SPFL: A Look Back at 2013

It's been a year of change in Scottish football.

Managers came and went, trophies were won anew, fresh talent was unearthed and a re-branding throughout the professional ranks gave birth to the Scottish Premiership.

Despite being easily dispatched from Europe by Juventus, in the league Celtic retained their top-flight crown by April—taking them to 44 titles—and added a 36th Scottish Cup to their trophy haul.

At the opposite end of the domestic hierarchy, St Mirren lifted the League Cup for the first time in their history in March after a thrilling 3-2 win over Hearts.

The Jambos had bigger worries than simply missing out on silverware, though, with the gut-wrenching, yet expected, announcement of administration coming just three months later bringing with it a 15-point deduction for the start of this season, which has all but condemned them to Championship football next year.

With the sales of Gary Hooper and Victor Wanyama during the summer, Celtic had promptly lost both their top scorer and midfield linchpin shortly after winning the double. The Scottish game appeared to weaken even further after the departure of Hibs' on-loan, and on-fire, front man Leigh Griffiths back to Wolves and Johnny Russell's move from Dundee United to Derby County.

But standards have been maintained from various sources, both old and new. A return to the Scottish game for the SPL's top goalscorer, Kris Boyd, has started paying dividends this year, as has the emergence of a plethora of talented youngsters under Jackie McNamara at Dundee United.

Here, we take a look at some of the more notable footballing events and statistics from the calendar year 2013 in the Scottish Premiership.

Celtic won the double and scored the most goals by a considerable distance this year, thanks largely to the contributions of Kris Commons, Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper.

Between the three, they accounted for 40 percent of the team's league goals throughout 2013. It's even more astounding given Hooper—arguably the club's best striker of the past five years—departed for Norwich during the summer and Stokes suffered from injuries throughout last season.

Michael Higdon also left Scotland in the close season, for NEC Nijmegen in the Dutch Eredivisie, but only after finding the net 14 times in the league between January and May. The Englishman's goals contributed greatly to Motherwell's second-place finish under SPL Manager of the Year Stuart McCall.

The Steelmen have struggled at times since, with McCall starting to receive the first real criticism of his tenure, but they have regained form to win four on the bounce this month and end 2013 one position above where they started it, in second.

Outside the top two, Terry Butcher's Inverness continued improving this year, overachieving somewhat by finishing fourth in the league and maintaining that position into this season. The former England international and his assistant, Maurice Malpas, exited the Highland side after almost five years of stellar service to take the reins at Hibs in November following Pat Fenlon's resignation. 

While Hibs and perennial underachievers Aberdeen can lay claim to having had a subpar year, even if the Dons are improving under new boss Derek McInnes, Hearts have had the biggest cause to want to forget.

The Jambos reached the League Cup final in March and were leading 1-0, before succumbing 3-2 to St Mirren. They then entered administration, placed their whole squad up for sale and received a 15-point deduction as the season re-started in August. Precariously, they sit bottom of the table on the eve of 2014, 13 points behind Ross County.

Fortunately for the Gorgie club, recent developments have seen a fan group takeover bid accepted so, even if they end up relegated come next May, the club won't face liquidation.

One man has stolen the show when it comes to goalscoring in Scotland this year.

Billy McKay showed everyone his impressive 20-goal haul during 2012 was no fluke by hitting 26 for Inverness this year. The Northern Ireland international shows no signs of reaching a plateau and, with the recent departure of Terry Butcher, may move on. Whether that's in January or next summer is debatable, but it will be hard for new gaffer John Hughes to keep hold of him much longer.

It can be overlooked somewhat because he plays for the best team in the league, but Kris Commons' sheer goalscoring ability is nothing short of extraordinary. 

Though regularly out of his depth in the Champions League group stages, the midfielder is Celtic's go-to player domestically. He has chipped in with 45 goals from his 99 domestic appearances for the Hoops since arriving from Derby in January 2011—and he simply doesn't look like stopping. 

Niall McGinn of Aberdeen has transformed since ex-Dons manager Craig Brown began playing the Northern Ireland international as a striker. He finished as the club's top goalscorer last season and currently leads the charts for them again in this one. 

Behind McKay in the scoring polls are one relatively old hand and one rising star. 

Kris Boyd never really exhibited the goalscoring prowess he showed at Kilmarnock and Rangers on his travels round England, America and Turkey, but the 30-year-old is well and truly home now he's back at the Ayrshire side. He has carried them at times this season with his 11 goals to date. 

On the same number of goals is St Johnstone wonderkid Stevie May. The 21-year-old has delighted fans and pundits alike in the second half of this year with displays beyond his relatively tender years. Far more than just a finisher, the Perth native stays involved outside the box and currently leads the assists table this campaign.

It's unsurprising that three Celtic players are in the top five goal creators of 2013; what is surprising is that it's left-back Emilio Izaguirre who leads the way.

The Honduran went through a torrid time after suffering an broken ankle against Aberdeen over two years ago and has only recently looked back to his confident, attacking best. His contribution to the champions' style of play is sometimes underappreciated defensively, but his dribbling and crossing ability can be very effective going forward—something reflected in his 13 assists this year.

It's not unexpected that two players with the creative talents of Kris Commons and Anthony Stokes are among the top creators, which means the surprise package of the year is a toss-up between Dundee United wonderkid Ryan Gauld and Motherwell winger Iain Vigurs.

The latter, who turned out for Ross County during the first half of the year, has been quietly effective in the Premiership for both the Stags and the Steelmen, garnering 13 assists. But his creative wing play has produced more than just goalscoring chances for his team-mates; he's also capable of a wonder strike or two himself. 

Among the surfeit of talented Dundee United youngsters currently coming into the senior ranks under Jackie McNamara, none have accumulated such admiration and attention as 18-year-old Gauld. 

The playmaker was dubbed the "Mini Messi" upon his much-heralded arrival in the first team at just 16 years old in 2012, and he's only impressed since. It's a testament to his maturity, as much as his ability, that he features above arguably the Scottish Premiership's best player—Commons—when it comes to goals created. No wonder he's interesting Europe's top clubs.

Clean sheets are a murky business. Goalkeepers keep them, yet defences contribute just as much as the man between the sticks does to secure them.

That said, we've decided to praise the sometimes thankless trade that is goalkeeping by highlighting the top keepers in the Premiership throughout the year.

Surprisingly, Celtic's Fraser Forster—a player rumoured to be interesting clubs such as Benfica, via the Daily Record, and Milan, via The Scotsman—places only third this year in terms of clean sheets kept domestically. Rather than a slight on the England international, this surely serves as an even higher commendation for the two keepers who ranked above him.

Their club sides didn't exactly set the heather alight in the first half of the year, but both St Johnstone's Alan Mannus and Aberdeen's Jamie Langfield have been key cogs in the very good starts their sides have made this campaign.

Langfield's record, in particular, is remarkable. To keep clean sheets in almost half his matches this year would be considered noteworthy for a top side, never mind one who haven't finished in the top six since 2009. The 34-year-old's comeback from a brain seizure suffered only two years ago makes his current form even more impressive.