| Match Pictures | Matches: 1997 – 1998 | 1997-1998 Pictures |
Trivia
- Wieghorst contract situation was coming to a head. Wieghorst would not drop the requirements he wanted from the new contract and it looked like Celtic were not prepared to grant all his terms. French side Le Havre were said to be interested in taking him next season.
- Dariusz Wdowczyk, who had been playing for Reading quit and returned to Poland after an injury ridden time.
- David Hay’s case against Celtic for unfair dismissal had started to be heard. He said he intended to call head coach Jansen on his behalf. Celtic called Eric Riley and Jock Brown as their witnesses.
- Following the game Jackie McNamara was names SPFA Player of the Year. Gary Naysmith was named Young Player of the Year
- Matt McGlone (of the Celtic View, and previously (and later) a fanzine editor) angered the Celtic players with an article and caused a big problem internally (see below).
Review
McLeish was really at it pre-match urging the referee not to be swayed by the crowd. Yet again, a Mcleish team came and kicked and hacked their way through the game.
Teams
Celtic:
Gould , Boyd , Annoni, Donnelly (Blinker ,79 ), Rieper , Stubbs , Larsson , Burley (Wieghorst ,82 ), Jackson (McNamara ,58 ), Lambert, O'Donnell
Bookings: Annoni, Boyd (Celtic)
Hibernian:
Gunn, Miller, Elliot, Brebner, Hughes, Dods, Rougier (Harper ,62 ), Crawford (Tosh ,81 ), Lavety, McGinlay
Subs not used: Renwick
Bookings: McGinlay, Miller (Hibernian)
Referee: Simpson (Westhill)
Attendance: 50,034
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Hibernian | |
| Bookings | 2 | 2 |
| Fouls | 13 | 10 |
| Shots on Target | 2 | 0 |
| Corners | 6 | 2 |
| Offside | 4 | 0 |
Celtic stunned by nerve gas Hibs deliver assured display to preserve a sliver of hope
Scotland on Sunday 26/04/1998
Graham Spiers at Celtic Park
Celtic 0 Hibernian 0
THIS ragged and sometimes rancorous match could leave Celtic in a pool of sweat. With Rangers winning at Tynecastle, their lead in the Premier Division championship was abruptly cut to one point, and no end to their laying siege of Bryan Gunn's goal could avert that fact. Parkhead lived through 90 minutes here of absorbing and bickering football.
If you still hadn't guessed how tense it was out there, we found out after 70 minutes. Normally it is errant players who are sent off by referees, but this time, George Simpson, the match official, did the equivalent of issuing red cards to the dugouts. The Hibs manager, Alex McLeish, and the Celtic assistant, Murdo MacLeod, were sent to the stand after a minor squabble of their own. It characterised an afternoon of high blood-pressure but rather low-grade football.
McLeish slung an arm around MacLeod as they both sauntered off to more distant seats, but there was no chance of this fraternity breaking out across the park. Some of the tackles in this game could have dislodged the columns of a Greek temple and, between them, any classicists of the game might have winced at some of this stuff. None of that, however, diminished any of the fevered excitement around the stadium.
Celtic spent the second half lashing away at Hibs, but too often their attacks were lost through sheer bluntness. Simon Donnelly and Jackie McNamara both squandered chances in this period, and Celtic also felt victimised when an alleged trip by John Hughes on Phil O'Donnell inside the box was given a derisory wave away by the referee. One of Mr Simpson's linesmen also made a critical intervention in ruling Donnelly offside when put through by Craig Burley's lovely pass, a raised flag that, if correct, was surely made on the finest of judgments.
The Celtic manager, Wim Jansen, remains the most endearing of little fellows. He appeared after this tense affair like a chortling bantam ****, smiling and cracking some quips as if none of it mattered at all. A man who has graced a European and two World Cup finals presumably has seen more. "We weren't as sharp as we usually are," said Jansen. "A lot of my players looked tired, too many of them simply weren't in this game." But in the middle of it all, Jansen's counterpart, McLeish, continued to ham-up his pre-match plea for the referee not to be intimidated by Parkhead. These inflammatory remarks were never going to bring any peace to this match, and McLeish didn't soothe the situation by some gestures made to the crowd.
There were just under 50,000 inside Parkhead yesterday, the vast majority of them beseeching Celtic not to wreck their title hopes. At one point the Hibs manager waved his hands like an orchestra conductor to the stands, an obvious sign that he felt this crowd was badgering the referee.
A manager in the dugout, however, would do well not to help ferment the aggression that rains from the seats. This match, in both halves, had an obnoxious streak pouring through it, as the referee wrestled with the yelps of both teams, let alone those of the customers. On the stroke of half-time, for instance, there seemed to be a near-melee down by the trackside, as managers, players and some vein-bursting spectators harangued Mr Simpson over a mere throw-in.
"I thought the ref was strong," said McLeish afterwards, a remark cushioned by the result for Hibs. "I thought he officiated very well. I certainly wouldn't like to be him out there with so many people shouting at me."
Hibs gnawed at Celtic with some composed yet beavering football. They blocked off their route in midfield, which has been the making of Celtic's season, and Barry Lavety and Steve Crawford asserted the old principle of a side defending from the front. In Tony Rougier, Hibs also had someone who was prepared to spear Celtic's side. This fellow caused Enrico Annoni such grief and anxiety that the Italian lunged at him once too often before being booked by the referee.
Nor was the acrimony confined to the flank of these two players. Willie Miller, the Hibs full back, was lucky to stay on the field after appearing to strike Darren Jackson, and it was another moment when this match simply needed to lever itself from its tension.
In the second half, Donnelly's two chances both seemed healthy opportunities. In the 69th minute, he curled his chip wide of the post after Gunn had collided with McNamara and moments later, watched a diving header slither wide after Gunn had flapped poorly at a cross. It was in desperation, surely, that Jansen hauled Donnelly off after 79 minutes, to be replaced by Regi Blinker. This flying Dutchman has been as rare as an osprey around these parts of Glasgow.
Hibs caused Jonathan Gould one fearful scare, a Kevin Harper shot which flew a foot wide of his post.
- Manager Interview
Wim Jansen Post match
"You could see from the first minute that we were not as sharp as normal.
"Hibs were a step ahead and they became the more aggressive as they realised this was possibly their last chance of staying in the Premier Division.
"Some of our players once again looked a little tired and, with no commitments next midweek, we will be able to give them the rest that could bring back their form. But we do remain in the lead by a point and we know that, in this moment, we have to win our last two matches to win the league."
McGlone angering the players
It was after the 0-0 home draw vs Hibs during the 97-98 run-in. The huns dropped points and we failed to capitalise. Hibs were facing relegation, and McGlone wrote that on the evidence of that 90 minutes the prospect of the Hibs players potentially facing pay cuts upon relegation or worse still the axe from the club, was more of a motivating factor than the quest to stop TIAR was for our relatively coddled stars. Maybe slightly unfair, but definitely a kernel of truth to it, and hardly unreasonable criticism given the perfectly understandable nervousness of the support, and what was at stake for the club.
But the players didn't take too kindly to it and told Fergus McCann they wouldn't co-operate with the View till McGlone retracted his comments.
Basically the players were being difficult. A trait that would resurface months later when they demanded increased bonuses for defeating Croatia Zagreb before they'd even played them. Of course Zagreb, whose players were on an average wage less than that of our lot, absolutely schooled us in the return leg.
Dunno if Stubbs was singled out for extra criticism by McGlone following the Hibs game but he was certainly to the fore in refusing to speak to the View afterward. If memory serves us correct McGlone addressed it in the very next week's column though I cannae mind if he apologised or retracted the comments. It blew over eventually.