Celtic played the 2000–01 season in the Scottish Premier League. Martin O'Neill became manager and Celtic won a domestic treble of the three major Scottish trophies: the Scottish League Cup, the Scottish Premier League trophy and the Scottish Cup.
Review and events Management Following the departure of John Barnes in February 2000, Martin O'Neill was appointed as manager of Celtic in June 2000. Kenny Dalglish, who was director of football at Celtic, left the club soon after. John Robertson and Steve Walford followed O'Neill from Leicester City to be assistant manager and coach.
League campaign Celtic started their league campaign by going undefeated in 16 games until a heavy defeat to Rangers in November 2000. They lost only two more games, both in May after the league title had been secured. They won the Scottish Premier League with a victory over St Mirren in April, receiving the trophy two weeks later after a 1–0 home win over Hearts, having finished 15 points clear of the runner-up, Rangers, with 97 points.
Striker Henrik Larsson scored 53 goals to set a new Scottish scoring record for a single season.
Key games were:
Dundee United 1-2 Celtic (30 July) - The opening game of the season which set the standard for the rest of the season Celtic 6-2 Rangers (27 August) - The biggest win over rivals Rangers since the Scottish League Cup Final in 1957 Aberdeen 1-1 Celtic (1 October) - An eight-match winning start to the season ended at Aberdeen but a late equaliser secured a point for Celtic Hibernian 0-0 Celtic (29 November) - Celtic ground out a draw after a heavy defeat to Rangers the previous week threatened to derail their season Dundee 1-2 Celtic (10 December) - Celtic snatched all the points with a last minute winner despite being out-played for much of the match Celtic 1-0 Rangers (11 February) - A narrow win for Celtic was enough to prevent Rangers from resurrecting their title challenge Rangers 0-3 Celtic (29 April) - Celtic's first win at Ibrox for six and a half years
Cup competitions Celtic beat Raith Rovers, Hearts and Rangers on the way to the Scottish League Cup final at Hampden Park in March 2001. They won the trophy, beating Kilmarnock 3-0 through a second-half hat-trick by Henrik Larsson despite going down to ten men after Chris Sutton was sent off.
In the Scottish Cup, Celtic beat Stranraer, Dunfermline after a replay, Hearts and Dundee United to reach the final in May 2001, where they beat Hibernian 3–0 with a goal from Jackie McNamara and two goals from Henrik Larsson to complete a domestic treble.
European campaign Celtic had qualified for the UEFA Cup and began their campaign with an 11-0 aggregate win over Jeunesse Esch from Luxembourg in August 2000. A Chris Sutton goal in extra-time in the away leg was enough to see Celtic through the next round 3–2 on aggregate against HJK Helsinki the following month. They were knocked out in the third round of the competition by Girondins de Bordeaux 2–3 on aggregate despite dominating the second leg in Glasgow.
Competition overview
Competitions
Scottish Premier League
League Cup
Scottish Cup
UEFA Cup
Qualifying round
First round
Second round
Statistics
Appearances and goals
List of squad players, including number of appearances by competition
NB: Players with a zero in every column only appeared as unused substitutes
Team statistics League table
Transfers
In DatePlayerFromFee11 July 2000 Chris Sutton Chelsea £6,000,00024 July 2000 Michael McGovern Enniskillen Town United Free28 July 2000 Joos Valgaeren Roda JC £4,800,0001 September 2000 Alan Thompson Aston Villa £2,750,0001 September 2000 Didier Agathe Hibernian £50,00018 October 2000 Rab Douglas Dundee £1,200,0007 December 2000 Neil Lennon Leicester City £5,750,00015 December 2000 Ramon Vega Tottenham Hotspur Loan
Out DatePlayerToFee1 June 2000 Regi Blinker RBC Roosendaal Free1 July 2000 Dave Moore Cork City Free21 July 2000 Mark Viduka Leeds United £6,000,00031 July 2000 Marc Rieper Retired15 September 2000 Rafael Scheidt Corinthians Loan22 September 2000 Mark Burchill Birmingham City Loan29 September 2000 Paul Shields Albion Rovers Loan8 November 2000 Vidar Riseth 1860 Munich Loan1 February 2001 Fernando de Ornelas South China Free8 February 2001 Eyal Berkovic Blackburn Rovers Loan21 February 2001 Mark Burchill Ipswich Town Loan1 March 2001 Liam Keogh Forfar Athletic Loan2 March 2001 Barry John Corr Queen's Park Loan20 March 2000 Vidar Riseth 1860 Munich £1,000,000
Expenditure: £19,900,000 Income: £7,000,000 Total loss/gain: £12,900,000
See also List of Celtic F.C. seasons
References