The 2001–02 season was the 105th season of competitive football in Scotland.
[1]
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]
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:
^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.
^Stenhousemuir were reprieved from relegation due to Aidrieonians folding.