1998–99 Scottish Premier League

Scottish Premier League
Season	1998–99
Champions	Rangers
Promoted	Dundee
Relegated	Dunfermline Athletic
Champions League	Rangers
UEFA Cup	Celtic St Johnstone Kilmarnock
Intertoto Cup	None
Goals scored	471 (26)
Average goals/game	2.62
Top goalscorer	Henrik Larsson (29)
Biggest home win	Celtic 6–1 Dundee (7 November) Rangers 6–1 Dundee (20 February)
Biggest away win	St Johnstone 0–7 Rangers (8 November)
Highest attendance	60,092, Celtic v St Johnstone (31 January)
Lowest attendance	3,532, Dunfermline Athletic v Motherwell (23 May)
Average attendance	18,577 (541)
← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

The 1998–99 Scottish Premier League season was the inaugural season of Scottish Premier League football. It began on 1 August 1998.

Rangers finished the season as Scottish Premier League champions, gaining them their 48th Scottish top division title. Dunfermline Athletic were relegated in bottom place, being replaced by Scottish Division One champions Hibernian.

Overview

The 1998–99 Scottish Premier League season ended in success for Rangers who, managed by Dutchman Dick Advocaat, won the title by six points from nearest rivals Celtic. Dunfermline Athletic were relegated after three seasons in the top division. As champions, Rangers qualified for the Champions League while Celtic were joined by St Johnstone in qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Fourth placed Kilmarnock also gained a UEFA Cup place via the UEFA Fair Play ranking.

The £5.5m transfer of Andrei Kanchelskis to Rangers set a new Scottish transfer record.

The season began on 1 August 1998 with the first SPL goal scored by Aberdeen's Eoin Jess as they defeated newly promoted Dundee 2–0 at Dens Park.^[1] Also on the first day of the season, Craig Burley scored the SPL's first hat-trick as defending champions Celtic defeated Dunfermline Athletic 5–0 at Celtic Park.^[1]

1998–99 saw the introduction of a three-week break during January, which was well received by both players and managers.^[1] In its inaugural year, the SPL was broadcast to over 120 countries worldwide,^[1] while attendances increased^[1] and more money was invested in youth development than ever before.^[1] A new Scottish transfer record was also set as Rangers paid Fiorentina £5.5m for former Manchester United and Everton winger Andrei Kanchelskis.^[2]

Rangers clinched the SPL title by beating Old Firm-rivals Celtic 3–0 at Celtic Park.^[3] Three players were red-carded during the game and referee Hugh Dallas was struck by a coin thrown by a Celtic supporter and required treatment from paramedics on the field.^[3]

Promotion and relegation from 1997–98

Promoted from First Division to Premier League

Dundee

Relegated from Premier Division to First Division

Hibernian

Events

March 11: The Scottish Premier League agrees a two-year sponsorship deal with Bank of Scotland^[4]
May 2: Rangers win the title after defeating Celtic 3–0 at Celtic Park.^[3]

League table

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rangers	36	23	8	5	78	31	+47	77	1999–2000 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Celtic	36	21	8	7	84	35	+49	71	1999–2000 UEFA Cup Qualifying round
3	St Johnstone	36	15	12	9	39	38	+1	57
4	Kilmarnock	36	14	14	8	47	29	+18	56
5	Dundee	36	13	7	16	36	56	–20	46
6	Hearts	36	11	9	16	44	50	–6	42
7	Motherwell	36	10	11	15	35	54	–19	41
8	Aberdeen	36	10	7	19	43	71	–28	37
9	Dundee United	36	8	10	18	37	48	–11	34
10	Dunfermline Athletic	36	4	16	16	28	59	–31	28	Relegated to 1999–2000 First Division

Source: SPL official website

Results

Matches 1–18

During matches 1–18 each team plays every other team twice (home and away).

Home ╲ Away	Aberdeen !ABE	Celtic !CEL	Dundee !DND	Dundee United !DUN	Dunfermline Athletic !DNF	Heart of Midlothian !HOM	Kilmarnock !KIL	Motherwell !MOT	Rangers !RAN	St Johnstone !STJ
Aberdeen !Aberdeen		3–2	2–2	0–3	2–1	2–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–1
Celtic !Celtic	2–0		6–1	2–1	5–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	5–1	0–1
Dundee !Dundee	0–2	1–1		2–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–4	0–1
Dundee United !Dundee United	1–0	1–1	0–1		1–1	0–0	0–2	2–2	0–0	1–1
Dunfermline Athletic !Dunfermline Athletic	1–1	2–2	2–0	2–1		1–1	0–3	1–1	0–2	1–1
Heart of Midlothian !Heart of Midlothian	2–0	2–1	0–2	0–1	2–1		2–1	3–0	2–1	1–1
Kilmarnock !Kilmarnock	4–0	2–0	2–1	2–0	0–0	3–0		0–0	1–3	2–2
Motherwell !Motherwell	2–2	1–2	2–1	1–0	0–0	3–2	0–0		1–0	1–0
Rangers !Rangers	2–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	3–0	1–0	2–1		4–0
St Johnstone !St Johnstone	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–3	1–1	1–1	0–0	5–0	0–7

Source: Soccerbase
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Matches 19–36

During matches 19–36 each team plays every other team a further two times (home and away).

Home ╲ Away	Aberdeen !ABE	Celtic !CEL	Dundee !DND	Dundee United !DUN	Dunfermline Athletic !DNF	Heart of Midlothian !HOM	Kilmarnock !KIL	Motherwell !MOT	Rangers !RAN	St Johnstone !STJ
Aberdeen !Aberdeen		1–5	1–2	0–4	3–1	2–5	2–1	1–1	2–4	1–0
Celtic !Celtic	3–2		5–0	2–1	5–0	3–0	1–0	1–0	0–3	5–0
Dundee !Dundee	1–2	0–3		1–3	3–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–1
Dundee United !Dundee United	3–0	1–2	0–2		1–1	1–3	0–0	0–3	1–2	0–1
Dunfermline Athletic !Dunfermline Athletic	1–2	1–2	2–0	2–2		0–0	0–6	1–2	0–3	1–0
Heart of Midlothian !Heart of Midlothian	0–2	2–4	1–2	4–1	2–0		2–2	0–2	2–3	0–2
Kilmarnock !Kilmarnock	4–2	0–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–0		0–1	0–5	1–1
Motherwell !Motherwell	1–1	1–7	1–2	2–0	1–1	0–4	1–2		1–5	1–2
Rangers !Rangers	3–1	2–2	6–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–1		1–0
St Johnstone !St Johnstone	4–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	3–1

Top scorers

Celtic's Henrik Larsson was the SPL's top scorer in the 1998–99 season.

Player	Goals	Team
Henrik Larsson	29	Celtic
Rod Wallace	19	Rangers
Billy Dodds	16	Dundee United
Eoin Jess	14	Aberdeen
Robbie Winters	13	Aberdeen
Gary McSwegan	11	Hearts
Jörg Albertz	11	Rangers
Craig Burley	9	Celtic
Eddie Annand		Dundee
Stéphane Adam		Hearts
Neil McCann	8	Hearts
Mark Burchill		Celtic
Andy Smith		Dunfermline Athletic

Source: SPL official website

Attendances

The average attendances for SPL clubs during the 1998–99 season are shown below:

Team	Average
Celtic	59,233
Rangers	49,094
Hearts	14,232
Aberdeen	12,713
Kilmarnock	11,184
Dundee United	9,187
Motherwell	8,533
Dunfermline Athletic	7,375
Dundee	7,178
St Johnstone	7,038

Source: SPL official website

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Rangers	Walter Smith	Resigned	May 1998	Dick Advocaat	June 1998
Celtic	Wim Jansen	Resigned	May 1998	Jozef Vengloš	June 1998
Dundee United	Tommy McLean	Mutual consent	4 September 1998	Paul Sturrock	5 September 1998
St Johnstone	Paul Sturrock	Resigned	5 September 1998	Sandy Clark	7 September 1998
Motherwell	Harri Kampman	Resigned	15 October 1998	Billy Davies	15 October 1998
Aberdeen	Alex Miller	Sacked	8 December 1998	Paul Hegarty (Caretaker)	8 December 1998
Dunfermline Athletic	Bert Paton	Resigned	5 January 1999	Dick Campbell (Caretaker)	5 January 1999

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 "Season Review - 1998-1999". ScotPrem.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
↑ "Kanchelskis move to Rangers". BBC News. 1998-07-15. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
1 2 3 "Rangers make history out of chaos". BBC News. 1999-05-03. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
↑ "Scottish sponsorship deal is defended". The Independent. 1999-03-11. Retrieved 2008-04-21.

Scottish Premier League (1998–2013)
« Scottish Football League Premier Division (1975–98) Scottish Premiership (2013– ) »
Former teams	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Falkirk Gretna Hamilton Academical Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Kilmarnock Livingston Motherwell Partick Thistle Rangers Ross County St Johnstone St Mirren
Seasons	1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13
Clubs Stadia Foreign players Hat-tricks Yearly awards Monthly awards Reserve League

Top division football seasons in Scotland
Football League	1890–91 1891–92 1892–93
Division One	1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75
Premier Division	1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98
Premier League	1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13
Premiership	2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18

1998–99 in Scottish football
« 1997–98 1999–2000 »
Domestic leagues	Premier League Football League First Division Second Division Third Division Highland League
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup (Final) League Cup (Final) Junior Cup Highland League Cup North of Scotland Cup
European competitions	Champions League UEFA Cup
Related to national team	Results Euro 2000 qualifying (Group 9)
Club seasons
Premier League	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee Dundee United Dunfermline Athletic Heart of Midlothian Kilmarnock Motherwell Rangers St. Johnstone
First Division	Airdrieonians Ayr United Clydebank Falkirk Greenock Morton Hamilton Academical Hibernian Raith Rovers St. Mirren Stranraer
Second Division	Alloa Athletic Arbroath Clyde East Fife Forfar Athletic Inverness Caledonian Thistle Livingston Partick Thistle Queen of the South Stirling Albion
Third Division	Albion Rovers Berwick Rangers Brechin City Cowdenbeath Dumbarton East Stirlingshire Montrose Queen's Park Ross County Stenhousemuir

1998–99 in European football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Andorra Armenia '98 '99 Austria Azerbaijan Belarus '98 '99 Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia '98 '99 Faroe Islands '98 '99 Finland '98 '99 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '98 '99 Israel Italy Kazakhstan '98 '99 Latvia '98 '99 Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '98 '99 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia '98 '99 San Marino Scotland Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden '98 '99 Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales FR Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands '98 '99 Finland '98 '99 France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '98 '99 Israel Italy Latvia '98 '99 Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '98 '99 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales FR Yugoslavia
League cups	England Finland '98 '99 France Germany Iceland '98 '99 Israel Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland Scotland Wales
UEFA competitions	Champions League (Group stage, knockout stage, Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Intertoto Cup Super Cup

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