2008–09 Scottish Premier League

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.

Scottish Premier League

Season	2008–09
Dates	9 August 2008 – 24 May 2009
Champions	Rangers 5th Premier League title 52nd Scottish title
Relegated	Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Champions League	Rangers Celtic
Europa League	Heart of Midlothian Falkirk Aberdeen Motherwell
Matches played	228
Goals scored	548 (2.4 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kris Boyd (27)
Biggest home win	Celtic 7–0 St Mirren (28 February)
Biggest away win	Kilmarnock 0–4 Rangers (9 November) Dundee United 0–4 Motherwell (18 January)
Highest scoring	Rangers 7–1 Hamilton Academical (6 December)
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

For the second season in succession, 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 retain the title. In the end, Rangers won 3–0 with goals by Kyle Lafferty, Pedro Mendes and the league's top goalscorer, Kris Boyd, clinching their first title in four years.^[2] Meanwhile, Celtic and Hearts drew 0-0.^[2]

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.

Clubs

Promotion and relegation from 2007–08

Promoted from First Division to Premier League

• Hamilton Academical

Relegated from Premier League

• Gretna

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	Aberdeen Dundee United Falkirk Hamilton Hearts Hibernian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Rangers St Mirren Celtic Motherwell Location of teams in 2008–09 Scottish Premier League		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	Jimmy Calderwood	Nike	Team Recruitment
Celtic	Gordon Strachan	Nike	Carling
Dundee United	Craig Levein	hummel	Carbrini
Falkirk	John Hughes	Puma	Central Demolition
Hamilton Academical	Billy Reid	Nike	Morris Furniture (H) / UPVC Window & Door Company (A)
Heart of Midlothian	Csaba László	Umbro	Ukio Bankas
Hibernian	Mixu Paatelainen	Le Coq Sportif	Whyte and Mackay
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Terry Butcher	Erreà	Flybe
Kilmarnock	Jim Jefferies	1869	Smallworld
Motherwell	Mark McGhee	Bukta	JAXX
Rangers	Walter Smith	Umbro	Carling
St Mirren	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	Stephen Frail	9 July 2008[15]	Caretaker spell ended	Pre-season	Csaba László	11 July 2008[16]
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Craig Brewster	19 January 2009[citation needed]	Sacked	12th	Terry Butcher	27 January 2009[17]

Events

Main article: 2008–09 in Scottish football § Notable events

• 8 August – Former SPL members and Scottish Cup finalists Gretna are formally liquidated by the club's administrators^[18]
• 3 January – St Mirren drew 0–0 with Motherwell in their last game at Love Street before they moved to New St Mirren Park^[19]
• 31 January – St Mirren drew 1–1 with Kilmarnock in their first match at their new stadium^[20]
• 2 May – St Johnstone won promotion to the Scottish Premier League as First Division champions following a 3–1 win over Greenock Morton^[21]
• 23 May – Inverness Caledonian Thistle were relegated after losing 1–0 to Falkirk at the Caledonian Stadium^[22]

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	Kris Boyd	Rangers	27
2	Scott McDonald	Celtic	16
3	Georgios Samaras	Celtic	15
4	David Clarkson	Motherwell	13
5	Derek Riordan	Hibernian	12
6	Steven Fletcher	Hibernian	11
7	Andy Dorman	St Mirren	10
	Kenny Miller	Rangers
	Lee Miller	Aberdeen
	Francisco Sandaza	Dundee United
	John Sutton	Motherwell

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

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Scottish Premier League hat-tricks

Scorer	For	Against	Date	Report
Kris Boyd	Rangers	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	1 November 2008	BBC Sport
Kris Boyd	Rangers	Hamilton Academical	6 December 2008	BBC Sport
Chris Porter	Motherwell	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	27 December 2008	BBC Sport
Shunsuke Nakamura	Celtic	St Mirren	28 February 2009	BBC Sport
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

Main article: Scottish Premier League monthly awards

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

Clydesdale Bank Premier League Awards

Award	Recipient
Player of the Season	Gary Caldwell (Celtic)
Manager of the Season	Csaba László (Heart of Midlothian)
Young Player of the Season	Steven Fletcher (Hibernian)
Goal of the Season	Marc Crosas (Celtic v St Mirren)
Save of the Season	Graeme Smith (Motherwell v St Mirren)
Under-19 League Player of the Season	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]