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Personal
Fullname: Darren Jackson
Born: 25 July 1966
Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
Signed: 15 July 1997
Left: 26 March 1999
Position: Striker/Midfield
Debut: […]
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 28 games
International Goals: 4 goals
Biog
| “Stopping Rangers from achieving ten-in-a-row was unbelievable pressure… Celtic simply couldn’t allow that to happen.” Darren Jackson |
A belligerent no nonsense player with limited ability, he didn’t warm himself to opposition supporters with some of his on-field antics, and effectively was not a first choice for transferring to Celtic. For Hibs, he was a well-loved player, and best remembered for his exploits with them than anyone else where he scored 50 goals in 170 appearances for the club. A very good record for any player.
With Celtic still in the doldrums and Rangers aiming for “Ten-in-a-row“, the club management decided to take a chance on him, and he earned a £1.25m move to Celtic as one of Wim Jansen‘s first signings for the club. Replacing Pierre van Hooijdonk wasn’t easy, and he was no one-for-one replacement, which was a difficult ask for anyone, even for a star signing which he wasn’t.
“Stopping Rangers from achieving ten-in-a-row was unbelievable pressure… Celtic simply couldn’t allow that to happen.”
Darren Jackson
The real battle for Darren Jackson with Celtic began off-field, as he was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, around Aug 1997. He’d only signed for Celtic around a month earlier. Thankfully it wasn’t life threatening but could have been career ending. Darren Jackson was out for around three months from Celtic but thankfully the surgery was a success and he returned back to play. Possibly his greatest result, and he appreciated it, later saying:
“I could have been at any club in the world and I wouldn’t have been treated better.”
On his return, as a sub in a 1-1 match v Rangers, he was given an ovation from the Celtic supporters when he stepped off the bench that day, a moment he has never forgotten:
“That reception will live with me forever“.
In his two years at Celtic, Jackson may have scored just 3 league goals in 29 appearances, but he played for Celtic in the classic “1-in-a-row” season that stopped Rangers’ “Ten-in-a-row” challenge in season 1997-98. So, he can hold his head up high, and all will thank him for his efforts during that time (a difficult season for him personally as much as football wise).
On the pitch he was combative but didn’t always use his head. For example, a silly sending off in one match v Aberdeen for a retaliation kick didn’t help in what was a close game, and in other games his prickly character came out too often which could be counter-productive. This did help the First Team out on a number of occasions, and so he played his part (especially for the crucial league title win). Not a bad asset to have in the squad, but he wasn’t necessarily what Celtic needed going forward, and in fairness to the management, Darren Jackson was no longer in his prime.
Overall, he did fine but he didn’t impress enough as much as he would likely have hoped as age and events overtook him. In his second season at Celtic he became surplus to requirements.
He moved to Coventry on loan in 1998 – where he played for future Celtic manager Gordon Strachan, and although Strachan announced that Jackson was getting a move to China at one point, this didn’t materialise.
Controversial to the end, Darren Jackson actually crossed the Edinburgh divide by signing for Hearts. So now even the Hibbee fans hated him. After making over 50 appearances for the club, Jackson moved to Livingston (firstly on loan, before the transfer was made permanent) and ended up at Clydebank, where he finished his career.
Darren Jackson also enjoyed a good run in internationals for Scotland, scoring 4 goals in 28 internationals and playing at both the European Championships in the ill-fated 1996 Euros campaign in England, and the 1998 World Cup campaign in France.
So now he’d left the playing field, maybe fans could begin warm to him. Actually no, Darren Jackson became a football players’ agent.
He later moved into coaching alongside former teammate Jackie McNamara at Dundee Utd, then on to spells at Raith Rovers (assistant manager) and St Mirren (first team coach).
We wished him the best.
Playing Career
| Club ___________ |
From ___________ |
To ___________ |
Fee ___________ |
League | Scottish/ FA Cup |
League cup | Other | ||||
| Clydebank | 18/01/2002 | 28/04/2002 | Loan | 7 (6) | 2 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| St Johnstone | 12/07/2001 | 01/06/2002 | Free | 6 (3) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Livingston | 04/04/2001 | 12/07/2001 | Signed | 3 (0) | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Livingston | 12/01/2001 | 03/04/2001 | Loan | 5 (1) | 0 | 3 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Hearts | 26/03/1999 | 04/04/2001 | £300,000 | 47 (9) | 7 | 3 (0) | 1 | 2 (2) | 2 | 2 (0) | 1 |
| Coventry | 20/11/1998 | 17/01/1999 | Loan | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Celtic | 15/07/1997 | 26/03/1999 | £1,250,000 | 13 (16) | 3 | 0 (4) | 1 | 3 (0) | 1 | 3 (3) | 1 |
| Hibernian | 14/07/1992 | 15/07/1997 | £400,000 | 170 (0) | 50 | 5 (0) | 1 | 3 (0) | 2 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Dundee Utd | 16/12/1988 | 14/07/1992 | £200,000 | 87 (0) | 30 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Newcastle | 13/10/1986 | 16/12/1988 | £60,000 | No appearance data available | |||||||
| Meadowbank Thistle | 01/08/1985 | 13/10/1986 | 48 (0) | 22 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Totals | £2,210,000 | 386 (38) | 116 | 11 (5) | 3 | 8 (3) | 5 | 5 (3) | 2 | ||
| goals / game | 0.27 | 0.18 | 0.45 | 0.25 | |||||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Premier League
Scottish League Cup
Pictures
Articles
Darren Jackson recalls Celtic denying Rangers ten-in-a-row
Easter Road, August 1997. Celtic’s attempt to prevent Rangers winning ten-in-a-row was declared over having barely begun. Two new signings tried to interlink. Henrik Larsson sought to pass to Darren Jackson but Chic Charnley got in the way. “Henrik slighted me on Soccer AM last week,” says Jackson, now 51. “I texted him: are you still blaming me for that pass?!”
The Celtic support massed behind Gordon Marshall’s goal could barely believe what they were seeing. Charnley’s goal flashed in to give Hibernian a 2-1 win. But all’s well that ends well.
This was the case for Jackson as well as Celtic, who stopped Rangers in their tracks with a last-day win over St Johnstone. As for Jackson, he battled back from hydrocephalus, a condition by which fluid accumulates on the brain, to claim a league winner’s medal and wear the No 10 shirt for Scotland against Brazil in the opening match of that summer’s World Cup finals.
“People say was your time at Celtic successful?” he ponders. “Yes I won the league but not as successful as I would have liked. You need a run in the team to show what you can do.” Brattbakk and Larsson, Harald and Henrik were manager Wim Jansen’s chosen pair. “Harald was a finisher,” says Jackson, admiringly. “He was lightning quick. A great boy. Magic.” He’s in touch with many of his team-mates from across his playing days. He was Michael O’Neill’s best man. “I am good at texting, keeping in touch,” he says. “I did not win a lot. But memories, friends…” He will be gathering with some of those pals in Dundee tomorrow night and Glasgow next month to commemorate this championship win 20 years on. Former team-mates Alan Stubbs, Tommy Johnston, Simon Donnelly and Jackie McNamara will join Jackson on stage. The season was a profoundly bittersweet one for him personally. It started with a call in the early days of mobile phones after training with Hibs on Gullane beach.
“I was walking back with Keith Wright. It was 11th July. The phone went. ‘We have agreed a fee, you are going to Celtic’.” He signed on a Saturday and went out into Celtic Park and embarked on a lone training session, running up and down the stairs of the main stand. The first player he met was Tommy Johnson. “We have been unbelievable pals ever since,” he says. But the player he spent most time with, initially at least, was… Paolo Di Canio. They were room-mates at a pre-season tournament in Dublin. “Unfortunately, this was while he was having his running ‘debate’ with Fergus [McCann]. He was an angry man in the room at times. But he was magic to play with.” Jackson is admirably frank about how he was perceived by supporters of other clubs. “I always played the game where I played for my team. That was my only concern. I was not really liked by away fans and probably not a lot of away players.”
He was not a fool. He knew the concerns of the Celtic supporters. They were still pining after Pierre van Hooijdonk, who had left to join Nottingham Forest that summer. New manager Jansen’s first signing was a 31-year-old player from Hibs. “I always had abuse [from away fans] at Dundee United, Hibs, 100 per cent no doubt about it. And I did not grow up a Celtic fan. But when they saw what I gave every game, in the end they appreciated what I was doing for the team.”
He remembers feeling he had won them over after a friendly against Parma. “Lilian Thuram played and was awesome. He got a standing ovation from the Celtic fans. I remember getting a good reception that day. They saw what I was prepared to put into a game.”
Attitude alone would have earned him the respect of the Celtic faithful. But there was further need to salute his remarkable spirit.
After five competitive appearances and two goals, he fell ill prior to a European tie at home against Tirol Innsbruck. “I thought it was just a headache. I came down and Wim named the team – I was in it. I was on the bus and thinking this does not feel right. I went down the front and said ‘I am not feeling great’. Jack Mulhearn, the club doctor, had had the same thing. He was right on it.” Jackson underwent brain surgery within days. Within nine weeks, he was back in the side, coming on as a replacement for Donnelly for his first taste of an Old Firm fixture. The reception he got will stay with him forever. Stubbs scored a late equaliser. Paul Gascoigne, another good friend with whom he played at Newcastle, was sent off. There was slapstick when Jackson got his boot tangled in the net and fell over in his rush to retrieve the ball after Stubbs’ goal. But what, after all he had endured, was a little embarrassment?