Can Rangers Hit the Title-Winning Benchmark? Scottish Premiership Winners’ Points Average Over the Last Decade (2015/16–2024/25)
Over the past decade in the Scottish Premiership, winning the league has generally required a high-points haul — around the 90-point mark. By collating final point totals for each champion from the 2015/16 season through to 2024/25, we can establish a useful benchmark for what it takes to lift the title and consider whether Rangers can realistically match or beat that standard.
📊 Title Winners & Points (2015/16–2024/25)
Here’s how the champions have fared over the last 10 completed seasons:
- 2015/16 – Celtic – ~86 points (based on historical records)
- 2016/17 – Celtic – 106 points (dominant season under Brendan Rodgers) (sportinglife.com)
- 2017/18 – Celtic – 68 points (sportinglife.com)
- 2018/19 – Celtic – 76 points (sportinglife.com)
- 2019/20 – Celtic – 80 points (season curtailed due to COVID-19) (sportinglife.com)
- 2020/21 – Rangers – 102 points (unbeaten title win) (sportinglife.com)
- 2021/22 – Celtic – 93 points (sportinglife.com)
- 2022/23 – Celtic – 99 points (sportinglife.com)
- 2023/24 – Celtic – 93 points (sportinglife.com)
- 2024/25 – Celtic – 92 points (sportinglife.com)
Adding those tallies gives a total of around 895 points across 10 seasons, meaning title-winners have averaged ≈ 89.5 points per season over the last decade. That’s a demanding standard, and it’s worth noting that most of this success has been driven by Celtic, with Rangers accounting for just one championship (2020/21) in that span. (news.bet365.com)
📈 Why This Average Matters
An average of roughly 90 points suggests that a title-chasing team needs not just consistency but also dominance — dropping too many points across the season almost always hands the initiative to your rivals.
Several patterns emerge:
- High-flyer seasons: Celtic’s 106-point haul in 2016/17 remains the peak of recent Scottish domestic dominance. (sportinglife.com)
- Unbeaten run: Rangers’ 102 points in 2020/21 — achieved without losing a league game — represents the most effective campaign by any side in the last decade aside from Celtic’s best. (sportinglife.com)
- Variability: Seasons like 2017/18 and 2018/19 saw comparatively low points totals for champions, reflecting tighter races and more dropped points overall. (sportinglife.com)
⚔️ Can Rangers Match the Average?
Historically, Rangers have shown they can clear or exceed this benchmark — but only in exceptional circumstances. Their unbeaten 102-point triumph in 2020/21 underlined what’s possible when the squad is at its peak. (sportinglife.com) However, that campaign stands out; most of Celtic’s title wins regularly produced tallies in the low-to-mid 90s, and Rangers would need a similarly consistent season to hit the approximate average.
For Rangers to match or exceed ~90 points in a current or future season, several conditions generally need to be in place:
- Strong squad depth: To sustain performance through domestic and European commitments without fatigue.
- Head-to-head edge: Picking up points especially against direct rivals (primarily Celtic).
- Consistency: Minimising draws and defeats against lower-placed teams.
Given the dominance of Celtic in the last decade, breaking that rhythm consistently enough to average around 90 points won’t be easy. But as Rangers have proved before, reaching that level — especially with tactical stability, confidence, and minimal key injuries — is entirely feasible.
In summary, while the ≈ 90-point average sets a high bar, Rangers have the history and occasional peak performance to match it — it’s about delivering that level of consistency across the full campaign.
