Paul Lambert was a superb player. He was mainly a midfielder but he take a good few goals as well, and he was a vital cog in Martin O’Neill’s great side. He was not a Celt by birth, but when did that ever stop anyone being a great player for the club?

IMAGO/Sven Simon. Paul Lambert (vorn) und Stefan Reuter (beide BVB) laufen mit dem Pokal eine Ehrenrunde nach dem Champions League Sieg 1996/1997

He was already established when he came to Celtic in November 1997. Indeed he had already won a European Cup medal for Borussia Dortmund, and was well known to Scottish fans because he had played for St Mirren, with whom he won the Scottish Cup in 1987 along with Frank McGarvey, and Motherwell, as well as Scotland.

He fitted in seamlessly to Wim Jansen’s team which stopped the 10. The next two years were unhappy ones both for Paul and Celtic with Paul suffering a major life threatening injury at Ibrox (for which, incredibly, the Rangers manager wanted him red carded, even as he was being carried off!) and the team back in the doldrums.

Bildnummer: 01071785 Datum: 21.05.2003 Copyright: imago/Miguelez Sports Foto

But it all changed for the better in 2000 when Martin O’Neill joined the club, and Paul led the team with panache and distinction winning domestic medals galore and being very unlucky not to triumph in Seville. He played 40 times for Scotland, and managed a variety of clubs in England.

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!