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
Clydesdale Bank ( gd, Banca Dhail Chluaidh) is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland.
In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank's holding company CYBG would acquire Virgin Money for ...
. 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.
Champions
A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...
Rangers qualified directly for the Champions League, while second-placed
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
qualified for the qualifying rounds. Four teams qualified for the new
Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Motherwell by the Fair Play initiative. Inverness were
relegated
In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...
after their fifth season in the SPL and were replaced by St Johnstone for the following season's competition.
The championship was determined on the final day of the season. Leaders Rangers travelled to Tannadice to play
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...
knowing that a win would secure the title. They achieved this comfortably, courtesy of a 3–0 victory. The goals were scored by
Kyle Lafferty
Kyle Joseph George Lafferty (born 16 September 1987) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who currently plays for NIFL Premiership club Linfield and the Northern Ireland national team.
Lafferty began his professional career with Engl ...
,
Pedro Mendes
Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter.
The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...
and the league's top goalscorer,
Kris Boyd
Kris Boyd (born 18 August 1983) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a forward.
Boyd grew up in the South Ayrshire village of Tarbolton and started his senior career with Kilmarnock. He transferred to Rangers in Januar ...
. Celtic needed to win their final match of the season against Hearts and hope that Rangers failed to win, but their goalless draw was rendered meaningless. It was also Rangers first title in 4 years.
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
*
Hamilton Academical
Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...
Relegated from
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,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
"Love Street" is a song performed by the American rock band the Doors. Sequenced as the second album track on '' Waiting for the Sun'', its lyrics were written by lead singer Jim Morrison and as with other songs, it was dedicated to his girlfrien ...
Greenock Morton
Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...
*23 May –
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional ...
Caledonian Stadium
Caledonian Stadium is a football ground in the Longman area of Inverness, Scotland, near the banks of the Moray Firth. It hosts home matches of Scottish Professional Football League club Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
History
Inverness Cal ...
League table
Results
Matches 1–22
During their first 22 matches, each team played every other team home and away.
Matches 23–33
During matches 23–33 each team played every other team once (either at home or away).
Matches 34–38
During matches 34–38 each team play every other team in their half of the table once.
Scot
The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...