[1] Celtic made preparations for the Champions League with the high-profile signings of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink from PSV Eindhoven, Jiri Jarosik from Chelsea and Thomas Gravesen from Real Madrid while Stilyan Petrov left to join former boss Martin O'Neill at Aston Villa.

Rangers, under new manager Paul Le Guen, brought in several players including Jérémy Clément from Paris Saint Germain and Filip Sebo from Austria Vienna while Peter Løvenkrands departed for Schalke 04.

Hibs brought in English League Two defenders Rob Jones and Shelton Martis but lost last season's top scorer Derek Riordan who joined Celtic.

New Rangers manager Walter Smith brought in defenders David Weir, Andy Webster and Ugo Ehiogu and spent £2m on Hibs' highly rated midfielder Kevin Thomson.

Hearts looked to boost their European qualification hopes with the signing of a further four players on loan from FBK Kaunas as well as Laryea Kingston from Terek Grozny.