Cyriel Dessers Is The Scottish Premiership Top Scorer

A Complete History Of Top Scorers In The Scottish Top Flight Since 1891

Despite a disappointing campaign for Rangers, Cyriel Dessers has been confirmed as the top scorer in the Premiership with 18 goals, two ahead of both Simon Murray of Dundee and the league’s Player of the Year - Daizen Maeda. The Nigerian internationalist has 29 goals in all competitions this season, taking his Rangers total to 51 goals across his first two seasons. His mins per goal ratio - 1 goal every 118 minutes - is also the best in the league, of all players to score at least 7 league goals this season.

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A LOW TOP SCORER TOTAL

There have only been twenty seasons in history where the top goalscorer in the top flight scored less than 20 league goals. With Dessers claiming the ‘Tartan Boot’ with 18 goals, it remarkably now means that six of those twenty seasons have occurred since 2015. This points to a change in modern day football, with the tendency to have less of a reliance on one traditional number 9 striker. One of the lowest top goalscorer tallies in well over 100 years came three years ago in season 2021–22 when Regan Charles-Cook and Giorgos Giakoumakis shared the honour with just 13 goals apiece.

This post takes an in depth look at all the top goalscorers in the Scottish top flight since the first league season in Scottish football, 1890/91. The charts will show the:

1. number of times a club has provided the league’s top goalscorer.

2. ‘best’ top goalscorer at every club that’s won the award, and the last time each club had the top goalscorer.

3. players that have won the top scorer award most often.

4. top scoring league campaigns in Scottish football history, by both player & teams.

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NUMBER OF TOP GOALSCORERS SINCE 1890 - BY CLUB