2001–02 Scottish Premier League

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.^[6] This would be Livingston's first season at the top level of Scottish football in their 58-year history.

Stadia and locations

More information Aberdeen, Celtic ...

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	Aberdeen Dundee Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Hearts Hibernian Kilmarnock Livingston Rangers Celtic Motherwell St. Johnstone Location of teams in 2001–02 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]
Livingston	Motherwell	Rangers	St Johnstone
Almondvale Stadium	Fir Park	Ibrox Stadium	McDiarmid Park
Capacity: 10,016[15]	Capacity: 13,677[16]	Capacity: 50,817[17]	Capacity: 10,696[18]

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Personnel and kits

More information Team, Manager ...

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Kit sponsor
Aberdeen	Ebbe Skovdahl	Le Coq Sportif[19]	A-Fab
Celtic	Martin O'Neill	Umbro[20]	ntl:
Dundee	Ivano Bonetti	Xara[21]	Ceramic Tile Warehouse
Dundee United	Alex Smith	TFG Sports[22]	Telewest
Dunfermline Athletic	Jimmy Calderwood	TFG Sports[23]	RAC Auto Windscreens
Heart of Midlothian	Craig Levein	Erreà[24]	Strongbow
Hibernian	Bobby Williamson	Le Coq Sportif[25]	Carlsberg
Kilmarnock	Jim Jefferies	TFG Sports[26]	Seriously Strong Cheddar
Livingston	Jim Leishman	Jerzeez[27]	Motorola
Motherwell	Terry Butcher	Xara[28]	Motorola
Rangers	Alex McLeish	Nike[29]	ntl:
St Johnstone	Billy Stark	Xara[30]	Scottish Hydro Electric

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Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Motherwell	Billy Davies	18 September 2001[31]	Resigned	12th	Eric Black	16 October 2001[32]
St Johnstone	Sandy Clark	25 September 2001[33]	Sacked	12th	Billy Stark	5 October 2001[34]
Rangers	Dick Advocaat	12 December 2001[35]	Resigned	2nd	Alex McLeish	13 December 2001[36]
Hibernian	Alex McLeish	13 December 2001[36]	Signed by Rangers	8th	Franck Sauzée	14 December 2001[37]
Hibernian	Franck Sauzée	21 February 2002[38]	Sacked	11th	Bobby Williamson	25 February 2002[39]
Kilmarnock	Bobby Williamson	24 February 2002[39]	Resigned	5th	Jim Jefferies	28 February 2002[40]
Motherwell	Eric Black	24 April 2002[41]	Resigned	11th	Terry Butcher	24 April 2002[41]

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The 2001–02 season would be a record-breaking season for Celtic, who won consecutive titles for the first time since they won the title in both 1981 and 1982. 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 in December ^[42]). 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.^[43] The only points Celtic dropped at home was in their final home game, an Old Firm derby against Rangers which was drawn 1–1.^[44] Celtic clinched the title at Celtic Park on 6 April 2002, with a 5–1 win against Livingston.^[2] Henrik Larsson 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 stepped aside and Hibernian manager Alex McLeish was appointed to replace him.^[36] However, Rangers still finished a distant 2nd, 18 points adrift of Celtic. They did, however, win the Scottish Cup and the League Cup, beating Celtic^[45] and Ayr United^[46] in the finals, respectively. They also reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, losing narrowly to eventual winners Feyenoord.^[47]

Alex McLeish's replacement at Hibernian was fan-favourite^[48] Franck Sauzée,^[37] who retired from playing to take the management role. However, he was sacked after only two months and 15 matches,^[38] 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, 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.^[49] 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.^[49] The end of television coverage from Sky Sports caused multiple clubs in the league to suffer severe financial difficulties.^[41] In pre-season, Motherwell lost a number of players, including Andy Goram and Lee McCulloch, in an attempt to reduce the clubs wage bill.^[31] Manager Billy Davies also resigned early on in the season.^[31] 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.^[41] Davies' replacement, Eric Black, and chief executive Pat Nevin both left their roles with only two matches to go of the season once administration hit,^[41] and 19 of the club's players were made redundant at the end of the season.^[50]

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.^[51]

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.

More information Rank, Player ...

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Henrik Larsson	Celtic	29
2	John Hartson	Celtic	19
3	Tore André Flo	Rangers	18
4	Robbie Winters	Aberdeen	13
5	Juan Sara	Dundee	11
	Shota Arveladze	Rangers
7	Stuart Elliot	Motherwell	10
	James McFadden	Motherwell
9	Garry O'Connor	Hibernian	9
	Kevin McKenna	Heart of Midlothian
11	Darren Mackie	Aberdeen	8
	Hicham Zerouali	Aberdeen

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Source: SPL official website

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

Source: SPL official website