The 2001–2002 Scottish Premier League (known as the 2001–2002

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 fourth 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

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in Scotland. It began on 28 July 2001 and concluded on 12 May 2002.

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 ...

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

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

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competitions and the upcoming FIFA World Cup. This change was criticised by many SPL managers, including

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who played as a midfielder. After a brief early career in the Irish Leag ...

and

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps f ...

European berths

Results in European competition over the previous five years saw the league move down from 15th to 16th in the

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ranking. This meant that the league lost one of its berths in the

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qualifying rounds for the following season, and received an additional berth in the 2002–03 UEFA Cup qualifying round.

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. This would be Livingston's first season at the top level of Scottish football in their 58-year history.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Overview

The 2001–02 season would be a record-breaking season for

, who won consecutive titles for the first time since they won the title in both

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

. 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 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 ...

in December ). 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. The only points Celtic dropped at home was in their final home game, an

Old Firm The Old Firm is a collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded i ...

derby against Rangers which was drawn 1–1. Celtic clinched the title at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

on 6 April 2002, with a 5–1 win against Livingston.

Henrik Larsson Edward Henrik Larsson (; born 20 September 1971) is a Swedish professional association football, football coach and former player who played many times for the Sweden men's national football team, Swedish national team. A Striker (association f ...

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 Dirk Nicolaas "Dick" Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former association football, football player and coach. He is currently the manager of the Curaçao national football team. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a ...

stepped aside and Hibernian manager

was appointed to replace him. However, Rangers still finished a distant 2nd, 18 points adrift of Celtic. They did, however, win the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,League Cup, beating Celtic and Ayr United in the finals, respectively. They also reached the last 16 of the

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, losing narrowly to eventual winners

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. Alex McLeish's replacement at Hibernian was fan-favourite Franck Sauzée, who retired from playing to take the management role. However, he was sacked after only two months and 15 matches, 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 Jim Leishman MBE (born 15 November 1953) is a Scottish Labour Party politician and former professional football player and manager. He is currently Provost of Fife and an honorary director of Scottish Championship side Dunfermline Athletic ...

, 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. 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. The end of television coverage from

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caused multiple clubs in the league to suffer severe financial difficulties. In pre-season,

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 ...

lost a number of players, including

Andy Goram Andrew Lewis Goram (13 April 1964 – 2 July 2022) was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Bury, Lancashire, England, he started his career with Oldham Athletic and Hibernian, but he is best remembered for playing for ...

and Lee McCulloch, in an attempt to reduce the clubs wage bill. Manager Billy Davies also resigned early on in the season. 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. Davies' replacement, Eric Black, and chief executive

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both left their roles with only two matches to go of the season once administration hit, and 19 of the club's players were made redundant at the end of the season. 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.

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

Results

Matches 1–22

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

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).

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 six

Bottom Six

Top scorers

Source
SPL official website
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Attendances

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

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Monthly awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2001-02 Scottish Premier League Scottish Premier League seasons 1

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 ...