2001–02 in Scottish football

The 2001–02 season was the 105th season of competitive football in Scotland. ^[1]

Football in Scotland

Season	2001–02
← 2000–01 2002–03 →

2001–02 in Scottish football
Premier League champions
Celtic
First Division champions
Partick Thistle
Second Division champions
Queen of the South
Third Division champions
Brechin City
Scottish Cup winners
Rangers
League Cup winners
Rangers
Challenge Cup winners
Airdrieonians
Junior Cup winners
Linlithgow Rose
Teams in Europe
Celtic, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Rangers
Scotland national team
2002 World Cup qualification

Key events

Celtic, domestic treble winners a year earlier, retain their Premier League title.^[2]

After failing to win anything the previous season, Rangers won the Scottish Cup and League Cup under their new manager Alex McLeish.^[3]

Airdrieonians, who narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League as First Division runners-up, went out of business of 1 May with debts of nearly £3million.^[4] Later that month, however, a new club representing the town of Airdrie - Airdrie United - was formed, with ambitions of gaining Scottish league status for the 2002–03 season.^[5]

Livingston, in the Premier League for the first time, finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup. Livingston, who were known as Meadowbank Thistle until relocating from Edinburgh to Livingston in 1995 and played their first season in their new location as a Third Division club.^[6]

Falkirk avoided relegation from the First Division and Stenhousemuir avoided relegation from the Second as a result of the league losing a member. The vacant place in the Third Division was occupied by Gretna, who until then had played in the English non-league system.^[7]

Despite Gretna beating Airdrie United to the vacant league place, Airdrie United still gained a league place for the 2002–03 season – in the Second Division – as they bought out the debt-ridden club Clydebank.^[8]

Queen of the South won the Second Division league title for the first time in 51-years since they won the Division B league title in season 1950–51. These were the only two occasions that the Dumfries club had won a league title in their history, that was up until they won their third ever league title in season 2012–13, when they won the Second Division once again. ^[9]

League Competitions

Scottish Premier League

Main article: 2001–02 Scottish Premier League

The 2001–02 Scottish Premier League was won by Celtic. Rangers finished second and therefore qualified for a UEFA Champions League place alongside Celtic. Livingston, in their debut season in Scotland's top division, qualified for the UEFA Cup along with Aberdeen. St Johnstone were relegated to the First Division.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
1	Celtic (C)	38	33	4	1	94	18	+76	103	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
2	Rangers	38	25	10	3	82	27	+55	85	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
3	Livingston	38	16	10	12	50	47	+3	58	Qualification for the UEFA Cup qualifying round[b]
4	Aberdeen	38	16	7	15	51	49	+2	55
5	Heart of Midlothian	38	14	6	18	52	57	−5	48
6	Dunfermline Athletic	38	12	9	17	41	64	−23	45
7	Kilmarnock	38	13	10	15	44	54	−10	49
8	Dundee United	38	12	10	16	38	59	−21	46
9	Dundee	38	12	8	18	41	55	−14	44
10	Hibernian	38	10	11	17	51	56	−5	41
11	Motherwell	38	11	7	20	49	69	−20	40
12	St Johnstone (R)	38	5	6	27	24	62	−38	21	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 2001–02 Scottish Cup, Rangers and Celtic, qualified for European competition via their league position, the cup berth for 2002–03 UEFA Cup was passed to the next-placed team in the league, fourth-placed Aberdeen.

Scottish First Division

Main article: 2001–02 Scottish First Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Partick Thistle (C, P)	36	19	9	8	61	38	+23	66	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Airdrieonians (R)	36	15	11	10	59	40	+19	56	Club folded after the season
3	Ayr United	36	13	13	10	53	44	+9	52
4	Ross County	36	14	10	12	51	43	+8	52
5	Clyde	36	13	10	13	51	56	−5	49
6	Inverness CT	36	13	9	14	60	51	+9	48
7	Arbroath	36	14	6	16	42	59	−17	48
8	St Mirren	36	11	12	13	43	53	−10	45
9	Falkirk[a]	36	10	9	17	49	73	−24	39
10	Raith Rovers (R)	36	8	11	17	50	62	−12	35	Relegation to the Second Division

Source: "2001-2002 First Division - SPFL Archive". SPFL. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Falkirk were reprieved from relegation due to Airdrieonians folding.

Scottish Second Division

Main article: 2001–02 Scottish Second Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Queen of the South (C, P)	36	20	7	9	64	42	+22	67	Promotion to the First Division
2	Alloa Athletic (P)	36	15	14	7	55	33	+22	59
3	Forfar Athletic	36	15	8	13	51	47	+4	53
4	Clydebank[a]	36	14	9	13	44	45	−1	51	Club folded after the season
5	Hamilton Academical	36	13	9	14	49	44	+5	48
6	Berwick Rangers	36	12	11	13	44	52	−8	47
7	Stranraer	36	10	15	11	48	51	−3	45
8	Cowdenbeath	36	11	11	14	49	51	−2	44
9	Stenhousemuir[b]	36	8	12	16	33	57	−24	36
10	Greenock Morton (R)	36	7	14	15	48	63	−15	35	Relegation to the Third Division

Source: "2001-2002 Second Division - SPFL Archive". SPFL. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Clydebank folded at the end of the season; their place in the Scottish Football League was subsequently purchased by Airdrie United for the following season.
2. Stenhousemuir were reprieved from relegation due to Aidrieonians folding.

Scottish Third Division

Main article: 2001–02 Scottish Third Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Brechin City (C, P)	36	22	7	7	67	38	+29	73	Promotion to the Second Division
2	Dumbarton (P)	36	18	7	11	59	48	+11	61
3	Albion Rovers	36	16	11	9	51	32	+19	59
4	Peterhead	36	17	5	14	63	52	+11	56
5	Montrose	36	16	7	13	43	39	+4	55
6	Elgin City	36	13	8	15	45	47	−2	47
7	East Stirlingshire	36	12	4	20	51	58	−7	40
8	East Fife	36	11	7	18	39	56	−17	40
9	Stirling Albion	36	9	10	17	45	68	−23	37
10	Queen's Park	36	9	8	19	38	53	−15	35

Source: "2001-2002 Third Division - SPFL Archive". SPFL. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Other honours

Cup honours

Competition	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Report
Scottish Cup 2001–02	Rangers	3 – 2	Celtic	Wikipedia article
League Cup 2001–02	Rangers	4 – 0	Ayr United	Wikipedia article
Challenge Cup 2001–02	Airdrieonians	2 – 1	Alloa Athletic	Wikipedia article
Youth Cup	Rangers	4 – 2	Ayr United
Junior Cup	Linlithgow Rose	1 – 0	Auchinleck Talbot

Individual honours

SPFA awards

Award	Player	Team
Players' Player of the Year	Lorenzo Amoruso	Rangers
Young Player of the Year	Kevin McNaughton	Aberdeen

SFWA awards

Award	Player	Team
Footballer of the Year	Paul Lambert	Celtic
Young Player of the Year	James McFadden	Motherwell
Manager of the Year	Martin O'Neill	Celtic

Scottish clubs in Europe

Club	Competition(s)	Final round	Coef.
Celtic	UEFA Champions League UEFA Cup	Group stage Third round	10.00
Rangers	UEFA Champions League UEFA Cup	Third qualifying round Fourth round	11.50
Kilmarnock	UEFA Cup	First round	3.00
Hibernian	UEFA Cup	First round	2.00

Average coefficient - 6.625

Scotland national team

Main article: Scotland national football team 2000–19 results

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score[note 1]	Competition	Scotland scorer(s)	Report
1 September	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Croatia	0–0	WCQG6		BBC Sport
5 September	Stade Roi Baudouin, Brussels (A)	Belgium	0–2	WCQG6		BBC Sport
6 October	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Latvia	2–1	WCQG6	Dougie Freedman, David Weir	BBC Sport
27 March	Stade de France, Saint-Denis (A)	France	0–5	Friendly		BBC Sport
17 April	Pittodrie, Aberdeen (H)	Nigeria	1–2	Friendly	Christian Dailly	BBC Sport
16 May	Asiad Main Stadium, Busan (A)	South Korea	1–4	Friendly	Scott Dobie	BBC Sport
20 May	Mongkok Stadium, Hong Kong (N)	South Africa	0–2	Friendly		BBC Sport

Key:

• (H) = Home match
• (A) = Away match
• WCQG6 = World Cup Qualifying - Group 6

See also

• 2001–02 Aberdeen F.C. season
• 2001–02 Celtic F.C. season
• 2001–02 Dundee United F.C. season
• 2001–02 Rangers F.C. season

Notes

1. Scotland's score is shown first.

References

1. "Scottish Football League Championship - Season 2001/02". scottishfootballleague.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
2. "Martin O'Neill timeline". the Guardian. 9 August 2010.
3. Rosstheger (22 February 2010). "Old Firm Classic: Rangers 3-2 Celtic". rangers.footballblog.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 November 2010.
4. "Airdrie history ends here". 1 May 2002 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
5. "Diamonds hope to sparkle again". 16 May 2002 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
6. Panton, Gary (December 2002). "Third among equals". wsc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 November 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
7. "Gretna are league newcomers". 18 June 2002 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
8. "Bankies accept their demise". 11 July 2002 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
9. "The Only Team in The Bible". www.qosfan.co.uk.

External links

• Scottish Premier League official website
• Scottish Football League official website
• BBC Scottish Premier League portal Archived 13 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• BBC Scottish Football League portal Archived 14 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine