| Season | 2004–05 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 6 August 2004 – 21 May 2005 |
| Champions | Rangers 4th Premier League title 51stScottish title |
| Relegated | Dundee |
| Champions League | Rangers Celtic |
| UEFA Cup | Hibernian Dundee United |
| Intertoto Cup | None |
| Matches | 228 |
| Goals | 595 (2.61 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | John Hartson (25) |
| Biggest home win | Celtic 6–0Dunfermline (12 March) |
| Biggest away win | Livingston 0–4Celtic (13 April) |
2005–06 → | |
The2004–05 Scottish Premier League was won byRangers, who claimed the title on the final day of the season by a single point fromCeltic, who had gone into the final fixtures leading and were still ahead in the closing minutes of their last game againstMotherwell until they conceded two goals (both scored by strikerScott McDonald),[1] costing them the title with Rangers winning their match againstHibernian inEdinburgh.[2] The dramatic events became known in popular culture as 'Helicopter Sunday' due to the aircraft ceremonially delivering the championship trophy changing direction in mid-flight as the identity of its winners altered suddenly.[3]
As leaguechampions, Rangers qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage, withrunners-upCeltic also qualifying to the third qualifying round. Third-placedHibernian qualified for theUEFA Cup, as didDundee United, who took theScottish Cup place despite losing the final to Celtic.
Dundee were relegated, andScottish First Division winnersFalkirk were promoted.
John Hartson was the top scorer with 25 goals for Celtic, whose managerMartin O'Neill stepped down at the end of the season after five years and a host of major trophies.
Promoted fromFirst Division toPremier League
Relegated fromPremier League toFirst Division
| Aberdeen | Celtic | Dundee | Dundee United |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pittodrie Stadium | Celtic Park | Dens Park | Tannadice Park |
| Capacity:20,866[4] | Capacity:60,411[5] | Capacity:11,506[6] | Capacity:14,223[7] |
 |  |  |  |
| Dunfermline Athletic |   Location of teams in 2004–05 Scottish Premier League | Heart of Midlothian | |
| East End Park | Tynecastle Park | ||
| Capacity:12,509[8] | Capacity:17,420[9] | ||
 |  | ||
| Hibernian | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | ||
| Easter Road | Caledonian Stadium[10] | ||
| Capacity:16,531[11] | Capacity:7,500[12] | ||
 |  | ||
| Kilmarnock | Livingston | Motherwell | Rangers |
| Rugby Park | Almondvale Stadium | Fir Park | Ibrox Stadium |
| Capacity:17,889[13] | Capacity:10,016[14] | Capacity:13,677[15] | Capacity:50,817[16] |
 |  |  |  |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Date of vacancy | Manner of departure | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen |  Steve Paterson | 24 May 2004 | Sacked | Pre-season | Jimmy Calderwood | 28 May 2004 |
| Dunfermline Athletic | Jimmy Calderwood | 28 May 2004 | Signed byAberdeen | David Hay | 17 June 2004 | |
| Livingston | David Hay | 1 June 2004 | Contract Expired | Allan Preston | 4 June 2004 | |
| Heart of Midlothian | Craig Levein | 29 October 2004 | Signed byLeicester City | 6th | John Robertson | 3 November 2004 |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | John Robertson | 3 November 2004 | Signed byHeart of Midlothian | 9th | Craig Brewster | 25 November 2004 |
| Livingston | Allan Preston | 25 November 2004 | Sacked | 12th | Richard Gough | 30 November 2004 |
| Dundee United | Ian McCall | 14 March 2005 | Sacked | 12th | Gordon Chisholm | 14 March 2005(interim) 14 May 2005(permanent) |
| Dunfermline Athletic | David Hay | 3 May 2005 | Sacked | 12th | Jim Leishman | 3 May 2005 |
| Heart of Midlothian | John Robertson | 9 May 2005 | Sacked | 5th | Steven PressleyJohn McGlynn(joint caretakers) | 11 May 2005 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation[a] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rangers(C) | 38 | 29 | 6 | 3 | 78 | 22 | +56 | 93 | Qualification for theChampions League third qualifying round |
| 2 | Celtic | 38 | 30 | 2 | 6 | 85 | 35 | +50 | 92 | Qualification for theChampions League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Hibernian | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 64 | 57 | +7 | 61 | Qualification for theUEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Aberdeen | 38 | 18 | 7 | 13 | 44 | 39 | +5 | 61 | |
| 5 | Heart of Midlothian | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 43 | 41 | +2 | 50 | |
| 6 | Motherwell | 38 | 13 | 9 | 16 | 46 | 49 | −3 | 48 | |
| 7 | Kilmarnock | 38 | 15 | 4 | 19 | 49 | 55 | −6 | 49 | |
| 8 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 41 | 47 | −6 | 44 | |
| 9 | Dundee United | 38 | 8 | 12 | 18 | 41 | 59 | −18 | 36 | Qualification for theUEFA Cup second qualifying round[b] |
| 10 | Livingston | 38 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 34 | 61 | −27 | 35 | |
| 11 | Dunfermline Athletic | 38 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 34 | 60 | −26 | 34 | |
| 12 | Dundee(R) | 38 | 8 | 9 | 21 | 37 | 71 | −34 | 33 | Relegation to theScottish First Division |
During matches 1–22 each team played every other team twice (home and away).
| Home \ Away | ABE | CEL | DND | DUN | DNF | HOM | HIB | INV | KIL | LIV | MOT | RAN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | |
| Celtic | 2–3 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | |
| Dundee | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | |
| Dundee United | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | |
| Dunfermline Athletic | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | |
| Heart of Midlothian | 0–0 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | |
| Hibernian | 2–1 | 2–2 | 4–4 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 1–3 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | |
| Kilmarnock | 0–1 | 2–4 | 3–1 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 0–1 | |
| Livingston | 0–2 | 2–4 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–4 | |
| Motherwell | 0–0 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | |
| Rangers | 5–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 4–1 |
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 | INV | KIL | LIV | MOT | RAN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | |||||||
| Celtic | 3–2 | 3–0 | 6–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | ||||||
| Dundee | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | ||||||
| Dundee United | 1–2 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | |||||||
| Dunfermline Athletic | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 0–1 | ||||||
| Heart of Midlothian | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | ||||||
| Hibernian | 1–3 | 4–0 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 0–3 | |||||||
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | ||||||
| Kilmarnock | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | |||||||
| Livingston | 0–4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 3–1 | 1–1 | ||||||
| Motherwell | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | |||||||
| Rangers | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
During matches 34–38 each team played every other team in their half of the table once.
Top six[edit]
Source:[citation needed] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win. | Bottom six[edit]
Source:[citation needed] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
|
Source:SPL official website
The average attendances for SPL clubs during the 2004–05 season are shown below:
| Team | Average |
|---|---|
| Celtic | 57,906 |
| Rangers | 48,676 |
| Aberdeen | 13,576 |
| Hibernian | 12,541 |
| Hearts | 12,219 |
| Dundee United | 8,210 |
| Motherwell | 6,960 |
| Dundee | 6,879 |
| Dunfermline Athletic | 6,192 |
| Kilmarnock | 5,930 |
| Livingston | 5,157 |
| Inverness CT | 4,067 |
Source:SPL official website
| Month | Manager | Player | Young Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| August | Jimmy Calderwood (Aberdeen) |  Alan Thompson (Celtic) | Alexander Diamond (Aberdeen) |
| September | Terry Butcher (Motherwell) |  Scott McDonald (Motherwell) | Derek Riordan (Hibernian) |
| October | John Robertson (Inverness CT) |  Fernando Ricksen (Rangers) | Steven Fletcher (Hibernian) |
| November | Alex McLeish (Rangers) |  Nacho Novo (Rangers) | Derek Riordan (Hibernian) |
| December | Tony Mowbray (Hibernian) |  Aiden McGeady (Celtic) | Derek Riordan (Hibernian) |
| January |  Martin O'Neill (Celtic) | Chris Sutton (Celtic) | Derek Riordan (Hibernian) |
| February | Alex McLeish (Rangers) |  Dado Pršo (Rangers) | Lee Miller (Hearts) |
| March | Craig Brewster (Inverness CT) |  Craig Bellamy (Celtic) | Aiden McGeady (Celtic) |
| April | Gordon Chisholm (Dundee United) |  Burton O'Brien (Livingston) | Lee Miller (Hearts) |
| May | Tony Mowbray (Hibernian) | Dado Pršo (Rangers) | Derek Riordan (Hibernian) |
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