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Trivia
- Davie Hay had been beavering away on the scouting front. The latest names linked to Celtic were Jonas Thern then of Roma (Burns admitted that he was a target), Jesper Thygesen, a midfielder with Danish club Silkeborg and Guiseppe Fornaciari then unattached and known to Paolo Di Canio. Forniciari came on trial
- Ex-Celt Chris Morris was due to sign for Hibernian from Middlesbrough the week of this game, but Hibs pulled out at the last moment stating that they were not prepared to pay the £50,000 fee.
- Both long-term injured Paul McStay and Phil O’Donnell came through a closed door bounce match unscathed but were nowhere near ready for a first team game.
- Jorge Amaral had finally been told that he wasn’t needed and there was no offer of a contract. He returned to Portugal,
- The game scheduled for the 23rd November away to Dunfermiline was called off due to a frozen pitch.
Review
A red for Paolo – the 10th Celtic red card of the season in all competitions. And this was mostly his own fault getting a second yellow for losing the plot. Had he stayed on the field there was a good chance of hauling out a win.
Teams
Celtic:
Kerr, Boyd, McKinlay, McNamara, Stubbs, Grant, Di Canio, O’Neil, Donnelly, Thom (Hay, 71)
Non Used Subs: Wieghorst, McLaughlin
Scorers: O’Neil(43), Di Canio (pen, 77)
Hearts:
Rousset, McManus, Pointon, Goss, Ritchie, Bruno, Paille, Fulton, Robertson, Cameron, McCann
Subs not used: Frail, Beckford, Callaghan
Scorers: Cameron (31), McCann (64)
Yellows: Grant ,O'Neil, Di Canio (Celtic) Bruno ,Fulton ,McManus ,Pointon (Hearts)
Red: Di Canio (77)
Referee: Dougal
Attendance: 50,034
Articles
- Match Report(see below)
Pictures
Articles
Paolo's Italian for loco
Scotland on Sunday 01/12/1996
Celtic 2 Heart of Midlothian 2
THIS crunching episode at Parkhead will be remembered for the wanton antics of one player. Old or new, this arena has witnessed a few outbursts in its time, but few have matched this lunacy plundered by Paolo di Canio yesterday. He was utterly justly red-carded after 76 minutes.
When Di Canio first signed for Celtic, a wise head commented that his fevered temper would deliver us one or two juicy headlines. The most cynical never imagined it would happen like this. Yesterday he was pumped up, then obnoxious, then increasingly downright inflammatory, until his behaviour grew so demented that he was quite rightly made to depart. If we require irony, his leaving occurred within seconds of his equalising for Celtic.
Neil Pointon, a rugged Hearts performer, had just brought him down in the box. Di Canio sprang to retrieve the ball, placed it on the spot, and dispatched it with a cool roll past Gilles Rousset. In that passage of 30 seconds, more than a few barbs were tossed to and fro, but the real squealing rubbish was to ensue immediately later.
The Italian went groping around the rigging for the ball and got into a tangle with Rousset. He then raced out of the goal area appearing to bawl at everyone in sight. When he finally squared up to Steve Fulton and clearly began goading the Hearts player, the referee, Stuart Dougal, was forced to take action. Having already booked Di Canio in the first half, the red card was flourished.
It didn't end there. Di Canio reacted as if his dog had just been drowned, spreading his hands in anguish and remonstrating with the official. On his way off, he was grabbing his shirt and kissing his club crest, all in the direction of a linesman who had so incensed him, before his manager, Tommy Burns, intervened and thrust him down the tunnel.
The match had been eventful, but it paled compared to this. An exasperated Burns appeared afterwards, remaining calm and reasoned, if slightly haggard from the experience. "Di Canio was stupid," said the Celtic manager. "That's all it was: sheer stupidity. If he'd stayed on, I think we would have won, and I've told him that. For an experienced player like him, it was very disappointing."
It seems only compassionate to remember Hearts. Their heart and soul had been so pillaged in this very stadium just last Sunday, but they came and competed and weathered some late Celtic pressure. Having led 1-0 and then 2-1, Jim Jefferies' side evidently have plenty mettle.
Before he disappeared, by far the biggest attraction was witnessing Di Canio being whipped to a creamy lather by the flapping off-side flag of the standside linesman. There was one point in the first half when the poor player looked so broken by this that he got down on his knees and appeared to commence negotiations with his maker. The Almighty gets the blame for everything these days.
We've learned before that Parkhead is no place for a renegade linesman to be waggling his colours. As if a fist-bearing, tongue-lashing Di Canio storming down on you isn't enough, there is the grave matter of a horde of supporters behaving like wild apes at your back. Poor Mr Gemmill from Linlithgow stuck gamely to his decisions, but the crowd appeared to want to lynch him, and going up the tunnel at the interval, Di Canio gave him some choice scriptural references.
Linesmen are forever getting stick – the fact that they are normally the best-placed in the entire stadium is deemed irrelevant – but down beneath Celtic Park's main stand must be one of the most perilous beats in the country. The baying mob seem so close they might be able to reach out and trip you up. There are no end of volunteers for a hatchet job. During the recent Old Firm game, even Tommy Burns advanced as if to knock someone's block off. By this point, there were bets on how long Di Canio would last.
It was in the midst of such rancorous outrcy that Hearts careered upfield and abruptly took the lead. Celtic were being Celtic, pressing, harrying, attacking at every quarter, but in the 31st minute, Fulton's free-kick was nodded back by Stephane Paille, Stewart Kerr tried to fist clear, and Colin Cameron's header ended up looping beyond Tom Boyd's brow into the net. In that instant, Parkhead went numb.
Celtic equalised minutes before the break and poor Rousset had another of his nightmares. Simon Donnelly's corner arrived upon the forehead of Brian O'Neil, but his downward header seemed none too brutal. Rousset clawed and flapped but made a total hash of it, finally allowing the ball to dribble into the net.
Di Canio notwithstanding, things were reasonably sedate, but relative calm was to be ruptured by these second-half shenanigans. Hearts stole ahead with a gorgeous goal in the 65th minute, Fulton applying an exquisite pass to Cameron, who passed the ball across the eyeline of Kerr for McCann to stab home. The game had just 11 minutes of common sense left before an Italian blew his trumpets.
Given the stack of yellow cards he had already accumulated, Di Canio, as they say, may be gone some time. He was also the 10th Celtic player to be red-carded this season, which made the club's manager ponder his side's disciplinary issue later. There was also the minor niggle that they had failed to go top of the Premier Division.
- Manager Interview
Tommy Burns:
"Di Canio was stupid," said the Celtic manager. "That's all it was: sheer stupidity. If he'd stayed on, I think we would have won, and I've told him that. For an experienced player like him, it was very disappointing."
Burns said: "He will definitely be disciplined.
"We've spoken to him before about his behaviour but in the heat of a game it becomes difficult.
"He earned the penalty and we would have had three points if he'd stayed on. There's no defence."
"They've been told any semblance of dissent from now on will cost them very heavily.
"We understand their frustrations but the job is difficult enough without people being suspended."
. "Two-and-a -half years ago, this club had nothing and were going nowhere," he said.
"The way in which we lose the crunch games when they come along tells me that it may be time to invest in a better quality of player."
Jim Jeffries
. "I didn't see it (the Di Canio sending off). I was watching the linesman at the time."