2000–01 Scottish Premier League

The 2000–01 Scottish Premier League (known as the 2000–01 Bank of Scotland Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the Scottish Premier League, the top level of football in Scotland. It began on 29 July 2000 and concluded on 20 May 2001.

Scottish Premier League
Season2000–01
Dates29 July 2000 – 20 May 2001
ChampionsCeltic
1st Premier League title
37th Scottish title
RelegatedSt Mirren
Champions LeagueCeltic
Rangers
UEFA CupHibernian
Kilmarnock
Intertoto CupDundee
Matches played228
Goals scored605 (2.65 per match)
Top goalscorerHenrik Larsson (35)
Biggest home winRangers 7–1 St Mirren (4 November)
Celtic 6–0 Aberdeen (16 December)
Celtic 6–0 Kilmarnock (2 January)
Hearts 7–1 Dunfermline Athletic (24 February)
Biggest away winDundee United 0–4 Celtic (26 December)
Dundee United 0–4 Hearts (14 October)
Highest scoringCeltic 6–2 Rangers (27 August)
Dundee United 3–5 Aberdeen (23 September)
Hibernian 6–2 Hearts (22 October)
Rangers 7–1 St Mirren (4 November)
Hearts 7–1 Dunfermline Athletic (24 February)
Highest attendance60,440, Celtic 1–0 St Mirren (7 April)
Lowest attendance2,610, Dunfermline Athletic 1–2 Motherwell (12 May)
Average attendance15,905 ( 2,089)

Rangers were the defending champions.

Celtic finished the season as league champions by a 15-point margin over Rangers, also winning both of the domestic cups to complete a domestic treble, in their first season under the management of Martin O'Neill.

Changes from 1999–2000 season

2000–01 saw the Scottish Premier League (SPL) expanded from 10 to 12 clubs, which was part of the agreement reached between the clubs in the SPL and the Scottish Football League when the top-tier clubs broke away in 1998.[1]

With the expansion of the league, the league 'split' was introduced to avoid the need for clubs to play 44 fixtures in a season,[2] which would be the case if the quadruple round-robin format of the previous season was followed. Instead, after 33 rounds of matches, by which time all clubs had played each other three times, the league split into a 'top six' and 'bottom six' with clubs only competing against teams within their own section for the final five fixtures. Points achieved during the first phase of 33 matches were carried forward to the second phase but after the first phase was completed, clubs cannot move out of their own section in the league, even if they achieved more or fewer points than a higher or lower ranked team, respectively.[3] The new format received widespread criticism from SPL managers.[4]

Results in European competition over the previous five years saw the league move up from 21st to 15th in the UEFA country coefficient ranking. This meant that the league was granted an additional berth in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds for the following season.[5]

Teams

Twelve clubs competed in the league, all of the participants in the 1999–2000 Scottish Premier League and the top two clubs in the 1999–2000 Scottish First Division. A play-off was due to take place between the bottom club of the Premier League (Aberdeen) and the second- and third-placed club of the First Division (Dunfermline Athletic and Falkirk, respectively), but as Falkirk's stadium did not meet the minimum SPL seating requirements, this play-off did not take place, and Aberdeen and Dunfermline were automatically placed in the Premier League.[6]

St Mirren were promoted to the league as champions of the 1999–2000 First Division, securing the championship on 29 April 2000 with a 3–0 victory over Raith Rovers at Love Street. This was to be their first season at the top level of Scottish football since 1991–92.

Stadia and locations
Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United
Pittodrie Stadium Celtic Park Dens Park Tannadice Park
Capacity: 20,866[7] Capacity: 60,411[8] Capacity: 11,506[9] Capacity: 14,223[10]
Dunfermline Athletic
Location of teams in 2000–01 Scottish Premier League
 Heart of Midlothian
East End Park Tynecastle Park
Capacity: 12,509[11] Capacity: 17,420[12]
Hibernian Kilmarnock
Easter Road Rugby Park
Capacity: 16,531[13] Capacity: 17,889[14]
Motherwell Rangers St Johnstone St Mirren
Fir Park Ibrox Stadium McDiarmid Park Love Street
Capacity: 13,677[15] Capacity: 50,817[16] Capacity: 10,696[17] Capacity: 10,800[18]

Personnel and kits
Team Manager Kit manufacturer Kit sponsor
Aberdeen Denmark Ebbe Skovdahl Puma[19] Atlantic Telecom
Celtic Northern Ireland Martin O'Neill Umbro[20] ntl:
Dundee Italy Ivano Bonetti Xara[21] Ceramic Tile Warehouse
Dundee United Scotland Alex Smith TFG Sports[22] Telewest
Dunfermline Athletic Scotland Jimmy Calderwood TFG Sports[23] Auto Windscreens
Heart of Midlothian Scotland Craig Levein Erreà[24] Strongbow
Hibernian Scotland Alex McLeish Le Coq Sportif[25] Carlsberg
Kilmarnock Scotland Bobby Williamson Puma[26] scotlandonline.com
Motherwell Scotland Billy Davies Xara[27] Motorola
Rangers Netherlands Dick Advocaat Nike[28] ntl:
St Johnstone Scotland Sandy Clark Xara[29] Scottish Hydro Electric
St Mirren Scotland Tom Hendrie Xara[30] LDV Group

Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Manner of departure Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Celtic Scotland Kenny Dalglish 1 June 2000[31] Caretaker spell ended Pre-season Northern Ireland Martin O'Neill 1 June 2000[31]
Dundee Scotland Jocky Scott 10 July 2000[32] Contract expired Italy Ivano Bonetti 10 July 2000[32]
Dundee United Scotland Paul Sturrock 7 August 2000[33] Resigned 12th Scotland Alex Smith 8 August 2000[34]
Heart of Midlothian Scotland Jim Jefferies 8 November 2000[35] Mutual consent 5th Scotland Craig Levein 1 December 2000[36]

Overview

The 2000–01 title was won by Celtic – their first SPL title, and their first Scottish title since winning the 1997–98 Premier Division – in Martin O'Neill's first season as manager of the club. Celtic also went on to win the 2000–01 Scottish Cup and the 2000–01 Scottish League Cup, completing a domestic treble.[1] Henrik Larsson won the 2000–01 European Golden Shoe for his goalscoring, scoring 35 league goals and 53 goals in all competitions over the course of the season. The 35 goals Larsson scored in the league this season was a Scottish Premier League record.

Defending champions Rangers finished second, 15 points behind their Old Firm-rivals. Celtic secured their title on 7 April 2001, with a 1–0 victory over St Mirren at Celtic Park.[37] The aforementioned match had the highest attendance of any match in SPL history. As champions, Celtic qualified for the Champions League, as did second-placed Rangers. Third-placed Hibernian and fourth-placed Kilmarnock qualified for the UEFA Cup, while Dundee became the first SPL club – and the first Scottish club since Partick Thistle in 1995 – to qualify for the UEFA Intertoto Cup.

The record for the highest transfer fee ever paid by a Scottish club was broken twice over the course of the season. Firstly, by Chris Sutton's transfer from Chelsea to Celtic on 10 July 2000 for £6 million.[38] Then, on 23 November 2000, the £12 million fee paid by Rangers to Chelsea for Tore André Flo became the highest transfer fee ever paid by a Scottish club,[39] and is a record which still stands as of 2023.[1] The signing of Claudio Caniggia for Dundee in October 2000 was also seen by many as a major coup for the club,[40] and was just one of many signings of international players made under the management of Ivano Bonetti.

St Mirren were relegated in what was their debut season in the SPL and their first appearance in Scotland's top division since 1991–92. Their relegation was mathematically confirmed on the final day of the season with a 3–3 draw against Motherwell, leaving them five points below 11th-placed Dundee United.[1]

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1]
1 Celtic (C) 38 31 4 3 90 29 +61 97 Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
2 Rangers 38 26 4 8 76 36 +40 82 Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
3 Hibernian 38 18 12 8 57 35 +22 66 Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4 Kilmarnock 38 15 9 14 44 53 −9 54 Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round[lower-alpha 2]
5 Heart of Midlothian 38 14 10 14 56 50 +6 52
6 Dundee 38 13 8 17 51 49 +2 47 Qualification for the UEFA Intertoto Cup first round[lower-alpha 3]
7 Aberdeen 38 11 12 15 45 52 −7 45
8 Motherwell 38 12 7 19 42 56 −14 43
9 Dunfermline Athletic 38 11 9 18 34 54 −20 42
10 St Johnstone 38 9 13 16 40 56 −16 40
11 Dundee United 38 9 8 21 38 63 −25 35
12 St Mirren (R) 38 8 6 24 32 72 −40 30 Relegation to the First Division
Source: Scottish Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. 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.
  2. As both finalists of the 2000–01 Scottish Cup, Celtic and Hibernian, qualified for European competition via their league position, the cup berth for 2001–02 UEFA Cup was passed to the next-placed team in the league, fourth-placed Kilmarnock.
  3. Dundee qualified for the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup as the highest-placed team to apply for a place in the competition.

Results

Matches 1–22

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

Home \ Away ABE CEL DND DUN DNF HOM HIB KIL MOT RAN STJ STM
Aberdeen 1–1 0–2 4–1 0–0 1–1 0–2 1–2 3–3 1–2 1–1 2–1
Celtic 6–0 1–0 2–1 3–1 6–1 3–0 2–1 1–0 6–2 4–1 2–0
Dundee 2–2 1–2 3–0 3–0 1–1 1–2 0–0 1–2 1–1 1–1 5–0
Dundee United 3–5 1–2 0–2 3–2 0–4 0–1 0–1 1–1 1–1 1–2 0–0
Dunfermline Athletic 0–0 1–2 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 1–2 0–0 1–1 2–0
Heart of Midlothian 3–0 2–4 3–1 3–1 2–0 0–0 0–2 3–0 0–1 0–3 2–0
Hibernian 0–2 0–0 5–1 3–0 3–0 6–2 1–1 2–0 1–0 2–0 2–0
Kilmarnock 1–0 0–1 2–3 1–0 2–1 0–3 0–1 3–2 2–4 0–2 2–1
Motherwell 1–1 3–3 0–2 2–1 0–1 2–0 1–3 1–2 0–1 4–0 2–0
Rangers 3–1 5–1 0–2 3–0 4–1 1–0 1–0 0–3 2–0 2–1 7–1
St Johnstone 0–0 0–2 0–0 1–0 0–2 2–2 0–3 1–1 2–3 2–1 2–0
St Mirren 2–0 0–2 2–1 1–1 2–1 1–2 1–1 0–1 0–1 1–3 0–1
Source: Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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).

Home \ Away ABE CEL DND DUN DNF HOM HIB KIL MOT RAN STJ STM
Aberdeen 0–1 0–2 1–0 1–0 3–3 3–0
Celtic 2–1 1–1 6–0 1–0 1–0 1–0
Dundee 2–3 0–1 0–0 2–2 0–1
Dundee United 1–1 0–4 1–1 2–0 1–1 4–0
Dunfermline Athletic 3–2 0–3 3–1 2–1 0–0
Heart of Midlothian 0–3 7–1 1–1 3–0 3–0 1–0
Hibernian 3–0 1–0 1–1 0–0 4–2
Kilmarnock 0–0 0–0 2–1 1–1 1–2 1–2
Motherwell 0–1 0–3 1–1 1–2 1–0
Rangers 1–0 0–2 2–0 2–0 3–0
St Johnstone 1–2 2–3 2–2 2–0 1–2
St Mirren 2–1 1–1 1–3 0–1 1–3 1–0
Source: Soccerbase
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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 scorers
PlayerClubGoals
Sweden Henrik LarssonCeltic35
Norway Arild StavrumAberdeen17
Argentina Juan SaraDundee15
Northern Ireland Andy KirkHearts13
Northern Ireland Stuart ElliottMotherwell12
Scotland Colin CameronHearts12
Norway Tore André FloRangers11
Finland Mixu PaatelainenHibernian11
England Chris SuttonCeltic11
France David ZitelliHibernian10
Scotland Ricky GilliesSt Mirren10
Scotland Keigan ParkerSt Johnstone10

Source: SPL official website

Attendances

The average attendances for SPL clubs during the 2000/01 season are shown below:

Team Average
Celtic59,369
Rangers47,532
Hearts12,771
Aberdeen12,403
Hibernian10,792
Kilmarnock8,223
Dundee8,041
Dundee United7,829
Dunfermline Athletic6,413
Motherwell6,208
St Mirren5,838
St Johnstone5,438

Source: SPL official website

Monthly awards
Main article: Scottish Premier League monthly awards
Month Manager Player
August Northern Ireland Martin O'Neill (Celtic) Scotland Andy McLaren (Kilmarnock)
September Scotland Bobby Williamson (Kilmarnock) Sweden Henrik Larsson (Celtic)
October Scotland Alex McLeish (Hibernian) Finland Mixu Paatelainen (Hibernian)
November Scotland Billy Davies (Motherwell) Scotland Barry Ferguson (Rangers)
December Northern Ireland Martin O'Neill (Celtic) Sweden Henrik Larsson (Celtic)
January None awarded due to winter break.
February Northern Ireland Martin O'Neill (Celtic) Argentina Claudio Caniggia (Dundee)
March Scotland Alex Smith (Dundee United) Northern Ireland Neil Lennon (Celtic)
AprilScotland Tom Hendrie (St Mirren) Finland Antti Niemi (Hearts)
May Scotland Alex Smith (Dundee United) Germany Jörg Albertz (Rangers)

See also

References
  1. "Season review 2000/01". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 2 July 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  2. Mullaney, Paul (8 April 2013). "Scottish Premier League: In Defence of the Split". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 4 June 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  3. "Guide to the SPL split". BBC Sport. 31 March 2001. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2001.
  4. "Fear factor worries McLeish". BBC Sport. 9 July 2000. Retrieved 24 April 2008.
  5. "Qualification for European club football 2001/02". Bert Kassies. Archived from the original on 16 August 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  6. "Falkirk stadium hopes boost". BBC News. 6 December 2000. Archived from the original on 5 April 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  7. "Aberdeen Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  8. "Celtic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  9. "Dundee Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  10. "Dundee United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  11. "Dunfermline Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  12. "Heart of Midlothian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  13. "Hibernian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  14. "Kilmarnock Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  15. "Motherwell Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  16. "Rangers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  17. "St Johnstone Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  18. "St Mirren Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  19. "Aberdeen". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  20. "Celtic". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  21. "Dundee". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  22. "Dundee United". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  23. "Dunfermline Athletic". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  24. "Heart of Midlothian". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  25. "Hibernian". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  26. "Kilmarnock". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  27. "Motherwell". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  28. "Rangers". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  29. "St Johnstone". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  30. "St Mirren". Historical Football Kits. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  31. "O'Neill unveiled as Celtic boss". BBC News. 1 June 2000. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  32. "Dundee turn to Bonetti brothers". The Guardian. 12 May 2000. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  33. "Sturrock's United days are over". BBC News. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  34. "Smith's managerial zest as strong as ever 31 years on". The Herald. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  35. "Jefferies stands down as Hearts boss". BBC News. 9 November 2000. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  36. "Hearts unveil Levein as new coach". BBC News. 1 December 2000. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  37. "Celtic recapture league title". BBC News. 7 April 2001. Archived from the original on 16 October 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  38. "Celtic to break bank for Sutton". The Guardian. 10 July 2000. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  39. "Flo completes £12m Rangers move". The Guardian. 23 November 2000. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  40. "Dundee delight as Caniggia signs". The Daily Telegraph. 5 October 2000. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
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