# 2009–10 Celtic F.C. season

The 2009–10 season was the 116th season of competitive football by Celtic.
Celtic started their 2009–10 campaign by playing in the pre-season Wembley Cup. Their first competitive game of the season was at Celtic Park on 29 July where they were beaten 1–0 by Dynamo Moscow in the 1st leg of the Champions League third-qualifying round for best placed teams. However, in the return leg at Dynamo Stadium on 5 August, Celtic won 2–0 (2–1 on aggregate) thanks to a 44th-minute goal by Scott McDonald and a late injury-time strike from Georgios Samaras, giving Celtic a first away win in Europe since their 1–0 win over MTK Hungaria at Stadium Puskás Ferenc in 2003. The win took Celtic through to the Champions League play-off round, where they lost to Arsenal.
Celtic kicked off their Scottish Premier League campaign with a 3–1 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie Stadium. After 30 games of the season, Tony Mowbray was sacked following Celtic's 4–0 loss to St Mirren, with Celtic 10 points behind league leaders Rangers. Neil Lennon was then appointed caretaker manager until the end of the season; his first match in charge was a 3–1 victory over Kilmarnock on 27 March. Lennon won all the remaining league games, but was unable to prevent Rangers from winning the league title.
Celtic lost their Scottish Cup semi-final against Ross County 2–0. This was Lennon's only defeat during his tenure as interim manager. After the end of the season, Lennon succeeded Tony Mowbray as the next Celtic manager on a permanent basis.

## Player statistics
### Appearances and goals

List of squad players, including number of appearances by competition
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Premier League | Premier League | FA Cup | FA Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Other | Other |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | POL | Artur Boruc | 37 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | GER | Andreas Hinkel | 41 | 0 | 30+1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ENG | Lee Naylor | 19 | 1 | 11+1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2+3 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | SCO | Stephen McManus | 14 | 0 | 6+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | SCO | Gary Caldwell | 24 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | CMR | Landry N'Guémo | 43 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | AUS | Scott McDonald | 29 | 14 | 16+2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 2 | 7+2 | 2 |
| 7 | FW | IRL | Robbie Keane (from February) | 19 | 16 | 15+1 | 12 | 2+1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | SCO | Scott Brown | 29 | 1 | 19+2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | GRE | Georgios Samaras | 45 | 13 | 20+12 | 10 | 3+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 6+2 | 3 |
| 10 | FW | FRA | Marc-Antoine Fortuné | 39 | 12 | 22+8 | 10 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3+3 | 2 |
| 11 | DF | SCO | Danny Fox | 23 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6+1 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | SCO | Mark Wilson | 15 | 0 | 8+2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 13 | FW | SCO | Shaun Maloney | 16 | 4 | 8+1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | NIR | Niall McGinn | 24 | 3 | 6+11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | SEN | Diomansy Kamara | 10 | 3 | 8+1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | IRL | Willo Flood | 4 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | NED | Jos Hooiveld (from January) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | ESP | Marc Crosas | 26 | 0 | 14+3 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ITA | Massimo Donati | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 18 | MF | KOR | Ki Sung-Yueng (from January) | 10 | 0 | 5+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | SCO | Barry Robson | 15 | 2 | 9+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3+1 | 1 |
| 19 | FW | DEN | Morten Rasmussen (from January) | 13 | 3 | 2+8 | 2 | 2+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | NIR | Paddy McCourt | 14 | 3 | 3+6 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 21 | GK | SCO | Mark Brown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | NED | Edson Braafheid (from January) | 12 | 0 | 9+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | NED | Glenn Loovens | 29 | 3 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | ENG | Ben Hutchinson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | GK | POL | Łukasz Załuska | 17 | 0 | 10+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | NOR | Thomas Rogne | 4 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | FW | IRL | Cillian Sheridan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | CHN | Zheng Zhi | 19 | 1 | 9+7 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | JPN | Koki Mizuno | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | MF | SCO | Paul Slane | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | FW | NZL | Chris Killen | 11 | 2 | 2+3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0+4 | 0 |
| 34 | DF | NIR | Daniel Lafferty | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | MF | IRL | Graham Carey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 38 | DF | ENG | Josh Thompson | 21 | 3 | 16+2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | MF | IRL | Aiden McGeady | 49 | 7 | 35 | 7 | 3+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 47 | GK | USA | Dominic Cervi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | DF | IRL | Darren O'Dea | 23 | 1 | 16+3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 49 | MF | SCO | James Forrest | 2 | 1 | 0+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | MF | ITA | Luca Santonocito | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 | MF | SCO | Nicky Riley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 | DF | SCO | Paul Caddis | 13 | 0 | 3+7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 54 | MF | SCO | Ryan Conroy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 | MF | SCO | Paul McGowan | 6 | 1 | 2+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |

### Top scorers

| R | Player | Scottish Premier League | Scottish Cup | Scottish League Cup | Champions League (qualifying) | Europa League | Total |
| 1 | Robbie Keane | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 2 | Scott McDonald | 10 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| 3 | Georgios Samaras | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| 4 | Marc-Antoine Fortuné | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| 5 | Aiden McGeady | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 6 | Shaun Maloney | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 12 | Paddy McCourt | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 | Niall McGinn | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 | Glenn Loovens | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 | Josh Thompson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 | Morten Rasmussen | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 12 | Diomansy Kamara | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 14 | Chris Killen | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 14 | Barry Robson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 22 | Massimo Donati | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Gary Caldwell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Paul McGowan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 22 | Scott Brown | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Darren O'Dea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | James Forrest | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Lee Naylor | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Zheng Zhi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rangers (C) | 38 | 26 | 9 | 3 | 82 | 28 | +54 | 87 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Celtic | 38 | 25 | 6 | 7 | 75 | 39 | +36 | 81 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Dundee United | 38 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 55 | 47 | +8 | 63 | Qualification for the Europa League play-off round |
| 4 | Hibernian | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 58 | 55 | +3 | 54 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Motherwell | 38 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 52 | 54 | −2 | 53 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
* ↑ by winning the Scottish Cup.

### Europa league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | HTA | HSV | CEL | RAP |
| 1 | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 8 | +5 | 12 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 5–1 |
| 2 | Hamburger SV | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 10 | Advance to knockout phase | 4–2 | — | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Celtic | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 | | 2–0 | 0–1 | — | 1–1 |
| 4 | Rapid Wien | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 14 | −6 | 5 | | 0–3 | 3–0 | 3–3 | — |

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Player | From | Fee |
| 1 June 2009 | Łukasz Załuska | Dundee United | 08Free |
| 8 July 2009 | Marc-Antoine Fortuné | AS Nancy | 08£3,800,000 |
| 16 July 2009 | Landry N'Guémo | AS Nancy | 08Loan |
| 24 July 2009 | Danny Fox | Coventry City | 08£1,500,000 |
| 8 August 2009 | Josh Thompson | Stockport County | 08£200,000 |
| 15 August 2009 | Greig Spence | Alloa Athletic | 08£100,000 |
| 25 September 2009 | Zheng Zhi | Charlton Athletic | 08Free |
| 1 January 2010 | Ki Sung-Yueng | FC Seoul | 08£2,100,000 |
| 11 January 2010 | Jos Hooiveld | AIK | 08£2,000,000 |
| 20 January 2010 | Thomas Rogne | Stabæk IF | 08Free |
| 26 January 2010 | Morten Rasmussen | Brøndby | 08£1,300,000 |
| 1 February 2010 | Diomansy Kamara | Fulham | 08Loan |
| 1 February 2010 | Paul Slane | Motherwell | 08£400,000 |
| 1 February 2010 | Edson Braafheid | Bayern Munich | 08Loan |
| 1 February 2010 | Robbie Keane | Tottenham Hotspur | 08Loan |

### Out

| Date | Player | To | Fee |
| 1 July 2009 | Shunsuke Nakamura | RCD Espanyol | Free |
| 2 July 2009 | Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink | Hull City | 08Free |
| 2 July 2009 | Bobo Baldé | Valenciennes | 08Free |
| 25 June 2009 | Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé | Toulouse | 08Free |
| 7 July 2009 | Paul Hartley | Bristol City | 08Free |
| 13 July 2009 | Scott Cuthbert | Swindon Town | 08£300,000 |
| 13 August 2009 | Cillian Sheridan | Plymouth Argyle | 08 Loan |
| 27 August 2009 | Ben Hutchinson | Swindon Town | 08 Loan |
| 27 August 2009 | Simon Ferry | Swindon Town | 08 Loan |
| 30 August 2009 | Massimo Donati | Bari | 08£1,300,000 |
| 1 September 2009 | Darren O'Dea | Reading | 08 Loan |
| 1 September 2009 | Mark Brown | Kilmarnock | 08 Loan |
| 13 November 2009 | John Kennedy | | Retired |
| 13 January 2010 | Gary Caldwell | Wigan Athletic | 08£1,800,000 |
| 13 January 2010 | Barry Robson | Middlesbrough | 08£900,000 |
| 13 January 2010 | Willo Flood | Middlesbrough | 08Free |
| 13 January 2010 | Chris Killen | Middlesbrough | 08Free |
| 14 January 2010 | Ryan Conroy | Partick Thistle | 08 Loan |
| 14 January 2010 | Cillian Sheridan | St Johnstone | 08 Loan |
| 29 January 2010 | Stephen McManus | Middlesbrough | 08 Loan |
| 29 January 2010 | Danny Fox | Burnley | 08£1,800,000 |
| 29 January 2010 | Scott Fox | Queen of the South | 08Loan |
| 30 January 2010 | Mark Brown | Hibernian | 08Free |
| 1 February 2010 | Graham Carey | St Mirren | 08 Loan |
| 1 February 2010 | Scott McDonald | Middlesbrough | 08£3,500,000 |
| 1 February 2010 | Ben Hutchinson | Dundee | 08Loan |
| 18 February 2010 | Nicky Riley | Hamilton Academical | 08Free |