| Match Pictures | Matches: 1996 – 1997 | 1996-1997 Pictures |
Trivia
- Tommy Burns' last game in charge.
- Prior to the game Tommy Burns kept out of the limelight preferring to keep press contacts and briefings to Assistant Billy Stark and Celtic PR man Peter McLean.
- Tommyhad also refused to give a press interview after the last Aberdeen game.
- The game was played at Ibrox in atrocious weather
- Another trophyless season for Celtic, and the fans were frustrated again especially as at the start of the season, there was room for optimism.
- After the game Paolo di Canio suggested that the referee might be happier as a Rangers manager. For this, he was called up in front of the beaks and given a 2 match suspension.
- In many ways, an end of an era, but Celtic had to evolve.
Review
No one would contemplate defeat before the game but that’s what happened. Despair and a second trophy-less season. It was Tommy Burns last game in charge.
Falkirk went on to meet Kilmarnock in the final, losing 1-0.
In reflection a sad day for Celtic. The defeat represented more than just another season lost and the Hun's 9-in-a-row. It was the end of the old era. The Biscuit Tin may have gone, but the club structure at the playing level was still old school, and Tommy Burns represented that in various ways.
When Fergus McCann had taken over the club it was aged and very much part of history – an ancient history that needed to change and was not fit for the modern game. Having set about rebuilding the reputation of the club and giving it a ground to be proud of it was clear that a root-and-branch change in the way the club should be run was needed. In part, this was also due to the change to a club now owned by shareholders and not by some 'ancien regime'.
This Cup loss to Falkirk marked a real watershed between the old club, the old Board and the old ways and the new club, the new ground and the new structure. To a degree, out went old loyalties to former players and in came a modern business ethic. The future would see the the rise in importance of commercial activities and football as a business as well as the growth of television revenue.
The following season saw the implementation of a continental structure with a Head Coach appointed – Celtic's first foreign coach, a General Manager – who had more knowledge of law and contracts than football, and a Head of Youth Development to oversee the introduction of a continental style Academy and training principles. It would be the start of a different era, but with this change we all would be shedding a tear for Tommy.
Teams
Celtic:
Kerr; Boyd, McKinlay, McNamara, Stubbs, O'Donnell (Johnson, 55), Di Canio, Hannah, Donnelly (McLaughlin, 77), Thom, Cadete
Non Used Subs: MacKay
Bookings: Di Canio ,McNamara ,Stubbs (Celtic)
Falkirk:
Nelson, McGowan, Seaton, Oliver, James, Gray, McAllister, McKenzie, Crabbe (Fellner, 73), Hagen, McGrillen (Craig, 63).
Non Used Subs: Mathers.
Scorer: McGrillen (19)
Bookings: Crabbe (Falkirk)
Referee: W Young (Clarkston).
Attendance: 35,879
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Falkirk | |
| Bookings | 3 | 1 |
| Fouls | 10 | 10 |
| Shots on Target | 8 | 3 |
| Corners | 20 | 3 |
| Offside | 3 | 2 |
Burns faces final agony
The Scotsman 24/04/1997
Celtic 0
Falkirk 1 McGrillen (19 )
TOMMY Burns' time as Celtic manager looks to be at an end after his team lost last night's Scottish Cup semi-final replay to Falkirk and completed a second consecutive season without a trophy.
It was the second time in three years that Celtic had lost a cup tie to First Division opposition at Ibrox and now the numbers no longer stack up in Burns' favour. Three years in the job has seen the manager spend 15 million on new players and win only one trophy, the Scottish Cup, against Airdrie, another First Division side, in 1995. Six months earlier, Celtic had lost the Coca-Cola Cup final to Raith Rovers.
Rangers, meanwhile, have this season equalled Celtic's cherished record of nine league championships in a row and do so while winning all four Old Firm derbies for the first time in the 22-year history of the Premier Division.
Last night, Burns' side got a bite from an underdog that could not have been cured by a tetanus injection. Fergus McCann, the club's owner, will have his own ideas on what kind of preventive medicine is necessary to avoid further embarrassment for Celtic.
The question of Burns' future always presents a dilemma of the heart versus the head for the Celtic support. A much loved player with the club, Burns' departure would be the cause of sorrow among sentimentalists.
The heads of the Celtic supporters, though, tell them that results like the one against Falkirk only confirm the manager's position as being untenable. Once again, the team's level of motivation was called seriously into question.
Being taken to a replay by a side who are mid-table in the First Division was bad enough. Losing to Falkirk was unforgivable.
There were moments of ill luck for Celtic, such as watching Scott McKenzie, of Falkirk, strike his own post 15 minutes from the end. Falkirk, though, fully deserved their win and a place in the Scottish Cup final for the first time in 40 years, when, coincidentally, they met Kilmarnock.
The two sides, one from the First Division, the other frantically trying to stay out of it, will renew their acquaintance after a lengthy separation on 24 May.
It may be the cup final from hell where the tournament's sponsors are concerned. They should consult Celtic on the subject of pain and suffering.
Burns, meanwhile, will await the result of McCann's promised review of his managerial performance in the close season, unless action is taken by one of the two men before then. Either way, the signs are not good.
Celtic left the field to a storm of booing and green and white scarves were thrown onto the track as the team disconsolately headed towards the dressing room. They had clearly left in a troubled state of mind.
Ninety minutes earlier they had taken the field of play amid climatic conditions similar to Celtic's form going into the match: wind-tossed and unpredictable. The effects of a greasy pitch and the swirling wind were enough to give Stewart Kerr, Celtic's goalkeeper, two anxious moments when he was called upon.
Kerr first of all dropped a cross from Scott Crabbe and then fumbled a shot from the same Falkirk player when he attacked a loose ball from Kerr and demonstrated the First Division side's willingness to shoot from any distance if it could establish a lead to unnerve their opponents.
As usual, it was left to Paolo Di Canio, whose Christian name, prefix and surname form the distance between mediocrity and scintillation for Celtic, to put up the most stubborn line of resistance for the Premier Division team. But the Italian was powerless to prevent Falkirk from taking the lead after 19 minutes with a goal which exposed the fragility of Celtic's nerve.
A long, diagonal cross from Jamie McGowan evaded a hesitant defence and fell to David Hagen. His mis-hit attempt fell to Paul McGrillen and he was able to head the ball in a perfect parabola over Kerr as he moved off his line.
The effect of the goal was to render the Falkirk support mildly hysterical and send a shiver of recognition down the spine of every Celtic man in the crowd. Going a goal up does little for Celtic's confidence. The imposition of a tightrope without a safety net underneath, as represented by a one-goal deficit, was an even bigger threat to their equilibrium.
Burns, meanwhile, sat in Rangers' directors box isolated from his team by the ban he is serving for losing his temper on the trackside earlier in the season.
Referee Willie Young booked Di Canio and Crabbe for diving in separate incidents, the former yellow card edging the Italian over the disciplinary points threshold. His team-mates, meanwhile, had yet to show that they were capable of rising above their questionably low tolerance threshold.
If McGowan had done better than force Kerr to save another long range effort as it skidded along the sodden grass the retreat into Celtic's shell might have been started.
The second half started in similar fashion and Alan Stubbs was cautioned for a reckless challenge on Crabbe.
Falkirk's lead was not solely the result of Celtic's shortcomings, of course. They were the more aggressive of the two teams and Scott McKenzie was desperately unlucky not to increase their lead when he struck the post after receiving a pass from Andy Gray.
The goal frame was still reverberating when Celtic took off Phil O'Donnell, another anonymous contributor, and put on Tommy Johnson, the Englishman whose first goal since signing from Aston Villa for 2.3 million had been against Falkirk in the first meeting of the clubs.
Johnson's lack of fitness had caused him to miss the league win over Aberdeen on Sunday. With only 35 minutes of the game left, however, there was no room for mollycoddling, only a margin for terror.
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Manager Interview
Tommy Burns:
"I thought that Falkirk did splendidly and I wish them well in the final,"
"There is nothing to describe my disappointment – nothing."
"My greatest fear as a player was being involved in something like this,"
"I was fortunate that, in 15 years as a Celtic player, nothing like this ever happened to me.
"That is what makes this result all the harder to take. It is very difficult."
Burns candidly admitted this result is likely to make up McCann's mind come the summer. He said:
"That's possibly right. We live or die by success in this job and players are the same.
"People know my feelings for Celtic, they will know how deeply hurt and embarrassed I am.
"I have never been frightened to accept my responsibilities.
"It was my team who lost the game. My responsibility. No excuses.
"I spent 15 years as a player at Celtic Park. I can handle pressure. But I have to admit that we have too many players who can't take the strain.
"It is at a time like this that you find out about players and other people within the club."
The allusion to McCann was unmistakable. The criticisms made of his players by the manager was far more direct.
"I was never afraid of a challenge but that challenge has to be accepted by players as well as management.
"We have been hanging on to Paolo Di Canio's coat-tails and need someone to help him shoulder responsibility. There was a desperate lack of leadership against Falkirk. It was disappointing and embarrassing."
Paolo di Canio post game:
"Before the game I didn't think it would be possible for this to happen. The manager spoke to us but we played differently to what he wanted.
"So it was the players' fault, not the manager and not the fans. We put 35 balls into the box but no one was there. The fans need more passion from us.
"Now there is confusion in my head because the one trophy we had left is now finished. There is also a debt in my head to the fans and the manager.
"I think Tommy Burns merits from Fergus McCann to stay here for a long time. Tommy is good for me, he is a good manager and a good person.
"I came here from Italy where I played with five or six teams with different managers. They were all different tactically and as people but Burns is a good man as well.
"When he said the team lacked leadership he spoke the truth and we have to roll up our sleeves for him."