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Trivia
- There was a gap of two weeks between this game and the preceding Rangers game due to international commitments. During the recess there were calls for Kenny Dalglish to start taking a more prominent role at the club. Having lost the two last games to Lyon and Rangers there was a degree of despondency amongst the support. The support were gradually losing faith with Barnes and wanted the favoured son back in place with a track-tested success rate as both player and manager, with a greater first team role.
- A bunker mentality was gradually invading Celtic Park following what was seen as aggressive questioning of Kenny Dalglish and John Barnes after the Rangers games. All requests for interviews and player access was now referred to the PR department and generally turned down.
- Lambert underwent dental surgery following the loss of four teeth and concussion when Albertz’ knee collided with Paul’s face in the Rangers game. Mahe’s return from injury was put on hold when he slipped in a freak accident at home and twisted his ankle.
- It was announced that ex-Celt Anton Rogan had been forced to retire due to inoperable cysts behind his knee.
- Celtic made enquiries about Andrew Holt, a 21 year old left back then with Oldham. They were also somewhat more strongly linked to French attacking midfielder Gerard Baticle of Auxerre. Baticle flew in for a month’s trial with the club. Another trialist to arrive was Oscar Rubio. Both failed to win full time contracts but Rubio later went on to play for Livingston.
- On the 12th November Craig Burley's agent, Gordon Smith (now SFA Chief Executive), said that Celtic had received a firm offer for Craig Burley from Derby County. The club categorically denied that this was true escalating the dispute with Burley and his agent. Derby eventually tabled a £3.00million bid for Burley.
- A move for Brattbakk to return to Rosenborg was scuppered when it was learnt that he would not be eligible to take part in any European games
- At the pre-match press conference Barnes undertook some intense questioning from the Press. He tried to clarify the situation on Burley’s transfer but confused it further by saying it looked like it was off and that the player was injured anyways. He admitted to playing him out of position but then said that it was his team and players ought to feel privileged to play a part in it.
- Prior to the game Lubo Moravcik had been linked to a move back to France with Bastia to take up a coaching position there. Johan Mjallby and Morten Wieghorst were said to be unhappy and considering returns to Scandinavia and it was rumoured that Bobby Petta had been offered to a number of clubs and that Harald Brattbakk and Tommy Johnson were on their way out. This might generate funds to bring in Daniel Fonseca of Juventus who the club were being linked to.
- Mahe came back in, Mjallby started, Viduka had only just got back from international duty in Australia, Tebily was still away with the Ivory Coast; Kerr, Petta, Wieghorst and Brattbakk were brought in to the squad
Review
A hard game which Celtic were somewhat lucky to come out with three points. The points were won by a truly great goal from Moravcik. It was clear by this time that Barnes was rapidly losing the dressing room and that players were deeply confused as to their roles on the park.
Teams
Hearts:
Rousset, Locke, Pressley, Ritchie, Naysmith, Flogel, Cameron, Severin (Leclercq 57), Fulton, McKinnon, McSwegan (Jackson 80).
Subs Not Used: McKenzie, Makel, Juanjo.
Goals: Cameron 3.
Booked: Severin, Flogel, Fulton (Hearts) Stubbs, Mjallby, Petrov, Berkovic (Celtic)
Sent Off: Cameron (58) (Hearts)
Celtic: Gould, McNamara, Riseth, Stubbs, Mahe, Mjallby, Petrov, Berkovic, Moravcik, Wright (Brattbakk 85), Burchill
Subs Not Used: Kerr, Petta, Blinker, Wieghorst.
Goals: Wright 71, Moravcik 88.
Booked: Stubbs, Mjallby, Petrov, Berkovic (Celtic)
Ref: Michael McCurry (Scotland).
Attendance: 17,184
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Stats
Articles
Moravcik's magic silences the Barnes storm for now
Scotland on Sunday 21/11/1999
By Paul Forsyth at Tynecastle
Hearts1 Celtic2
THE jury is still out in the case of Barnes versus the world after a potent mixture of controversy, fortune and genius contrived in the closing stages of yesterday's frantic fixture at Tynecastle to spare the Celtic coach another grilling at the hands of his critics.
A harsh sending-off, a deflected equaliser and a belated spark of individual flair granted Celtic three points from a match in which they were behind for well over an hour. Ian Wright and Lubo Moravcik overturned the third-minute lead established by Colin Cameron, who was sent off in the 60th minute for an innocuous challenge on Johan Mjallby. It was more than the visitors deserved.
A typically raucous affair between these sides started off with Hearts capitalising on a shambolic start by Celtic, before they almost doubled their lead when the contest levelled out and eventually clung for dear life as the occasion degenerated into an ill-tempered racket of noise and passion.
It should not be forgotten, amid the maelstrom in which seven bookings supplemented the sending-off, that it was a brilliant individual goal in the last minutes which secured three points. Moravcik, who is being linked with a coaching post at Bastia, cut inside from the left and unleashed a 25-yard shot with his right foot, which bounced low into the far corner of the net. The result keeps Celtic within four points of Rangers with a game more played.
More important than the winner was the contribution of goalkeeper Jonathan Gould who kept Celtic in the game during the first half. John Barnes later revealed that Gould, whom he had intended to drop, only played because Dmitri Kharine had been taken to hospital with a kidney problem.
So questionable has been Barnes's strategy in the last few weeks that all manner of damned lies and statistics have been used and abused to describe Celtic's form as the worst since David Hay and the best since Jock Stein. The absence through injury of Paul Lambert and Craig Burley, as well as the international commitments which denied them Olivier Tebily and Mark Viduka, didn't exactly fill the Glasgow club with confidence on their trip to a ground where the home side traditionally raise their game against the Old Firm.
But neither side could have predicted Celtic's utterly inept contribution to what was an explosive opening few minutes. A shot by Mark Burchill, which was saved by Gilles Rousset after a short pass-back from Gary Naysmith, created a misleading first impression. The opening goal was always going to be scored at the other end where Celtic's defence was so thoroughly confused and unsure of itself that it was embarrassing.
The sight of defenders, with hopeless expressions and arms spread wide, appealing to the dug-out for advice was a sorry spectacle for Celtic supporters already wincing at the antics of Vidar Riseth in the middle and the failure of either Stephane Mahe or Jackie McNamara to know whether they were supposed to attack or defend. Only Mjallby, who was deployed as a marker for Cameron, seemed to know what his job was. That Cameron, playing at the front of Hearts' midfield diamond, found the net after just three minutes was a measure of the Swede's success.
Steve Fulton, who was outstanding in a withdrawn central role, swept a lovely ball down the right flank ahead of Gary McSwegan who completed his surging run by centring a low cross which Cameron turned into the net. Gould almost expired in a fit of anger with his stagnant defence .
It wasn't the last we would see of Celtic's goalkeeper. Although his team gradually recovered their composure, the creativity of Moravcik and Eyal Berkovic was not enough by itself to seize the initiative. Instead, it was Hearts' rousing endeavour which was nearly rewarded when McSwegan had a snapshot well saved and Thomas Flogel's low drive was finger-tipped round the post by Gould.
Celtic, perhaps grateful to have settled after their early aberration, grew in confidence without really threatening the Hearts goal. That is until Cameron's dismissal in the 60th minute. The Scotland midfielder, who seemed to be one of the few without a booking to their name, wasn't even expecting to see a yellow card after becoming entangled in a midfield struggle with Mjallby. Referee Mike McCurry brandished red, signalled the use of an elbow and lit the fuse on a blistering finish to the game in which it was all Celtic.
Burchill, now heralded as the future of Scottish goal-scoring, ought to reflect with an honest heart on the hatful of chances he missed. His header from a Mahe cross flashed over the bar, a shot cannoned off Rousset's legs and the goalkeeper again thwarted the youngster in a one-on-one confrontation near the end. All that can be forgotten, however, as Celtic were saved by a turnaround which had luck and skill in equal measure.
The equaliser in the 72nd minute was fortuitous in the extreme. Wright collected a pass from Mahe on the edge of the area and struck a firm shot which spun off Scott Severin to wrong-foot Rousset and leave him grasping thin air on the goal line. At least the winning goal two minutes from the end was a flash of inspiration about which there can be no debate.
- Manager Interview
John Barnes post match:
"I was pleased with the result, but not the performance. Still, we did show character to come back and to win the match and that was important.
"I was going to leave Jonathan out of the team today and I told him that yesterday when we had a talk at the ground. Then Dimitri Kharine took ill and, fortunately, Jonathan was in the gym – which tells you the kind of professional he is – and he was brought back in and he played well and had two very good saves in the first half." (Dmitri Kharine had been taken to hospital complaining of abdominal games immediately prior to the match. He was found to be suffering from kidney stones).
Jonathon Gould:
"I knew that I was going to be dropped because the coach had told me the day before. Then came the illness to Dimitri and I was brought back in. I admit I did not have the best of games against Rangers the other week, but now I have talked things over with John and he has told me about a few points he wants me to improve in my game. I have taken that on board and I gave him my own views and, hopefully, I shall be able to stay in the team.
"Hearts were very positive against us today. I guess Jim Jefferies had told his players to have a go at us and they did that in the first half."