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, Dundee, East Fife, Hamilton , Montrose, Morton, Queen of the South & St Johnstone. They were joined by the two teams relegated from the Premier Division – Hearts & Kilmarnock along with the two promoted clubs from the Second Division – Alloa Athletic & Stirling Albion.
Scottish League Cup
The League Cup moved to knockouts with the First Round played in August featuring 6 randomly drawn two legged ties where Airdrie lost to Aberdeen , and East Fife lost to Stranraer. Dundee beat Montrose in an all First Division tie, while Queens of the South produced the shock of the round beating Premier League Hibernian 2-1 at Easter Road before a scoreless second leg in Dumfries.
SCOTTISH FIRST DIVISION LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
August 1977
Morton , Stirling Albion and St Johnstone opened with three wins while East Fife lost all three games in August.
September 1977
Morton led the league at the end of September with a 0-0 draw at home to Dumbarton the only blemish, winning 7 of their opening 8 games.
Hearts were in 2nd place despite winning all 4 homes games they had drawn their first 3 away games 2-2 at Dumbarton , 1-1 at Kilmarnock and 3-3 at Queen of the South before winning 4-2 at Stirling.
Dundee in 3rd had won 5 games , while Stirling Albion were surprisingly in 4th.
Kilmarnock opened with 4 defeats in their first 5 games but recovered to 11th.
Airdrie were 12th with only one win , 3-2 at East Fife in the opening 8 games , while Alloa and East Fife filled the bottom two places on 4pts.
In the League Cup Second Round – Arbroath, Dundee, Queen of the South, Morton, Hearts and Stirling Albion all made it through. Dumbarton beat Hamilton 4-1 at Boghead but were stunned as Accies came back to win the second leg 6-0 to win the all First Division tie,
October 1977
Morton remained top despite a blip where they lost two consecutive home games 1-0 to Queen of the South and 2-0 to Kilmarnock.
Hearts lost their first home game of the season losing 2-0 to Hamilton Accies , a remarkable event at the time and even more as nearly 50 years on Accies have not won at Tynecastle since. A 5-3 lose away to Morton and 3-1 defeat at Montrose saw the Edinburgh side drop to 3rd place.
Dundee dropped to 4th place after a 3-2 home lose to Arbroath and a 3-0 defeat at Airdrie before drawing 1-1 with Hearts at Dens Park.
Dumbarton move dup to 2nd place with 4 wins out of 6 in the month , their only loss 2-1 at Tynecastle.
Alloa with 7 consecutive defeats and winless so far were bottom behind East Fife who had secured 2 wins from 14 games while Kilmarnock were 12th having only 1 win behind Airdrie who had picked up towards the end of October with wins over Dundee 3-0 at home , Montrose 2-1 away and 2-1 at home to East Fife.
In the League Cup Hearts beat Morton 3-2 on aggregate , Queen of the South beat Dundee 6-0 at home after a goalless draw at Dens Park. Rangers beat Aberdeen 6-1 at home before losing the second leg 3-1 but qualified for the Quarter Finals along with fellow Premier League sides Celtic, Dundee Utd and St Mirren. Dunfermline and Forfar also qualified from the Second Division.
November 1977
Morton continued to lead the league ahead of Dundee who had a strong month with home wins over Stirling Albion 2-0 , St Johnstone 5-3 and Hamilton 3-0.
Hearts briefly dropped to 5th after defeats to Kilmarnock 2-1 at home and 2-0 at East Fife but recovered to 3rd place after a 1-0 away win at St Johnstone and 2-0 home win over Stirling Albion.
Stirling Albion and St Johnstone had a bad month losing all four games, Stirling without scoring.
Hamilton’s home wins over Airdrie 4-0 and Montrose 4-1 saw them move up to 3rd before dropping back to 5th place after their defeat at Dens Park.
At the bottom East Fife were bottom despite their win over Hearts their only point in an 8 game spell , while Alloa’s 3-2 win over the Fifers saw them leapfrog to 13th in a month where they also beat St Johnstone and Stirling Albion both 1-0 at home.
Airdrie sat 12th despite a run of four consecutive wins from October into November.
In the League Cup Celtic beat St Mirren 3-1 at Love Street and 2-0 at home while Rangers also made it to the semi finals beating Dunfermline 3-1 in both legs.
Second Division Forfar knocked out Queen of the South. The teams had drawn 3-3 at Palmerston before Forfar won the home leg 1-0.
Hearts lost 3-1 to Dundee Utd at Tannadice but won the second leg 2-0 at home before winning 4-2 on penalties.
December 1977
Morton dropped to second winning only one game in December as they beat Montrose at home 2-1 on the final day of the year after defeats to Arbroath 2-1 at home and Dundee 3-1 away.
Dundee moved top 3pts ahead after winning their final 4 games of the year with Hearts in 3rd place (1 point behind Morton), having won 5 of their final 6 games of 1977 including a 7-0 win at Arbroath.
Montrose dropped to 12th losing all 5 games in December while Alloa stayed in 13th ahead of East Fife, who drew 3 of 5 games in December to sit only 2pts behind East Fife and 4pts behind Montrose.
January 1978
Dundee remained top after a 6-0 home win over Alloa, while Morton took maximum points to remain in 2nd ahead of Hearts.
East Fife stayed bottom losing all 3 games while Alloa drew 0-0 with Stirling Albion.
February 1978
Dundee’s 2-0 home win over East Fife was their only league game in the month and allowed Morton to move top after a 3-2 win at Airdrie.
Hearts were 3rd after home wins over Hamilton 1-0 and Airdrie 3-0.
The positions at the bottom were unchanged.
In the League Cup semi final Rangers were taken to extra time before beating Forfar 5-2
March 1978
Dundee won 5 games and drew 2 to move back to the top on 50pts from 34 games , with Hearts moving into 2nd place on 47pts from 33 games after 3 wins and 3 draws in March.
Morton dropped out of the promotions places into 3rd on 45pts having lost 1-0 at home to Hearts and draws 0-0 at Hamilton and 1-1 at home to Queen of the South. Morton crucially had only played 31 games.
Dundee and Morton still had to meet twice including on the final day at Cappielow.
Montrose ended March in 12th place on 24pts following back to back draws with Hearts while Alloa were 13th on 20pts after a 3-3 at home to Airdrie.
East Fife remained bottom on 16pts.
In the League Cup Celtic beat Hearts 2-0 in the semi final before losing to Rangers 2-1 after extra time in the Final
April 1978
Hamilton Accies played home games on successive days Saturday 1st April and Sunday 2nd April. Accies beat Montrose 2-1 on the Saturday before losing to Hearts 2-0 on the Sunday as the Edinburgh side moved within 1 point of league leaders Dundee.
Morton cut the gap to 3pts with a 4-1 midweek home win over St Johnstone.
Dundee and Morton drew 1-1 at Dens Park , as Hearts moved level on points at the top with Dundee following a 3-2 home win over Arbroath.
Morton were 3pts behind the leaders but with 2 games in hand.
Dundee’s midweek 2-1 defeat at Dumbarton would prove crucial as Morton moved to within 1 point of Dundee with a 5-0 win over East Fife.
Hearts moved to the top of the table after a 2-0 win at St Johnstone.
Hearts moved to 54pts following a 1-1 away to Queen of the South with 2 games left. Dundee won 5-1 at Alloa to go to 53pts while Morton beat Hamilton 3-0. Morton were in 3rd place on 52pts but had two games in hand.
A midweek 1-0 win for Morton in Perth against St Johnstone moved them level on points with Hearts but ahead on goal difference, 1 point ahead of Dundee.
Morton still had a game in hand over their two rivals but still had to play Dundee on the final day.
Morton won 2-1 at Stirling to stay ahead on 56pts with two games to play, while Hearts beat Alloa 2-1 at home to stay ahead of Dundee by 1 point with 1 game left as Dundee beat Queen of the South 3-0.
Morton virtually won the league with a midweek 3-1 home win over Airdrie to move to 58pts.
Dundee beat Morton on the final day 3-2 at Cappielow to move on to 57pts and leave Hearts a nervous final day where they had to win at Arbroath.
Hearts won 1-0 to clinch the second promotion place.
Alloa and East Fife were relegated.
SCOTTISH CUP
Third Round
Kilmarnock won 2-1 away to St Mirren and Stirling Albion beat Clydebank 3-0 to knock out the two clubs promoted at the end of the previous season.
Morton won 1-0 at Albion Rovers, while St Johnstone beat Brechin City 1-0 at home.
Arbroath lost 4-0 at home to Motherwell and East Fife lost by the same score at Hobernian.
Dundee suffered 7-1 defeat at Celtic, while Hamilton lost 4-1 at home to Dundee Utd. Rangers won 4-2 at Berwick.
In an all First Division tie Hearts won 3-2 at Airdrie.
In the other two all First Division clashes it took replays for Dumbarton to beat Alloa 2-1 after a 2-2 draw at Recreation Park and Queen of the South after drawing 2-2 at home , beat Montrose 3-1 at Links Park.
Fourth Round
The shock of the round was Celtic’s 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock in a replay after the teams drew 1-1 in Glasgow, with a goal from Derrick McDicken.
Another shock was at Fir Park where Motherwell lost 3-1 to Second Division Queens Park, while Rangers beat Stirling Albion 1-0 at Ibrox with a goal from Derek Johnstone.
St Johnstone lost 3-0 at Aberdeen while Queen of the South also lost 3-0 against Dundee Utd at Tannadice. Morton also won 3-0 at home to Meadowbank.
Partick Thistle beat Hibs 2-1 after a 0-0 draw at Easter Road, while Hearts were also knocked out in a replay 1-0 by Dumbarton at Tynecastle after a 1-1 draw at Boghead.
Quarter Final
There were home wins for Dundee Utd 2-0 over Queens Park, Partick Thistle 2-1 over Dumbarton and Rangers 4-1 against Kilmarnock.
Aberdeen looked to have booked a place in the semi final at Pittodrie when Drew Jarvie added to Vic Davidson first half goal , with only 5mins remaining against Morton. Andy Ritchie however brought the First Division side back into the match and Jon Goldthorp equalised in the final minute to set up a replay at Cappielow. Aberdeen however won the replay 2-1.
Semi Finals
Rangers beat Dundee Utd 2-0 with Aberdeen and Partick Thistle producing an entertaining game with the Dons running out 4-2 winners. Ian Fleming had put Aberdeen into a 2-0 half time lead scoring twice before a double from Jim Melrose brought Thsitle level halfway through the second half, Joe Harper netted from the penalty spot before Fleming completed his hat-trick.
Final
Rangers Alex McDonald gave them a first half lead before Derek Johnstone put them 2-0 ahead against Aberdeen. Aberdeen scored a late consolation through Steve Ritchie as Rangers lifted the cup 2-1.
FIRST DIVISION NOTABLE PLAYERS BY TEAM
1 MORTON
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.
2 HEARTS
Eamonn Bannon – A youngster who went on to Chelsea and then Dundee Utd and Scotland in the 1980s.
Drew Busby – Began his career with Third Lanark before their demise after 93 games with Airdrie 1970- 1973 where he scored 43 goals, he would spend 6 years at Tynecastle playing 178 games scoring 56 goals.
3 DUNDEE
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 DUMBARTON
Murdo McLeod – went on to great success with Celtic playing 281 games before a move to Borussia Dortmund where he played 103 games, returned to Dumbarton at end of his career. He gained 20 Scotland caps including playing at 1990 World Cup where he suffered concussion after being hit by a Brazilian free kick.
Pat McCluskey- played for 115 games for Celtic 1969-1977 before moving to Dumbarton 1977-1980 playing 112 games. Scotland u-23 1973-1975. A midfield player who came through at Celtic and helped Dumbarton with his experince.
Pat was on International with u-23s, went on a night out that went wrong with Billy Bremner, Arthur Graham, Joe Harper and Willie Young that led to all five being banned by the SFA.
5 STIRLING ALBION
John Kennedy – centre half and captain played for 6 years and chosen for Scotland semi pro team in 1980.
Matt McPhee – record appearance holder 505 games scoring 115 goals for Stirling 1967 – 1981
6 KILMARNOCK
Paul Clarke – brother of former Scotland manager Steve, played 362 games 1974-1986
Davie Provan played 120 games 1974-1978 before moving to Celtic where he became a fans favourite. A winger who played 10 times for Scotland.
7 HAMILTON ACCIES
Bobby Graham – former Liverpool striker came to Accies from Motherwell in 1977 after a prolific partnership at Fir Park with Willie Pettigrew , was a big influence on the young players at Douglas Park playing 118 games and scoring 42 goals from 1977- 1981.
Mick McManus – a winger and crowd pleaser came from Motherwell and served Accies well from 1977-1981 playing 118 games and scoring 19 goals before moving to Montrose.
8 ST JOHNSTONE
Doug Houston – Began his career at Queens Park 1960-62 , before playing 235 games for Dundee 1962-1973, joined Dundee Utd after a brief spell at Rangers from 1973-1977. Played 1977-1979 as a senior player with St Johnstone.
John Brogan – A Hamilton native began his career with Albion Rovers 1972-1977 scoring 32 goals in 124 games. He then moved to St Johnstone where he enjoyed great success scoring 114 goals in 244 games 1977-1984, winning the First Division in 1983. A season in the Premier League with St Johnstone was followed by a move to Premier Division Hibs which was cut short with a loan to Ayr. John then moved to Hamilton Accies from 1984 -1987 where he won the First Division in 1986 as top scorer. He then moved to Stirling Albion from 1987-1993 before a successful managerial career with many clubs particularly in Junior football.
9 ARBROATH
Derek Rylance – Played 275 league games for Arbroath 1971-1981.
Albert Kidd – After a season with Brechin played for Arbroath 1977-1979 played 96 games scoring 19 goals , went on to Motherwell and Dundee where he famously scored the two goals which denied Hearts the Premier League title in 1986.
10 AIRDRIE
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
Kevin McCann – Winger played 144 games 1972-1979 before moving to Queen of the South 1979-1983 before a final season at Stenhousemuir.
11 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
12 QUEEN OF THE SOUTH
Allan Ball – goalkeeper played 579 games for Queens his only club between 1963 & 1982.
Harry Hood – Celtic legend ended his career at Palmerston 1977-78
Billy McLaren – strong midfielder who would go on to manage Hamilton Accies, worked full time with Inland Revenue.
13 ALLOA ATHLETIC
Hugh McCann – played for and managed Alloa
14 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
Dave Clarke – Record appearance holder played 627 games for East Fife , went on to manage the club in two spells
