The 2008–09 season was the 112th season of competitive

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.

Overview

* Hamilton Academical competed in 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 ...

for the first time, their first season in the top-flight since the 1988–89 season, after being promoted as First Division champions the previous season. * Gretna were due to play in the First Division after being relegated from the SPL. However, on 29 May 2008, they were demoted to the Third Division due to their failure to guarantee that they would fulfill their fixtures. Gretna resigned from the SFL on 3 June 2008 with the club's administrators warning of the threat of

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

, creating an opening in the Third Division for a new SFL member. Following Gretna's demise a new club, Gretna 2008 was formed, they were given a place in the East of Scotland League, filling the gap left by Annan Athletic. * Ross County competed in the First Division after being promoted as Second Division champions.

Airdrie United Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in the . They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Clu ...

were also promoted into the First Division, filling Gretna's space, as they were the losing play-off finalists. * Stirling Albion competed in the Second Division after being relegated from the First Division as the bottom team. * East Fife and

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

competed in the Second Division after being promoted as Third Division champions and Second Division play-off winners, respectively.

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

were also promoted into the Second Division, filling the empty space following Gretna's relegation, as they were the losing play-off finalists. * Berwick Rangers and

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...

competed in the Third Division after being relegated from the Second Division as the bottom team and through the Second Division play-offs, respectively. * Annan Athletic competed in the Third Division after being admitted to the SFL. They replaced Gretna, who resigned their league status on 3 June. * St Mirren moved into their new 8,000 seater stadium, New St Mirren Park, on 31 January 2009.

Notable events

2008

* 3 July – Annan Athletic, formerly of the East of Scotland League were admitted to the SFL, beating Cove Rangers, Edinburgh City, Preston Athletic and

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

. They replaced Gretna, who resigned their league status on 3 June. * 6 July – The first competitive match involving a Scottish team was played by Hibernian in the 2008 Intertoto Cup, they lost 2–0 to Elfsborg. * 11 July – Gretna 2008, founded by the supporters of the bankrupt Gretna, join the East of Scotland League First Division. * 26 July – Competitive domestic competition got under way with the first fixtures of the 2008–09 Challenge Cup. * 2 August – The

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

begins with the playing of the first fixtures in the First and Second divisions. * 8 August – Former SPL members and

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Gretna F.C. are formally liquidated by the club's administrators. * 9 August – The first matches of the 2008–09 Scottish Premier League take place. * 13 November – A consortium led by Berwick Rangers Supporters Club agreed a deal to take over the club. Following a poor run of form, manager Allan McGonigal resigned at the same time saying "I made up my mind that when the current directors left I would move on." * 16 November – The 2008–09 Challenge Cup was won by

who defeated Ross County 3–2 on penalties following a 2–2 draw after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

, the winning penalty was scored by Marc Smyth. * 4 December – Scotland fail in their attempt to have the match against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

moved to October 2009, the match was to go ahead on 12 August 2009. * 13 December –

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 ...

drew 1–1 with Heart of Midlothian 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 ...

which was followed by a reported dressing-room argument between Celtic manager Gordon Strachan and player Aiden McGeady. This led to Strachan banning the player without pay for two weeks, after initially saying he would contest the sanction McGeady accepted the punishment and later returned to the team.

2009

* 3 January – St Mirren drew 0–0 with

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 ...

in their last game at Love Street before they moved to New St Mirren Park. * 28 January – Shares in Berwick Rangers were transferred to complete the deal which handed control to a consortium led by Berwick Rangers Supporters Trust. * 31 January – St Mirren drew 1–1 with Kilmarnock in their first match at their new stadium. * 14 February – The

agreed to the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

's request to delay the start of the SPL season by a week to give the Scotland national team extra time to prepare for the match against

. * 25 February – Former

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

and former East Fife player Henry McLeish was appointed to chair a review of Scottish football. * 15 March – Celtic won the 2008–09 League cup beating Rangers 2–0 after

in the final thanks to a goal from Darren O'Dea and an Aiden McGeady penalty. * 4 April –

were relegated to the Third Division after being beaten 3–0 by Raith Rovers. * 2 May – St Johnstone won promotion to the Scottish Premier League as First Division champions following a 3–1 win over Greenock Morton. ** The Second Division title and promotion to the First Division was won by Raith Rovers, following a 1–0 win over Queen's Park at

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

. ** Clyde were relegated from the First Division despite beating

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

2–0. * 9 May – The Third Division title was won by

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

after they beat Annan Athletic 3–1, they therefore gained promotion to the second Division. * 17 May – Queen's Park were relegated from the Second Division after a 2–1 aggregate loss to Stenhousemuir in their Second Division play-off Semi-final. * 23 May –

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 ...

beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1–0 to stay in the SPL and relegate Inverness to the First Division on

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

. ** Stenhousemuir won promotion to the Second Division as Second Division play-off winners, they beat

5–4 on penalties. * 24 May – Rangers are crowned Scottish champions after beating Dundee United 3–0,

drew 0–0 with Heart of Midlothian so Rangers won by 4 points. **

are relegated to the Second Division and Ayr United are promoted to the First after Ayr won the First Division play-off Final 3–2 on aggregate. * 30 May – Rangers won the 2008–09 Scottish Cup beating Falkirk 1–0 in the final thanks to a goal from substitute Nacho Novo just after half-time.

Transfer deals

Managerial changes

League Competitions

Scottish Premier League

Scottish First Division

Scottish Second Division

Scottish Third Division

Other honours

Cup honours

Non-league honours

Senior

Junior

West Region East Region North Region

Individual honours

PFA Scotland awards

midfielder Scott Brown was named Players' Player of the Year after winning the most votes from his fellow players. He was named on the shortlist along with three other

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 ...

players, Celtic defender Gary Caldwell and Rangers midfielder's Steven Davis and Pedro Mendes. The Young Player of the Year award was awarded to James McCarthy who was named on the shortlist along with; Heart of Midlothian winger Andrew Driver, Hibernian striker Steven Fletcher and fellow Hamilton Academical midfielder James McArthur.

SFWA awards

Scottish clubs in Europe

Summary

Celtic

Rangers

Motherwell

Queen of the South

Hibernian

Scotland national team

Summary

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

began the season with a friendly against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Northern Ireland were denied a victory by substitute goalkeeper Allan McGregor who saved a David Healy penalty after he brought down

Warren Feeney Warren James Feeney (born 17 January 1981) is a Northern Irish football manager and former professional Association football, footballer who manages club Weymouth F.C., Weymouth. As a player he was a Forward (association football), forward who ...

inside the area. The draw meant that Scotland had yet to win under George Burley after three matches. The 2010 World Cup qualification campaign began against Macedonia. Scotland faced an early free-kick after Macedonia striker Goran Maznov fell theatrically on the edge of the penalty area as he was challenged by stand-in captain Stephen McManus. Craig Gordon was able to tip the resulting shot onto the post, but Ilčo Naumoski followed up to score five minutes into George Burley's first competitive match. Both teams had opportunities and Scotland were denied what appeared to be a clear penalty after James McFadden was brought down but the referee waved away the appeals and booked the striker for his protests. Scotland recovered from their opening defeat with a 2–1 victory away to

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

in what was Burley's first win as manager. Kirk Broadfoot scored on his debut and James McFadden scored from a penalty, Iceland got back into the match after captain McManus handled in the box and

Eiður Guðjohnsen Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen (transliterated as Eidur Smari Gudjohnsen; born 15 September 1978) is an Icelandic professional football coach and former player who played as a forward. Eiður saw his greatest success in England and Spain with Chels ...

scored from the resulting penalty. Scotland held out for the win despite having to play the last 13 minutes down to ten men. Scotland drew 0–0 at home to

despite debutant striker Chris Iwelumo being presented with an open goal opportunity from just three yards, with the ball being crossed by Gary Naysmith from the left to the right side of the goal where Iwelumo is standing, he connects with the ball but somehow manages to put the ball wide of the left post. The draw left Scotland top of Group Nine but with just four points from three games, with the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

having played just one. They next played a friendly against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

's first match as Argentina manager, Maxi Rodríguez scored the winning goal for the Argentines in a 1–0 win. The Netherlands beat Scotland comfortably with goals from

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar Dirk Jan Klaas Huntelaar (born 12 August 1983), known professionally as Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (), is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Huntelaar played for PSV Ein ...

Robin van Persie Robin van Persie (; born 6 August 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former professional association football, footballer who is the head coach of Eredivisie club Feyenoord. He is regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and was ...

and Dirk Kuyt, depleted by injuries Burley was forced to field an inexperienced side Ross McCormack making his debut started along with Christophe Berra and Allan McGregor, who were making their first competitive starts. Scotland were denied a chance to get back into the match at 2–0 down when referee Massimo Busacca (who was suspended by his home federation) disallowed a seemingly perfectly good Gary Caldwell goal, minutes later the Netherlands were awarded a penalty from which Kuyt scored. Ross McCormack and Steven Fletcher both scored their first international goals in a 2–1 win over Iceland, McCormack opened the scoring after 39 minutes firing high into the net from an Alan Hutton cross, Indridi Sigurdsson levelled for the visitors after Pálmi Rafn Pálmason hit the post, Scotland though regrouped and after 65 minutes were awarded a debatable corner which McCormack took, the ball was headed into the danger area by McManus and Fletcher headed into the net. Scotland had gained seven points from five matches and occupied second spot in Group nine, three points clear of Iceland, four matches between the other teams and Scotland retained second position having played less matches than all other teams in the group meaning they were in prime position for second place with Holland already guaranteed first, However, only the second placed teams from eight of the nine qualifying groups would go into the play-offs.

Results

Deaths

* 17 July – George Niven, 79, Rangers and Partick Thistle goalkeeper. * 27 July – Bob Crampsey, 78, broadcaster and writer who contributed to sports programming on BBC Scotland, STV and Radio Clyde. * 28 August – Bobby Cummings, 72, Aberdeen player. * 31 August – Jamie Dolan, 39, Motherwell, Dundee United, Dunfermline Athletic, Livingston, Forfar Athletic and Partick Thistle player. * 4 September – Tommy Johnston, 81, Kilmarnock player. * 25 September – Jimmy Sirrel, 86, Celtic player. * 2 October – John Sjoberg, 67, Leicester City player. * 15 October – Eddie Thompson, 67, Dundee United chairman. * 25 October – Ian McColl, 81, Rangers defender; Scotland manager. * 27 October – Andy Young, 83, Raith Rovers and Celtic player. * 3 November – Brooks Mileson, 60, Gretna owner. * 4 November – Paddy Buckley, 83, St Johnstone, Aberdeen and Scotland player. * 5 November –

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician best known for being the chief vocalist, Flute, flautist, and acoustic guitarist of the British rock band Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also p ...

, 54, Dundee and St Johnstone player. * 27 November – Gil Heron, 87, first black player to play for Celtic. * 6 December – John Cumming, 78, Hearts and Scotland player. * 26 December – George Miller, 69, Dunfermline, Hearts and Falkirk player; Hamilton and Dunfermline manager. * 28 December – Willie Clark, 90, Hibernian and St Johnstone defender. * 6 January – Charlie Thomson, 78, Clyde goalkeeper. * 7 January – Alfie Conn, Sr., 82, Hearts and Raith Rovers player; Gala Fairydean and Raith Rovers manager. Part of the ''Terrible Trio'' forward line. * 2 March – Andy Bowman, 74, Hearts, Hamilton Academical and Hawick Royal Albert player. * 28 March – Hughie Kelly, 85, Blackpool and Scotland player. * 22 April – Billy Smith, 78, Aberdeen defender. * 3 May – Bobby Campbell, 86, Falkirk and Scotland player; Dumbarton manager. * 25 May – Billy Baxter, 70, Scottish defender who mostly played for Ipswich Town. * 7 June – Willie Kilmarnock, 87, Motherwell and Airdrie player. * 7 June – Gordon Lennon, 26, Stenhousemuir, Albion Rovers and Dumbarton player.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008-09 in Scottish Football Seasons in Scottish football