1972–73 in Scottish football

Association football season

1972–73 in Scottish football

Division One champions
Celtic
Division Two champions
Clyde
Scottish Cup winners
Rangers
League Cup winners
Hibernian
Junior Cup winners
Irvine Meadow XI
Teams in Europe
Aberdeen, Celtic, Hibernian, Partick Thistle
Scotland national team
1973 BHC, 1974 World cup qualification

The 1972–73 season was the 100th season of competitive football in Scotland and the 76th season of Scottish league football. ^[1]

Scottish League Division One

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Celtic	34	26	5	3	93	28	+65	57	Champion
2	Rangers	34	26	4	4	74	30	+44	56
3	Hibernian	34	19	7	8	74	33	+41	45
4	Aberdeen	34	16	11	7	61	34	+27	43
5	Dundee	34	17	9	8	68	43	+25	43
6	Ayr United	34	16	8	10	50	51	−1	40
7	Dundee United	34	17	5	12	56	51	+5	39
8	Motherwell	34	11	9	14	38	48	−10	31
9	East Fife	34	11	8	15	46	54	−8	30
10	Heart of Midlothian	34	12	6	16	39	50	−11	30
11	St Johnstone	34	10	9	15	52	67	−15	29
12	Morton	34	10	8	16	47	53	−6	28
13	Partick Thistle	34	10	8	16	40	53	−13	28
14	Falkirk	34	7	12	15	38	56	−18	26
15	Arbroath	34	9	8	17	39	63	−24	26
16	Dumbarton	34	6	11	17	43	72	−29	23
17	Kilmarnock	34	7	8	19	40	71	−31	22	Relegated to 1973–74 Second Division
18	Airdrieonians	34	4	8	22	34	75	−41	16	Relegated to 1973–74 Second Division

Source: Soccerbase and League Tables

Champions: Celtic
Relegated: Kilmarnock, Airdrieonians

Scottish League Division Two

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Clyde	36	23	10	3	68	28	+40	56	Promotion to the 1973–74 First Division
2	Dunfermline Athletic	36	23	6	7	95	32	+63	52	Promotion to the 1973–74 First Division
3	Stirling Albion	36	19	9	8	70	39	+31	47
4	Raith Rovers	36	19	9	8	73	42	+31	47
5	St Mirren	36	19	7	10	79	50	+29	45
6	Montrose	36	18	8	10	82	58	+24	44
7	Cowdenbeath	36	14	10	12	57	53	+4	38
8	Hamilton Academical	36	16	6	14	67	63	+4	38
9	Berwick Rangers	36	16	5	15	45	54	−9	37
10	Stenhousemuir	36	14	8	14	44	41	+3	36
11	Queen of the South	36	13	8	15	45	52	−7	34
12	Alloa Athletic	36	11	11	14	45	49	−4	33
13	East Stirlingshire	36	12	8	16	52	69	−17	32
14	Queen's Park	36	9	12	15	44	61	−17	30
15	Stranraer	36	13	4	19	56	78	−22	30
16	Forfar Athletic	36	10	9	17	38	66	−28	29
17	Clydebank	36	9	6	21	48	72	−24	24
18	Albion Rovers	36	5	8	23	35	83	−48	18
19	Brechin City	36	5	4	27	46	99	−53	14

Source: "1972-1973 Second Division - SPFL Archive". SPFL (in Malay). Retrieved 29 April 2021.

Promoted: Clyde, Dunfermline Athletic

Cup honours

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Scottish Cup 1972–73	Rangers	3 – 2	Celtic
League Cup 1972–73	Hibernian	2 – 1	Celtic
Junior Cup	Irvine Meadow XI	1 – 0 †	Cambuslang Rangers

† – second replay

Other honours

National

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Scottish Qualifying Cup – North	Clachnacuddin	3 – 1 *	Ross County
Scottish Qualifying Cup – South	Ferranti Thistle	6 – 0 *	Civil Service Strollers

County

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up
Aberdeenshire Cup	Fraserburgh
Ayrshire Cup	Kilmarnock	2 – 1 *	Ayr United
East of Scotland Shield	Hearts	2 – 1	Berwick Rangers
Fife Cup	Dunfermline Athletic
Forfarshire Cup	Montrose	2 – 1	Dundee United
Lanarkshire Cup	Motherwell	4 – 1	Airdrie
Renfrewshire Cup	Morton	3 – 2 *	St Mirren
Stirlingshire Cup	Dumbarton	6 – 0	East Stirling

^* – aggregate over two legs

Highland League

Top Three
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Inverness Thistle	30	22	3	5	106	44	+62	47
2	Ross County	30	20	7	3	72	34	+38	47
3	Huntly	30	20	4	6	69	32	+37	44

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Individual honours

Award	Winner	Club
Footballer of the Year	George Connelly	Celtic

Scotland national team

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^[2]	Competition	Scotland scorer(s)
18 October	Idraetsparken, Copenhagen (A)	Denmark	4–1	WCQG8	Lou Macari, Jimmy Bone, Joe Harper, Willie Morgan
15 November	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Denmark	2–0	WCQG8	Kenny Dalglish, Peter Lorimer
14 February	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	England	0–5	Friendly
12 May	The Racecourse, Wrexham (A)	Wales	2–0	BHC	George Graham (2)
16 May	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Northern Ireland	1–2	BHC	Kenny Dalglish
19 May	Wembley Stadium, London (A)	England	0–1	BHC
22 June	Wankdorf Stadion, Bern (A)	Switzerland	0–1	Friendly
30 June	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Brazil	0–1	Friendly

1973 British Home Championship – Third Place

Key:

(H) = Home match
(A) = Away match
WCQG8 = World Cup qualifying – Group 8
BHC = British Home Championship

Notes and references

^ "1972/73 - the Scottish Football League". www.scottishfootballleague.com. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
^ Scotland's score is shown first.

External links

Scottish Football Historical Archive

v t e Seasons in Scottish football
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Seasons in Scottish football

v t e 1972–73 in Scottish football
« 1971–72 1973–74 »
Domestic leagues	Football League Division One Division Two Highland League
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final League Cup Final Drybrough Cup Junior Cup
European competitions	European Cup European Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup European Super Cup Texaco Cup
Related to national team	Results 1974 World Cup qualifying (Group 8) British Home Championship
Club seasons
Division One	Aberdeen Airdrieonians Arbroath Ayr United Celtic Dumbarton Dundee Dundee United East Fife Falkirk Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Kilmarnock Morton Motherwell Partick Thistle Rangers St. Johnstone
Division Two	Albion Rovers Alloa Athletic Berwick Rangers Brechin City Clyde Clydebank Cowdenbeath Dunfermline Athletic East Stirlingshire Forfar Athletic Hamilton Academical Montrose Queen of the South Queen's Park Raith Rovers St. Mirren Stenhousemuir Stirling Albion Stranraer