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Trivia
- Following a diagnosis of a broken bone in his ankle Paul McStay announced his retirement from football on 16/5/97. A one club player and a Celtic legend.
- Things didn’t look good for the next season with either Cadete or Di Canio. Cadete claimed he was owed £400,000. This was emphatically denied by McCann. The nub of Paolo’s discontent appeared to be a £900 hotel bill from when he first arrived in Scotland. The club said it was his bill and refused to pay it. The £900 was for ‘extras’. Following Di Canio’s ‘frank’ expression of views through an open letter to the Press Association he was fined 2 weeks wages by the club and suspended for a fortnight and told not to turn up for this game but to report to Celtic Park for a meeting with McCann. He never made the meeting but turned up at the game in Dublin.
- At the SFA AGM Celtic made several proposals a) the ban on clubs taking the SFA to court to be lifted; b) the block on clubs or directors owning shares in other clubs to be removed; c) the SFA to take into account other international fixtures when setting dates for Scottish Cup ties; d) the publication by the SFA of the salaries of its employees. All were rejected. Jack McGinn, ex- Celtic director and Chairman on the old board was elected as President of the SFA
- Kerr, Stubbs, Annoni, O’Donnell and Thom were missing injured. The game was played at Landsdowne Rd. in Dublin.
- Mick McCarthy's Ireland were preparing for a midweek WC98 qualifier against Liechtenstein. David Connolly, Alan Kelly, Denis Irwin, Keith O'Neill and Niall Quinn were injured. Terry Phelan was AWOL.
- CR Smith discontinued their sponsorship of the club. This had run for 12 years.
- Following the Youth team’s Glasgow Cup win they continued their run of form beating Rangers 3-2 to claim the BP Youth Cup. Charlie McGuinness, Phil McKeown and John Paul McBride scored.
- It was announced in the Irish papers that Paul McStay was set to retire.
Review
The great goalkeeper's second testimonial against a Republic of Ireland X1 (first: 12.5.91) and his final farewell to the club.
After the match he returned to Scotland for "make-or-break" talks with McCann but his player/coaching deal was not extended and he joined that summer's exodus from Paradise.
Di Canio's enforced absence from the Celtic team did not impress Pat's testimonial committee, who reportedly threatened to withhold the £60,000 match fee.
Teams
Republic of Ireland XI:
Bonner (Given); Kenna, Staunton, Harte, Cunningham, Keane (Breen), Townsend (Farrelly), Houghton (McLoughlin), Cascarino, G. Kelly (D. Kelly), Kennedy (Savage).
Subs: Gary Kelly
Scorers: Keane (14), Kennedy ( ), Cascarino (84)
Celtic:
Marshall (Bonner); Boyd, McKinlay (Gray), McNamara, MacKay, Grant, Donnelly, Hannah, Johnson, McLaughlin (Hay), Cadete (Wieghorst).
Subs: McBride, Crossley
Scorers: MacKay (64), Harte (og 90)
Referee: D McArdle (Dublin).
Attendance: 21,400
Articles
- Match Report(see below)
Pictures
Bonner brings era to an end
The Scotsman 19/05/1997
Republic of Ireland 3 Keane, Kennedy, Cascarino
Celtic 2 Mackay, Harte (og)
IT was fitting that the weather in Dublin should have taken a thunderous turn to coincide with Celtic's visit. With two lightning conductors present in the form of Paulo di Canio and Jorge Cadete, the only wonder was that the heavy atmosphere was not accompanied by rolling thunder and electric storms.
Celtic are in the midst of a potentially serious shift in their fortunes and if yesterday's defeat by the Republic of Ireland in Pat Bonner's testimonial match was an irrelevance there are other problems which could multiply sooner rather than later.
The Celtic players organised a night out after the game that was timed to recognise the fact that the same group will not be assembled in the same dressing room ever again.
It was easier to count the number who will be at Celtic Park next season than the evacuees from a club that has now brought in agents used to working on the continent to find them the answers to the managerial appointments which must be made with haste.
Five of the side who started the match – Gordon Marshall, Malcolm Mackay, Tosh McKinlay, Peter Grant and Cadete -are unlikely to be with Celtic next season.
Di Canio sulked in the stands beside Andreas Thom, the German whose questionable fitness would suggest that he, too, has no serious part to play in Celtic's future. Even Bonner, the recipient of the crowd's generous attendance, could be gone from Celtic Park in a move that would sever the club's last link with Jock Stein.
The Irish goalkeeper, who joined Celtic in 1978, was Stein's last signing for the club when Stein was only Celtic's fourth manager in 90 years. The departure of Tommy Burns, who was at Lansdowne Road to see Bonner's final game, means that the club now seek their fifth manager in seven years.
The new manager, whoever he is, faces a mammoth job when it comes to replenishing a squad which is soon to be depleted by freedom of contract or the need to quell a partly mutinous dressing room.
Those who are left behind have been dispirited by the endless contractual disputes which afflict Celtic. The premature loss to the game of Paul McStay, Celtic's captain, adds to a picture of despondency.
Bonner will find out this week if he is the next of that generation of players to go from the club.
"My appearance in the testimonial match was the last time I will ever wear a jersey. Now I am going to meet Fergus McCann to discuss the future," said Bonner, who milked his final day in a strip by wearing two of them and playing for both sides.
A couple of Celtic players, namely Di Canio and Cadete, appeared to be of the opinion that they can do the same. It is now for the managing director to bring them to heel or sell the pair. Even if the loss of the Italian and the Portuguese further weakens Celtic numerically speaking, their continued presence is now unlikely to do anything for esprit de corps.
Inevitably, a team weighed down by distractions lost goals that were the result of carelessness. Roy Keane put the national side in front in the first half when McKinlay failed to clear a weak attempt at goal before it crossed the line. Mark Kennedy, from Liverpool, put the Republic of Ireland further ahead after Tommy Johnson lost possession of a ball that was fed through to the teenager.
Mackay reduced the leeway with a header from a corner kick before Tony Cascarino scored from a blatantly offside position for the home team. Later, Ian Harte rounded off the scoring with an own goal for Celtic.
The Celtic players argued over the validity of Cascarino's goal but they would have been better off saving their breath for the more significant battles to come. It would undoubtedly help if Di Canio and Cadete held their tongues, too, since it has become brutally obvious that they are pursuing personal considerations without showing any regard for the people who bought them in good faith.