It wasn’t entirely his fault, but Jo Venglos’s season as Manager of Celtic was not a success. Like Wim Jansen, he wasn’t exactly well known among Celtic supporters but he had managed Czechoslovakia and Aston Villa.

Possibly, now in his mid 60s, he came just a little late for Celtic’s good. In particular he had some problems over which he had no control. The players chose to pick a fight with Fergus McCann before a League Cup game against Airdrie, and duly lost.

12 Sep 1998: Dr Jozef Venglos of Celtic watching the action during the Scottish Premier League against Kilmarnock at Celtic Park. Photo Clive Brunskill /Allsport

Mark Viduka was signed but there was a dreadful problem persuading him to come and play. When he did, he got sent off for spitting! There also seemed to be a particular problem about St Johnstone.

On the other hand, Jo signed class players in Lubo Moravcik and Johan Mjallby and there was a tremendous 5-1 thumping of Rangers in November. For a while in midwinter, we began to hope we could challenge Rangers, but we lost the League in early May at Parkhead in a disgraceful game when tempers were lost, and then the Cup in a 1-0 final to Rangers which was unlucky in many ways – but Rangers were probably the better team.

12 Aug 1998: Dr Jozef Venglos, watches over the action during the qualifying match between Celtic v Croatia Zagreb in a Champions League played at Celtic Park. Celtic won the match 1-0. Photo Clive Brunskill /Allsport

Jo had no luck at all at Parkhead, and it was sad to see such a nice gentleman having to depart. He must have wondered what Scotland was all about!

David Potter

HUGE SAVINGS IN THE CELTIC STAR’S SUMMER SALE!

The Celtic Star’s Father’s Day Promotion has been so successful, with hundreds of books at great prices being posted to Celtic fans all over the world, that we’ve decided to continue with the sale until the end of July. We’ve reduced all six books currently available from their usual retail price of £20 and prices are as low as £6 (see below).

All books are high quality hardback, with some signed by the author. And it’s also worth noting that you only pay postage on one book, so it’s free for the second, third and so on. ORDER HERE or click on The Celtic Star image above…this is how it feels to be Celtic!