Dean Shiels Cup Final, which Kilmarnock won after beating Celtic 1–0. Shiels was shortlisted for the SPFA Players' Player of the Year award, along with Jon Daly, Steven Davis and Charlie Mulgrew. Shiels rejected the offer of a new contract with Kilmarnock and left the club at the end of the season. Shiels signed for Rangers on 31 July 2012. Kilmarnock's chairman Michael Johnson believes Rangers had underestimate Kilmarnock to get Shiels. Shiels vowed to make the club win a trophy this season and revealed he turned down clubs around Europe, which he could even play in the Champions League; instead, preferring
Racism in association football fans had sung "The Famine Song" at Celtic Park. "The Famine Song" was also sung in March 2011 at a Scottish football game by Rangers fans, nevertheless, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill described the match as a "great advert for Scottish football". "The Herald" journalist Doug Gillon has written that "the sectarian intolerance which divides Scottish society [...] is rooted in anti-Irish racism". In February 2011, in an Old Firm match at Celtic Park, a Celtic supporter was caught mocking black Rangers player El Hadji Diouf with monkey noises and gestures as he was about to take a corner kick.