| Match Pictures | Matches: 1998 – 1999 | 1998-1999 Pictures |
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Trivia
- Fergus McCann stepped down from the Board and day-to-day running of the club and Allan MacDonald assumed full Chief Executive responsibilities from the first of the month. McCann made plans to leave the country to reside in Bermuda. Speaking at a charity event he said, "I will sell my shares in late summer, or early autumn. The important thing is that the personnel are in place and that there will never again by one person acting as the controlling shareholder. All we need now is a general manager and we are talking to people at the moment." Fergus’ leaving was not marked in any formal way, presumably at his own request. However it felt odd that the one person who had pulled the club back from bankruptcy five years before and had built a new, modern stadium left without any marking of his going.
- Viduka was reported to have told The Herald that he had no problems with Croatia Zagreb paying him his portion of the £3million original transfer fee. This was contrary to the case that Celtic had presented to FIFA and was allegedly causing him problems at Celtic with certain members of the upper management ( presumably Fergus McCann). Celtic had so far paid Croatia Zagreb £900k and Viduka’s original side, Melbourne Melbourne Knights, £600k.
- Hearts made a bid for Darren Jackson. Since his return from a loan deal with Coventry Jackson had been surplus to requirements and filling time playing for the U21’s. He had been linked to a move to Nottingham Forest in early March. The deal with Hearts went through and he was sold on 26/3/99 to Hearts for £300k.
- Jim Kerr and Kenny Dalglish’s Consortium which had been harassing the club for a share in the activities, received a further setback to their ambitions when their American bankers were fined £40million for what was described as ‘serious financial fraud’.
- Ever the rottweiler, Fergus McCann decided to pursue UEFA through the European courts sueing the footballing authority for £2.4million over the Bosman move of John Collins to Monaco in 1996. The club's case would be presented by Michael Beloff, QC, before an arbitration committee in Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Doubts were raised by both sides of the Old Firm’ about the viability of the U21 league which had been instituted at the beginning of the season instead of the old Premier Reserve League. Principal objections were the large number of games and the poor surfaces that some of the games were played on and the inability to use older members of the first team squad who were on the fringes.
- Brian McLaughlin was released from his contract and moved on a free to Dundee Utd on 1/4/99 on a short term deal to the end of the season.
- Following the failed loan move to Hibs, ex-Celtic loan keeper Tony Warner was on the verge of signing a deal with Aberdeen. This went through as a loan deal from Liverpool to the end of the season.
- Barry Elliot returned from his loan period with Clydebank. Clydebank, who were in serious financial difficulties could no longer afford to pay his wages. Marc Anthony who was also on loan there remained for the time being.
- In an interview with Scotland on Sunday Dr Josef Venglos admitted that he was considering returning to Slovakia and he would make his mind up in ’10 or 11 days time’. He was being pursued to take on the position of president of the Slovakian FA. He confirmed that he had a gentleman’s agreement with Celtic that would allow him to leave the club by mutual consent.
- The game marked the comeback of Morten Wieghorst who had been out for the whole of the season recovering from cruciate ligament damage and surgery. Donnelly was also included in the squad with Healy and Marshall dropping out.
Review
A long, impromptu but heart-felt round of applause for The Bunnet when Fergus McCann took his seat in the South Stand to witness a real drubbing of Dundee.
Teams
Celtic: Gould, Riseth, Boyd , Mjallby (Wieghorst 71), McNamara, Burley , Lambert, Blinker (Burchill 81), McKinlay, Larsson, Viduka (Brattbakk 67).
Subs Not Used: Donnelly, Corr.
Goals: Larsson 7, Burley 32, Viduka 41, Larsson 66 pen, Blinker 70.
Dundee: Douglas, Miller, Irvine, Smith, Raeside, Maddison, Rae, McInally, McSkimming, Grady, Annand.
Subs Not Used: Strachan, Coyne, Boyack, Tweed, Langfield.
Booked: Annand.
Ref: D McDonald (Edinburgh).
Att: 59,269
Articles
- Match Report
Fergus's disciples take their bunnets off to Celts' saviour
Scotland on Sunday 04/04/1999
Celtic5 Dundee0
CELTIC breezed this, and poor Dundee were horse-whipped, but the real moments of significance at Parkhead yesterday came when the wide, black-rimmed fedora of Fergus McCann first appeared in the main stand.
To hear the rich ovation received by the man, know affectionately as 'The Bunnet' from fans who have at times taken issue with his decisions must have gone some way to soothe, if not quite heal, the scars from his rocky five-year term. McCann, having already handed down Celtic's reins last week, is thought to be preparing to depart Parkhead for good, a fact that at last provoked some expression of gratitude among Celtic's support, and just in the nick of time.
The little managing director stood for a moment and looked a mite bashful at this applause, as more and more fans turned towards him and exhibited their clapping hands. It wasn't so long ago that some of these same fans, having seen McCann redeem this club at the bank, rebuild their stadium, and help restore the title to Parkhead, jeered and booed as he and Tommy Boyd unfurled that flag. If it is this week, or next, that McCann finally decides to flee, he'll take with him a lasting impression of Scottish football's rather blunt and, ever so occasionally, maladjusted streak.
McCann has always been elusive, at least in disclosing why he ever left his Bahamas idyll in the first place to get involved in the Celtic saga. Typically, then, he'd quietly slipped out of the main stand before the end of yesterday's match, a man who five years ago decided to thrust himself right into the spotlight, but who still displays a modest element like this in order to avoid any further fanfare.
McCann had, though, already seen enough by 4.40pm to know that his team had inflicted a butchering. He would also appreciate that when Celtic perform like this, a side such as Dundee might not be helped if they took to the pitch with bayonets.
The goals might have rained down on Dundee but, with so much of this resembling mild-weather frolics from Celtic, this match cruelly lacked a competitive appeal. This wasn't the first time there had been a drubbing at one of the two big club stadiums in Glasgow and it left one wondering at what even the most impassioned supporter can take from such tedious affairs. To put this in perspective, astonishingly, yesterday, there wasn't even any Saturday public sale of the 8,000-odd tickets normally left after Celtic's season-tickets are accounted for, almost all of these having been snapped up earlier in the week.
In other words, even the coolest of fans will savour any kind of hammering, no matter the hackneyed ritual.
The way in which Dundee were out-stripped and out-classed here let off the usual alarm bells about the state of the Scottish game when two teams such as these seem so flagrantly unequal.
A player such as Henrik Larsson, again twice a scorer yesterday, must no doubt have enjoyed the crowd's bellows, but in considering his future, Larsson might get to thinking that life in England could be a whole lot more adventurous and, ultimately, never so routine as this.
Even Regi Blinker, this strange animal, a rare species known as Dutch dire, managed a goal and had the fans feting him. On at least two occasions here Blinker faced up to full-backs near the bye-line and promptly ran the ball out of play, the second time even reaching out to shake fans' hands, as if he could also pull a rabbit from his shorts.
How they cheered Blinker, after 70 minutes, when he half-sclaffed his shot past Robert Douglas's poor grasp for Celtic's fifth. Harald Brattbakk came on and also caused the roofs to shiver with the applause. This was one of these Celtic days. It is peevish, perhaps, to criticise Dundee too harshly, and certainly their frighteningly hard-working manager, Jocky Scott, whose work with these moderate players has at least provided hope of Premier League survival.
But Dundee yesterday were not just the victims of superior skills. They appeared to be out-paced, and out-manoeuvred, and even inferior in the jostling stakes, offering a comprehensive picture of a team being utterly subjugated. This was surely embodied in the figure of their little striker, James Grady, a wee fellow whose scamperings were willing but ever too weak.
The image of Dundee, in fact, was not enhanced during this affair, least of all by the antics of their coarse band of fans, who sang a provocative chant throughout and, worse, taunted Blinker with some racist rubbish. Larsson's reckless goal-poaching was once more effortlessly replenished, leaping in the sixth minute to open for Celtic with a header from Tosh McKinlay's cross, and enjoying his second and Celtic's fourth in the second-half, with a penalty hoofed past Douglas after the Swede himself had been upended.
By this stage, the 64th minute, it has to be said, poor Dundee were in shreds, these followers already heading for the exits and their players looking faintly bedraggled.
In the 32nd minute, Craig Burley stabbed Celtic's second with a ripping drive after Larsson's swift run, while Mark Viduka, nine minutes later, made it 3-0 to Celtic before the break through his leap and then angled header past Douglas.
With Fergus gone, and Jo Venglos perhaps also, there is ferment again at Parkhead, though cloudbursts of goals like these won't harm.
- Manager Interview
Jo Venglos post match:
“Right from the first minute I knew we were going to play well.
“Our use of space in the last third of the field and our support for each other was excellent.
“We created chances and scored goals from accurate crosses which we badly missed against Kilmarnock two weeks ago.
“I am truly delighted for the fans and you can see them responding positively to the creative moves and flicks .
“Both the players and our large home support are working well for each other.
“It is now important that we can have continuity for our good performances.
“All we can do at the moment is play well for ourselves and then wait and see what happens to Rangers.
“It is always a privilege to work for Celtic..
“You have to remember that I am not important. Only the players and the fans are important.”
Pictures
Stats
| Celtic | Dundee | |
| Bookings | 0 | 1 |
| Fouls | 14 | 14 |
| Shots on Target | 10 | 1 |
| Corners | 8 | 2 |
| Offside | 3 | 2 |