2008–09 Scottish Premier League

103rd season of top-tier football league in Scotland

Football league season
Scottish Premier League
Season2008–09
Dates9 August 2008 – 24 May 2009
ChampionsRangers
5th Premier League title
52nd Scottish title
RelegatedInverness Caledonian Thistle
Champions LeagueRangers
Celtic
Europa LeagueHeart of Midlothian
Falkirk
Aberdeen
Motherwell
Matches played228
Goals scored548 (2.4 per match)
Top goalscorerKris Boyd (27)
Biggest home winCeltic 7–0 St Mirren (28 February)
Biggest away winKilmarnock 0–4 Rangers (9 November)
Dundee United 0–4 Motherwell (18 January)
Highest scoringRangers 7–1 Hamilton Academical (6 December)

The 2008–09 Scottish Premier League season was the eleventh season of the Scottish Premier League and the second season under the sponsorship of the Clydesdale Bank. It began on 9 August 2008 with a game between Falkirk and Rangers.[1] After the 33rd round of matches, the league split in half and each team played a further five matches against the teams in their half of the league.

Champions Rangers qualified directly for the Champions League, while second-placed Celtic qualified for the qualifying rounds. Four teams qualified for the new Europa League: Hearts and Aberdeen via league position, Falkirk via the Scottish Cup, and Motherwell by the Fair Play initiative. Inverness were relegated after their fifth season in the SPL and were replaced by St Johnstone for the following season's competition.

The championship was determined on the final day of the season. Leaders Rangers travelled to Tannadice to play Dundee United knowing that a win would secure the title. Meanwhile, Celtic needed to win their final match of the season against Hearts at Celtic Park and hope that Rangers failed to win to clinch the title. In the end, Rangers achieved this comfortably, courtesy of a 3–0 victory with goals scored by Kyle Lafferty, Pedro Mendes and the league's top goalscorer, Kris Boyd, clinching their first title in 4 years.[2] Meanwhile, Celtic drew Hearts 0-0.[2]

Clubs

Promotion and relegation from 2007–08

Promoted from First Division to Premier League

Relegated from Premier League

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen Celtic Dundee United Falkirk
Pittodrie Stadium Celtic Park Tannadice Park Falkirk Stadium
Capacity: 20,866[3] Capacity: 60,411[4] Capacity: 14,223[5] Capacity: 7,937[6]
Hamilton Academical Heart of Midlothian
New Douglas Park Tynecastle Park
Capacity: 5,510[7] Capacity: 17,420[8]
Hibernian Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Easter Road Caledonian Stadium
Capacity: 16,531[9] Capacity: 7,500[10]
Kilmarnock Motherwell Rangers St Mirren
Rugby Park Fir Park Ibrox Stadium Love Street (until 3 January)
St Mirren Park (from 31 January)
Capacity: 17,889[11] Capacity: 13,677[12] Capacity: 50,817[13] Capacity: 8,023[14]

Personnel and kits

Team Manager Kit manufacturer Kit sponsor
Aberdeen Scotland Jimmy Calderwood Nike Team Recruitment
Celtic Scotland Gordon Strachan Nike Carling
Dundee United Scotland Craig Levein hummel Carbrini
Falkirk Scotland John Hughes Puma Central Demolition
Hamilton Academical Scotland Billy Reid Nike Morris Furniture (H) /
UPVC Window & Door Company (A)
Heart of Midlothian Hungary Csaba László Umbro Ukio Bankas
Hibernian Finland Mixu Paatelainen Le Coq Sportif Whyte and Mackay
Inverness Caledonian Thistle England Terry Butcher Erreà Flybe
Kilmarnock Scotland Jim Jefferies 1869 Smallworld
Motherwell Scotland Mark McGhee Bukta JAXX
Rangers Scotland Walter Smith Umbro Carling
St Mirren Scotland Gus MacPherson hummel Braehead Shopping Centre

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Manner of departure Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Heart of Midlothian Scotland Stephen Frail 9 July 2008[15] Caretaker spell ended Pre-season Hungary Csaba László 11 July 2008[16]
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Scotland Craig Brewster 19 January 2009[citation needed] Sacked 12th England Terry Butcher 27 January 2009[17]

Events

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[a]
1 Rangers (C) 38 26 8 4 77 28 +49 86 Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2 Celtic 38 24 10 4 80 33 +47 82 Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
3 Heart of Midlothian 38 16 11 11 40 37 +3 59 Qualification for the Europa League play-off round
4 Aberdeen 38 14 11 13 41 40 +1 53 Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
5 Dundee United 38 13 14 11 47 50 −3 53
6 Hibernian 38 11 14 13 42 46 −4 47
7 Motherwell 38 13 9 16 46 51 −5 48 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[b]
8 Kilmarnock 38 12 8 18 38 48 −10 44
9 Hamilton Academical 38 12 5 21 30 53 −23 41
10 Falkirk 38 9 11 18 37 52 −15 38 Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[c]
11 St Mirren 38 9 10 19 33 52 −19 37
12 Inverness Caledonian Thistle (R) 38 10 7 21 37 58 −21 37 Relegation to the First Division
Source: Scottish Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
  2. ^ Scotland were awarded an additional Europa League place as the association finished in third place of the UEFA Fair Play ranking. Motherwell earned this place as winners of the Scottish Fair Play ranking.
  3. ^ Since Rangers, the winners of the Scottish Cup, already qualified for the Champions League via their league position, Falkirk, the losing finalist, earned a spot in the Europa League.

Results

Matches 1–22

During their first 22 matches, each team played every other team home and away.

Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN FAL HAM HOM HIB INV KIL MOT RAN STM
Aberdeen 4–2 0–1 2–1 1–2 1–0 1–2 0–2 1–0 2–0 1–1 2–0
Celtic 3–2 2–2 3–0 4–0 1–1 4–2 1–0 3–0 2–0 2–4 1–0
Dundee United 2–1 1–1 1–0 1–1 3–0 2–0 2–1 0–2 0–4 2–2 2–0
Falkirk 0–1 0–3 0–0 4–1 2–1 1–1 1–2 1–1 1–0 0–1 1–2
Hamilton Academical 2–0 1–2 3–1 1–1 1–2 0–1 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–3 1–2
Heart of Midlothian 1–1 0–2 0–0 2–1 1–0 0–0 1–0 1–2 3–2 2–1 2–1
Hibernian 2–2 2–0 2–1 3–2 2–0 1–1 1–2 2–4 0–1 0–3 2–0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0–3 1–2 1–3 1–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 3–1 1–2 0–3 1–2
Kilmarnock 1–2 1–3 2–0 1–2 1–0 0–2 1–0 1–2 1–0 0–4 0–1
Motherwell 0–1 2–4 1–1 3–2 2–0 1–0 1–4 3–2 0–2 0–0 2–1
Rangers 2–0 0–1 3–3 3–1 7–1 2–0 1–0 5–0 2–1 2–1 2–1
St Mirren 0–1 1–3 0–2 1–1 1–0 0–1 0–0 2–0 0–0 0–0 1–0
Source: BBC Sport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33

During matches 23–33 each team played every other team once (either at home or away).

Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN FAL HAM HOM HIB INV KIL MOT RAN STM
Aberdeen 2–2 1–0 1–0 0–0 0–0
Celtic 2–0 4–0 4–0 3–1 0–0 7–0
Dundee United 2–2 0–1 2–2 1–1 0–0 3–2
Falkirk 1–0 0–1 1–2 0–0 4–0 0–1
Hamilton Academical 0–1 2–0 0–1 0–1 0–0
Heart of Midlothian 2–1 1–1 3–2 3–1 2–1 1–1
Hibernian 0–0 0–0 1–0 1–1 2–3
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0–0 1–1 2–0 2–1 1–2 2–1
Kilmarnock 1–2 3–0 0–1 1–1 0–0
Motherwell 1–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 1–0 0–2
Rangers 2–0 2–2 0–1 3–1 3–1
St Mirren 1–1 2–2 1–1 1–1 1–2
Source: BBC Sport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 34–38

During matches 34–38 each team play every other team in their half of the table once.

Top six

Home \ Away ABE CEL DUN HOM HIB RAN
Aberdeen 1–3 0–0 2–1
Celtic 2–1 0–0
Dundee United 1–1 0–3
Heart of Midlothian 3–0 0–1
Hibernian 0–0 1–2 1–1
Rangers 2–1 1–0 2–0
Source: BBC Sport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom six

Home \ Away FAL HAM INV KIL MOT STM
Falkirk 2–1 0–2
Hamilton Academical 0–1 2–1 0–3
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0–1 1–1
Kilmarnock 1–1 1–0 2–1
Motherwell 2–2 1–2
St Mirren 0–1 1–2 1–3
Source: BBC Sport
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Goals

Top scorers

Rank Scorer Team Goals
1 Scotland Kris Boyd Rangers 27
2 Australia Scott McDonald Celtic 16
3 Greece Georgios Samaras Celtic 15
4 Scotland David Clarkson Motherwell 13
5 Scotland Derek Riordan Hibernian 12
6 Scotland Steven Fletcher Hibernian 11
7 Wales Andy Dorman St Mirren 10
Scotland Kenny Miller Rangers
Scotland Lee Miller Aberdeen
Spain Francisco Sandaza Dundee United
England John Sutton Motherwell

Last updated: 24 May 2009
Source: BBC Sport Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine

Hat-tricks

Scorer For Against Date Report
Scotland Kris Boyd Rangers Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1 November 2008 BBC Sport
Scotland Kris Boyd Rangers Hamilton Academical 6 December 2008 BBC Sport
England Chris Porter Motherwell Inverness Caledonian Thistle 27 December 2008 BBC Sport
Japan Shunsuke Nakamura Celtic St Mirren 28 February 2009 BBC Sport
Scotland Kevin Kyle Kilmarnock Falkirk 11 April 2009 BBC Sport

Attendances

Team Stadium Capacity Highest Lowest Average
Celtic Celtic Park 60,355 59,685[23] 55,117[24] 57,761[25]
Rangers Ibrox Stadium 51,082 50,403[26] 48,129[27] 49,534[25]
Heart of Midlothian Tynecastle Stadium 17,420 17,244[28] 12,030[29] 14,398[25]
Aberdeen Pittodrie Stadium 22,199 20,441[30] 8,909[31] 12,929[25]
Hibernian Easter Road 17,500 17,223[32] 10,317[33] 12,684[25]
Dundee United Tannadice Park 14,209 14,077[34] 5,926[35] 8,654[25]
Kilmarnock Rugby Park 18,128 10,153[36] 4,267[37] 5,727[25]
Falkirk Falkirk Stadium 6,935 6,853[38] 4,385[39] 5,640[25]
Motherwell Fir Park 13,742 9,600[40] 2,818[41] 5,522[25]
St Mirren Love Street[42] 10,800 10,189[43] 3,364[44] 5,411[25]
New St Mirren Park 8,000
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Caledonian Stadium 7,500 7,143[45] 2,578[46] 4,457[25]
Hamilton Academical New Douglas Park 6,000 5,895[47] 2,600[48] 3,823[25]

Awards

Monthly awards

Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month Young Player of the Month
Manager Club Player Club Player Club
August Scotland Jim Jefferies[49] Kilmarnock Portugal Pedro Mendes[50] Rangers Scotland James McArthur[51] Hamilton Academical
September Scotland Gordon Strachan[52] Celtic Greece Georgios Samaras[52] Celtic Scotland Scott Arfield[53] Falkirk
October Scotland Gus MacPherson[54] St Mirren Scotland Scott Brown[55] Celtic Scotland Steven Fletcher[56] Hibernian
November Scotland Gordon Strachan[57] Celtic Portugal Bruno Aguiar[58] Heart of Midlothian England Sone Aluko[59] Aberdeen
December Scotland Gus MacPherson[60] St Mirren Scotland Lee Miller[61] Aberdeen Republic of Ireland James McCarthy[62] Hamilton Academical
January Scotland Billy Reid[63] Hamilton Academical Czech Republic Tomas Cerny[63] Hamilton Academical Republic of Ireland James McCarthy[63] Hamilton Academical
February Scotland Mark McGhee[64] Motherwell Wales Andy Dorman[65] St Mirren Scotland Lee Wallace[66] Heart of Midlothian
March Finland Mixu Paatelainen[67] Hibernian Australia Scott McDonald[68] Celtic Scotland Steven Fletcher[69] Hibernian
April Scotland Walter Smith[70] Rangers Wales Andy Dorman[71] St Mirren Scotland Calum Elliot[72] Heart of Midlothian

Clydesdale Bank Premier League Awards

Award Recipient
Player of the Season Scotland Gary Caldwell (Celtic)
Manager of the Season Hungary Csaba László (Heart of Midlothian)
Young Player of the Season Scotland Steven Fletcher (Hibernian)
Goal of the Season Spain Marc Crosas (Celtic v St Mirren)
Save of the Season Scotland Graeme Smith (Motherwell v St Mirren)
Under-19 League Player of the Season Scotland Sean Welsh (Hibernian)
Best Club Media Relations Motherwell
Best Fan Marketing Initiative Rangers
Best Matchday Hospitality Rangers
Best Community Initiative Falkirk
Best Away Ground Tynecastle (Heart of Midlothian)

[73]

References

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