The Scottish Premiership 2013/14 in numbers

Play-offs have been reintroduced for top flight clubs, a handful of players are aiming to reach goal-scoring milestones and Hearts will start with a points deduction. 650 - Partick Thistle v Ross County and Partick Thistle v Inverness will become the 649th and 650th different fixtures to be played in the top flight. The first fixtures played (in 1890/91) were Cambuslang v Vale of Leven, Dumbarton v Cowlairs and Rangers v Hearts. 2 - Motherwell will be aiming to be the first non-Old Firm side to finish in the top 2 in consecutive seasons since Aberdeen in 1992/93 and 1993/94. 15 - The 15 point deduction given to Hearts for entering administration is the biggest deduction in the history of the top flight. 17 - There will be a relegation play-off involving a side from the top league for the first time in 17 years. Hibs beat Airdrieonians 5-2 on aggregate in the previous one, back in 1996/97. There was due to be a play-off in 1999/00, but it was cancelled due to Falkirk failing to meet the SPL stadium criteria. 11 - The side in 11th will enter the relegation play-off. St Mirren have finished 11th in 4 of the 7 seasons since they were promoted. 14 - The 12-10-10-10 set-up will enter its 14th season after emerging unscathed from reconstruction. This is the longest period without change in the history of the Scottish league. 8.9 - The average position of the SFL1 Champions in their first season in the SPL since the move to a 12 team top flight is 8.9 (excludes Falkirk who weren’t promoted in 2002/03). Just 3 of the 12 sides were relegated, while two of them reached the top 6 in their first season. 6 - The last club to be relegated after finishing in the top 6 the previous season was Raith Rovers in 1996/97. It has never happened since the move to the 12 team top flight with a split. 10 - The winners of the PFA Player and Young Player of the Year award (Michael Higdon and Leigh Griffiths) both left the SPL in the summer transfer window. The last time this happened was 2002/03, when Barry Ferguson and James McFadden won the awards and then joined Blackburn and Everton respectively. 7 - Kris Boyd needs just 7 more goals to equal Henrik Larsson’s total of 174 in the top flight. Boyd scored 9 more than Larsson in the SPL, but Larsson also managed 16 in the last season of the SFL Premier Division. 50 - Two current Premier League players are within 10 goals of reaching 50 in the Scottish top flight. Georgios Samaras (48) and Richie Foran (43) will hope to reach that milestone this season. 1000 - Partick Thistle need just 3 more wins to become the 10th side to record 1000 top flight victories (excludes the 1939/40 season which was abandoned after 5 games due to WWII). 500 - St Johnstone need 2 more victories to become the 17th side to record 500 top flight wins (again excludes 1939/40). 100 - Inverness Caledonian Thistle need another 3 wins to become the 27th side to record 100 top flight wins. 97251 - There have been 97251 goals scored in the history of the Scottish top flight (excluding play-offs). At the current rate, the 100,000th goal should come at some point in the 2017/18 season. • Craig tweets statistics and football-related information from his Twitter account, @SPLStats. You can also visit his website at splstats.wordpress.com.