# 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. 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 | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | Heart of Midlothian |
| New Douglas Park | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | Tynecastle Park |
| Capacity: 5,510 | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | Capacity: 17,420 |
| Hibernian | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | Inverness Caledonian Thistle |
| Easter Road | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | Caledonian Stadium |
| Capacity: 16,531 | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | AberdeenDundee UnitedFalkirkHamiltonHeartsHibernianInverness Caledonian ThistleKilmarnockRangersSt MirrenCeltic Motherwellclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2007–08 Scottish Premier League | 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 2008 | Caretaker spell ended | Pre-season | Csaba László | 11 July 2008 |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | Craig Brewster | 19 January 2009 | Sacked | 12th | Terry Butcher | 27 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

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ 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 | |

### 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 | |

### Matches 34–38

During matches 34–38 each team play every other team in their half of the table once.

## 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 |
| 7 | Kenny Miller | Rangers | 10 |
| 7 | Lee Miller | Aberdeen | 10 |
| 7 | Francisco Sandaza | Dundee United | 10 |
| 7 | John Sutton | Motherwell | 10 |
Last updated: 24 May 2009 Source: BBC Sport Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine

### 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 | 55,117 | 57,761 |
| Rangers | Ibrox Stadium | 51,082 | 50,403 | 48,129 | 49,534 |
| Heart of Midlothian | Tynecastle Stadium | 17,420 | 17,244 | 12,030 | 14,398 |
| Aberdeen | Pittodrie Stadium | 22,199 | 20,441 | 8,909 | 12,929 |
| Hibernian | Easter Road | 17,500 | 17,223 | 10,317 | 12,684 |
| Dundee United | Tannadice Park | 14,209 | 14,077 | 5,926 | 8,654 |
| Kilmarnock | Rugby Park | 18,128 | 10,153 | 4,267 | 5,727 |
| Falkirk | Falkirk Stadium | 6,935 | 6,853 | 4,385 | 5,640 |
| Motherwell | Fir Park | 13,742 | 9,600 | 2,818 | 5,522 |
| St Mirren | Love Street | 10,800 | 10,189 | 3,364 | 5,411 |
| St Mirren | New St Mirren Park | 8,000 | 10,189 | 3,364 | 5,411 |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | Caledonian Stadium | 7,500 | 7,143 | 2,578 | 4,457 |
| Hamilton Academical | New Douglas Park | 6,000 | 5,895 | 2,600 | 3,823 |

## Awards
### Monthly awards

| Month | Manager of the Month | Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | Player of the Month | Young Player of the Month | Young Player of the Month |
| Month | Manager | Club | Player | Club | Player | Club |
| August | Jim Jefferies | Kilmarnock | Pedro Mendes | Rangers | James McArthur | Hamilton Academical |
| September | Gordon Strachan | Celtic | Georgios Samaras | Celtic | Scott Arfield | Falkirk |
| October | Gus MacPherson | St Mirren | Scott Brown | Celtic | Steven Fletcher | Hibernian |
| November | Gordon Strachan | Celtic | Bruno Aguiar | Heart of Midlothian | Sone Aluko | Aberdeen |
| December | Gus MacPherson | St Mirren | Lee Miller | Aberdeen | James McCarthy | Hamilton Academical |
| January | Billy Reid | Hamilton Academical | Tomas Cerny | Hamilton Academical | James McCarthy | Hamilton Academical |
| February | Mark McGhee | Motherwell | Andy Dorman | St Mirren | Lee Wallace | Heart of Midlothian |
| March | Mixu Paatelainen | Hibernian | Scott McDonald | Celtic | Steven Fletcher | Hibernian |
| April | Walter Smith | Rangers | Andy Dorman | St Mirren | Calum Elliot | 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) |