There has been top-tier football in Scotland since 1890 and it will come as a surprise to precisely no-one to learn that Celtic and Rangers have been dominant throughout.
At the conclusion of the Scottish Football League’s inaugural season, Rangers shared the honours with Dumbarton, the pair finishing level on points.
Two years later it was Celtic who claimed the plaudits and it really didn’t take long before the Glasgow giants began to essentially take it in turns to take possession of the crown, the other invariably finishing runner-up.
Biggest Clubs in Scottish Football
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Celtic
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Rangers
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Aberdeen
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Hearts
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Hibernian
Indeed, to put their historical dominance into perspective, Celtic and Rangers have, between them, won 109 of the 128 league titles that have ever been contested for north of the border. That’s over 85%.
Again therefore it will come as no surprise that these fierce rivals are ranked in the top two on our list, the rest classified by how often a club has managed to temporarily break up the long-standing duopoly.
5) Hibernian
Hibs have won the same number of league titles as their local rivals Hearts but two factors bump them down to fifth on this list.
The first is that the Hibees have historically come second eight times fewer than the Jam Tarts. They also last topped the pile in 1952, Hearts last doing so in 1960.
Still, what an extraordinary side that was, who heightened Hibs into a force to be reckoned with in the years following the Second World War.
Though there were other fantastic players who contributed to three league titles between 1948 and 1952 most memorably there was the Famous Five forward-line, a devastating arsenal that consisted of Gordon Smith, Bobby Johnstone, Lawrie Reilly, Eddie Turnbull and Willie Ormond.
Each scored 100 goals and more for the club.
On the rare occasions silverware is attained in more modern times, the Easter Road faithful belt out Sunshine On Leith, a rendition of the Proclaimers hit that is never less than spine-tingling.
4) Hearts
Heart of Midlothian were formed in 1874, reputedly taking their name from a Walter Scott novel, and two decades later they attained their first league championship, repeating the feat soon after.
Further success arrived in the Fifties, an era that saw the Edinburgh clubs reign supreme, and though silverware has dried up since, bar the odd Scottish Cup success, what is notable about the Jam Tarts is their impressive consistency.
Since 2000 they have finished in the top half of the Premiership on 18 occasions.
Not that Hearts haven’t experienced hardship and freefall, entering administration in 2013 as Vladimir Romanov’s ownership came undone. Relegation to the Championship accompanied their plight, a fate that occurred again in 2020.
On both occasions, they immediately stormed back to the top table, the latter recovery courtesy of a young team that promised much.
Far too good for the second tier but rarely threatening to break up the Glasgow duopoly, Hearts are always there, beating.
3) Aberdeen
It would have taken a brave man to back the Dons in the football betting to be a success under new boss Alex Ferguson.
The year is 1978 and the former Rangers forward had taken on the reins of a club not exactly known for winning trophies, save for the very occasional domestic cup.
As for Ferguson, he was somewhat distracted taking St Mirren to an industrial tribunal having recently been sacked by the Saints. During the tribunal it emerged that the chairman believed he had ‘no managerial ability’.
We all know what happened next. It’s gone down in lore.
Propelling the club to another level, via sheer grit and acumen, Ferguson transformed the North-East side, in doing so smashing the Glasgow duopoly if only for a few years.
The Dons won the league three times and incredibly conquered Europe too, beating the mighty Real Madrid in a Cup Winners Cup final.
That result and performance alone is near the pinnacle of all Scottish achievements.
2) Rangers
Fine margins. That’s what puts the Gers into second spot, marginally behind their fierce city rivals.
Rangers have actually won one league title more than Celtic – the tally presently standing at 55 to 54 – and in any other ranking across this series that would see the blue half of Glasgow top.
Here though, there is a certain night in Lisbon in 1967 to consider. More on that soon.
Additionally, there is the Gers’ insolvency in 2012 that must be factored in, a liquidation that required the club to start anew in the lower divisions. That set this world famous institution back nearly a decade.
Still, for all this, Rangers are a behemoth, a globally-renowned superpower who have won 117 major honours in their lifetime. Only Al Ahly from Egypt have claimed a greater number.
Ranking them below Celtic is like insisting one giant is smaller than another because he has recently cut his toenails. Fine, fine margins.
1) Celtic
All-but-one of Jock Stein’s fifteen-man squad, who travelled to Lisbon in May 1967 to become the first British side to lift the European Cup, was born within ten miles of Celtic Park.
The other – the ‘foreigner’ – was Bobby Lennox born thirty miles away in Saltcoats, Ayeshire. Ironically, for such a remarkable achievement that was parochial in nature, it put the Hoops firmly on the map.
Not that winning the most prestigious club competition of them all was necessary to elevate the club’s standing. Celtic won their first domestic title in 1893 and have gone on to secure it pretty much every two years since.
Moreover, they’ve won 21 Scottish League Cups and 41 Scottish Cups, the latter seven more than Rangers.
And then there’s the great players who have graced the famous green and white jersey. Kenny Dalglish, arguably their finest ever discovery. The incomparable Jimmy Johnstone.
In more recent times we marvelled at Henrik Larsson, once voted the club’s best ever foreign talent and a striker so explosive he could subvert the live betting markets in a flash.
Like their bitter rivals across the city, Celtic are stitched into the fabric of British footballing heritage and folklore.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Adobe*
