2003–04 Scottish Premier League

Scottish Premier League
Season	2003–04
Dates	8 August 2003 – 15 May 2004
Champions	Celtic ; 3rd Premier League title ; 39th Scottish title
Champions League	Celtic; Rangers
UEFA Cup	Heart of Midlothian; Dunfermline
Intertoto Cup	Hibernian
Top goalscorer	Henrik Larsson (30)
Biggest home win	Celtic 6–0 Hibernian (27 December)
Biggest away win	Kilmarnock 0–5 Celtic (1 November)
Highest attendance	59,739 – Celtic v Dunfermline (2 May)
Lowest attendance	2,677 – Livingston v Kilmarnock (7 April)
	← 2002–03 2004–05 →

The 2003–04 Scottish Premier League was won by Celtic.

As league champions, Celtic qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage, with runners-up Rangers also qualifying to the third qualifying round. Third-placed Hearts qualified for the UEFA Cup, as did Dunfermline Athletic, who took the Scottish Cup place despite losing the final to Celtic.

During the season, Celtic set a Scottish record of 25 successive wins.^[1]

Partick Thistle were relegated, and First Division winners Inverness Caledonian Thistle were promoted.

Celtic's Henrik Larsson was the top scorer with 30 goals.

Teams

Promotion and relegation from 2002–03

Motherwell finished bottom of the 2002–03 Scottish Premier League but were spared relegation, as 2002–03 Scottish First Division champions Falkirk were denied promotion due to their lack of an appropriate stadium for the Scottish Premier League.

Stadia and locations

Aberdeen	Celtic	Dundee	Dundee United
Pittodrie Stadium	Celtic Park	Dens Park	Tannadice Park
Capacity: 20,866^[2]	Capacity: 60,411^[3]	Capacity: 11,506^[4]	Capacity: 14,223^[5]

Dunfermline Athletic	Aberdeen Dundee Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Hearts Hibernian Kilmarnock Livingston Rangers Celtic Motherwell Partick Thistle class=notpageimage\| Location of teams in 2003–04 Scottish Premier League		Heart of Midlothian
East End Park			Tynecastle Park
Capacity: 12,509^[6]			Capacity: 17,420^[7]

Hibernian			Kilmarnock
Easter Road			Rugby Park
Capacity: 16,531^[8]			Capacity: 17,889^[9]

Livingston	Motherwell	Partick Thistle	Rangers
Almondvale Stadium	Fir Park	Firhill Stadium	Ibrox Stadium
Capacity: 10,016^[10]	Capacity: 13,677^[11]	Capacity: 13,300^[12]	Capacity: 50,817^[13]

Personnel

Team	Manager
Aberdeen	Steve Paterson
Celtic	Martin O'Neill
Dundee	Jim Duffy
Dundee United	Ian McCall
Dunfermline Athletic	Jimmy Calderwood
Heart of Midlothian	Craig Levein
Hibernian	Tony Mowbray
Kilmarnock	Jim Jefferies
Livingston	David Hay
Motherwell	Terry Butcher
Partick Thistle	Gerry Britton Derek Whyte (co-managers)
Rangers	Alex McLeish

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Partick Thistle	John Lambie	24 May 2003	Retired	Pre-season	Gerry Collins	25 May 2003
Livingston	Jim Leishman	4 June 2003	Resigned	Pre-season	Márcio Máximo	4 June 2003
Livingston	Márcio Máximo	14 October 2003	Resigned	8th	David Hay	15 October 2003
Partick Thistle	Gerry Collins	30 November 2003	Sacked	12th	Gerry Britton Derek Whyte (co-managers)	30 November 2003 (interim) 23 December 2003 (permanent)
Hibernian	Bobby Williamson	20 April 2004	Signed by Plymouth Argyle	7th	Tony Mowbray	24 May 2004

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation^[a]
1	Celtic (C)	38	31	5	2	105	25	+80	98	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Rangers	38	25	6	7	76	33	+43	81	Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round
3	Heart of Midlothian	38	19	11	8	56	40	+16	68	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round^[b]
4	Dunfermline Athletic	38	14	11	13	45	52	−7	53	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round^[b]
5	Dundee United	38	13	10	15	47	60	−13	49
6	Motherwell	38	12	10	16	42	49	−7	46

7	Dundee	38	12	10	16	48	57	−9	46
8	Hibernian	38	11	11	16	41	60	−19	44	Qualification for the UEFA Intertoto Cup second round^[c]
9	Livingston	38	10	13	15	48	57	−9	43
10	Kilmarnock	38	12	6	20	51	74	−23	42
11	Aberdeen	38	9	7	22	39	63	−24	34
12	Partick Thistle (R)	38	6	8	24	39	67	−28	26	Relegation to the Scottish First Division

Source: Scottish Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ 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.
^ As Celtic, the 2003–04 Scottish Cup winners, qualified for the UEFA Champions League via their league position, the place in the UEFA Cup was passed onto Dunfermline Athletic, the cup runners-up.
^ Hibernian qualified for the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup as the highest placed team to apply to participate 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	LIV	MOT	PAR	RAN
Aberdeen		1–3	2–2	0–1	1–2	0–1	3–1	3–1	0–3	0–3	2–1	2–3
Celtic	4–0		3–2	5–0	5–0	5–0	6–0	5–1	5–1	3–0	3–1	3–0
Dundee	2–0	0–1		2–1	0–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	2–1	0–1	1–0	0–2
Dundee United	3–2	1–5	1–1		1–0	2–1	1–2	1–1	2–0	0–2	0–0	1–3
Dunfermline Athletic	2–2	0–0	2–0	2–0		2–1	0–0	2–3	2–2	1–0	2–1	2–0
Heart of Midlothian	2–0	0–1	2–2	3–0	1–0		2–0	2–1	3–1	0–0	2–0	0–4
Hibernian	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–2	1–2	1–0		3–1	0–2	0–2	3–2	0–1
Kilmarnock	1–3	0–5	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2		0–3	2–0	2–1	2–3
Livingston	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–3	1–0	1–2		1–0	2–0	0–0
Motherwell	1–0	0–2	0–3	3–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–1		2–2	1–1
Partick Thistle	0–3	1–2	1–2	0–2	4–1	1–4	0–1	2–4	1–1	1–0		0–1
Rangers	3–0	0–1	3–1	2–1	4–0	2–1	5–2	4–0	1–0	1–0	3–1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
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).

Home \ Away	ABE	CEL	DND	DUN	DNF	HOM	HIB	KIL	LIV	MOT	PAR	RAN
Aberdeen				3–0	2–0				1–2	0–2	0–0	1–1
Celtic	1–2			2–1		2–2			5–1	1–1
Dundee	1–1	1–2			0–1		2–2		1–0		2–1
Dundee United			2–2				0–0	4–1		1–0		2–0
Dunfermline Athletic		1–4		1–1		0–0	1–1	2–1			1–0
Heart of Midlothian	1–0		3–1	3–1					1–1			1–1
Hibernian	0–1	0–4				1–1		3–0	3–1	3–3
Kilmarnock	3–1	0–1	4–2			1–1					2–1
Livingston				2–3	0–0			1–1		3–1		1–1
Motherwell			5–3		1–0	1–1		1–0			3–0	0–1
Partick Thistle		1–4		1–1		1–0	1–1		5–2
Rangers		1–2	4–0		4–1		3–0	2–0			2–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
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.

Top six

Home \ Away	CEL	DUN	DNF	HOM	MOT	RAN
Celtic		2–1	1–2			1–0
Dundee United			3–2	0–2		3–3
Dunfermline Athletic					3–0	2–3
Heart of Midlothian	1–1		2–1		3–2
Motherwell	1–1	0–1
Rangers				0–1	4–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Bottom six

Home \ Away	ABE	DND	HIB	KIL	LIV	PAR
Aberdeen		1–2	0–1
Dundee				2–0	2–0
Hibernian		1–0				1–2
Kilmarnock	4–0		2–0		4–2
Livingston	2–0		4–1			2–2
Partick Thistle	2–0	0–1		2–2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Player	Club	Goals
Henrik Larsson	Celtic	30
Chris Sutton	Celtic	19
Nacho Novo	Dundee	19
James Grady	Partick Thistle	15
Kris Boyd	Kilmarnock	15
Derek Riordan	Hibernian	15
Stevie Crawford	Dunfermline Athletic	13
Mark de Vries	Hearts	13
Derek Lilley	Livingston	12
Shota Arveladze	Rangers	12
David Clarkson	Motherwell	11
Alan Thompson	Celtic	11

Source: SPL official website

Attendances

The average attendances for SPL clubs during the 2003/04 season are shown below:

Team	Average
Celtic	57,657
Rangers	48,992
Hearts	11,947
Aberdeen	10,389
Hibernian	9,137
Dundee United	7,785
Dundee	7,089
Kilmarnock	6,966
Dunfermline Athletic	6,235
Motherwell	6,225
Livingston	5,116
Partick Thistle	4,710

Source: SPL official website

Monthly awards

Month	Manager	Player	Young Player
August	Alex McLeish (Rangers)	Michael Ball (Rangers)	Mikel Arteta (Rangers)
September	Alex McLeish (Rangers)	Shota Arveladze (Rangers)	Zurab Khizanishvili (Rangers)
October	Martin O'Neill (Celtic)	Roddy McKenzie (Livingston)	Liam Miller (Celtic)
November	Martin O'Neill (Celtic)	Chris Sutton (Celtic)	Stephen Hughes (Rangers)
December	Steve Paterson (Aberdeen)	Craig Brewster (Dunfermline Athletic)	Craig Gordon (Hearts)
January	Jim Duffy (Dundee)	Stilian Petrov (Celtic)	David Clarkson (Motherwell)
February	Terry Butcher (Motherwell)	Steven Pressley (Hearts)	Alexander Diamond (Aberdeen)
March	Ian McCall (Dundee United)	Neil Lennon (Celtic)	David Marshall (Celtic)
April	Jimmy Calderwood (Dunfermline Athletic)	Barry Nicholson (Dunfermline Athletic)	Derek Riordan (Hibernian)

References

^ "Celtic tipped to break 2004 25-game winning streak by Mjallby". The Daily Record. Retrieved 29 December 2010.
^ "Aberdeen Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Celtic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Dundee Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Dundee United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Dunfermline Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Heart of Midlothian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Hibernian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Kilmarnock Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Livingston Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Motherwell Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Partick Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
^ "Rangers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 November 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[14] 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.

[table_note_res_UC10.78657381692276-15] As Celtic, the 2003–04 Scottish Cup winners, qualified for the UEFA Champions League via their league position, the place in the UEFA Cup was passed onto Dunfermline Athletic, the cup runners-up.

[table_note_res_IC0.78657381692276-16] Hibernian qualified for the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup as the highest placed team to apply to participate in the competition.

[1] "Celtic tipped to break 2004 25-game winning streak by Mjallby". The Daily Record. Retrieved 29 December 2010.

[2] "Aberdeen Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[3] "Celtic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[4] "Dundee Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[5] "Dundee United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[6] "Dunfermline Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[7] "Heart of Midlothian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[8] "Hibernian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[9] "Kilmarnock Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[10] "Livingston Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[11] "Motherwell Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[12] "Partick Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.

[13] "Rangers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 November 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[1]

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Winners	List of champions Winning managers

v t e 2003–04 in Scottish football
« 2002–03 2004–05 »
Domestic leagues	Premier League Football League First Division Second Division Third Division Highland League
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final League Cup Final Challenge Cup Final
European competitions	Champions League UEFA Cup Intertoto Cup
Related to national team	Results Euro 2004 qualifying (Group 5, play-offs)
Club seasons
Premier League	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Kilmarnock Livingston Motherwell Partick Thistle Rangers
First Division	Ayr United Brechin City Clyde Falkirk Inverness Caledonian Thistle Queen of the South Raith Rovers Ross County St. Johnstone St. Mirren
Second Division	Airdrie United Alloa Athletic Arbroath Berwick Rangers Dumbarton East Fife Forfar Athletic Greenock Morton Hamilton Academical Stenhousemuir
Third Division	Albion Rovers Cowdenbeath East Stirlingshire Elgin City Gretna Montrose Peterhead Queen's Park Stirling Albion Stranraer

v t e 2003–04 in European men's football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia '03 '04 Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '03 '04 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '03 '04 Faroe Islands '03 '04 Finland '03 '04 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '03 '04 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '03 '04 Latvia '03 '04 Lithuania '03 '04 Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '03 '04 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '03 '04 Romania Russia '03 '04 San Marino Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '03 '04 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '03 '04 Finland '03 '04 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '03 '04 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '03 '04 Latvia '03 '04 Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '03 '04 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '03 '04 Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia and Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '03 '04 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
League cups	England Finland '03 '04 France Germany Iceland '03 '04 Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland '03 '04 Scotland Wales
UEFA competitions	Champions League (Qualifying rounds, Group stage, Knockout stage, Final) UEFA Cup (qualifying, 1st round, 2nd round, final phase, final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup

Teams

Promotion and relegation from 2002–03

Stadia and locations

Personnel

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Matches 1–22

Matches 23–33

Matches 34–38

Top six

Bottom six

Top scorers

Attendances

Monthly awards

See also

References