CELTIC’S 2-0 Scottish Premiership home victory over Hearts last weekend saw them go the entire league season unbeaten, a remarkable achievement no matter what league you play in.
While Scottish football has its detractors, and is perhaps not as competitive as it once was, it’s the first time this has happened in almost 120 years.
With Brendan Rodgers’ side on the brink of a historic treble with a Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen today – which would see them become the first Scottish side to go an entire domestic season unbeaten – we look at some of the records the club has broken this term.
Even two-time treble-winning manager Jock Stein never managed an unbeaten league season (Image: Getty)Unbeaten league season
The Bhoys won 34 and drew four of their 38 league games, the first unbeaten season in the Scottish Premier League/Scottish Premiership (SPL/SP) era*.
In fact it is the first in the Scottish top flight since Rangers won every game in the 1898-99 season, when a league season comprised only 18 games.
Celtic also went unbeaten the previous season (W15, D3).
Jock Stein (1967-68), Tommy Burns (1995-96), Martin O’Neill (2001-02) and Neil Lennon (2013-14) all came agonisingly close to unbeaten league seasons with Celtic, each losing just one league game.
Highest points total
The 106 points amassed this term is a new Scottish top-flight record, beating the previous best of 103, achieved by Celtic in 2001-02 when O’Neill was in charge.
A 2-0 defeat to Aberdeen was the only blot on the league copybook that term.
It’s worth noting Rangers’ 76-point haul in 1920-21 came when only two points were awarded for a win, which would have totaled 111 today, although it was across 42 games (W35, D6, L1).
Celtic’s total of 106 is also a new European record, surpassing the 105 points Barry Town accumulated from 40 games in the League of Wales in 1996-97.
Biggest margin of victory
Lennon won the title by 29 points in his final season at Celtic Park (2013-14), but in his debut season, Rodgers has gone one better, finishing 30 points ahead of second-place Aberdeen.
Celtic missed out on setting a new European top-flight record by just two points, which would have seen them eclipse Paris St Germain’s 31-point margin of victory in Ligue 1 last season.
Brendan Rodgers has enjoyed a phenomenal debut season in Glasgow (Image: Getty)Most wins
The 2001-02 season saw Celtic set the record for most wins in the SPL/SP era (33), however Rodgers’ Invincibles again went one better this term.
The only side to manage more top-flight league wins in the history of Scottish top-tier football was Rangers in 1920-21, when they won 35 in a 42-game season.
Martin O'Neill's record-breaking 2001-02 and 2003-04 seasons have been eclipsed (Image: Getty)Most goals scored
Celtic scored 106 goals this season, the most in the SPL/SP era – one better than O’Neill’s Celtic managed in 2003-04.
Stein’s Celtic broke the 100-goal barrier in three consecutive seasons between 1965-68 (106, 111, 106).
Despite the staggering goals haul, the league’s top goalscorer this season wasn’t a Celtic player, with that honour going to Ross County’s Liam Boyce.
The Belfast man’s 23 goals saw him finish two ahead of Celtic’s Scott Sinclair.
The most goals in a Scottish top-flight season was achieved by Hearts in 1957-58, when they hit a staggering 132 in just 34 games (average 3.9 per game).
Best goal difference
With Celtic conceding only 25 goals this season, their goal difference of +81 is the best in the SPL/SP era, beating the +80 achieved by Celtic in 2003-04.
The best goal difference in a Scottish top-flight season was +103, set by Hearts in the aforementioned 1957-58 season.
*Top-flight clubs split from the Scottish Football League in 1998-99 to form the Scottish Premier League, before the two bodies merged in 2013-14
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