The Scottish Premiership begins amid widespread frustration across the game, following Scotland’s poor World Cup campaign and disputes involving several clubs, supporters and football authorities. The season’s main sporting focus will again be the Old Firm, with Derek McInnes taking charge of Rangers after leaving Hearts and bringing added tension to matches against Celtic.

Celtic supporters are unhappy with the club’s leadership, while Hearts fans remain resentful over the end of last season, including the handling of a pitch invasion during Celtic’s title-clinching match. Rangers have challenged aspects of an independent report into disorder after their Scottish Cup defeat by Celtic, and other clubs face their own concerns: Motherwell are contesting an SFA fine and Hibernian suffered a 2-0 European qualifying defeat in Kosovo.