2002–03 was a successful season for
Rangers, who won a
domestic treble. They and
Celtic competed in a very closely fought title race. Rangers were five points clear of Celtic at the time of the split, but a Celtic victory in the
Old Firm derby and Rangers dropping further points against
Dundee in the following match left the rivals level on points and on goal difference going into the final day of the season; Rangers were only ahead having scored 95 goals to Celtic's 94. On the final day, Rangers beat
Dunfermline Athletic 6–1 at
Ibrox Stadium meaning Rangers won the title by a goal difference of one more than Celtic (a stoppage-time penalty made the outcome more secure for Rangers – they would still have won at 5–1 by the margin of two more goals scored, but until that point Celtic would have claimed the title by goal difference had they scored again). This was the closest finish in the history of the SPL. a comment which sparked a furious response and the threat of legal action from Dunfermline. Celtic had a more successful season in Europe, reaching the
2003 UEFA Cup Final, but eventually lost to
Porto after extra-time in
Seville, just four days before the final match of the league season. However, it would ultimately be the first season of
Martin O'Neill's reign which ended without a trophy for Celtic.
Hearts qualified for the
2003–04 UEFA Cup after finishing third in the league, but finished 34 points behind the Old Firm.
Dundee also qualified for the
UEFA Cup in
Jim Duffy's first season in charge by reaching the
2003 Scottish Cup Final, despite losing the final to Rangers. In the bottom half of the table,
Eddie Thompson took over as chairman of
Dundee United but it would statistically be the club's worst season since
World War II at that point, with the team finishing 11th in the league, and sacking two managers. They spent the season in a battle with
Motherwell to avoid finishing bottom of the league. Following their entry into administration at the end of the previous season,
Falkirk became champions of the
First Division in April 2003, but their
Brockville Park stadium did not have the SPL minimum required 10,000 seats, a problem which prevented their possible promotion to the league only
three seasons earlier. With plans to demolish the stadium and build
a new stadium, Falkirk proposed a ground-share of
Airdrie United's
Excelsior Stadium. On 23 May 2003, the twelve members of the SPL voted against admitting Falkirk to the league. including a situation where the
following season's fixture list was released and the draw for the
2003–04 Scottish Challenge Cup was made without knowing all of the participants (the fixture list and cup draw referring to Motherwell or Falkirk's place as "Club X"), it was confirmed that Falkirk would not be accepted into the SPL, sparing Motherwell from relegation. ==Format==