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. 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.
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. Meanwhile, Celtic and Hearts drew 0-0.
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 Capacity: 60,411 Capacity: 14,223 Capacity: 7,937 Hamilton Academical Heart of Midlothian New Douglas Park Tynecastle Park Capacity: 5,510 Capacity: 17,420 Hibernian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Easter Road Caledonian Stadium Capacity: 16,531 Capacity: 7,500 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 Capacity: 13,677 Capacity: 50,817 Capacity: 8,023
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 2008Caretaker spell endedPre-season Csaba László11 July 2008 Inverness Caledonian Thistle Craig Brewster19 January 2009Sacked12th Terry Butcher27 January 2009
Events
8 August – Former SPL members and Scottish Cup finalists Gretna are formally liquidated by the club's administrators 3 January – St Mirren drew 0–0 with Motherwell in their last game at Love Street before they moved to New St Mirren Park 31 January – St Mirren drew 1–1 with Kilmarnock in their first match at their new stadium 2 May – St Johnstone won promotion to the Scottish Premier League as First Division champions following a 3–1 win over Greenock Morton 23 May – Inverness Caledonian Thistle were relegated after losing 1–0 to Falkirk at the Caledonian Stadium
League table
Results
Matches 1–22 During their first 22 matches, each team played every other team home and away.
Matches 23–33 During matches 23–33 each team played every other team once (either at home or away).
Matches 34–38 During matches 34–38 each team play every other team in their half of the table once.
Top six
Bottom six
Goals
Top scorers RankScorerTeamGoals1 Kris BoydRangers272 Scott McDonaldCeltic163 Georgios SamarasCeltic154 David ClarksonMotherwell135 Derek RiordanHibernian126 Steven FletcherHibernian117 Andy DormanSt Mirren10 Kenny MillerRangers Lee MillerAberdeen Francisco SandazaDundee United John SuttonMotherwell
Last updated: 24 May 2009Source: BBC Sport
Hat-tricks
ScorerForAgainstDateReport Kris BoydRangersInverness Caledonian Thistle1 November 2008BBC Sport Kris BoydRangersHamilton Academical6 December 2008BBC Sport Chris PorterMotherwellInverness Caledonian Thistle27 December 2008BBC Sport Shunsuke NakamuraCelticSt Mirren28 February 2009BBC Sport Kevin KyleKilmarnockFalkirk11 April 2009BBC Sport
Attendances Team Stadium Capacity Highest Lowest AverageCelticCeltic Park 60,355 59,685Celtic 0–0 Hearts Soccerbase, 24 May 2009 55,117Celtic 1–0 Inverness CT Soccerbase, 29 November 2008 57,761Statistics , Scottish Premier LeagueRangersIbrox Stadium 51,082 50,403Rangers 0–1 Celtic Soccerbase, 27 December 2008 48,129Rangers 0–1 Inverness CT Soccerbase, 4 March 2009 49,534Heart of MidlothianTynecastle Stadium 17,420 17,244Hearts 0–0 Hibernian Soccerbase, 3 January 2009 12,030Hearts 1–0 Hamilton Soccerbase, 12 November 2008 14,398AberdeenPittodrie Stadium 22,199 20,441Aberdeen 0–0 Rangers Soccerbase, 24 January 2009 8,909Aberdeen 2–1 Falkirk Soccerbase, 13 December 2008 12,929HibernianEaster Road 17,500 17,223Hibernian 1–1 Hearts Soccerbase, 19 October 2008 10,317Hibernian 2–0 St Mirren Soccerbase, 17 January 2009 12,684Dundee UnitedTannadice Park 14,209 14,077Dundee Utd 0–3 Rangers Soccerbase, 24 May 2009 5,926Dundee Utd 1–1 Inverness CT Soccerbase, 14 February 2009 8,654KilmarnockRugby Park 18,128 10,153Kilmarnock 0–4 Rangers Soccerbase, 9 November 2008 4,267Kilmarnock 1–2 Falkirk Soccerbase, 25 October 2008 5,727FalkirkFalkirk Stadium 6,935 6,853Falkirk 0–1 Rangers Soccerbase, 5 April 2009 4,385Falkirk 0–1 Dundee Utd Soccerbase, 3 March 2009 5,640MotherwellFir Park 13,742 9,600Motherwell 0–1 Rangers Soccerbase, 12 November 2008 2,818Motherwell 2–2 Inverness CT Soccerbase, 13 May 2009 5,522St MirrenLove StreetSt Mirren played their final game at Love Street on 3 January 2009 10,80010,189 Soccerbase, 3 January 20093,364St Mirren 2–0 Inverness CT Soccerbase, 13 December 20085,411New St Mirren Park 8,000Inverness Caledonian ThistleCaledonian Stadium 7,500 7,143Inverness CT 1–2 Celtic Soccerbase, 18 October 2008 2,578Inverness CT 2–0 Kilmarnock Soccerbase, 7 February 2009 4,457Hamilton AcademicalNew Douglas Park 6,000 5,895Hamilton 0–1 Rangers Soccerbase, 28 February 2009 2,600Hamilton 1–1 Falkirk Soccerbase, 8 November 2008 3,823
Awards
Monthly awards
MonthManager of the MonthPlayer of the MonthYoung Player of the MonthManagerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubAugust Jim JefferiesKilmarnock Pedro MendesRangers James McArthurHamilton AcademicalSeptember Gordon StrachanCeltic Georgios SamarasCeltic Scott ArfieldFalkirkOctober Gus MacPhersonSt Mirren Scott BrownCeltic Steven FletcherHibernianNovember Gordon StrachanCeltic Bruno AguiarHeart of Midlothian Sone AlukoAberdeenDecember Gus MacPhersonSt Mirren Lee MillerAberdeen James McCarthyHamilton AcademicalJanuary Billy ReidHamilton Academical Tomas CernyHamilton Academical James McCarthyHamilton AcademicalFebruary Mark McGheeMotherwell Andy DormanSt Mirren Lee WallaceHeart of MidlothianMarch Mixu PaatelainenHibernian Scott McDonaldCeltic Steven FletcherHibernianApril Walter SmithRangers Andy DormanSt Mirren Calum ElliotHeart of Midlothian
Clydesdale Bank Premier League Awards AwardRecipientPlayer 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 RelationsMotherwellBest Fan Marketing InitiativeRangersBest Matchday HospitalityRangersBest Community InitiativeFalkirkBest Away GroundTynecastle (Heart of Midlothian)
PFA Scotland Team of the Year Goalkeeper Allan McGregor(Rangers)Defenders Andreas Hinkel(Celtic) Madjid Bougherra(Rangers) Gary Caldwell(Celtic) Saša Papac(Rangers) Midfielders Scott Brown(Celtic) Steven Davis(Rangers) Pedro Mendes(Rangers) Aiden McGeady(Celtic) Forwards Kenny Miller(Rangers) Scott McDonald(Celtic)
References