The Analyst: Where have all the Premier League’s Scottish goalscorers gone?

Paul Okey
1 February 2022

Scotland used to be the Premier League’s second most prolific goalscoring nation. Now they are down in 11th, level with Algeria. Paul Okey looks at the stats.

The first season of the Premier League saw 43 Scottish players contribute 97 goals to put them second behind English players (818 goals).

Twenty-four nationalities were represented, with Wales (92 goals), Ireland (72) and Northern Ireland (25) next on the list ahead of France with 15 - all scored by Eric Cantona.

The Scottish Premier Division was still considered a breeding ground for talent and Chelsea alone brought in three players from north of the border during the season.

Fast forward to 2021/22 and 46 nations have provided at least one goal in the top flight, with Egypt's Mohamed Salah sitting pretty at the top of the charts on 16.

English players again head the charts, with 196 goals, but it is Portugal and Brazil who now lead the chase, both with 39.

Scotland, meanwhile, are down in joint 11th, with just 11 goals, the same as Algeria, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast.

And as far as an influx of players from the Scottish Premier League goes, only two made the move in the January transfer window, Kerr Smith and Nathan Patterson, both defenders.

2021/22 season so far…

England has had 157 representatives in the Premier League this season, so it is no shock that the home nation has five times as many goals as the next best countries.

Jamie Vardy (9), Emile Smith Rowe (8) and Mason Mount, Conor Gallagher and Raheem Sterling (both 7) are the top English scorers.

Overall, Mohamed Salah leads the way with 16, with Egyptian players, not surprisingly, boasting the best minutes per goal ratio, with one coming on average every 123 minutes.

Scotland, meanwhile, have 16 players in the Premier League representing a 4.8% share, of which 14 have played. Between them they have 11 goals in 204 matches, meaning their minutes per goal as a nation is a shocking 1,434.

In the opening season, Scottish players contributed a goal every 693 minutes.

Scotland's top scorers in the Premier League this season

The fact that the Tartan Army's top scorer, Che Adams, has only got four goals illustrates the difficulty Scotland is having in producing top-class strikers and goalscoring midfielders.

The Southampton forward is some way short of his nine from 2020/21 and is just one ahead of John McGinn, a player more known for his tough tackling than his goalscoring (although when he does score they are often memorable).

Manchester United man Scott McTominay, Norwich's Grant Hanley and left-backs Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney all have a goal apiece. Robertson to his credit, does boast eight assists.

It is a brighter picture in the Championship, however, with Scottish players third on the list with 47 behind England (382) and Wales (51).

Strikers Lyndon Dykes (8), Chris Martin (8) and Jacob Brown (7) are their leading contributors.

Scotland's all-time top scorers in the Premier League

Duncan Ferguson

Now assistant to Frank Lampard at Everton, 'Big Dunc' is the top-scoring Scot in Premier League history and there is no doubt that the Toffees could do with this know-how on the pitch at the minute.

His 69 Premier League goals came across 269 appearances during his time at Everton, with two seasons at Newcastle sandwiched in between.

Ferguson was known for his fiery character and aerial ability and Everton fans still to this day love the passion that he shows for the club.

His best goalscoring season was in 1997/98 when the Stirling-born striker scored 11 league goals including a run of seven in seven matches.

Kevin Gallacher

Gallacher made 52 appearances for his national team, scoring nine goals and he is also second on the list of Scottish scorers in the Premier League.

The right-winger or striker played in the Premier League for Coventry as well as Newcastle but he is most fondly remembered for his time at Blackburn Rovers.

Bought to cover for a long-term injury suffered by Alan Shearer, Gallacher made an immediate impact for Rovers, scoring in a 4-1 win over Liverpool. However, two broken legs restricted him to just one appearance in Blackburn's 1994/95 title-winning season.

His work-rate made him loved by fans of all the clubs he played for and he would surely have registered more than the 56 Premier League goals if it hadn't been for injuries.

Steven Fletcher

Striker Fletcher is still going strong in the Championship for Stoke City, but he also played in the top flight for seven seasons notching 53 goals, which puts him third place on the list.

He scored eight Prem goals for Burnley before getting 22 for Wolves and then securing a £12million move to Sunderland. His strike rate wasn't as potent for the Black Cats and the Scotland international only managed 23 in 94 at the Stadium of Light, for a total of 53 goals in 189 appearances.

In 2015, Fletcher became the first Scot to score a hat-trick in an international since 1969 and he has gone on to make 33 national team appearances, with 10 goals.