstone ended the season with 3 wind and 2 draws to jump to 11th place and safety after a final day 4-1 win at Queen of the South.
Raith’s 2-1 home win over Clydebank put them on 27pts with 2 games to play as East Fife drew 2-2 at Dundee to move on to 28pts. East Fife then lost at home to Dundee 2-0 but Raith Rovers couldn’t take advantage losing 2-0 at Clydebank.
The final day saw East Fife draw 3-3 at Dumbarton to ensure their safety as Raith lost 4-3 at home to Morton and were relegated.
SCOTTISH CUP
Third Round
The highlight was St Mirren’s 4-1 demolition of Dundee Utd, while Clydebank needed a replay after a 0-0 draw at Hamilton before winning 3-0 at Kilbowie.
Rangers beat Falkirk 4-1 at home while Celtic needed a replay to see off Airdrie 5-0 after a 1-1 draw at Broomfield
Fourth Round
Motherwell beat Alex Ferguson’s St Mirren 2-1 in front of a massive crowd of 26,709.
Celtic again needed a replay after drawing 1-1 at home with Ayr , they won 3-1 at Somerset Park. Rangers beat Highland League Elgin City 3-0 at home.
Hibs drew 1-1 at Arbroath but were stunned at Easter Road in the replay losing 2-1, as Aberdeen also lost in a replay 2-1 at home to Dundee after a 0-0 draw at Dens Park.
Quarter Final
Dundee inspired by opening goalscorer Gordon Strachan won 3-1 at Arbroath while Celtic beat Queen of the South 5-1 at home, with Ronnie Glavin netting two penalties in his hat trick.
Rangers beat Motherwell 2-0 at home , as Hearts struggled to a 0-0 home draw with East Fife. Hearts had to come from the early setback of conceding the first goal and ended up winning 3-2 with a late winning goal in the replay at Bayview.
Semi Finals
Rangers beat Motherwell 2-0 in the first semi final at Hampden before two late goals gave Celtic the same 2-0 score against Dundee the following week.
Final
Celtic beat Rangers 1-0 through an Andy Lynch penalty
FIRST DIVISION NOTABLE PLAYERS BY TEAM
1 ST MIRREN
Alex Ferguson – manager began his managerial career at Love Street in 1974, and became a legend at Aberdeen and Manchester Utd.
Tony Fitzpatrick – made captain of St Mirren at age 19 by Alex Ferguson played 160 games for St Mirren before moving to Bristol City before returning and playing another 191 games for the Paisley club. He had a 6 year spell as CEO from 2016.
Frank McGarvey – his scoring exploits at St Mirren led to an ill-fated move to Liverpool. He had great success at Celtic lifting 5 major honours between 1980 and 1985 before returning to St Mirren and helping them lift the Scottish Cup in 1987.
Billy Stark – played 255 games for St Mirren before success with Aberdeen and Celtic before brief spells at Kilmarnock and Hamilton Accies. He went on to a long coaching career beginning as assistant to Tommy Burns at Celtic and worked at SFA as Scotland u-21 manager.
2 CLYDEBANK
Davie Cooper – the star of the team in his last season before moving to Rangers
Mick Larnach – great goalscorer for Clydebank between 1972 and 1977 before moving to Newcastle , Motherwell, Ayr and Stenhousemuir before returning to the Bankies 1984 -1986
Tommy Callaghan – a great servant with Dunfermline then Celtic he played for Clydebank in the later stages of his career.
3 DUNDEE
Gordon Strachan – a future Scotland star who played for Aberdeen as they won many trophies before a big money move to Manchester Utd
Bobby Robinson – elegant midfield player for Dundee 1972 – 1978 was capped by Scotland 4 times.
Eric Sinclair – Striker who played 238 games or Dundee from 1974-1984
Billy Pirie – Dundee legendary goalscorer 1976 – 1980 scored 93 goals in 112 games after spells at Arbroath and Aberdeen.
4 MORTON
Davie Hayes – full back played 465 games for Morton 1969-1984
Mark McGhee – goalscorer at Morton 1975-1977 before moving to Newcastle.
He was part of Aberdeen team which won ECWC and then went on to Celtic before a long managerial career.
Neil Orr – youngster at Morton 1975 – 1982 before a successful time West Ham 1982-1987 and then on to Hibs and St Mirren.
Andy Ritchie – came to Morton from Celtic and became a club legend scoring 100 gaols in 213 games 1976-1983.
5 MONTROSE
Les Barr – the hero of Montrose League Cup run – scored the winning goal in Quarter Final against Hobs and scored the penalty that gave Montrose the half time lead against Rangers in the Semi Final
Dennis D’Arcy – formidable Centre Half for Montrose 1970-1979
Ian Stewart experienced striker for Montrose 1974 -1978 after Forfar 1967-1974 following short spells at Arbroath and Dundee Utd
6 AIRDRIE
Derek Whiteford – played over 300 games in a ten year spell with Airdrie from 1967.
John Lapsley – left back from 1973-1980 and played in 1975 Scottish Cup Final v Celtic
Sandy Clark – Striker who scored 92 goals for the club between 1974 and 1982 before moves to West Ham and Rangers followed by successful managerial career
7 DUMBARTON
Graeme Sinclair – full back played 203 games 1976-1982 , went to to play for Celtic 1982-1985 where he won the league and was credited with marking Johan Cruyff when Celtic beat Ajax in European Cup in 1982
Walter Smith – Bought from Dundee Utd to add experience to defence went on to legendary status as a manager with Rangers and Scotland
John Bourke – joint top league scorer with 17 goals , went on to have a successful career at Dundee Utd & Kilmarnock before returning to both Dumbarton and Kilmarnock either side of a spell at Brechin City.
8 ARBROATH
Gordon Marshall -Veteran Goalkeeper played 142 games for Arbroath 1972-1978 , began his career playing 193 games for Hearts 1956-1963 before moving to Newcastle playing 177 games 1963-1968. Also played for Nottingham Forest before returning to Scotland Hibs , Celtic and Aberdeen.
Joe Carson – young defender 1973-1979 who would go on to star for Motherwell 1979-1984
Jimmy Bone – scored for Partick in 1971 League Cup Final win and played for Norwich and Sheffield Utd before moving to Gayfield before winning the Anglo Scottish Cup under Alex Ferguson at St Mirren.
Derek Rylance played 275 games for Arbroath 1971-1981.
9 QUEEN OF THE SOUTH
Allan Ball – goalkeeper played 579 games for Queens his only club between 1963 & 1982.
Chris Balderstone – former Huddersfield, Carlisle and Doncaster player was with Queens 1976-1978 and also a professional cricketer including 2 test matches for England.
Billy McLaren – strong midfielder who would go on to manage Hamilton Accies, worked full time with Inland Revenue.
10 HAMILTON ACCIES
Rikki Ferguson – goalkeeper played a club record 452 games for Accies 1974-1988, also capped by Scotland at u-21 level , a real hero to Accies fans.
Jim Frew – right back who played 363 games for Accies 1971-1981
Arthur McMillan left back played 221 games for Accies 1969- 1977 , winning Accies Player of the Year award in 1971, 1973 & 1976.
Jamie Fairlie – many Accies fans of the era’s favourite player , played 291 games for Accies scoring 74 goals 1974-1983 , sadly broke his leg at Falkirk on the eve of a big money move to Aberdeen in 1981. He went on to play for Airdrie, where he scored the winner against Dumbarton , which handed the 1986 First Division to Accies. Following spells with Clydebank and Motherwell. He returned to Accies 1987-1989 winning the First Division in 1988 playing a further 41 games and scoring 7 goals.
Gary McDowall – a midfielder who could play in defence and attack , ended up in Australia, where he played 16 games for Australia , his brother Kenny played for Partick Thistle and St Mirren before coaching with Rangers
Joe McGrogan – A fans favourite on the wring 1974-1982 and scorer of many goals.
11 ST JOHNSTONE
Walter Borthwick – experienced attacking midfielder after spells at East Fife and St Mirren would go on to be coach at Hearts during 1980’s
Micky Lawson – goalscorer signed from Stirling Albion would go to serve Raith Rovers, Berwick Rangers and Meadowbank Thistle.
Bobby Thomson – striker 1973-1978 became famous for Morton 1978-1981 and Hibs 1982-1985 after a spell with Blackpool, won promotion with Hamilton Accies in 1987-88. He was infamously given a six month ban after punching a linesman while at Hibs , in a career where he was sent off 10 times.
12 EAST FIFE
Quinton Young – 1976-1980 after spells at Ayr Utd and Coventry City was best known for his time with Rangers 1973 – 1976 where he scored against Ajax in European Super Cup.
Kevin Hegarty – brother of Dundee Utd’s Paul played for East Fife 1971-1978
13 RAITH ROVERS
Murray McDermott – goalkeeper who played for Raith from 1970 -1981
Andy Harrow – goalscorer 1976 – 1981 who went on to play for Motherwell 1982-1986.
Gordon Wallace experienced former who came back to Kirkcaldy after spells with Dundee , Dundee Utd and American side Seattle Sounders
Donald Urquuart – played 498 games for Raith between 1971 & 1985.
14 FALKIRK
Donald Ford – former Hearts player 1964-1976 who was in Scotland 1974 World Cup squad, played for Falkirk in his final season in football 1976-77.
George Watson – Goalkeeper with Falkirk played 1975-1986
