| Match Pictures | Matches: 1994 – 1995 | 1994-95 Pictures |
Trivia
- League Cup Final
- Played at Ibrox as Hampden was being redeveloped at the time.
- Raith Rovers win 6-5 on penalties after no goals in Extra-Time
- Celtic’s first final since the 1990 Scottish Cup defeat to Aberdeen.
- Celtic hadn’t won a trophy since the 1989 Scottish Cup final.
- This loss carried on the Barren Years.
- Celtic Takeover had only been completed earlier in the year, and Tommy Burns was only announced as manager in the summer just past.
- Celtic finally won a trophy in May 1995, that was to be Tommy Burns only major trophy as manager at Celtic.
- Incredibly: Raith may have famously beaten Celtic on penalties in the 1994/95 League Cup final, but they have not beaten Celtic in 90 mins since 1962.
- Raith Rovers were in the second tier, but got promoted after winning the First Division (second tier) title in this same season.
- Scott Thomson, the Raith Rovers goalkeeper, was asked how that stop ranked with his other penalty-kick saves. He smiled and answered: “Don’t know, I’ve never saved another penalty-kick.”
- Raith Rovers squad included ex-Celt Ronnie Coyle but due to injury he missed out on the final and watched the game from the stands. He sadly passed away prematurely at 46 years of age in 2011, RIP.
Review
The Barren Years as “1990-1994” were to be known as, were a desolate time to be a Celtic fan. To be on the terraces watching our club go through hell both on & off the pitch (“Sack the Board” days) was unbearable. Previous season had though seen it all come to a head, and the club was now under new management with Fergus McCann at the helm and Tommy Burns as the new club manager, and a great start to be in our first final since 1990. Taking in that we were to play lowly Raith Rovers, surely this was it! Finally to lift a trophy! Cracking day to come, and a first step back to respectability. It wasn’t to be!
A poor performance saw the team concede two poor goals. We came from behind to lead but then concede very late on. The dreaded penalty kicks saw our talisman Paul McStay be cruelly the one to miss the decisive kick. Pathetically derided for it by the press and even a number in our support (they took the media line to heart too much), Paul McStay was targeted for it. Roberto Baggio was the star of the 1994 World Cup and he missed a penalty and we can list other greats through the years who have missed penalties, so why Paul McStay deserved any more stick is pathetic. It can be quite a lottery. Gordon Marshall also received heavy stick, something that again was disproportional to his efforts.
Heads were down, but to some it was as if little had changed, but much was changing. It was to be a far slower turnaround for the good old ship Celtic than many had hoped.
Must add, we shouldn’t take away from Raith Rovers’ achievement here. They fought well and won the trophy fair and square. They deserved their moment in the sun.
Teams
RAITH ROVERS:
GK 1 Scott Thomson
MF 2 David Sinclair
DF 3 Shaun Dennis
DF 4 David Narey
DF 5 Steve McAnespie
MF 6 Colin Cameron
MF 7 Jason Dair
FW 8 Stephen Crawford
MF 9 Julian Broddle; Substituted off
FW 10 Gordon Dalziel; Substituted off
FW 11 Ally Graham
Substitutes:
GK – Brian Potter
DF – Wales Jason Rowbotham; Substituted on
MF – Ian Redford; Substituted on
Manager:
Jimmy Nicholl
Goals
- Crawford 19′
- Dalziel 86′
CELTIC:
GK 1 Gordon Marshall
MF 2 Mike Galloway
DF 3 Tom Boyd
DF 4 Mark McNally
DF 5 Tony Mowbray
DF 6 Brian O’Neil
MF 7 Simon Donnelly; Substituted off
MF 8 Paul McStay
FW 9 Charlie Nicholas, Substituted off
FW 10 Andy Walker
MF 11 John Collins
Substitutes:
GK – Packie Bonner
MF – Paul Byrne; Substituted on
FW – Willie Falconer Substituted on
Goals:
- Nicholas 84′
- Walker 32′
Referee:
Stadium: Ibrox
Attendance: 45,384
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
WHY POSTECOGLOU WAS THE LUCKY ONE: A PERSONAL THOUGHT FROM AUTHOR ALEX GORDON
WHY POSTECOGLOU WAS THE LUCKY ONE: A PERSONAL THOUGHT FROM AUTHOR ALEX GORDON
By CQN Magazine on 23rd September 2021 Latest News
ANGE POSTECOGLOU was the lucky one – he was on the other side of the world when Celtic played Raith Rovers in the League Cup Final on November 11 1994.
I was in the Ibrox press box that thoroughly miserable afternoon when the Fifers won 6-5 on penalty-kicks following a 2-2 extra-time stalemate.
While the future Hoops manager, then aged 29, swanned around in sunny Australia as a defender with Western Suburbs, I witnessed one of the most agonising days in the history of a proud football club.
It was the ideal opportunity to win the side’s first silverware since Joe Miller slid a shot under Rangers keeper Chris Wood to lift the Scottish Cup in 1989. Club legend Billy McNeill had left as manager in unfortunate circumstances in 1991 to be replaced by Liam Brady.
I was sports editor at the Sunday Mail at that stage and I spent a fair bit of time with the Irish legend during his two and a half years at Parkhead. When it was all over, he told me: “I’ve got to hold up my hands and say the pressure, without doubt, got to me. Of course, it did. You’ve got to ride the storm and, sadly, I couldn’t manage it. That is why I had to resign.”
Lou Macari came in as a replacement under the old board and was quickly on his way after a fall-out with new incomer Fergus McCann. That opened the door for Tommy Burns and his appointment was warmly applauded by the Celtic support as they wholeheartedly wished success for “one of their own”.
By the time the League Cup Final – then under the guise of the Coca-Cola Cup – was on the horizon, I had left the newspaper to run and then buy 7 Day Press, the biggest sports freelance agency in the country. It was in that guise, I met Tommy in a Glasgow hotel a fortnight or so before the game at Ibrox.
If I remember correctly – it was 27 years ago! – Tommy was taking the players away for an entire week before the game to be free of media interruptions. He had arranged to get all his interviews done for the broadcast companies as well as the journals to give him the opportunity to concentrate on winning his first piece of silverware as a manager.
Tommy was his usual affable self as he sat at the table, but there was little doubt he was nervous. He was utterly committed to bringing success to the club closest to his heart, but he was taking nothing for granted. The rest of the football world and its many know-alls had written off the team from Kirkcaldy. Trust me, the guy sitting opposite men that day had not.
On the early afternoon of the encounter, I met up with 7 Day Press reporters Mark Guidi and Mark Wilson, two top emerging talents whose skills took them into national newspapers and, in the former’s case, the medium of radio.
We took our seats in the press box on a chilly winter’s afternoon in Govan, the showpiece confrontation being played at Ibrox with Hampden under development.
Following Celtic in the mid-sixties as a teenager, I have to say I had happier days at the ground of the club’s main rivals.
I won’t dwell on the actual two hours of football and the penalty-kicks, if you don’t mind. Steve Crawford gave the second-tier outfit the lead in the 19th minute with a crisp, low drive past Gordon Marshall, but Andy Walker snapped up the equaliser just after the half-hour mark. Charlie Nicholas headed the Hoops in front six minutes from time.
It looked as though Tommy Burns would be holding aloft the trophy in his first season as Celtic manager, but, unfortunately, Marshall spilled a shot from Jason Dair and Gordon Dalziel was right in line to knock the rebound into the inviting net in the 86th minute. It would be churlish to say the Raith man looked offside.
Surprisingly, there were no goals in the added-on half-hour and then it went to penalty-kicks. Stuart Gray, son of Leeds United legend Eddie Gray and who was emerging as a Celtic prospect at the time, had gravitated in the general direction of the press area by the time the full-time whistle sounded.
I stood up in an effort to relax the tension and Stuart caught my eye. “So, what happens now?” he asked.
“I don’t want to even contemplate it,” I answered.
It’s in the history books now that Raith Rovers won 6-5 in the spot-kick shoot-out. With Dame Fortune snarling on Celtic that day, Paul McStay missed the crucial kick with Scott Thomson blocking his effort.
Afterwards in the media room for the aftermatch conference, the Fife goalkeeper was asked how that stop ranked with his other penalty-kick saves.
Thomson smiled and answered: “Don’t know, I’ve never saved another penalty-kick.”
Fates has decreed that trophy would not be bedecked in green and white that afternoon.
Ange Postecoglou, totally oblivious to the occurrences in a cold and shivering part of another country on the other side of the world, was the lucky one.
Ignorance is bliss, so I’m told.
Year the streets of Raith truly danced after League Cup win
By Richard WilsonBBC Scotland
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30219849
27 November 201427 November 2014.From the section Football
Raith Rovers celebrate their 1994 Scottish Cup victory over Celtic
Gordon Dalziel, Scott Thomson and Stevie Crawford all played crucial roles in Raith Rovers’ win over Celtic
There was no room for doubt to accompany the Raith Rovers players as they set off for the League Cup final at Ibrox.
On that Sunday morning, on 27 November 1994, Celtic awaited but also the sense that a side assembled from youth players and journeymen could achieve something remarkable.
As the squad boarded the team bus, nobody was allowed to sit at the first table on the right-hand side of the aisle. “That is where we are going to put the Cup on the way back,” the captain, Gordon Dalziel, told his team-mates. There was no scoffing.
This was an unconventional team, but their maverick nature was vital to their success. Twenty years on, it seems no less momentous.
Raith Rovers – The ‘Unthinkable’ win
Raith Rovers, a team from the second tier of Scottish football that had never won a major knockout competition and had been put together with £215,000 in transfer fees, against Celtic, one of the most storied and successful clubs in British football, a team that was built to achieve glory, at a cost of £5.17m.
The details of Raith’s victory on penalties are now part of the fabric of Scottish football. The underdogs scored first, Celtic fought back and led with six minutes left, only for Dalziel to equalise when he sent the ball into the net from close range with his nose.
Extra-time passed and then both sides scored their first five spot kicks. Jason Rowbotham, now a firefighter in Plymouth, struck the first of the sudden death penalties and sent it past Gordon Marshall. Then Paul McStay stepped up.
As the Celtic midfielder walked forward, Nicholl turned to his assistant, Martin Harvey, and said that Raith Rovers were one kick away from European football.
McStay was idolised, smoothly accomplished and capable of rising above the clutter of so many Scottish football games. He was also the captain and this was the trophy that was expected to signal that the rebuilding work of the Fergus McCann era had been worthwhile. “Unthinkable, surely,” said Jock Brown, the television commentator, “for the skipper to miss.”
His spot-kick was saved by the Raith Rovers goalkeeper, Scott Thomson, sparking triumphant scenes.
“The aftermath was chaotic, Thommo made the save and we all pretty much just bolted in every direction, towards the fans, to each other, to the gaffer,” recalled Stephen McAnespie, the Raith Rovers right-back.
Scott Thomson saves Paul McStay’s spot kick to win the League Cup
Scott Thomson saved Paul McStay’s spot kick to win the League Cup for Raith Rovers
There was never any hope of confining the joy. The unorthodoxy of Raith was an essential quality.
During pre-season training camps in Northern Ireland, Nicholl would often allow his players to have nights out socialising and cans of Guinness would sometimes be brought out on the team bus after pre-season friendlies. Nicholl was not lax, he just understood that he had drawn together a group of hardworking players who he could trust to be fully committed in training and in games – and that team bonding was also vital to maximising their potential.
“We achieved a lot of good things in that period, winning the [old First Division], getting into Europe, winning the Cup,” said McAnespie. “We were technically a good side, we played the ball on the floor, we were an aggressive, attack-minded team.
“We had a great blend of youth and experience through the middle of the park with [Steve] Crawford, [Colin] Cameron, [Jason] Dair, [Danny] Lennon and [Gordon] Dalziel and [Ally] Graham up front.
“The camaraderie was huge for us. We mixed a lot outside the changing-room, whether it was golf or a night out after a game, we had a lot of good characters and Jimmy Nic had a lot to do with that. He knew the value of a close-knit dressing-room and was a big part of the banter, but he also knew when the time was right to get tuned in and focus.
Andy Walker and Tony Mowbray console Celtic team-mate Paul McStay
Paul McStay (centre) had to be consoled by team-mates Andy Walker and Tony Mowbray
“Believe it or not, we felt we could win the game before we kicked off. That was probably because we had some of us young guys that were kind of fearless and a bit naive to the magnitude of the occasion, which obviously worked out for us.”
Raith spent the night before the game at a hotel in Erskine, where Nicholl told the players what the starting line-up would be and then allowed them some time to relax. As they were playing darts and cards, a waiter arrived with six pints of Guinness and six pints of lager, ordered just to calm the players down. They were irrepressible, though, and the bus journey to Ibrox ended with the players – many of them Celtic fans – loudly singing Tina Turner’s “Simply The Best”, a song that was regularly played at Ibrox.
Rovers had the home dressing-room and they had also been granted a training session the morning before on the Ibrox pitch, due to Nicholl’s connections with Rangers, his former club. In the dressing-room, the players also found a bag of studs that were right for the surface, left by the Rangers kit man.
In the tunnel at Ibrox before kick-off, the Raith players were joking around while the Celtic players looked grimly determined. The club had not won any major trophies in five years and the manager, Tommy Burns, was under pressure to deliver the trophy. He still found time to shake Dalziel’s hand in the tunnel and wish him all the best.
Back in the dressing-room after the penalty shootout, as the Celtic players tried to come to terms with the defeat, the Raith team were joined by some guests.
Raith Rovers manager Jimmy Nicholl with the League Cup trophy
Jimmy Nicholl had a unique and relaxed style of management at Stark’s Park
“The first two people in behind us were John Greig and Ally McCoist,” McAnespie said. “They gave us cases of Rangers label champagne. I grabbed two bottles and went straight to the front entrance, still in my kit and boots, and my family were standing right there. I handed my dad the bottles and gave them a hug and got dragged back in by the security.
“I thought the crowd was going to rush the door. We went back to the hotel in Kirkcaldy, where we were met by thousands of Raith fans at the hotel with pipers, which we never expected.
“We celebrated for a while, [but] a lot of the guys were so physically and emotionally drained that a lot of us ended up in bed early, shattered. Well, a little tipsy and shattered.”
When Nicholl had arrived at Raith as manager, on 27 November 1990, the team was mostly part-time and the players washed their own kit. Following the League Cup win, and the subsequent foray into Europe that ended with a tie against Bayern Munich, Raith were able to build two stands at Stark’s Park.
“It’s nice to re-live it all,” said McAnespie, who is now a coach in New Orleans, “especially with the other players, because at times we will remind each other about something that we had forgotten about after 20 years.
Raith Rovers blog: Memories of 1994 as Celtic come to visit
Scotzine.com
Iain Wallace Jan 31,2013 1
As Rovers fans look toward Sunday 3rd February and their second match-up against Celtic this season – this time in the Scottish Cup, and with the Rovers enjoying home advantage – like any underdog team, some will be daring to wonder about what can be expected from the game.
For some the score is irrelevant, the cup less important than the league campaign and the pay-day achievement enough in itself, which, with a sold-out Stark’s and television money into the bargain, is not to be sniffed at.
For others, at a time when cup upsets have become fashionable, and with the Scottish champions looking out of sorts, Sunday will be viewed as a prime opportunity for the Rovers to upset the vanquishers of Barcelona.
Few Rovers fans would dispute that, in the 4-1 defeat at Celtic Park in September, the Hoops deserved to run out comprehensive winners. The team in Green showed no complacency, fielding a near full-strength side, and as a result dominated the game technically and, especially, physically, and the Rovers were unable to contend with the incisive, high-tempo game of a very athletic Celtic side. However, while the Rovers may never have threatened to take anything from the game, they were deserving of praise for their brave commitment to building from the back, and attempts to play a passing game (something we could do with employing in the First Division). Retaining possession, at both ends of the pitch, will once again be vital in depriving Celtic of opportunities this coming Sunday.
Encouragingly, however, Celtic have since then shown themselves to be far from invincible, and have succumbed on several occasions to pacey, positive sides prepared to “have a go”. Celtic’s defeat to St Mirren was a perfect example of this, and a hungry Buddies side were by no means lucky to emerge victorious, dominating the Glasgow giants, with the powerful Esmaël Gonçalves a useful outlet for their defence, and a constant threat going forward.
With Grant Anderson and David Smith on the wings, the Rovers are not without mercurial players of their own, and with the most clinical striker in the First Division, backed up by Pat Clarke and Greig Spence (who will be looking to emulate fellow former Celt Paul McGowan’s success and put Celtic to the sword) the Rovers can hurt their opposition.
Where we might have more of a challenge on our hands is in containing the powerful and creative influence of midfield dynamo Victor Wanyama, whose uncharacteristically poor performance against St Mirren was a decisive factor in Celtic’s defeat.
Psychology is everything in sport, and St Mirren showed the value of a positive mindset and Marvin Andrews-levels of belief. Grant Murray is similarly deserving of praise for the battling spirit he has instilled in his players, who rarely appear jaded, even in the midst of a lengthy rough spell.
Conversely, Celtic come in to this game looking as unsettled as ever, and will be missing their towering custodian Fraser Forster through injury, and possibly their goal-scoring sensation Gary Hooper, who has been linked with a move to the English Premier League.
With a depleted Celtic side, still on a league cup hangover, with one eye on the Juventus game next week, the planets could be aligning for the Stark’s side who we can confidently say will be unwilling to park the bus, and settle for a low-scoring defeat.
Indeed, there’s every chance that the combination of saved penalties and a broadly grinning Danny Lennon in the league cup stirred some memories of ’94 in the green side of Glasgow. Hopefully the repeat fixture on Superbowl Sunday sees a similar outcome.
Prediction: Raith 2-2 Celtic (6-5 Pens)