| Match Pictures | Matches: 1999 – 2000 | 1999-2000 Pictures |
Trivia
- The testimonial for Ronnie Moran was a celebration of his 50 years with Liverpool. Moran, who retired in 1998, was a key member of the famous boot room under Kenny Dalglish, Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Roy Evans and current Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier. The Frenchman said of him, “I don’t think anyone deserves a testimonial more than him. He has been loyally dedicated to this club for 50 years, that’s unique. Nobody does that sort of thing these days. We are happy to see him every day at the training ground, he comes down each day for a walk round the training pitches to keep in touch. He’s welcome because he will always be a part of Liverpool.”
- Away from this match things were pretty tense. The fans were waiting for the announcement of who would be the new coach. Allan MacDonald had fought long and hard to bring Hiddink to the club. Now there appeared to be a problem and it looked like the club were having second thoughts and getting cold feet about the cost and the philosophy of bringing in Hiddink. The Board asked for a further two weeks to assess all candidates and scour Europe again. One of these candidates was Martin O’Neill. There were leaks and counter-leaks. Behind the scenes it sounded like chaos reigned.
- Borussia Dortmund, who had also been trying to tempt Hiddink to Germany as their coach, dropped their interest in him.
- Marc Rieper was expected to announce his retirement from the game due to a toe injury which kad kept him from playing for the whole of the season and had failed to respond to treatment and surgery.
- After this game, Liverpool had to get the Upper Tier of the Anfield Rd. stand examined by civil engineers. Due to the stamping, jumping and clapping of the Celtic support, the stand suffered from “excessive vertical movement”. “The advice of the engineers is to stiffen the upper terrace to prevent a repeat of such movement. Three steel columns had to be constructed to raise the natural frequency of the structure.”
As a precaution, the stand’s capacity of 2654 was cut by 50% for the match against Parma on Sunday, August 13.
Review
Pre-Match kickabout by veterans of both sides saw Dalglish in both the Hoops and then red. Gerry Mardsden leading ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. A Celtic side cut to the bone by injuries such that the youths got a run out and Dailly and McAteer were recruited from Blackburn Rovers. The 12,000 travelling Hoops fans made the most of it with a great night out not missing the chance to get tore in to Walter Smith, then managing Everton, and ‘Robbie Fowler for Rangers’.
Teams
Liverpool – Friedel, Heggem, Staunton, Song, Henchoz (Hyypia, 46), Murphy, Smicer, Thompson (Gerrard, 46), Fowler, Meijer, Camara (Owen, 80).
Substitutes – Nielsen, Carracher, Matteo, Traore, Miles.
Goals: Meijer (38), Thompson (45), Camara (53), Meijer (68)
Celtic – Kerr (Gould, 46), Stubbs, Tebily (Crainey, 46), Dailly (Kennedy, ), McAteer, Riseth, Lambert, Mjallby (Burchill, 46), Moravcik (Lynch, ), Fotheringham (Smith, ), Johnson (Shields, ).
Goals: Dailly (76)
Referee: C Foy (England)
Attendance: 33,300
Articles
- Match Report(see below)
Pictures
Articles
Liverpool turns out in force for Anfield legend
The Herald 17/05/2000
DARRYL BROADFOOT
Liverpool 4 Celtic 1.
More than 12,000 Celtic fans travelled south last night to reunite with their old friends from Merseyside for the celebration of Ronnie Moran’s 50 years of sterling service at Liverpool and provided a party atmosphere that continued long after the lights went out at Anfield.
Celtic’s defeat failed to dampen the enthusiasm of their followers – the night, after all, belonged to Moran; player, coach, and legen-dary member of the most famous bootroom in football. He will benefit to the tune of £200,000, thanks to an attendance of around 33,300, but money has never been the motivation for a man who stands for all that is good and, sadly, all that has been lost to the game.
It was a fitting appreciation of the type of dedication that is likely to become extinct amid a lucre-driven revolution and friends, past and present, turned out to pay homage to the 66-year-old who helped shape the careers of many of the Anfield favourites who returned to pay homage, none more so than Kenny Dalglish.
Both sets of fans mingled since early afternoon, when they were invited to pay a floral tribute to those Liverpool fans killed during the Hillsborough disaster 11 years ago. The emotion carried long into the night but there were a lot of laughs along the way, too, and the fun kicked off with a celebrity match involving Celtic and Liverpool players from yesteryear. There was a sprinkling of other famous faces from Merseyside, including some of those angst-ridden Scallies from Brookside Close. Bruce Grobbelaar made a return between the Anfield posts alongside former team-mates Ian Rush and Craig Johnstone.
The biggest cheer, however, was reserved for the man no doubt relieved to find sanctuary in an old stomping ground during turbu-lent times.
Kenny Dalglish, interim head coach at Celtic, left the pre-match team-talk to his assistant, Tommy Burns, while he pulled on the hooped No.7 shirt, only to swop it at the interval for the red of Liverpool and the less familiar No.8 jersey.
Former Anfield favourite Jason McAteer made a guest appearance for a Celtic side riddled by injuries and he was joined by Blackburn Rovers team-mate and Scottish internationalist Christian Dailly.
The introduction of Gerry Marsden, who was in hearty voice despite the fact he was without his Pacemakers, was a surprise of which local lass Cilla Black would have been proud and the two sets of fans cemented their historical friendship with a rousing rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ as the teams lined up either side of Moran and five replica European Cups, four belonging to the hosts and the other, of course, commemorating Celtic’s famous triumph in 1967.
Traditionally, the main event has difficulty in producing a fitting climax to such a nostalgic evening, but the fans cared not a jot.
Those supporters who made the journey south to escape their domestic troubles were in particulary high spirits but their Old Firm rivals were never far from their thoughts, with less than complimentary words about Walter Smith, the former Ibrox manager now operating on the other side of the Merseyside divide, proving popular in the red sea. Robbie Fowler was also on the receiving end of some jocular jeers as a consequence of his Rangers tendencies and he was met with a chorus of ironic cheers after squandering the first chance of the match, spooning ridiculously over the bar from six yards.
Calls of “Fowler for Rangers” greeted his every move but strike partner Titi Camara was afforded a more welcoming reception in light of the Guinean internationalist’s recent revelation of his inexpli-cable affection for Parkhead.
Fowler almost produced the perfect riposte after 24 minutes of languid fare. He strode clear after a piercing pass from young Danny Murphy but shot straight at Stewart Kerr in the Celtic goal, an indication of his rustiness after another long spell on the sidelines. Liverpool then took the lead in 38 minutes when Fowler floated the ball into the penalty area and German striker Eric Meijer got enough purchase on his head-flick to send it beyond the reach of Kerr. Not before time, the game sprung into life and David Thompson ended the opening half in spectacular fashion hurtling a 30-yard howitzer past the bemused Celtic keeper.
Inevitably, a flurry of substitutions were made after the half-time cuppa, with Kerr making way for the man he has replaced as first-choice keeper in the run-in to the SPL season, Jonathan Gould. Johan Mjallby and Olivier Tebily were also given a rest, with Stephen Crainey and Mark Burchill joining in the action. Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier introduced Steven Gerrard and Sami Hyypia in place of Thompson and Stephane Henchoz.
Before long, the stadium erupted once again as Camara capitalised on some lackadaisical defending to shoot past Gould after 53 minutes. Meijer was again on target in 68 minutes, reacting quickest to a cross from Steve Staunton to side-foot the ball out of Gould’s reach. Consolation was provided courtesy of Dailly, who clearly relished turning out for Celtic despite a busy evening in a fragile defence. The man who cost Rovers £5m but has been informed by new manager Graeme Souness he no longer is required, got a vital touch to turn home a Lubo Moravcik miscued shot 14 minutes from time to give the visiting throng an excuse to cheer. Not that they needed one.
Moran paid tribute to the huge visiting support afterwards, when he said. “Tonight will stay with me forever. I have seen many things in my career but never the support I had from the Celtic fans, even when their team were 4-1 down. “It was unbelievable.”
Dalglish once again praised the Parkhead support to the hilt and reiterated that the club “deserved better” after a hugely disappointing domestic season, eased only by the collection of the CIS Insurance Cup. “They (the fans) are the best. I have said that before, and it was no surprise to see the turn-out, but we were only bit-part players. The night belonged to him (Moran), and rightly so, He has made a huge contribution to Liverpool.”
He was also quick to point out that the appearance of McAteer and Dailly was purely a favour by Souness.
“We had a duty to play the strongest team we could for the testimonial and we are grateful to Blackburn for lending them to us.”
Kenny Dalglish post match:
“They (the fans) are the best. I have said that before, and it was no surprise to see the turn-out, but we were only bit-part players. The night belonged to him (Moran), and rightly so, He has made a huge contribution to Liverpool.”
Ronnie Moran:
“Tonight will stay with me forever. I have seen many things in my career but never the support I had from the Celtic fans, even when their team were 4-1 down.
“It was unbelievable.”