Celtic’s Nearly Men

This was the team that was meant to stop Rangers on their way to nine-in-a-row – but despite losing only one league game, Tommy Burns’ Celtic side of 95/96 must go down as the greatest team to never win the league.

Times were exciting down Kerrydale Street way as the club had won their first piece of silverware in six years when they beat Airdrieonians in the Scottish Cup final after a promising first season under Burns.

But the shadow of almost going out of business still loomed and would continue to do so, until at least they win the Premier League title again and to do that they had to stop the unstoppable.

Rangers went into the 1995/96 campaign looking for their eighth title on the trot and not many were betting against them getting it.  But they faced a much improved challenge from their Old Firm rivals.

Celtic finished fourth the season before, but Burns, a legend already due to his contributions as a player was considered the ideal man to stop Walter Smith’s side and bring the prize back to the East End.

With the blessing of owner Fergus McCann, the Celtic manager set about rebuilding the squad and spent the money well in bringing some youth and experience to the side.

Andreas Thom from Bayer Leverkusen, Morten Weighorst from Dundee and Dunfermline full back Jackie McNamara, all joining Pierre Van Hooijdonk, who arrived in January 1995 and had scored the winner in the Cup final win over Airdrie.

Alongside Tom Boyd, Tosh McKinlay, Simon Donnelly, Phil O’Donnell, Paul McStay and Peter Grant, there was a real excitement around Celtic Park for the season ahead.

Especially with Tommy Burns in charge, a dyed in the wool Celtic man and seen as the man to return the club to their former glories, which seemed such a long time ago now.

It was only just over a year since the club almost went out of business before Fergus McCann rode in and saved them.  It was when he installed Burns as the manager that the club started believe they could be a force and their faith in a man, already such a hero, was rightly placed.

The signing of Van Hooijdonk looked like a masterstroke and he showed what he was capable of when his goals at the end of the previous season led them to cup glory, even if the final league placing wasn’t as pleasing.

But the Bhoys started the season brilliantly with three wins from their opening four games and looking good to steal a march on their rivals, who had won three also, but lost their fourth game and going into the first Old Firm clash of the season, found themselves top of the league.

It set up a huge match so early in the season and all eyes were on Celtic Park as Rangers, including new signing Paul Gascoigne, arrived to face their prospective challengers.

But Burns’ side couldn’t quite match them and goals from Alex Cleland and Gascoigne gave Rangers the honours in the first showdown.  For Celtic though, it ended their ever so brief stay at the top as Walter Smith’s side come out on top.

The Bhoys were four points behind when the sides met again at Ibrox in November 1995 and it produced a classic as the Glasgow rivals played out a fantastic 3-3 draw.

Andy Thom put Burns’ men a goal before Brian Laudrup equalised then a John Collins penalty made it 2-1 for the Hoops.  Ally McCoist nodded home another equaliser before Andy Goram produced a world class reflex save to deny Pierre Van Hooijdonk.

It only added to the white hot atmosphere this game had and when Tosh McKinlay put the ball into his own net, it looked as though it was all over until Van Hooijdonk rescued a point.

It was a match that reflected just how intense the title race was that year and even a goalless draw at Ibrox at New Year again proved there wasn’t much between the teams.  Celtic was still unbeaten since that first clash at Ibrox, but was still chasing their rivals.

Yet another draw, a 1-1 stalemate at Celtic Park, wrapped up the head-to-head battles with Rangers and Burns’ men were reliant on other teams taking points off them.  But given how imperious Rangers were it didn’t look likely.  They did have one last glimmer of hope though.

The Hoops fans were lifted in March when the news broke that Tommy Burns had snapped up Portuguese striker Jorge Cadete on a free from Sporting Lisbon after a contract wrangle.

After some controversy over his registration with the SFA, which was to cost the then chief executive Jim Farry his job, Cadete was finally free to play for Celtic and he made an instant impact on his debut when he climbed off the bench and netted in a 5-0 win over Aberdeen.

Suddenly Celtic had a new hero in their midst and with Pierre Van Hooijdonk having enjoyed a productive season in front of goal, the fans were still dreaming of stopping Rangers’ assault on the title.

Cadete weighed in with five goals from six games in the run-in, while the Dutchman Van Hooijdonk scored 26 times, but Walter Smith’s side were champions for the eighth time in succession.

The club had come leaps and bounds and the signings of Van Hooijdonk and Cadete again proved to be strokes of genius from manager Burns, who followed that up with the signature of Paolo Di Canio from AC Milan.

Sadly for Burns, it was as close to the title as he ever got in his reign as Celtic manager and many feel he could have been a true great in the hot-seat, if he was given time to finish the job he started.

Even some of Rangers’ nine-in-a-row heroes have been quoted as saying they felt Burns should have been the man to wrench the title from them and not successor Wim Jansen.

One thing is for sure though, Burns was certainly the greatest Celtic boss to have never won the title, and it was made more poignant by his sad death in May 2008.

Burns was definitely the right manager for Celtic, but he was the manager at the wrong time.

First Published in Issue 2.1 of The 12th Man Scottish Football fanzine