| Pixels: | 250 |
| Competition: | Scottish Premiership |
| Season: | 2016–17 |
| Dates: | 6 August 2016 – 21 May 2017 |
| Winners: | Celtic 4th Premiership title 48th Scottish title |
| Relegated: | Inverness Caledonian Thistle |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Celtic |
| Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Aberdeen Rangers St Johnstone |
| Matches: | 228 |
| Total Goals: | 628 |
| League Topscorer: | Liam Boyce (23 goals)[1] [2] |
| Biggest Home Win: | (24 September 2016)[3] [4] (15 February 2017) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (31 March 2017) |
| Highest Scoring: | (15 February 2017) |
| Longest Wins: | 22 matches: Celtic |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 38 matches: Celtic |
| Longest Winless: | 14 matches: Inverness Caledonian Thistle |
| Longest Losses: | 7 matches: Dundee |
| Highest Attendance: | 58,967 (21 May 2017) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 1,548 (8 April 2017) |
| Attendance: | 3,184,955 |
| Average Attendance: | 13,969 (4,325) |
| Prevseason: | 2015–16 |
| Nextseason: | 2017–18 |
The 2016–17 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 17 June 2016.[5] The season began on 6 August 2016.[6] Celtic were the defending champions.
Twelve teams contested the league: Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee, Hamilton Academical, Heart of Midlothian, Inverness CT, Kilmarnock, Motherwell, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Ross County and St Johnstone.
On 2 April 2017, Celtic won their sixth consecutive title and 48th overall after a 5-0 win away to Hearts, with eight matches still to play and would go on to complete the season unbeaten.[7] [8] [9]
The following teams have changed division since the 2015–16 season.
Promoted from Scottish Championship
Relegated to Scottish Championship
| Aberdeen | Celtic | Dundee | Hamilton Academical | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittodrie Stadium | Celtic Park | Dens Park | New Douglas Park | |
| Capacity: 20,866[10] | Capacity: 60,411[11] | Capacity: 11,506[12] | Capacity: 5,510[13] | |
| Heart of Midlothian | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | |||
| Tynecastle Stadium | Caledonian Stadium | |||
| Capacity: 17,480[14] | Capacity: 7,512[15] | |||
| Kilmarnock | Motherwell | |||
| Rugby Park | Fir Park | |||
| Capacity: 17,891[16] | Capacity: 13,677[17] | |||
| Partick Thistle | Rangers | Ross County | St Johnstone | |
| Firhill Stadium | Ibrox Stadium | Victoria Park | McDiarmid Park | |
| Capacity: 10,102[18] | Capacity: 50,817[19] | Capacity: 6,541[20] | Capacity: 10,696[21] | |
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | Adidas | Saltire Energy | ||
| Celtic | New Balance | Dafabet | ||
| Dundee | (interim) | Puma | McEwan Fraser Legal | |
| Hamilton Academical | Adidas | SuperSeal (H), NetBet (A) | ||
| Heart of Midlothian |  | Puma | Save the Children | |
| Inverness CT |  | Carbrini | McEwan Fraser Legal | |
| Kilmarnock | (interim) | Nike | QTS | |
| Motherwell | Stephen Robinson | Macron | Motorpoint | |
| Partick Thistle |  | Joma | Kingsford Capital Management | |
| Rangers | Puma | 32Red | ||
| Ross County | Macron | Stanley CRC Evans Offshore | ||
| St Johnstone | Joma | Alan Storrar Cars | ||
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic |  | Resigned | 15 May 2016 [22] | Pre-season | 20 May 2016[23] | ||
| Inverness CT | Resigned | 20 May 2016[24] | | 30 May 2016[25] | |||
| Heart of Midlothian | Signed by MK Dons | 2 December 2016[26] | 2nd | 5 December 2016[27] | |||
| Rangers | Resigned | 10 February 2017[28] | 3rd | 13 March 2017[29] | |||
| Kilmarnock | Signed by Bury | 15 February 2017[30] | 6th | (interim) | 15 February 2017 | ||
| Motherwell | Sacked | 28 February 2017[31] | 10th | Stephen Robinson | 28 February 2017[32] | ||
| Dundee | Sacked | 17 April 2017[33] | 11th | (interim) | 18 April 2017[34] |
a.Initially interim, made permanent 15 March 2017
In the initial phase of the season, each of the twelve teams play the other eleven teams three times. After 33 rounds, the league splits into two sections, a top six and a bottom six, with each team playing all the other teams in their section once. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section have played each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches will be played, with 38 matches played by each team.
The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.
| Leader – Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round | ||
| Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round | ||
| Qualification to Premiership play-off final | ||
| Relegation to 2017–18 Scottish Championship |
| Team \ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Aberdeen | 7 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| Rangers | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| St Johnstone | 8 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |
| 9 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | ||
| Partick Thistle | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | |
| Ross County | 11 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | |
| Kilmarnock | 10 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |
| Motherwell | 4 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 | |
| Dundee | 1 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 5 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | ||
| 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away.
Teams play every other team once (either at home or away).
After 33 matches, the league splits into two sections of six teams i.e. the top six and the bottom six, with the teams playing every other team in their section once (either at home or away). The exact matches are determined by the position of the teams in the league table at the time of the split.
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liam Boyce | Ross County | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 3–2 (A) | 13 August 2016 | [35] |
 Moussa Dembélé | Celtic | Rangers | 5–1 (H) | 10 September 2016 | [36] |
| Louis Moult4 | Motherwell | Hamilton Academical | 4–2 (H) | 17 September 2016 | [37] |
| Moussa Dembélé | Celtic | St Johnstone | 5–2 (A) | 5 February 2017 | [38] |
| Adam Rooney | Aberdeen | Motherwell | 7–2 (H) | 15 February 2017 | [39] |
| Andrew Considine | Aberdeen | Dundee | 7–0 (A) | 31 March 2017 | [40] |
| Scott Sinclair | Celtic | Heart of Midlothian | 5–0 (A) | 2 April 2017 | [41] |
| Liam Boyce4 | Ross County | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 4–0 (H) | 28 April 2017 | [42] |
| Scott Wright | Aberdeen | Partick Thistle | 6–0 (A) | 21 May 2017 | [43] |
| Month | Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | Ref. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | Club | Player | Club | ||
| August | Brendan Rodgers | Celtic | Liam Boyce | Ross County | [44] |
| September | Richie Foran | Inverness CT | Moussa Dembélé | Celtic | |
| October | Brendan Rodgers | Celtic | Adam Barton | Partick Thistle | |
| November | Robbie Neilson | Heart of Midlothian | Bjørn Johnsen | Heart of Midlothian | |
| December | Brendan Rodgers | Celtic | Stuart Armstrong | Celtic | |
| January | No awards due to winter break | ||||
| February | Paul Hartley | Dundee | Moussa Dembélé | Celtic | |
| March | Derek McInnes | Aberdeen | Stuart Armstrong | Celtic | |
| April | Brendan Rodgers | Celtic | Liam Boyce | Ross County | |
The quarter-final was contested between the 3rd and 4th placed teams (Dundee United and Greenock Morton) in the Scottish Championship. After defeating Greenock Morton 5–1 over two legs, Dundee United advanced to the semi-finals to face the 2nd placed team (Falkirk) in the Championship. Dundee United progressed to the play-off final following a 4–3 aggregate victory, but then lost 1–0 on aggregate to Hamilton Academical in the final. Hamilton therefore retained their place in the Premiership for the 2017–18 season.
These are the average attendances of the teams.