[3] Between 1998–99 and 2001–02, exclusive television rights for live Scottish Premier League matches were held by Sky Sports.
[4] However, these plans broke down in April 2002 when the Old Firm clubs – Rangers and Celtic – utilised the 11–1 voting system to veto the proposals.
[5] This caused discontent among the remaining ten SPL clubs, which subsequently announced their intention to resign from the league.
[6] Despite a two-year television deal being agreed with BBC Scotland in July 2002 for a significant amount less than previously offered by Sky Sports,[7] the ten non-Old Firm clubs confirmed their resignation from the SPL in August 2002, citing discontent with the voting system.
[11] Results in European competition over the previous five years saw the league move up from 16th to 12th in the UEFA country coefficient ranking.
St Johnstone were relegated to the First Division after five seasons in the top league on 6 April 2002, a draw with Motherwell leaving them 14 points adrift at the bottom with only 4 matches left to play.
[53] 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.
[54] Falkirk became champions of the First Division in April 2003,[55] 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.
[57] After a lengthy appeals process with the Scottish Football Association,[58] 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"),[59] it was confirmed that Falkirk would not be accepted into the SPL, sparing Motherwell from relegation.