The 1999–2000 Scottish Premier League (known as the 1999–2000
Bank of Scotland
The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial bank, commercial and clearing (finance), clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Par ...
Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the second season of the
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...
, the top level of
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
in Scotland. It began in on 31 July 1999 and concluded on 21 May 2000.
Rangers, the defending champions, retained their title on 22 April 2000, after their nearest challengers
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 Foot ...
A total of 10 teams competed in the league, the top 9 sides from the
1998–99 Scottish Premier League
The 1998–99 Scottish Premier League season (also known as the 1998–99 Bank of Scotland Scottish Premier League for sponsorship reasons from 11 March) was the inaugural season of Scottish Premier League football, the top division of Football in ...
and the champions of the 1998–99 Scottish First Division.
Hibernian were promoted to the league after winning the 1998–99 First Division by a 23-point margin. They replaced Dunfermline Athletic who were relegated after a three-season stint in the top flight, finishing bottom of the league the previous season.
Stadia and locations
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
Overview
The 1999–2000 Scottish Premier League was won by Rangers for the second successive year, finishing 21 points ahead of nearest rivals
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 Foot ...
. As champions, Rangers qualified for the Champions League while Celtic and third-placed Hearts qualified for the
UEFA Cup
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Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
.
As the SPL was being expanded to 12 teams, there was going to be a three-way playoff between the team finishing bottom and the second and third placed teams in the First Division, but due to
Falkirk
Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...
's stadium ( Brockville Park) having fewer than the SPL minimum required 10,000 seats, the playoff was scrapped, bottom-placed
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
remained in the top flight and
Dunfermline
Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries.
The earliest ...
were promoted automatically as the First Division runners-up. Aberdeen appeared in both the League Cup and
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
player
John Barnes
John Charles Bryan Barnes (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. Often considered one of the greatest England players of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, Barnes currently works as an ...
taking charge in June 1999. It proved to be a brief and unsuccessful reign, however, after being sacked in February 2000, ten points behind Rangers in the league, and in the wake of a
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
On 20 October 1999, Aberdeen and
Motherwell
Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
played out a match which finished in a 6–5 victory for Aberdeen at Fir Park. This was the record for the highest-scoring match in Scottish Premier League history, until Motherwell and Hibernian played out a 6–6 draw in May 2010, also at Fir Park.
Rangers secured the league title on 22 April 2000, after Celtic drew 1–1 with Hibernian at Celtic Park, leaving Celtic with a 17-point deficit with only 5 matches left to play.
League table
Results
Matches 1–18
During matches 1–18 each team plays every other team twice (home and away).
Matches 19–36
During matches 19–36 each team plays every other team a further two times (home and away).
Scot
Scottish people or Scots (; ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or ...