2008–09 Scottish Premier League

Updated on Jan 15, 2024

Edit

Comment

Season 2008–09 Champions League Rangers Celtic Top goalscorer Kris Boyd (27) Champion Rangers F.C. Goals scored 548		Champions Rangers Average goals/game 2.40 Dates 9 Aug 2008 – 24 May 2009 Location Scotland, United Kingdom

Europa League Heart of Midlothian Falkirk Aberdeen Motherwell Relegated Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. People also search for 2007–08 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. 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. They achieved this comfortably, courtesy of a 3–0 victory. The goals were scored by Kyle Lafferty, Pedro Mendes and the league's top goalscorer, Kris Boyd. Celtic needed to win their final match of the season against Hearts and hope that Rangers failed to win, but their goalless draw was rendered meaningless. It was also Rangers first title in 4 years.

Promotion and relegation from 2007–08

Promoted from First Division to Premier League

Hamilton Academical

Relegated from Premier League

Gretna

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

Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹ Scotland was among the best three associations in the UEFA Fair Play ranking and thus received an additional spot in the UEFA Europa League 2009-10. Since Celtic, the winners of the Scottish Fair Play ranking, already qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2009–10, Motherwell, being the second place team in the ranking, earned a spot in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League 2009–10.
² Since Rangers, the winners of the 2008–09 Scottish Cup, already qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2009–10, Falkirk, being the losing finalist, earned a spot in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League 2009–10.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Matches 1–22

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

Source: BBC Sport
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: 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).

Source: BBC Sport
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.