Scottish Premiership: Did opening weekend leave you optimistic or on a downer?
- Published
Champions Celtic unfurl league flag as Scottish Premiership begins
The Scottish Professional Football League enjoyed its second highest opening weekend for attendances since it was formed a decade ago - and that is also reflected below in the high number of responses flooding in to our call for comments from fans of the 12 Premiership clubs.
The 133,586 supporters who attended matches across the top flight, Championship, League 1 and League 2 to mark the start of the 2023-24 League campaign was just short of the 134,397 in 2018-19.
Topping the charts was the 58,772 who watched champions Celtic beat visitors Ross County 4-2 on Saturday, with 9,256 at Rugby Park to witness Kilmarnock's 1-0 defeat of runners-up Rangers later in the day.
An impressive 17,586 were at Easter Road on Sunday for St Mirren's dramatic late 3-2 victory away to Hibernian as Scotland again displayed the enthusiasm that makes it the highest per capita support across European football.
Not all will have been left happy with what they witnessed, of course, so read on to find out what a selection of fans thought of those results, as well as Heart of Midlothian's win away to St Johnstone and the Livingston v Aberdeen and Dundee v Motherwell draws.
Aberdeen
Stuart: I know it's only the first game, but huge concerns for the season ahead. Prove me wrong guys next Sunday v Celtic.
Ian: It's just not good enough from Aberdeen, who have a huge budget in comparison where you would expect the Don's to win comfortable. I don't want to listen to excuses. Fans want action on the park.
Richard: It was concerning to see that Aberdeen had apparently no tactical answer to the way Livingston set up. We will have to play Livingston and other teams who will be out to stop us from playing and, if we can't adapt and try to play around them by keeping it on the deck, we won't get very far. So a disappointing start.
Celtic
Michael: Not a great performance. Joe Hart needs replacing in goal - and the defence except from Cameron Carter-Vickers. As for Brendan Rodgers coming back twice, it doesn't work for me. I do hope I'm wrong.
Brian: Reasonable start to the season. Kyogo impressive in his deeper role with link up play with other players. Yang Hyun-jun looks good on the right wing. Need to stop giving away soft goals.
Dundee
Peter: A good solid start for a team that is still getting to know each other after a dozen or so new signings since the end of last season.
Kevin: Thoroughly enjoyable game despite the conditions. Thought Dundee played some excellent football going forward and were unlucky not to get the three points. Plenty of optimism for the rest of the campaign.
Heart of Midlothian
Paul: Great result but still far from the finished article. No obvious weak areas but need to press quicker when out of possession. Thought Nathanial Atkinson had his best game for a while. Good to see Beni Baningime and Liam Boyce back.
Doug: Great start to the season against an opponent we often struggle against. Europe here we come.
Kev: Solid start, great options off the bench. Build on this through the month and get everyone integrated, should be a much improved season.
Hibernian
John: Unfortunately, Hibs can't afford the luxury of four or five players being bellow par. Lee Johnson keeps harping on about lack of quality yet we keep signing average journeymen. Up and down season again I'm afraid.
Martin: Horrendous! Played like 11 strangers meeting for the first time. Three games in and two defeats - no good.
Cam: Embarrassing performance from Hibs. The exact same uselessness in a lot of positions from the game in Andorra. Players are not up to the standard needed.
Rangers fans made a colourful start at Rugby Park but left disappointed
Kilmarnock
Kevin: Killie were tremendous against Rangers compared to last season. We were more solid at the back and every player seemed more composed on the ball. We didn't let Rangers settle and control the game. If we continue to play like that, there is nothing to stop us challenging for the top six.
Anna: Very impressed with Killie. A good solid defence that kept Rangers at bay the whole game and strikers more than willing to bust their butt for the team. Surprised that Derek McInnes went for 5-3-2, but it worked and it worked very well. It's only the first game, but what a way to kick off the new season.
Grant: Solid at the back, comfortable on the ball, playing nice stuff, working hard and looking a real threat at times going forward. Marvellous to watch.
Livingston
Logan: Good start. Keep it up.
Motherwell
John: Still struggling up front and defence needs another big body, but it's early days.
James: Not very pretty to watch. Some decent performances but too often gave away possession. Keeping the ball on the deck is a must and we badly need some real pace. Theo Bair impressed, as did Lennon Miller. Hoping it picks up.
Rangers
Dean: What an absolute shambles. Nine new singings and none of them were any better than last season's dross. League's over. Give it to Celtic today.
Martin: Shocking start to the season. Wednesday game is a must-win, no more excuses. Again too slow to get the ball forward,. Yes, the new-look team needs time to gel, but now playing catch up.
Joshua: Shocking performance. If we want 56 and Champions League, we might want to get our finger out and sort this. I know it's a new team, but Kilmarnock shouldn't be much of a challenge. Want to see a better display next time out or you can say bye Micheal Beale.
Ross County
Young: County played brilliantly in the first 20 mins, if only one didn't go in during the early spell. So pleased we didn't sit back and let them come at at us. We took the game to Celtic. I think 4-2 is fairly good when playing at the home of the champions. Bring on the rest of the season.
David: Unfortunate that we didn't get a bit of luck on the scoring front early on. Simon Murray not getting awarded penalty after collision with Joe Hart. Thankfully we don't have to face Celtic every week. An encouraging performance.
St Johnstone
William: Thought Saints played 100% better than cup games, so all we need to do now is get someone to put the ball in the net. Yes, we were chasing the game when we lost the second goal, but I'm still sure it was offside with both passes. But hopefully we are on the way up now.
Allan: The new boys did well -100% for effort. Give Stevie MacLean a chance.
St Mirren
Chris: Brilliant first half. We look a lot more assured and calm on the ball - no longer lumping it aimlessly forward. The Hibs comeback was tough to take, but what character and class we showed to pinch it at the end. Alex Greive deserves to start more games. I'm really hoping to build on last year and push for Europe.
James: Thought St Mirren were excellent in the first half. But we have this tendency, when we are on top in games, when there is about 20 minutes to go, we stop our attacking play and go defensive. We put ourselves under unnecessary pressure. Just glad we kicked back into attack and won the game.