2001–02 Scottish Premier League

The 2001–02 Scottish Premier League (known as the 2001–02 Bank of Scotland Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the fourth season of the Scottish Premier League, the top level of football in Scotland. It began on 28 July 2001 and concluded on 12 May 2002.[1]

Scottish Premier League
Season2001–02
Dates28 July 2001 – 12 May 2002
ChampionsCeltic
RelegatedSt Johnstone
Champions LeagueCeltic
UEFA CupRangers
Livingston
Aberdeen
Matches played228
Goals scored617 (2.71 per match)
Top goalscorerHenrik Larsson (29)
Biggest home winCeltic 5–0 Dunfermline (9 February)
Rangers 5–0 Kilmarnock (20 March)
Celtic 5–0 Dunfermline (13 April)
Biggest away winDundee United 1–6 Rangers (22 September)
Highest scoringDunfermline 5–2 Motherwell (28 July)
Dundee United 1–6 Rangers (22 September)
Hibernian 3–4 Aberdeen (23 January)
Highest attendance59,900
Celtic 5–1 Dundee United – 20 October
Lowest attendance2,285
St Johnstone 0–3 Kilmarnock – 19 April
Average attendance15,794 ( 111)

Celtic were the defending champions, and successfully retained the title with a 5–1 victory over Livingston on 6 April 2002.[2]

Changes from 2000–01 season

Winter break

This season was the first season since the Scottish Premier League (SPL) began in 1998–99 which did not have a winter break, meaning teams had to play throughout January. The break was abolished to avoid fixture congestion caused by more Scottish clubs participating in UEFA competitions and the upcoming FIFA World Cup.[3] This change was criticised by many SPL managers, including Martin O'Neill[4] and Alex McLeish.[4]

European berths

Results in European competition over the previous five years saw the league move down from 15th to 16th in the UEFA country coefficient ranking. This meant that the league lost one of its berths in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds for the following season, and received an additional berth in the 2002–03 UEFA Cup qualifying round.[5]

Teams

Twelve clubs participated in the league in the 2001–02 season – the top eleven clubs in the 2000–01 Scottish Premier League and the champions of the 2000–01 Scottish First Division.

St Mirren were relegated from the top flight after only one season of participation. They were replaced by Livingston, who secured the First Division title and promotion to the SPL with a 3–2 victory away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 28 April 2001.[6] This would be Livingston's first season at the top level of Scottish football in their 58-year history.

Stadia and locations
Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United
Pittodrie Stadium Celtic Park Dens Park Tannadice Park
Capacity: 20,866[7] Capacity: 60,411[8] Capacity: 11,506[9] Capacity: 14,223[10]
Dunfermline Athletic
Location of teams in 2001–02 Scottish Premier League
 Heart of Midlothian
East End Park Tynecastle Park
Capacity: 12,509[11] Capacity: 17,420[12]
Hibernian Kilmarnock
Easter Road Rugby Park
Capacity: 16,531[13] Capacity: 17,889[14]
Livingston Motherwell Rangers St Johnstone
Almondvale Stadium Fir Park Ibrox Stadium McDiarmid Park
Capacity: 10,016[15] Capacity: 13,677[16] Capacity: 50,817[17] Capacity: 10,696[18]

Personnel and kits
Team Manager Kit manufacturer Kit sponsor
Aberdeen Ebbe Skovdahl Le Coq Sportif[19] A-Fab
Celtic Martin O'Neill Umbro[20] ntl:
Dundee Ivano Bonetti Xara[21] Ceramic Tile Warehouse
Dundee United Alex Smith TFG Sports[22] Telewest
Dunfermline Athletic Jimmy Calderwood TFG Sports[23] RAC Auto Windscreens
Heart of Midlothian Craig Levein Erreà[24] Strongbow
Hibernian Bobby Williamson Le Coq Sportif[25] Carlsberg
Kilmarnock Jim Jefferies TFG Sports[26] Seriously Strong Cheddar
Livingston Jim Leishman Jerzeez[27] Motorola
Motherwell Terry Butcher Xara[28] Motorola
Rangers Alex McLeish Nike[29] ntl:
St Johnstone Billy Stark Xara[30] Scottish Hydro Electric

Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Manner of departure Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Motherwell Billy Davies 18 September 2001[31] Resigned 12th Eric Black 16 October 2001[32]
St Johnstone Sandy Clark 25 September 2001[33] Sacked 12th Billy Stark 5 October 2001[34]
Rangers Dick Advocaat 12 December 2001[35] Resigned 2nd Alex McLeish 13 December 2001[36]
Hibernian Alex McLeish 13 December 2001[36] Signed by Rangers 8th Franck Sauzée 14 December 2001[37]
Hibernian Franck Sauzée 21 February 2002[38] Sacked 11th Bobby Williamson 25 February 2002[39]
Kilmarnock Bobby Williamson 24 February 2002[39] Resigned 5th Jim Jefferies 28 February 2002[40]
Motherwell Eric Black 24 April 2002[41] Resigned 11th Terry Butcher 24 April 2002[41]

Overview

The 2001–02 season would be a record-breaking season for Celtic, who won consecutive titles for the first time since they won the title in both 1981 and 1982. Celtic accrued the most points in a season of any team in the SPL era (103), achieved the most wins in a season (33), conceded the fewest goals (18) and lost the fewest games (their sole defeat at Aberdeen in December [42]). They also went unbeaten at home for the entire league season – a run that would extend through the entirety of the following season, for 77 matches, until a defeat to Aberdeen on 21 April 2004.[43] The only points Celtic dropped at home was in their final home game, an Old Firm derby against Rangers which was drawn 1–1.[44] Celtic clinched the title at Celtic Park on 6 April 2002, with a 5–1 win against Livingston.[2] Henrik Larsson again finished as the league's top scorer, with 29 goals.

Rangers started the season poorly and were 11 points behind Celtic when manager Dick Advocaat stepped aside and Hibernian manager Alex McLeish was appointed to replace him.[36] However, Rangers still finished a distant 2nd, 18 points adrift of Celtic. They did, however, win the Scottish Cup and the League Cup, beating Celtic[45] and Ayr United[46] in the finals, respectively. They also reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, losing narrowly to eventual winners Feyenoord.[47]

Alex McLeish's replacement at Hibernian was fan-favourite[48] Franck Sauzée,[37] who retired from playing to take the management role. However, he was sacked after only two months and 15 matches,[38] having been eliminated from the League Cup in a shock loss to Ayr United, and the team second from bottom in the table. Hibernian did not win a league match with Sauzée in charge. Sauzée served as manager for the shortest time of any manager in Hibernian's history (69 days). Sauzée was replaced by Bobby Williamson, who led the team to safety in 10th place.

Newly promoted Livingston, under Jim Leishman, confounded pundits by finishing their first ever season in the top league in third-place, earning a spot in the 2002–03 UEFA Cup.

The 2001–02 season was the first in which the financial situation of SPL clubs was questioned.[49] Total debt among all twelve SPL clubs was estimated during 2001–02 to be around £132m, having been barely into double figures two years previously.[49] The end of television coverage from Sky Sports caused multiple clubs in the league to suffer severe financial difficulties.[41] In pre-season, Motherwell lost a number of players, including Andy Goram and Lee McCulloch, in an attempt to reduce the clubs wage bill.[31] Manager Billy Davies also resigned early on in the season.[31] Motherwell became the first SPL club to enter administration in April 2002, with debts of £11 million and a wage bill totalling 97% of the club's annual turnover.[41] Davies' replacement, Eric Black, and chief executive Pat Nevin both left their roles with only two matches to go of the season once administration hit,[41] and 19 of the club's players were made redundant at the end of the season.[50]

Despite Motherwell's financial difficulties, it was St Johnstone who finished the season as the bottom team in the league, with only 21 points, 19 points behind 11th place. Their relegation to the First Division was confirmed on 6 April 2002, after a 1–1 draw against Motherwell left them 14 points adrift with 4 matches to play.[51]

Format

In the initial phase of the season, each of the twelve teams play the other eleven teams three times. After 33 rounds, the league splits into two sections, a top six and a bottom six, with each team playing all the other teams in their section once. The league attempts to balance the fixture list so that teams in the same section have played each other twice at home and twice away, but sometimes this is impossible. A total of 228 matches will be played, with 38 matches played by each team.

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1]
1 Celtic 38 33 4 1 94 18 +76 103 Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
2 Rangers 38 25 10 3 82 27 +55 85 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3 Livingston 38 16 10 12 50 47 +3 58 Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
4 Aberdeen 38 16 7 15 51 49 +2 55
5 Heart of Midlothian 38 14 6 18 52 57 −5 48
6 Dunfermline Athletic 38 12 9 17 41 64 −23 45
7 Kilmarnock 38 13 10 15 44 54 −10 49
8 Dundee United 38 12 10 16 38 59 −21 46
9 Dundee 38 12 8 18 41 55 −14 44
10 Hibernian 38 10 11 17 51 56 −5 41
11 Motherwell 38 11 7 20 49 69 −20 40
12 St Johnstone 38 5 6 27 24 62 −38 21 Relegation to the First Division
Source: Scottish Professional Football League
Rules for classification: (1) Points; (2) Goal difference; (3) Goals scored
Notes:
  1. 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.
  2. As both finalists of the 2001–02 Scottish Cup, Rangers and Celtic, qualified for European competition via their league position, the cup berth for 2002–03 UEFA Cup was passed to the next-placed team in the league, fourth-placed Aberdeen.

Results

Matches 1–22

During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away).

Home \ Away ABE CEL DND DUN DNF HOM HIB KIL LIV MOT RAN STJ
Aberdeen 2–0 0–0 2–1 3–2 3–2 2–0 2–0 0–3 4–2 0–3 1–0
Celtic 2–0 3–1 5–1 3–1 2–0 3–0 1–0 3–2 2–0 2–1 3–0
Dundee 1–4 0–4 1–1 2–2 1–1 2–1 1–2 1–0 3–1 0–0 1–1
Dundee United 1–1 0–4 2–2 3–2 0–2 3–1 0–2 0–0 1–1 1–6 2–1
Dunfermline Athletic 1–0 0–4 1–0 1–1 0–1 1–0 0–2 1–2 5–2 1–4 2–1
Heart of Midlothian 1–0 0–1 3–1 1–2 1–1 1–1 2–0 1–3 3–1 2–2 3–0
Hibernian 2–0 1–4 1–2 0–1 5–1 2–1 2–2 0–3 1–1 0–3 4–0
Kilmarnock 3–1 0–1 0–1 2–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 1–5 2–0 2–2 2–1
Livingston 2–2 0–0 1–0 2–0 0–0 2–1 1–0 0–1 3–1 0–2 2–1
Motherwell 3–2 1–2 4–2 0–0 1–0 2–0 1–3 2–2 0–0 2–2 1–2
Rangers 2–0 0–2 2–0 3–2 4–0 3–1 2–2 3–1 0–0 3–0 1–0
St Johnstone 0–1 1–2 0–2 0–1 0–2 0–2 0–0 1–0 2–2 2–3 0–2
Source: Soccerbase
Legend: 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). This means that during matches 1-33 each team played every other team 3 times (either 1 home, 2 away or 2 home, 1 away).

Home \ Away ABE CEL DND DUN DNF HOM HIB KIL LIV MOT RAN STJ
Aberdeen 4–0 4–1 1–0 1–0 0–1
Celtic 1–0 1–0 5–0 2–0 2–1
Dundee 2–3 0–3 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–0
Dundee United 1–0 0–2 1–2 0–2 0–1
Dunfermline Athletic 2–0 1–1 2–0 1–0 3–1 2–4
Heart of Midlothian 3–1 2–0 1–2 0–2 1–3
Hibernian 3–4 1–1 1–1 1–2 2–2 3–0
Kilmarnock 0–2 3–2 3–3 1–1 0–1
Livingston 0–0 1–3 1–1 2–0 0–3
Motherwell 0–4 2–0 1–2 4–0 2–0 1–2
Rangers 1–1 2–1 1–1 5–0 3–0 3–0
St Johnstone 1–1 1–4 0–1 3–0 0–2 0–2
Source: Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 34–38

During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once (either at home or away).

Top scorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Henrik LarssonCeltic29
2 John HartsonCeltic19
3 Tore André FloRangers18
4 Robbie WintersAberdeen13
5 Juan SaraDundee11
Shota ArveladzeRangers
7 Stuart ElliotMotherwell10
James McFaddenMotherwell
9 Garry O'ConnorHibernian9
Kevin McKennaHeart of Midlothian
11 Darren MackieAberdeen8
Hicham ZeroualiAberdeen

Source: SPL official website

Attendances

The average attendances for SPL clubs during the 2001–02 season are shown below:

Team Average
Celtic58,511
Rangers47,879
Aberdeen14,035
Heart of Midlothian12,080
Hibernian11,587
Dundee United8,007
Dundee7,958
Kilmarnock7,621
Livingston7,477
Dunfermline Athletic6,363
Motherwell5,878
St Johnstone4,580

Source: SPL official website

Monthly awards
Month Manager Player Young Player
August Martin O'Neill (Celtic) Marvin Andrews (Livingston) Stephen Hughes (Rangers)
September Jim Leishman (Livingston) Stiliyan Petrov (Celtic) Peter MacDonald (St Johnstone)
October Dick Advocaat (Rangers) Gavin Rae (Dundee) Ian Murray (Hibernian)
November Jim Leishman (Livingston) Robert Douglas (Celtic) Kevin McNaughton (Aberdeen)
December Craig Levein (Heart of Midlothian) Ricardo Fuller (Heart of Midlothian) Stephen Murray (Kilmarnock)
January Alex Smith (Dundee United) Lorenzo Amoruso (Rangers) James McFadden (Motherwell)
February Alex McLeish (Rangers) Barry Ferguson (Rangers) Kevin McNaughton (Aberdeen)
March Jimmy Calderwood (Dunfermline Athletic) Garry O'Connor (Hibernian) Stephen Crainey (Celtic)
April Martin O'Neill (Celtic) John Hartson (Celtic) Stuart Duff (Dundee United)

References
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  47. "UEFA Europa League Archive". UEFA. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
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  50. "Motherwell axe 19 players". BBC Sport. 29 April 2002. Retrieved 7 February 2002.
  51. "Well condemn sad Saints". BBC Sport. 5 April 2002. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
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