Personal
Fullname: Wilhelmus Marinus Anthonius Jansen
aka: Wim Jansen, ‘Wim the Tim’
Born: 28 October 1946
Died: 25 January 2022
Birthplace: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Manager: 3 July 1997 – 11 May 1998
Succeeding: Tommy Burns
Successor: Jozef Venglos
Achievements
- Wim Jansen stopped Rangers’ bid for 10-in-a-row and brought the league trophy to Celtic Park in his one and only season.
- Won the Coca Cola Cup (the League Cup), Celtic’s first league cup triumph in 15 years.
- Brought Henrik Larsson to Celtic.
- Most of his signings were very good: Craig Burley, Stephane Mahe, Marc Rieper, Paul Lambert, Jonathan Gould.
- Celtic’s 2-0 win over Rangers in the Ne’er day game was a catalyst to turn the league around for Celtic.
- Celtic were very good against Liverpool over the 2 legs in the UEFA Cup and were unfortunate to go out on away goals. First good European performances in around 5 years.
- Celtic played some attractive football under Wim Jansen.
- Played in the Feyenoord team that beat Celtic in the European Cup in 1970.
- Wim Jansen was Celtic’s first non-Scottish/Irish/British manager. Notably, he was also the first man to manage Celtic to never have been a Celtic player (Liam Brady never played for Celtic, but technically on paper when he arrived at Celtic he was listed as a player as well as a manager).
- Wim Jansen was involved in 3 huge parts of Scottish football history: 1. He was in the Feyenoord team that beat Celtic in the 1970 European Cup final. 2. Archie Gemmell skipped past Wim Jansen to score THAT goal in 1978 against Holland. 3. He stopped the 10.
Manager 1997 – 1998
| “Wim Jansen is one of only four men in the world worth listening to when they talk about football.” Dutch legend Johan Cruyff |
On 3rd July 1997, Wim Jansen was appointed as Celtic’s first manager from the continent, although he did not enjoy that title, but rather that of Head Coach, in a new structure which saw Jock Brown being given the newly created post of General Manager of the Football Department. Jock Brown’s role was to act as a conduit between chairman Fergus McCann and the team manager after the difficult board/team manager relationship previously during Tommy Burn’s reign.
A Dutchman, Wim Jansen had enjoyed an illustrious career as a player (principally with Feyenoord, with whom he won a European Cup winner’s medal in 1970 against Celtic in the final). He was a member of the two Dutch World Cup sides of 1974 and 1978 and had played in two World Cup finals, before going on to manage Feyenoord with whom he won the Dutch KNVB Cup twice.
Later he coached in Saudi Arabia and Japan. As a measure of the lack of subtlety, and the ignorance and crassness of the Scottish press, the Daily Record in poor taste described Wim Jansen’s record at Sanfreece Hiroshima as “The worst thing to hit Hiroshima since the Atom Bomb!“. Incredibly insensitive and highly offensive (to one and all), and an early indication for Wim Jansen of the kind of local media press that he was expected to attract in his time at Celtic.
He was appointed to the job with Celtic in early July 1997, two months after the departure of Tommy Burns. The announcement was greeted with widespread surprise and some uncertainty about his credentials. The club had managed his appointment very well, with many pundits misbelief that it was to be Artur Jorge. In years gone by, the club was a sieve for news leaks. The events leading to his appointment are summarised in the following [link].
It appears that Wim Jansen had some misgivings about coming to the club and took the precaution of instating a termination clause in his contract which would allow him to leave after one year and/or allow the club to terminate the contract after one year also. This was pivotal, and likely set the tone between himself and the rest of the club management for his tenure at the club. Wim Jansen was paired up with Jock Brown, where Wim Jansen was to be responsible for coaching whilst Jock Brown was to be responsible for transfers and the business management side. On paper it seemed like a good idea but in practise it’s not always practical & workable.
Within the squad, certain unconvinced players were dubbing him Willy Wonka because of his, somewhat detached, eccentric manner and his curly barnet.
To get Celtic going, Wim Jansen was given a fair budget to be able to buy players, and in retrospect he generally bought prudently. Celtic had lost the star triumvirate of Di Canio, Van Hooijdonk & Cadette in the past season, so replacing them was a priority to shore the first team up. Signings like Craig Burley, Darren Jackson and Mark Rieper were uninspiring yet successful buys, but the gem was the transfer of Henrik Larsson for just £650k, the greatest deal in football history. On the other hand, Harald Bratbaakk was expected to be a star transfer, and at £2.3m he was an expensive purchase but as it panned out he just couldn’t get going and the system on-field at Celtic didn’t work out for him.
The season started poorly (to put it mildly). Celtic lost the first two league games of the season and got beaten by Tirol Innsbruck (exactly, who?) in the first leg game in the UEFA Cup. All appeared set for Rangers to win the league and admittedly they had some quality players in their squad, like Brian Laudrup, so it was not going to be an easy time for the club.
Celtic recovered and probably the turning point for Wim Jansen was the recovery in the UEFA Cup. Having finally overcome the minnows Tirol Innsbruck over two games, Celtic were drawn against Liverpool. Two draws against Liverpool saw Celtic go out on away goals, disappointing in that the side lost against a wonder goal by McManaman, but the heart was back in the squad after a couple of fine performances against good strong opposition.
Winning the league cup (Celtic’s first for 15 years) was a high mark, defeating Dundee Utd in the final, and if nothing else this was a booster. For Wim Jansen, it meant a chance to get everyone on-side. The early day defeats seemed like an aeon ago, and it was onward and upwards from now on.
It was the league that mattered and not Europe or the league cup at this point, and it was all about overcoming Rangers in their 10-in-a-row aim. After losing the first game of the season against Rangers, Celtic recovered and drew the next game.
Then joy of joys Celtic beat Rangers in the traditional New Year Derby game 2-0. At this point, having been four points behind Rangers, the First Team had dragged ourselves back into the running for the league title and were now only just one point behind Rangers in the chase for the top spot. Was this the game that pushed Celtic all the way to the title? There were too many twists and turns to say yes at this point but Rangers were tripping up and it was up to the players and Wim Jansen to take advantage.
Problematically, off-field rammies between the joint managers (Wim Jansen & Jock Brown) were not helping matters. Fergus McCann (the Club Chairman) was getting it in the neck from the press as usual, and the pressure was beginning to tell. Transfer wrangles (notably Paul Lambert’s), coaching issues and the new stadium headaches meant that not everyone was as focussed on the team as they should have been. The tabloids in particular took great glee from all this, many of whom had it in for Jock Brown from the beginning (jealousy from his former peers?).
The irony is that one of the first fixes that Wim Jansen implemented on his arrival at Celtic was to end any lingering tensions between the players and foster a better atmosphere. All talk of match flashpoints were to be delayed till the following Monday after matches to allow for time for reflection. Wim Jansen was said by Tom Boyd (team captain) to actually have a very personal way of dealing with players, and never raised his voice or swore.
Much had begun to go Celtic’s way in the second half of the season, and into the final run-in, the final game against Rangers in the season was seen as a must-win for Wim Jansen. The game though was at Ibrox and continuing the bad run there over recent years, Celtic lost two-nil. This allowed Rangers back in the race and they went top of the league on goal difference.
Wim Jansen to his credit pulled the players together again for the final set games, a very nervous set of affairs but both sides were tripping up giving Celtic a chance to finally get their noses in front again. Frustratingly, Celtic dropped points in draws against Hibs & Dunfermline, and victory in the latter would have sealed the league.
Wim Jansen had to take criticism for this situation. He was an over-cautious manager, and the Celtic team should and could have wrapped up the title quite a bit earlier, but a run of over-cautious/anxious performances saw to it that the League challenge would go down to the last day. Harsh, but there was a lot of truth in this point. His style could be in contrast to the more attacking style practised by his Dutch compatriots at many other clubs, although there were many entertaining performances along the way.
In any case, the priority was to win the league by almost any means, and that was the case for both Celtic and Rangers. The significance of the league title was too great for anything else to get in the way, leading to a single mindedness that overshadowed all else.
So it all went down to the last game against St Johnstone.
The final game was as much a test for Wim Jansen as for the players and the support. It ended up not to be a classic match to watch but who was to care as Celtic beat St Johnstone 2-0 to overcome Rangers and seal the league title to create “one-in-a-row“. Celtic’s first league title since 1987-88. Scenes in the ground were highly emotionally charged, and the final whistle signalled one of the greatest celebrations in the Club’s history (and what a relief it was too).
Wim Jansen was the architect of this league victory and deserves much of the credit as any manager should despite what any critic may say. Various players played their best under him, notably Craig Burley and Jonathan Gould, and bringing Larsson into the squad had already paid dividends in his first season (with far greater to come).
However, the party was to be short-lived for Wim Jansen and Celtic.
Resignation
Wim Jansen announced his resignation on 11 May 1998, less than 48 hours after the title was secured, citing irreconcilable differences with both Jock Brown and chairman Fergus McCann.
Wim Jansen was hailed as a bit of a martyr by sections of the support after his resignation. Some said he was a victim of the board and administration mentality which hindered him in his coaching and other dealings. Not denying that Wim Jansen had an affable persona and that was a strength which gelled the team together to win the league.
If anything, one benefit of Wim Jansen as compared to Tommy Burns (his predecessor) was that he provided the pragmatism and certain emotional detachment that was needed. He brought that all into the management of the first team in order to get Celtic over the line as against the often over-emotive heart-led approach as practised by Tommy Burns.
However, it’s all too one-sided, and regardless of any of Jock Brown’s flaws (and there were many), Wim Jansen never helped his own situation. The manner of his departure was not one that could give confidence to anyone about wanting to try to convince him to reconsider, let alone the club management. He remained tight-lipped on the whole issue of his resignation and it is only in retrospect that it was obvious that he was certainly leaving. The club was left in limbo until he told them, and he left this till quite too late.
Fergus McCann (chairman) claimed that he repeatedly asked Wim Jansen to assist in putting together a list of names in order for the club to target for players transfers in and out for next season, basically to plan ahead. Wim Jansen’s inability to do this added to the friction between himself and the chairman. On Wim Jansen’s departure, Fergus McCann unhelpfully stated that even if Wim Jansen hadn’t resigned he’d have been sacked anyhow.
Tales also abounded of Wim Jansen’s surprising methods, including ones that said he never bothered with free-kicks & corner practise at training, believing that it was pointless as modern coaching had made the set-ups ineffective. Not many youngsters came through and there was little involvement with the junior teams by Wim Jansen, a surprising fact taking in the traditional emphasis on youth development by Dutch coaches.
Since leaving, rather then just move on quietly, he became an easy critic in following seasons for the papers to get the odd quote from, which didn’t help anyone.
Regardless, Wim Jansen was the man who brought Henrik Larsson to the club, and for that (as well as the league victory) the Celtic support will be forever grateful. It is just disappointing the way that it all ended and it would have been nicer to have had the ability to just concentrate on what was a glorious league title victory. For too many years, Celtic fans had little to celebrate, and this all just cut things too abruptly and put an unwanted dampener on everything.
Wim Jansen was likely not the most suitable manager for the long-term and the structure of the two managers working side-by-side wasn’t working. In any case, together they’d achieved what was required to be done for this pivotal season, and so for that we can say that Celtic did rather very well. As Davie Hay (Chief Scout during this reign) put it perfectly:
“Wim Jansen delivered when Celtic needed him most”.
Surprisingly he didn’t take up any further managerial roles after Celtic, instead years later taking up consultancy & assistant roles in Japan and the Netherlands before mostly leaving the front line of the game in around 2009. He always ended up back at Feyenoord in one form or another, his heart was always there.
Over the years, there were comments from both sides of the arguments over Wim Jansen’s time at Celtic, from including Jock Brown in lengthy podcast interviews and Wim Jansen too in the papers. The truth lies somewhere in between.
He returned to Celtic on a number of occasions and was very warmly received every time, and the memories flooded back for everyone of the achievements against all the odds back in 1997-98.
In October 2021, he was diagnosed with dementia, and not long after in January 2022 he sadly passed away. He will forever be immortalised for that one glorious season back in 1997/98.
Management Career at Celtic
SCOTTISH LEAGUE
| Home | Away | Total | |||||||||||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| 1997-98 |
18 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 41 | 9 | 40 | 18 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 23 | 15 | 34 | 36 | 22 | 8 | 6 | 64 | 24 | 74 |
DOMESTIC CUPS
| LEAGUE CUP | SCOTTISH CUP | ||||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | P | W | D | L | F | A | ||
| 1997-98 |
5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 |
EUROPE
| Home | Away | Total | ||||||||||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | P | W | D | L | F | A | P | W | D | L | F | A | |||
| 1997-98 |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 7 |
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Win % | |
| 1997-98 | 51 | 32 | 10 | 9 | 101 | 37 | 62% |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Scottish League Cup
Articles
- Season 1997-1998 Review
- Miscellaneous Articles
- Club Statement on Departure (Celtic View)
- How Wim held Celtic to Ransom by Jock Brown 1999
Pictures
Books
Matches
Forums
Links
Quotes
“When Celtic offered me the job I knew within one second it was right for me.”
Wim Jansen
“Wim Jansen is one of only four men in the world worth listening to when they talk about football.”
Dutch legend Johan Cruyff
“We must be the only team in the world that wins the double and then loses the manager almost the next day.”
Paul Lambert on the day of Wim Jansen’s resignation
MSM journalist: “Wim, is this the most important match you’ve ever been involved in?”
Wim: [Smiles] “I’ve played in two World Cup Finals. You tell me…”
Wim Jansen on the Scottish media in his press conference ahead of a crucial Celtic v Rangers match
“Wim Jansen delivered when Celtic needed him most.”
Davie Hay
“If you go to a club, especially in the first year and you win the league. That’s the best you can have.”
Wim Jansen on the day Celtic stopped the 10.
“I had a problem early on at the Darren Jackson signing. He told the press that I saw videos of Jackson, but I never saw them.”
Wim Jansen on Jock Brown 1998
“They keep bringing up the fact that I didn’t go to watch Harald Brattbakk. Well, I didn’t see Jonathan Gould, Craig Burley, Marc Rieper or Stephane Mahe and there was no problem for me.”
Wim Jansen – May 1998
“I couldn’t understand his behaviour over Brattbakk. He told us when he came here that he didn’t trust videos. But the first excuse for not going to see him (Brattbakk) was that he was going to see Manchester United against Feyenoord, which I believe was a social event. I said I could fix him up to go to Trondheim for the next Champions League fixture in which Brattbakk would be involved. He said he didn’t want to miss training. We could have hired him a private jet to take him over at three o’clock and straight back so that no training would be missed but he would not go.”
Jock Brown on Wim Jansen – May 1998
“He wanted to pick his World XI, pick up a couple of trophies, enhance his reputation and go.”
Jock Brown on Wim Jansen, 1998
“The only thing they should discuss [in Scotland] is how long they’re going to play the League each year before giving the Championship trophy to Rangers.”
Ron Dixon (Dundee Chairman), Feb 1998, Celtic won the league 3mths later under Wim Jansen
“He [Wim Jansen] has 64 caps and played in two World Cup finals. Is he going to feel pressure winning the league in Scotland?”
John de Wolf (Dutch capped footballer)
“The club didn’t even make a phone call to ask (if Borussia Dortmund’s Karlheinz Reidle was available). Two weeks later he signed for Liverpool.”
Wim Jansen on being thwarted regarding signings – May 1998
I found out his age. I ascertained what salary he would require. I found out what transfer fee would be involved. I found out all the figures required. I then said to Wim, “Let’s go and look at this guy and see what you think, see if he’s still got it.” Wim wasn’t interested in anything like that, he just wanted Riedle signed.
Jock Brown’s response – May 1998
“There is no-one in football I have ever found it more difficult to work with.”
Wim Jansen on Jock Brown – May 1998
“He has no right whatsoever to form a view of me except from the direct dealings we have had. He never ever wanted to find out anything about me and has no right to have an opinion on what I am like and what I do.”
Jock Brown’s response – May 1998
“Sometimes I had to fight more against my own people than against my opponents.”
Wim Jansen – June 1998
“If they are such big men then why didn’t they sack me before now?”
Wim Jansen unhelpfully responds to the Celtic board after they accused him of walking out on the club. (1998, Source: Independent Newspaper)
“He was quite a nice guy actually for whom it just didn’t work out.”
Fergus McCann on Wim Jansen – June 1998
“You might be good but you still have to prove it again, and I don’t think a lot of people knew me and knew who I was. Wim knew who I was and what he could get out of me, and I am just happy that he brought me here.”
Henrik Larsson on Wim Jansen
“He never, ever swore. Come to think of it, I don’t think he ever raised his voice.”
Tom Boyd on ex-Celtic boss Wim Jansen (2008)
“Supporters in Scotland appreciate their history. In the beginning when I arrived at Celtic, I was surprised to see that the Lisbon Lions were still so important to the fans, but by the time I left, I realised it’s a big part of what makes Celtic so special.”
Wim Jansen
“What happened when we won the league was special. It is always the people who create the atmosphere. That love is incredibly deep,”
Wim Jansen (2021)
“Very sad day today. You delivered one of the most important league titles in the history of @CelticFC . It was a privilege to play for you boss with this group of players at this club. A most magnificent time that can never be taken away from the memories. RIP Wim Jansen. ”
Craig Burley (2022)
“He was just not a quiet man, and he would always speak to people all the time, and the players just got on so well with him”
Former Celtic player and assistant manager Murdo MacLeod reflects on his friendship with Wim Jansen following the former Celtic manager’s death aged 75.
May 2022, https://twitter.com/CelticFC/status/1520886750587068430?s=20&t=Qq1bOQ36BPesm0o4AnbCVg