| Match Pictures | Matches: 1998 – 1999 | 1998-1999 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic were hoping that Gould’s knee injury from the Zurich game was not as bad as thought. He had a scan on the damaged knee and when medial ligament damage was found he was expected to be out for at least a month. Gould picked up the injury when colliding with Stephane Mahe for Zurich's first goal.
- The Record announced that Mark Viduka had been signed from Croatia Zagreb for £3.5million and was awaiting a work permit.
- Having flitted about on the edge of the team for too long and being far from a fans favourite, it looked like Darren Jackson was headed away to Wolves, initially on a three month loan with a view to permanence. The move fell through when Wolves sacked manager Mark McGhee.
- Rumours emerged that the club was making a bid to bring Johan Mjallby from AIK Stockholm.
- The injury situation was getting pretty grim with Gould injured and subbed in the previous game against FC Zurich. With Kerr also tearing a ligament in his hand during training McCondichie came in from the Under-21s, Rieper (ankle), Annoni (hamstring), Blinker (groin) and Stubbs (groin) were still absent, Burley had picked up a groin strain. Burchill was a preferred starter to Brattbakk; Mahe was suspended following his red against Kilmarnock. Boyd came back into the squad along with Riseth and Moravcik.
- This was Moravcik’s debut game.
- The pre-match Press conference became heated with persistent questioning of Dr Jo not on team matters but matters connected to finance at the club and the bringing in of new players.
- Just an hour before kick off it was announced, to great jubilation by the majority of the Celtic support, that Jock Brown had resigned as General Manager.
Review
No one saw this result coming particularly as Dundee had beaten Hearts the previous week and were on a five game unbeaten run.
Two penalties, three goals for Larsson, two for starting-debut bhoy Burchill, an excellent debut for Moravcik, Barry Smith sent off for Dundee and Jock Brown’s resignation all made for a very nice day out.
Teams
Celtic:
McCondichie, Boyd , McNamara, Larsson, O'Donnell, Donnelly, Lambert, McKinlay, Moravcik (McBride 69), Burchill (Brattbakk 85), Riseth.
Subs Not Used: Jackson, Hannah, Crossley.
Goals: Larsson 9 pen, 18 pen, Burchill 27, 53, Larsson 58, Donnelly 65.
Booked: Boyd (Celtic)
Dundee:
Douglas, Smith, Irvine, Anderson (Raeside 73), Annand, McInally, Falconer, McSkimming, Miller, Rae (Grant 73), Hunter.
Subs Not Used: Magee, Coyne, Langfield.
Goals: Annand 21.
Booked: Hunter, Annand, McInally, Raeside (Dundee)
Sent Off: Smith (18) Dundee
Ref: S Dougal (Glasgow
Att: 58,093
Articles
- Match Articles (see below)
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Dundee | |
| Bookings | 1 | 4 |
| Reds | 0 | 1 |
| Fouls | 9 | 10 |
| Shots on Target | 11 | 2 |
| Corners | 11 | 0 |
| Offside | 5 | 1 |
Celtic rise from the dead
Celtic 6 – Dundee 1
Scotland on Sunday 08/11/1998
CELTIC are a club characterised by crazy days, the sort so often laced with darkly comic undertones.
And so it was that only an hour or so after Jock Brown's loveless life as Celtic General Manager came to an end a quite astonishing afternoon should ensue in which the team and their supporters so happy to have him leave them behind danced on his grave.
Indeed, the home punters took their seats no doubt relishing the opportunity, in song at least, to bury Brown. Instead, six goals for their side to the good later, they were praising and clearly believing a symbolic burial and birth were inter-related.
If the atmosphere, initially at least, for the first match of Celtic PB – post Brown, natch -was not quite carnival it was certainly free of the carnaptious element that has made Celtic matches in their citadel this season so gruff.
There are many who viewed Brown as believing himself rather too close to a god-like figure in his erstwhile football role. But that the gods were conspiring against the Celtic GM who has ceased to be such was summed up by 90 minutes played by those chosen by head coach Dr Jozef Venglos.
Like men freed from the shackles of an oppressive regime, the 11 whirling dervishes in green and white performed as if their every action was marked out by a joy of simply being alive. Celtic bristled with intent from the kick off, swanning over Dundee before quite simply swamping them. The Dens Park side, who had lost only once in their previous five games, for so long looked as if they would have rather been somewhere else…anywhere else. And, where the passing of Brown was concerned, enough ironies toppled down on top of one another in the course of the 6-1 victory to have Alanis Morissette wetting herself. Not once during the 18-month era of Brown did Celtic manage to score six times in a match, yet the ink was hardly dry on his resignation press release before such was achieved.
That the win was underpinned by a two-goal debut from Mark Burchill, one of many players with whom Brown struggled in contract talks, and new signing Lubomir Moravcik, whose 300,000 signing from MSV Duisburg three weeks ago fuelled the fans' anger towards Brown, who they perceived as attempting to do things on the cheap, really did represent nose-thumbing in the direction of the departed official.
It was a day of levity all round for those of a green-and-white disposition, this extending even to head coach Venglos who refused to play ball when questioned about the effect of Brown's departure on what he conceded was the best performance of a Celtic team in his time in charge.
The Slovak spoke of the "invective" he has been forced to deal with in his time in Scotland (surely even Venglos's vocabulary wasn't given a spurt by Brown's bombing?) and pleaded with the press simply to enjoy the moment. "Don't spoil it all with the questions I have been asked for the past three months. Let me enjoy the performance. I have a smile on my face, you have a smile on your face, enjoy yourself and relax," he smiled.
And it was smiles all round Celtic Park from as early as the eighth minute when Burchill cutely flicked the ball into the box before hustled by Gordon Hunter with referee Stuart Dougal adjudging the challenge serious enough to award a spot kick, that Henrik Larsson coolly converted. A harsh award, as it seemed the official was intent on making life after Brown sweet for Celtic. This impression was given further credence when he red-carded Barry Smith for giving the 18-year-old Celtic striker a full body search in mid air in the incident that brought penalty No 2 and conversion No2 for the Swede. A tad harsh on the Dundee defender perhaps with the Celt not fully in control of the ball. Two down, a man short and only 18 minutes on the clock suddenly turned the game into, Dens boss Jocky Scott conceded afterwards, "a damage limitation exercise".
That they could not limit the damage was in part the result of a delightful debut from 33-year-old Moravcik, the kind of continental midfield orchestrator who doesn't so much hit passes as lovingly craft them and, after Eddie Annand had snuck in behind the makeshift Celtic defence to slam home a shot to pull back a goal in the 22nd minute, it was the rare vision of the Slovak that pushed the contest beyond the visitors once more with a wave of the wand that doubles up for his foot to send Burchill clear for a slamming finish in the 27th minute.
Celtic's pressure was incessant and within 10 minutes of the second half they had made it 4-1. The razor-sharp Burchill once again showed himself capable of all the things that the striker he was replacing, Harald Brattbakk, had found so difficult, when he controlled a cross with his left foot and tucked the ball away with his right. Within five minutes Celtic had made it six, an outrageous curling ball to the back post from Moravcik providing Larsson with his hat-trick before Simon Donnelly played keepy-uppy in the box prior to planting the ball wide of Robert Douglas.
- Manager Interview
Dr Jo Venglos post match:
"I am pleased with the way the team played against Dundee. It was good to see the players enjoy themselves. Please don't ask me about other things, about all the things happening off the field. Ask me about the game. Just let me relax. “
“I know who is a good player and who is not. This is only a beginning. There will be more difficult games ahead but Lubomir can handle it.
”Overrall this was the best performance we have had since I arrived. It was skillful and the team, played well as a group.
“We had good finishing, good passing and plenty of goal opportunities which I have always said is the main thing.”
“Every game is different but I was pleased with Mark Burchill’s performance and his qualities. With the support of the other players he was able to express himself very well but every game is different.”
