Celtic F.C. season 2000-01

Infobox Football club season
club = Celtic F.C.
|150px|Celtic crest
season = 2000-01
manager = Martin O'Neill
chairman = Brian Quinn
league = Scottish Premier League
league result = Champions
cup1 = Scottish Cup | cup1 result = Winners
cup2 = Scottish League Cup | cup2 result = Winners
league topscorer = Henrik Larsson (35)
season topscorer = Henrik Larsson (53)
highest attendance = 60,440 (vs St. Mirren F.C.,
7 April 2001)
lowest attendance = 31,940 (vs Dunfermline F.C.,
7 March 2001)
Celtic F.C. played the season 2000–01 in the Scottish Premier League. Martin O'Neill became manager and Celtic won a treble of three major domestic trophies: the Scottish League Cup,cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title =Celtic clinch Cup with Larsson treble | work =BBC Sport | pages = | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2001-03-18 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/cis_ins_cup/1226569.stm | accessdate =2007-09-15 ] the Scottish Premier League trophycite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title =Parkhead parties again | work =BBC Sport | pages = | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2001-04-23 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/1291588.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] and the Scottish FA Challenge Cup. [cite news | title =Celtic lift cup to complete Treble | work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2001-05-26 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scottish_cup/1343842.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ]

Review and events

"See also" Celtic F.C. seasons CFCbyseason

Management

Following the departure of John Barnes in February 2000, [cite news |title =Barnes forced out | work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-02-10 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/637415.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] Martin O'Neill was appointed as manager of Celtic in June 2000. [cite news | title =O'Neill unveiled as Celtic boss | work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-06-01 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/773512.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] Kenny Dalglish, who was director of football at Celtic, left the club soon after. [cite news | title =Dalglish saddened by sacking| work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-06-30 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/scottish_premier/813101.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] John Robertson and Steve Walford followed O'Neill from Leicester City to be assistant manager and coach. [cite news | title =Trio reunited at Celtic| work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-08-24 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/leicester_city/893020.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ]

Transfers

O'Neill's first signing was striker Chris Sutton from Chelsea for a Scottish record transfer of £6 million in July 2000, [cite news | title =O'Neill secures Sutton| work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-07-11 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/829023.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] followed by Belgian international defender Joos Valgaeren from Roda JC for a fee of £3.8 million. [cite news | title =Joos boost for Celtic| work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-07-28 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/848828.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] Alan Thompson and Didier Agathe joined Celtic in September. Thompson joined from Aston Villa for a fee of £2.75 million while Agathe joined from Hibernian for a nominal fee. [cite news |title =Celtic complete double transfer| work =BBC Sport| language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-09-01 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/905227.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] Goalkeeper Rab Douglas was brought in from Dundee in October for £1.2 million [cite news |title =Douglas completes £1.2m Celtic move| work =BBC Sport| language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-10-18 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/978491.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] and Neil Lennon joined in December 2000 from Leicester City for £5.75 million. [cite news | title =Life after Lennon | work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-12-07 | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1058406.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] Mark Viduka was transferred out to Leeds United in July 2000 for a fee of £6 million. [cite news |title =Viduka permit granted| work =BBC Sport| language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-07-21 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/leeds_united/845305.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ]

League campaign

Celtic started their league campaign by going undefeated in 16 games until a heavy defeat to Rangers in November 2000. They lost only two more games, both in May after the league title had been secured. They won the Scottish Premier League with a victory over St. Mirren in April, receiving the trophy two weeks later after a 1-0 home win over Hearts, having finished 15 points clear of the runner-up, Rangers, with 97 points. [cite web | title =Celtic| work =Soccerbase | publisher =Racing Post | url =http://www.soccerbase.com/league2.sd?teamid=512 | format =HTML | accessdate =2007-09-15 ] Striker Henrik Larsson scored 49 goals to set a new Scottish scoring record for a single season. [cite news | title =Larsson becomes a 49-goal legend| work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2001-04-15 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/1279224.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ]

Key games were: [cite news | title =The games that won the title| work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2001-04-07 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/1261031.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ]

* Dundee United 1-2 Celtic (30 July). The opening game of the season which set the standard for the rest of the season.
* Celtic 6-2 Rangers (27 August). A big win over rivals Rangers.
* Aberdeen 1-1 Celtic (1 October). An eight-match winning start to the season ended at Aberdeen but a late equaliser secured a point for Celtic.
* Hibernian 0-0 Celtic (29 November). Celtic ground out a draw after a heavy defeat to Rangers the previous week threatened to derail their season.
* Dundee 1-2 Celtic (10 December). Celtic snatched all the points with a last minute winner despite being out-played for much of the match.
* Celtic 1-0 Rangers (11 February). A narrow win for Celtic was enough to prevent Rangers from resurrecting their title challenge.

Cup competitions

Celtic beat Raith Rovers, Hearts and Rangers on the way to the Scottish League Cup final at Hampden Park in March 2001. They won the trophy, beating Kilmarnock 3-0 through a second-half hat-trick by Henrik Larsson despite going down to ten men after Chris Sutton was sent off.

In the Scottish Cup, Celtic beat Stranraer, Dunfermline after a replay, Hearts and Dundee United to reach the final in May 2001, where they beat Hibernian 3-0 with a goal from Jackie McNamara and two goals from Henrik Larsson to complete a domestic treble. [cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title =Celtic lift cup to complete Treble | work =BBC Sport | pages = | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2001-05-26 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scottish_cup/1343842.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ]

European campaign

Celtic had qualified for the UEFA Cup and began their campaign with an 11-0 aggregate win over Jeunesse Esch from Luxembourg in August 2000. [cite news | title =Celtic hit a magnificent seven| work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-08-24 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/894988.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] A Chris Sutton goal in extra-time in the away leg was enough to see Celtic through the next round 3-2 on aggregate against HJK Helsinki the following month. [cite news | title =Sutton is Celtic's saviour| work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-09-28 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/uefa_cup/945675.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ] They were knocked out in the third round of the competition by Girondins de Bordeaux 2-3 on aggregate despite dominating the second leg in Bordeaux. [cite news | title =Uefa Cup agony for Celtic| work =BBC Sport | language =English | publisher =BBC | date =2000-11-09 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/1015978.stm| accessdate =2007-09-15 ]

Match results

Legend

cottish FA Cup

NB: Players with a zero in every column only appeared as unused substitutes

Transfers

Players In

References