Scottish Professional Football League preview

Kilmarnock players celebrate after beating Celtic 1-0 in the Scottish Communities League Cup Final between Celtic and Kilmarnock at Hampden Park on March 18, 2012 in Glasgow

KILMARNOCK

A 9th place finish completed a season to forget for Killie. Poor throughout the majority of the season, the outspoken Kenny Shiels had the team playing some good football, but not always with an end product. The signing of Kris Boyd seemed to unbalance the team and it took him a while to find his way, although he did come onto a run of form towards April.

Killie and Shiels parted ways during the summer, and Allan Johnson stepped into the hot seat from Second Division champions Queen of the South. He joins a club who are basically in dire financial peril but were still busy in the transfer window. Darren Barr joins from Hearts, while goalkeepers Reguero and St Mirren’s Craig Samson join the club. Perhaps their biggest signing however was keeping Kris Boyd on a new contract.

A big loss however was Scotland goalkeeper Cammy Bell moving to Rangers while striker Cillian Sheridan moves to Cyprus and APOEL Nicosia.

League Prediction: 8th – Killie have a lot of talented youngsters at the club, and a season of SPL experience will only help them push on this season. Johnston likes his teams to play a passing game that’s easy on the eye, similar to his predecessor. I don’t expect much from Kilmarnock but a season of consolidation.

MOTHERWELL

Runners-up last season and favourite to do so again, but expect the gap between them and Celtic to increase.

The FirPark side’s attack was glorious to watch at times last season, especially with the signing of club legend James McFadden in January. Defensively, they could be poor but relied heavily on goalkeeper Darren Randolph to save them some points on more than one occasion.

Motherwell are yet another side who have seen massive changes in personnel during the summer break. Stephen McManus, John Sutton and Iain Vigurs are probably the biggest signings, while Faroese goalkeeper Gunnar Nielsen will replace Randolph goals as he’s moved to Birmingham.

Stuart McCall has lost the 26 goal Michael Higdon to NEC in Holland, while Chris Humphrey has moved to Preston and Steven Saunders moves on to Dingwall, signing for Ross County.

League Prediction: 3rd – While the Steelmen will do well again this season, they’ll massively miss Higdon and Randolph more than they think. McCall has signed some good replacements and did well to sign McFadden to another contract for the season, but they won’t quite be the same team this season.Gunnar Nielsen will be hoping the Motherwell do a better job than his international side, letting in the first of six goals against Austria in March. Courtesy of Steindy

PARTICK THISTLE

The Jags return to the top flight for the first time since the 2003/04 season after waltzing to the Scottish First Division title last year.

Manager Alan Archibald has prepared for the long season by signing the likes of Mark Kerr, ex-Barcelona youth Simon Dominguez and Isaac Osbourne to strengthen their midfield, with the SPL experience of Hugh Murray sure to come in handy as the season progresses. Mexican Gabriel Rojo de la Vega Piccolo signs from Rayo Vallecano B to keep things tight at the back.

Paul Paton and Chris Erskine followed previous manager Jackie McNamara to Dundee Utd, while Steven Craig moves down south to sign for Wycombe Wanderers.

League Prediction: 11th – A season of survival and nothing else for Thistle.