The Scottish Premiership starts with three clubs carrying different kinds of pressure. Heart Of Midlothian were nine minutes from history before Daizen Maeda struck in the 87th minute for Celtic, and they now have to steady a rebuilt squad after last season's collapse. Celtic are trying to add quality without losing control. Rangers are trying to turn a fresh start into consistency.
Hearts have to answer for last season's collapse
Hearts led the 2025 Premiership before the split, finished second in the championship round and won 24 of their 38 league matches. On paper, that is a strong season. In practice, the feeling around them is still shaped by the finish, because they were still chasing the title when Maeda's goal changed the picture.
The wider warning signs are there too. Hearts suffered a 6-0 defeat to Sturm Graz in Champions League qualifying, and Ryan Stevenson was blunt about the scale of the challenge, saying: "Hearts just look as if it's just a new squad flung in together, with the manager too, trying to find their way." He added that Tynecastle can turn quickly if results do not come.
Lawrence Shankland and C. Devlin remain part of the conversation around whether Hearts can settle quickly enough, but the basic issue is still cohesion. This is a team that was close last year, then fell away hard enough to make the new campaign feel like a repair job.
Celtic and Rangers are starting from different places
Celtic's numbers from last season were stronger, with 26 wins from 38 league matches and first place in the championship round. Martin O'Neill's line that "we're trying to get some quality into the football club" fits the logic of their summer business. The reported arrivals of Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh for a combined fee of around £15m point to a club trying to raise the ceiling, not rewrite the whole structure.
Rangers are coming from a less secure base. They lost four of their five remaining matches before the split last season, which is why the mood around Derek McInnes' early work is more about whether the pieces will hold together than whether the squad has talent. The reported arrival of Olwethu Makhanya as the eighth new recruit suggests movement, but the real test is whether this becomes a coherent side rather than a busy one.
VAR still hangs over the league too. This is the fifth season of its use in Scotland, and the anger around it has hardly softened. Elliot Watt called one decision "the worst VAR decision in history", while McInnes described it as "disgusting". That keeps the officiating debate alive, but the title race still starts with Hearts trying to recover, Celtic trying to sharpen, and Rangers trying to stabilise.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
