# 2008–09 Celtic F.C. season

The 2008–09 season was the 115th season of competitive football by Celtic.

## Overview

Celtic went into the 2008–09 season defending their Scottish Premier League title, which they won for the third consecutive time in 2007–08.
They also entered the UEFA Champions League directly at the group stage, as well as taking part in the two domestic cup competitions, the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup.
To prepare for the Season, Celtic took part in two Pre-Season Tournaments; the Algarve Challenge Cup in Faro, Portugal, where they finished bottom, having faced Middlesbrough and Cardiff City, and the Feyenoord Jubilee Tournament in Rotterdam, where they finished second, having faced Tottenham Hotspur and host club Feyenoord.

## The campaign
### League campaign

The Championship flag was unfurled before Celtic's first League game, against St Mirren at Celtic Park on 10 August by Rosemary Burns, the widow of former Celtic player Tommy Burns, who had died of skin cancer at the end of season 2007–08. Celtic won the game 1–0, through a Barry Robson penalty, getting their campaign off to a winning start.
Celtic finished second in the SPL table at the end of the season, eventually finishing four points behind champions Rangers. This was despite at one point having built up a seven-point lead over Rangers. This lead was squandered though, Celtic dropping points to Dundee United, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Motherwell, Rangers themselves, and on two occasions to both Hibernian and Hearts.
One day after the final league game of the season, a 0–0 draw with Hearts at Celtic Park, it was announced that Gordon Strachan would leave as manager of Celtic with immediate effect. This brought to an end Strachan's four-year spell as manager, during which he guided the club to three SPL titles, one Scottish Cup and two Scottish League Cups. He also guided the club twice into the last 16 of the Champions League, losing out to AC Milan and Barcelona respectively.

### European campaign

Celtic, as Scottish champions, qualified directly for the UEFA Champions League, where they were the sole Scottish side as Rangers were knocked out in the second qualifying round by FBK Kaunas, meaning Celtic received all the TV money allocated to Scotland.
Celtic were in Pot 3 for the group stage draw, which took place in Monaco on 28 August. They were drawn with Manchester United, Villarreal and Aalborg. The first game, a home tie against Aalborg, finished in a goalless draw. The next game, away to Villarreal, ended in a 1–0 defeat, which was followed by a 3–0 defeat away to Manchester United. Next up, at home, Celtic drew 1–1 with Manchester United, with Scott McDonald putting Celtic in the lead in the 13th minute, only for Ryan Giggs to equalise for Manchester United in the 84th minute. A disappointing 2–1 defeat to Aalborg in Denmark saw Celtic's European aspirations end, despite having taken the lead through Barry Robson. Nonetheless, Celtic rallied to end their campaign on a high with a 2–0 victory over Villarreal at Celtic Park.

### Domestic cups

Celtic entered the Scottish League Cup at the third round proper (the last 16 stage) and the Scottish Cup at the fourth round proper (the Round of 32). The club beat Livingston 4–0 in the third round of the League Cup on 23 September, and travelled to Kilmarnock on 28 October, beating them 3–1 and qualifying for the semi-finals, where they faced Dundee United at Hampden Park on 28 January. After a 0–0 draw in extra time, Celtic won a penalty shoot-out 11–10 to set up a final against Rangers on 15 March. The team won the 2009 Scottish League Cup Final 2–0 after extra time at Hampden, with Darren O'Dea and Aiden McGeady getting the goals.
The fourth round of the Scottish Cup took place on 10 January, with Celtic beating Dundee at Celtic Park. In the fifth round, Celtic hosted Queen's Park on 7 February, beating them 2–1. In the quarter-finals, Celtic lost 1–0 at St Mirren on 7 March.

### Competitions

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### UEFA Champions League
#### Group stage
## 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 | 47 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | GER | Andreas Hinkel | 42 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ENG | Lee Naylor | 30 | 1 | 19+4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | SCO | Stephen McManus | 41 | 4 | 31 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | SCO | Gary Caldwell | 47 | 4 | 36 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | GUI | Dianbobo Balde | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | AUS | Scott McDonald | 47 | 19 | 33+1 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4+2 | 1 |
| 8 | MF | SCO | Scott Brown | 48 | 7 | 36 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3+1 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | GRE | Georgios Samaras | 41 | 17 | 19+12 | 15 | 0+3 | 0 | 1+2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | NED | Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink | 32 | 6 | 15+10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | SCO | Paul Hartley | 33 | 3 | 20+5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | SCO | Mark Wilson | 25 | 0 | 15+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 13 | FW | SCO | Shaun Maloney | 30 | 5 | 14+7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 4+2 | 1 |
| 14 | MF | NIR | Niall McGinn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | CZE | Milan Mišůn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | MF | IRL | Willo Flood | 5 | 0 | 2+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | ESP | Marc Crosas | 22 | 1 | 14+4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ITA | Massimo Donati | 8 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | SCO | Barry Robson | 24 | 2 | 13+4 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 |
| 20 | MF | NIR | Paddy McCourt | 5 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | GK | SCO | Mark Brown | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | NED | Glenn Loovens | 23 | 4 | 13+4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | ENG | Ben Hutchinson | 4 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | CMR | Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | JPN | Shunsuke Nakamura | 42 | 9 | 30+2 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 26 | FW | IRL | Cillian Sheridan | 16 | 4 | 6+6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | JPN | Koki Mizuno | 10 | 1 | 2+8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | FW | NZL | Chris Killen | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | DF | SCO | John Kennedy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | MF | NZL | Michael McGlinchey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | MF | IRL | Aiden McGeady | 40 | 7 | 21+8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3+1 | 1 |
| 48 | DF | IRL | Darren O'Dea | 16 | 2 | 7+3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 52 | DF | SCO | Paul Caddis | 7 | 0 | 0+5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 54 | MF | SCO | Ryan Conroy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 | MF | SCO | Paul McGowan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |

### Top scorers

| R | Player | Scottish Premier League | Scottish League Cup | Scottish Cup | UEFA Champions League | Total |
| 1 | Scott McDonald | 16 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 19 |
| 2 | Georgios Samaras | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 3 | Shunsuke Nakamura | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 4 | Scott Brown | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| 4 | Aiden McGeady | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 5 | Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 6 | Shaun Maloney | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| 7 | Cillian Sheridan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | Stephen McManus | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 | Glenn Loovens | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 | Paul Hartley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | Gary Caldwell | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 | Barry Robson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Darren O'Dea | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Koki Mizuno | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Marc Crosas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Lee Naylor | 1 | 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 | 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 | |
* ↑ 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.

### Champions league table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | MUN | VIL | AAB | CEL |
| 1 | Manchester United | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 10 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 0–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 |
| 2 | Villarreal | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 9 | Advance to knockout phase | 0–0 | — | 6–3 | 1–0 |
| 3 | AaB | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 14 | −5 | 6 | Transfer to UEFA Cup | 0–3 | 2–2 | — | 2–1 |
| 4 | Celtic | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 5 | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | — |

## Technical staff

| Position | Staff |
| Manager | Gordon Strachan |
| Assistant Manager | Gary Pendrey |
| First team Coach | Neil Lennon |
| Goalkeeping Coach | Jim Blyth |
| Head of Youth Academy | Chris McCart |
| Head of Recruitment | John Park |
| Physiotherapist | Graeme Parsons |
| Physiotherapist | Gavin McCarthy |
| Doctor | Derek McCormack |
| Head of Sports Science | Greg Dupont |
| Strength & Conditioning Coach | Benjamin Mackenzie |
Last updated: 12 June 2017 Source:

## Transfers
### In

| Date | Player | From | Fee |
| 19 June 2008 | Paddy McCourt | Derry City | 08£500,000 |
| 15 July 2008 | Georgios Samaras | Manchester City | 08£3,000,000 |
| 15 July 2008 | Matty Hughes | Rochdale | 08Undisclosed |
| 10 August 2008 | Marc Crosas | Barcelona | 08 £400,000 |
| 16 August 2008 | Glenn Loovens | Cardiff City | 08£2,500,000 |
| 22 August 2008 | Shaun Maloney | Aston Villa | 08£2,200,000 |
| 16 December 2008 | Niall McGinn | Derry City | 08£300,000 |
| 23 December 2008 | Milan Mišůn | FK Příbram | 08£500,000 |
| 30 January 2009 | Willo Flood | Cardiff City | 08£1,300,000 |
| 2 February 2009 | Filip Twardzik | Hertha Berlin | 08Undisclosed |
| 2 February 2009 | Patrik Twardzik | Hertha Berlin | 08Undisclosed |

### Out

| Date | Player | To | Fee |
| 17 June 2008 | Michael McGovern | Dundee Utd | 08Free |
| 30 June 2008 | Adam Virgo | Brighton & Hove Albion | 08Free |
| 1 July 2008 | Diarmuid O'Carroll | Morecambe | 08Free |
| 27 July 2008 | John Kennedy | Norwich City | 08 Loan |
| 7 August 2008 | Rocco Quinn | Livingston | 08 Loan |
| 8 August 2008 | Jim O'Brien | Motherwell | 08 Undisclosed |
| 14 August 2008 | Scott Cuthbert | St Mirren | 08 Loan |
| 18 August 2008 | Thomas Gravesen | | 08Retired |
| 21 August 2008 | Evander Sno | Ajax | 08£1,200,000 |
| 1 September 2008 | Steven Pressley | Randers FC | 08Free |
| 1 September 2008 | Derek Riordan | Hibernian | 08£500,000 |
| 7 January 2009 | Paul McGowan | Hamilton Accies | 08Loan |
| 31 January 2009 | Chris Killen | Norwich City | 08Loan |
| 2 February 2009 | Rocco Quinn | Hamilton Academical | 08Free |
| 2 February 2009 | Cillian Sheridan | Motherwell | 08Loan |