2003–04 Scottish Premier League

Scottish Premier League
Season	2003–04
Dates	8 August 2003 – 15 May 2004
Champions	Celtic
Champions League	Celtic; Rangers
UEFA Cup	Heart of Midlothian; Dunfermline
Intertoto Cup	Hibernian
Top goalscorer	Henrik Larsson (30)
Biggest home win	Celtic 6–0 Hibernian (27 December)
Biggest away win	Kilmarnock 0–5 Celtic (1 November)
Highest attendance	59,739 – Celtic v Dunfermline (2 May)
Lowest attendance	2,677 – Livingston v Kilmarnock (7 April)
	← 2002–03 2004–05 →

The 2003–04 Scottish Premier League was won by Celtic.

As league champions, Celtic qualified for the UEFA Champions League, with runners-up Rangers also qualifying. Third-placed Hearts qualified for the UEFA Cup, as did Dunfermline Athletic, who took the Scottish Cup place despite losing the final to Celtic.

During the season, Celtic set a Scottish record of 25 successive wins.[1]

Partick Thistle were relegated, and First Division winners Inverness Caledonian Thistle were promoted.

Celtic's Henrik Larsson was the top scorer with 30 goals.

Teams

Promotion and relegation from 2002–03

Motherwell finished bottom of the 2002–03 Scottish Premier League but were spared relegation, as 2002–03 Scottish First Division champions Falkirk were denied promotion due to their lack of an appropriate stadium for the Scottish Premier League.

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee	Dundee United
Pittodrie Stadium	Celtic Park	Dens Park	Tannadice Park
Capacity: 20,866[2]	Capacity: 60,411[3]	Capacity: 11,506[4]	Capacity: 14,223[5]

Dunfermline Athletic	Aberdeen Dundee Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Hearts Hibernian Kilmarnock Livingston Rangers Celtic Motherwell Partick Thistle Location of teams in 2003–04 Scottish Premier League		Heart of Midlothian
East End Park			Tynecastle Park
Capacity: 12,509[6]			Capacity: 17,420[7]

Hibernian			Kilmarnock
Easter Road			Rugby Park
Capacity: 16,531[8]			Capacity: 17,889[9]

Livingston	Motherwell	Partick Thistle	Rangers
Almondvale Stadium	Fir Park	Firhill Stadium	Ibrox Stadium
Capacity: 10,016[10]	Capacity: 13,677[11]	Capacity: 13,300[12]	Capacity: 50,817[13]

Personnel

Team	Manager
Aberdeen	Steve Paterson
Celtic	Martin O'Neill
Dundee	Jim Duffy
Dundee United	Ian McCall
Dunfermline Athletic	Jimmy Calderwood
Heart of Midlothian	Craig Levein
Hibernian	Tony Mowbray
Kilmarnock	Jim Jefferies
Livingston	David Hay
Motherwell	Terry Butcher
Partick Thistle	Gerry Britton Derek Whyte (co-managers)
Rangers	Alex McLeish

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Partick Thistle	John Lambie	24 May 2003	Retired	Pre-season	Gerry Collins	25 May 2003
Livingston	Jim Leishman	4 June 2003	Resigned	Pre-season	Márcio Máximo	4 June 2003
Livingston	Márcio Máximo	14 October 2003	Resigned	8th	David Hay	15 October 2003
Partick Thistle	Gerry Collins	30 November 2003	Sacked	12th	Gerry Britton Derek Whyte (co-managers)	30 November 2003 (interim) 23 December 2003 (permanent)
Hibernian	Bobby Williamson	20 April 2003	Signed by Plymouth Argyle	7th	Tony Mowbray	24 May 2004

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1]
1	Celtic	38	31	5	2	105	25	+80	98	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Rangers	38	25	6	7	76	33	+43	81	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
3	Heart of Midlothian	38	19	11	8	56	40	+16	68	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[lower-alpha 2]
4	Dunfermline Athletic	38	14	11	13	45	52	−7	53	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round[lower-alpha 2]
5	Dundee United	38	13	10	15	47	60	−13	49
6	Motherwell	38	12	10	16	42	49	−7	46

7	Dundee	38	12	10	16	48	57	−9	46
8	Hibernian	38	11	11	16	41	60	−19	44	Qualification for the UEFA Intertoto Cup second round[lower-alpha 3]
9	Livingston	38	10	13	15	48	57	−9	43
10	Kilmarnock	38	12	6	20	51	74	−23	42
11	Aberdeen	38	9	7	22	39	63	−24	34
12	Partick Thistle	38	6	8	24	39	67	−28	26	Relegation to the Scottish First Division

Source: Scottish Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
Notes:

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.
As Celtic, the 2003–04 Scottish Cup winners, qualified for the UEFA Champions League via their league position, the place in the UEFA Cup was passed onto Dunfermline Athletic, the cup runners-up.
Hibernian qualified for the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup as the highest placed team to apply to participate in the competition.

Top scorers

Player	Club	Goals
Henrik Larsson	Celtic	30
Chris Sutton	Celtic	19
Nacho Novo	Dundee	19
James Grady	Partick Thistle	15
Kris Boyd	Kilmarnock	15
Derek Riordan	Hibernian	15
Stevie Crawford	Dunfermline Athletic	13
Mark de Vries	Hearts	13
Derek Lilley	Livingston	12
Shota Arveladze	Rangers	12
David Clarkson	Motherwell	11
Alan Thompson	Celtic	11

Source: SPL official website

Attendances

The average attendances for SPL clubs during the 2003/04 season are shown below:

Team	Average
Celtic	57,657
Rangers	48,992
Hearts	11,947
Aberdeen	10,389
Hibernian	9,137
Dundee United	7,785
Dundee	7,089
Kilmarnock	6,966
Dunfermline Athletic	6,235
Motherwell	6,225
Livingston	5,116
Partick Thistle	4,710