2008–09 Celtic F.C. season

The Championship flag was unfurled before Celtic's first League game, against St Mirren at Celtic Park on 10 August by Rosemary Burns, the widow of former Celtic player Tommy Burns, who had died of skin cancer at the end of season 2007–08. Celtic won the game 1–0, through a Barry Robson penalty, getting their Campaign off to a winning start.

Celtic finished second in the SPL table at the end of the season, eventually finishing four points behind champions Rangers. This was despite at one point having built up a seven-point lead over Rangers. This lead was squandered though, Celtic dropping points to Dundee United, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Motherwell, Rangers themselves, and on two occasions to both Hibernian and Hearts.

One day after the final league game of the season, a 0–0 draw with Hearts at Celtic Park, it was announced that Gordon Strachan would leave as manager of Celtic with immediate effect. This brought to an end Strachan's four-year spell as manager, during which he guided the club to three SPL titles, one Scottish Cup and two Scottish League Cups. He also guided the club twice into the last 16 of the Champions League, losing out to A.C. Milan and Barcelona respectively.

Celtic, as Scottish champions, qualified directly for the UEFA Champions League, where they were the sole Scottish side as Rangers were knocked out in the second qualifying round by FBK Kaunas, meaning Celtic received all the TV money allocated to Scotland.

Celtic were in Pot 3 for the group stage draw, which took place in Monaco on 28 August. They were drawn with Manchester United, Villarreal and Aalborg. The first game, a home tie against Aalborg, finished in a goalless draw. The next game, away to Villarreal ended in a 1–0 defeat, which was followed by a 3–0 defeat away to Manchester United. Next up, at home, Celtic drew 1–1 with Manchester United, with Scott McDonald putting Celtic in the lead in the 13th minute, only for Ryan Giggs to equalise for Manchester United in the 84th minute. A disappointing 2–1 defeat to Aalborg in Denmark saw Celtic's European aspirations end, despite having taken the lead through Barry Robson. Nonetheless, Celtic rallied to end their campaign on a high with a 2–0 victory over Villarreal at Celtic Park.

Celtic entered the Scottish League Cup at the third round proper (the last 16 stage) and the Scottish Cup at the fourth round proper (the Round of 32). The club beat Livingston 4–0 in the third round of the League Cup on 23 September, and travelled to Kilmarnock on 28 October, beating them 3–1 and qualifying for the semi-finals, where they faced Dundee United at Hampden Park on 28 January. After a 0–0 draw in extra time, Celtic won a penalty shoot-out 11–10 to set up a final against Rangers on 15 March. The team won the 2009 Scottish League Cup Final 2–0 aet at Hampden, with Darren O'Dea and Aiden McGeady getting the goals.

The fourth round of the Scottish Cup took place on 10 January, with Celtic beating Dundee at Celtic Park. In the fifth round, Celtic hosted Queen's Park on 7 February, beating them 2–1. In the quarter-finals, Celtic lost 1–0 at St Mirren on 7 March.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Celtic v Livingston

23 September 2008 Third Round	Celtic	4–0	Livingston	Celtic Park
	Loovens  24' Samaras  64', 85' (pen.) Brown  81'	BBC Sport		Attendance: 23,569 Referee: Willie Collum

Kilmarnock v Celtic

29 October 2008 Quarter Finals	Kilmarnock	1–3	Celtic	Rugby Park
	Invincibile  69'	BBC Sport	McDonald  11' Nakamura  45+1' McGeady  72'	Attendance: 6,319 Referee: Craig Thomson

Celtic v Rangers

15 March 2009 Final	Celtic	2–0	Rangers	Hampden Park
	O'Dea  91' McGeady  120' (pen.)	BBC Sport		Attendance: 51,193 Referee: Dougie McDonald

*Celtic won the match 11–10 on penalties

List of squad players, including number of appearances by competition

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK		Artur Boruc	47	0	34	0	3	0	4	0	6	0
2	DF		Andreas Hinkel	42	0	32	0	2	0	4	0	4	0
3	DF		Lee Naylor	30	1	19+4	1	2	0	2	0	3	0
4	DF		Stephen McManus	41	4	31	4	2	0	2	0	6	0
5	DF		Gary Caldwell	47	4	36	3	2	1	3	0	6	0
6	DF		Dianbobo Balde	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	FW		Scott McDonald	47	19	33+1	16	3	1	4	1	4+2	1
8	MF		Scott Brown	48	7	36	5	2	1	3+1	1	6	0
9	FW		Georgios Samaras	41	17	19+12	15	0+3	0	1+2	2	4	0
10	FW		Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink	32	6	15+10	6	3	0	1+1	0	0+2	0
11	MF		Paul Hartley	33	3	20+5	3	1	0	2+1	0	3+1	0
12	DF		Mark Wilson	25	0	15+3	0	0	0	1+1	0	5	0
13	FW		Shaun Maloney	30	5	14+7	4	1	0	1+1	0	4+2	1
14	MF		Niall McGinn	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
15	DF		Milan Mišůn	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	MF		Willo Flood	5	0	2+3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
17	MF		Marc Crosas	22	1	14+4	1	3	0	1	0	0	0
18	MF		Massimo Donati	8	0	2+2	0	0+1	0	2	0	0+1	0
19	MF		Barry Robson	24	2	13+4	1	0+1	0	0+1	0	4+1	1
20	MF		Paddy McCourt	5	0	0+4	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
21	GK		Mark Brown	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	DF		Glenn Loovens	23	4	13+4	3	1	0	3	1	2	0
23	FW		Ben Hutchinson	4	0	0+3	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0
24	DF		Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	MF		Shunsuke Nakamura	42	9	30+2	8	2	0	3	1	5	0
26	FW		Cillian Sheridan	16	4	6+6	4	0	0	0+1	0	1+2	0
29	MF		Koki Mizuno	10	1	2+8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
33	FW		Chris Killen	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
41	DF		John Kennedy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
42	MF		Michael McGlinchey	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
46	MF		Aiden McGeady	40	7	21+8	3	3	1	4	2	3+1	1
48	DF		Darren O'Dea	16	2	7+3	1	2	0	2	1	0+2	0
52	DF		Paul Caddis	7	0	0+5	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
54	MF		Ryan Conroy	1	0	0	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0
55	MF		Paul McGowan	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0+1	0