| Match Pictures | Matches: 1996 – 1997 | 1996-1997 Pictures |
Trivia
- Prior to the game the usual unsettling attempts were made through the pages of the media. This time the story was that David Murray was keen to bring Kenny Dalglish to Ibrox in a managerial role.
- Tommy Burns confirmed that Celtic had made an approach to Liverpool to bring Jamie Redknapp to Celtic Park but had been hastily shoo’d away and that another enquiry about Peter Beardsley at Newcastle Utd. had met with the same reply. Meanwhile Davie Hay was watching Serie A players and the latest to be associated with Celtic was Emiliano Bigica, a central midfield player with Fiorentina
- Pierre Van Hooijdonk had gone to Holland on international duty (though he was alleged to be injured) and had used the Press there to call for his contract situation to be sorted out.
- The appeal against the £41000 fine from FIFA over the use of non-licensed agents in the transfer of Alan Stubbs continued with the Rioch brothers, the agents in question, handing a 100 page dossier to FIFA explaining why the transfer was legal (basically they were acting on behalf of a FIFA licensed agent.)
- It looked as though Jorge Amaral, Cadete’s mate was about to be signed after a trial period and after international clearance he was free to play in trial games. However he failed to play in a Reserve game immediately prior to this the club claiming he’d picked up an injury in training. Over 2000 people had turned up at Barrowfield for the game expecting to see the latest addition. Suddenly the move was off.
- The Parkhead fox made a lap of honour during the game.
Review![[Untitled]](https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/jOe7_IKWcxCugQwij5knQw117637 "[Untitled]")
The chance to put to bed seven successive games without a win against Rangers and the chance to go three points clear at the top.
All to no avail despite having the best of the game….. a Laudrup goal after 8 minutes, Tommy Burns losing the place and sent to the stand, a missed penalty from Van Hooijdonk, Goram again being Tommy Burns’ nemesis.
Teams
Celtic:
Kerr, Boyd, O'Neil (McKinlay, 62), McNamara, Stubbs, Grant, Di Canio, Wieghorst, Van Hooijdonk, Thom (Cadete, 62), Donnelly.
Non Used Subs: Marshall (gk).
Rangers: Goram, Cleland, Robertson, Gough, Petric, Bjorklund, Moore, Gascoigne, McInnes (Van Vossen, 76), Albertz, Laudrup.
Non Used Subs: McCoist, Snelders (gk).
Scorer: Laudrup (8)
Yellows: Celtic: Boyd, Stubbs, Di Canio, Van Hooijdonk, McNamara Rangers: McInnes
Referee: H Dallas (Motherwell).
Attendance: 50,041
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
Rangers restore old order
The Scotsman 15/11/1996
Celtic 0 Rangers 1 Laudrup (8)
NEW optimism; old order. Rangers last night regained leadership of the Premier Division from a Celtic side who started the evening full of self-belief but failed to cope with a game in which Tommy Burns was sent to the stand.
There were six bookings and two missed penalties, one for each side, in a match that was, even by Old Firm standards, a breathtaking spectacle.
Last month, Burns was fined £3,000 by the SFA's Disciplinary Committee for threatening behaviour towards the referee.
Last night, the manager felt his side had suffered one injustice too many and attempted to remonstrate with a linesman by cutting across Rangers' technical area.
His conduct was witnessed by Kenny Clark, the fourth official, who brought the incident to the attention of referee Hugh Dallas.
Burns was dismissed while his side were subdued by the weight of history bearing down on them. Celtic have now gone eight matches against Rangers without a win and even the inspirational effect of a second-half penalty save from Paul Gascoigne could not inspire them to alter the course of recent history.
Pierre van Hooijdonk, who earlier in the season had missed a penalty kick in the UEFA Cup, had the opportunity to at least save one point for Celtic when, with five minutes left, he took a spot-kick at the other end after Simon Donnelly had been brought down by Richard Gough.
The Dutchman's attempt to score, however, allowed Andy Goram to save and the game was eventually settled by Brian Laudrup's first-half goal, though Rangers belatedly had many opportunities to add to their lead. All of them were thwarted by the outstanding young goalkeeper Stewart Kerr who was blameless with regard to the one shot which did beat him.
Laudrup scored after only eight minutes with what was Rangers' first serious incursion into Celtic's half of the field.
The home side were carrying out a convincing job of fulfilling their role as early aggressors when Brian O'Neil made a fateful error. The defender's legs gave way underneath him as he went to perform a simple clearance, allowing the Dane to sweep away the loose ball and bear down on Celtic's goal.
Kerr, who was playing in his first Old Firm game, was beaten by a curling right-foot shot which went in at the base of his right-hand post.
Laudrup continued to be the one Rangers player asking questions of Celtic. Tom Boyd was booked for a foul on the Dane shortly before Alan Stubbs was shown a yellow card for a challenge on the same player.
In between picking himself up after harsh treatment, Laudrup propelled himself at Celtic's defence so well that he gave Jorg Albertz a header that Kerr did well to smother.
It was a highly strung occasion for everyone and the referee also came under intense scrutiny. Paolo Di Canio was booked for dissent and then the Italian had a run so abruptly ended by Derek McInnes that he became the fourth player to be cautioned before half an hour had elapsed.
Van Hooijdonk made it five cautions for illegal use of his elbow against Andy Goram shortly before the interval. An effort from Van Hooijdonk which Goram saved seconds later was a reminder that the goalkeeper's timing was unimpaired by six weeks of inactivity.
Celtic's need to chase a result, heightened by the draining away of the second 45 minutes, led to a mixture of defensive indiscipline and a frantic bombardment of Goram's goal. Simon Donnelly and O'Neil both put chances over the bar but could not show the stealth of the fox who momentarily interrupted the game by taking a lap of honour before leaving the field.
Celtic's hopes were kept alive when Kerr saved a penalty kick after he was harshly adjudged to have brought down Laudrup. Gascoigne took the award after Jackie McNamara was booked for contesting the decision but Kerr correctly guessed that the Englishman would shoot to his left-hand side. The next debatable decision to go against Celtic, when Albertz was allowed to go through on goal from a seemingly offside position, was too much for Burns to bear and Celtic's manager was sent to the stand after having to be restrained from making his views known to Eric Martindale, the stand-side linesman.
- Manager Interview
Tommy Burns:
"I will pay my fine as the players are expected to do when they lose the place, bite my tongue and learn from the experience. We all get carried away sometimes," he said of his dismissal to the stand.
"It is disappointing to lose in the fashion in which we did but that is not an excuse."
Burns, meanwhile, had nothing but praise for his team's efforts. "There is only so much you can ask of a team and I thought we did well, in spite of the result.
"Great things are built from perseverance and we will not change our style of play. It will one day get us to where we want to be."
The manager also absolved Pierre van Hooijdonk of any blame after the striker missed another penalty kick in an important match.
"When there are five minutes left of an Old Firm match, there are not many players who will volunteer to take an award such as that one.
"Pierre has scored many great goals for us and he will do so again. At least he had the courage to put himself in the firing line."
On Stewart Kerr he said:
"I felt great pride when I saw him perform as he did in his first derby match. He will one day go on to be as good a goalkeeper as Andy Goram."
He said: "I was lucky enough to play for Celtic when we went ten years without losing to Rangers at Parkhead.
"So we won't get our knickers in a twist because of the last eight games.
"We haven't had much luck, but we won't change our philosophy, which is to entertain, pass the ball and play at pace."
Walter Smith:
"I have not seen so many simple chances thrown away in an Old Firm game, especially from my own side," he said.
"Celtic had us under pressure for a great deal of the game and yet we could have won by more if we had scored from any one of several simple opportunities."
Smith paid tribute to the presence of goalkeeper Andy Goram, which he said had been a highly influential factor in Rangers' win.
"I would also have to say that Stewart Kerr had several terrific saves for Celtic. When Rangers win an Old Firm game, it is not just about what Andy Goram does."
Rangers assistant manager Archie Knox was hit by a coin in the visitors' dugout. The incident occurred after the Ibrox team were awarded their penalty in the 68th minute.