‘Everything was forgiven – Celtic had prevented that nightmare of Ten in a Row,’ David Potter

1998 was actually, if we are to be honest with ourselves, not a vintage season. We possibly played better, albeit in a losing cause in both 1996 and 1997, and with the exception of Henrik Larsson, there were no other players in 1998 that we would remotely consider for possible inclusion in an all-time great Celtic XI.

Some results were shocking, even in the run-in when everyone knew what was required. In two successive weeks in April we went down to a mediocre Rangers team in the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League, and there were a couple of feckless goalless draws at home against Hearts and Hibs which reduced supporters to despair. We did not always play like champions.

There was even a certain inability to grasp the realities of the situation. Jock Brown and Wim Jansen fell out. The nuances of who was right and who was wrong are now lost and irrelevant in any case, but what was abundantly clear was that the pair of them simply had to realise that part of the job at a ridiculously high salary and an awesome club like Celtic in a season like this involves the ability to “get on” with people, even people that you don’t like!

You don’t have to “love” them, but you do have to get on with them, until such time at least as the job is done. There were times when the the Brown-Jansen clash, much fostered by the Press of course, threatened to derail Celtic altogether.

In addition, there were some of the players, the foreign mercenaries in particular, who gave the impression of not understanding what all this was about, and how much it meant to Celtic and their supporters.

You do not need to be Scottish, and you certainly do not need to belong to any particular religious group, but you MUST understand this peculiar country called Scotland and the particular reasons which make up the Glasgow rivalry.

Some players did not seem to appreciate this. On one occasion, Matt McGlone (a crusty, opinionated but very sincere Celt) in The Celtic View had cause to question the attitude and commitment of some players in the infamous 0-0 draw against Hibs which imperilled the title chase.

Instead of accepting this deserved criticism and proving McGlone wrong,(his words probably weren’t all that wise, in any case) we got pompous stuff about not wanting to co-operate with The Celtic View in future etc. And all this at a time when we really needed to come together!

And what about the supporters in all this?

In over 60 years of following this club, I cannot recall a time when there was so much tension. “Ten In A Row” was a frightening concept. It was why leadership and calmness were so much required, because “calmness” was not much in evidence.

These were the early days of the Internet, and the current craze was “Chat Rooms”. Footballing and Celtic Chat Rooms were places to be avoided, for hysteria was the order of the day. Suicides were threatened (I hope as a joke!), threats were issued to the players of St Johnstone (who were playing Celtic in that last game) and it was difficult to find anyone capable of rational thought in these circumstances. Even the English media were focussed on Scotland in that desperate, neurotic, intense, frenetic first week of May 1998.

My own recurrent nightmare (“recurrent nightmares” are often given as an early indication of serious mental illness) was one of mass suicides from the high stands of Celtic Park (I had been studying, I think, how the Jews at Masada in 74 AD had all thrown themselves off the top of the mountain rather than submit to the tyranny of the Romans) until Dundee United scored at Tannadice but that was all too late for so many had already jumped.

Let us consider the last two weekends. Saturday 2 May gave us hope and euphoria. Rangers went down at Ibrox to Kilmarnock. The referee was a man called Bobby Tait, now a self confessed Rangers supporter. It was his last game before retirement. He had asked for Ibrox and got it (incredible, but true). He was never one of Scotland’s better referees, but it would have to be said that his pro-Rangers bias never became too obvious when he refereed on the field (it has since, they tell me). Today however with the score at 1-1, it was claimed that he allowed an unwarranted four minutes of added on time to allow Rangers to win the game.

Killie celebrate Ally Mitchell’s injury time winner at Ibrox.

But one Ayrshireman a long time ago said something about “the best laid schemes of mice and men going aft agley”, and today it was the Ayrshiremen who went into raptures as Ally Mitchell, a hitherto little heard of character from Fife, who had come on as a substitute, scored the winner for Kilmarnock. Not quite an Albert Kidd moment, but thanks very much, Ally! And tough luck, Bobby Tait!

All this meant that Celtic with a victory on Sunday 3 May at Dunfermline could win the League.

Celtic Supporters at East End Park in May 1998

Pars supporters were seen before the game to be selling their season tickets to Celtic fans for exorbitant prices (£60 in one case) and Celtic fans were all over the ground. The vast TV audience (containing more or less every Celtic supporter in the world) saw what could be described as an interesting game. The heat was intense in more ways than one and things looked good for Celtic when Simon Donnelly put them ahead with a fine strike, but crucially they couldn’t score again.

Simon Donnelly opens the score.

Even more culpably they dropped back to defend. “An accident waiting for a place to happen” came to mind when an obscure character called Craig Faulconbridge (as well known as Ally Mitchell) scored with a looping header which drooped apologetically into the net late in the game.

Was there to be any end to this agony?

Dunfermline celebrate Craig Faulconbridge’s late equaliser.

Sober reflection indicated that Celtic had in fact gained a point over the weekend, for it was a draw at East End Park, but we still had to beat St Johnstone at Parkhead on Saturday 9 May, Celtic’s undeniable day of destiny.

Not being a season ticket holder in those days, tickets were more or less unavailable. I could have gone to Celtic Park to join the other 50,000 fans who couldn’t get in either and who were following the game via radio commentary or the cries of the crowd. I chose not to. I pre-recorded a film which had been on in the middle of the night and decided to try to watch it at 3.00 pm that afternoon in the interests of preserving my health and sanity. Some hope!

It would have been a great film (something to do with the Spanish Civil War, as I recall) in other circumstances, but concentration had gone. Ceefax, the teletext service which was the pride of the BBC in the 1990s, told me that we were winning 1-0 at half time through Larsson.

Henrik Larsson gave Celtic an early lead against St Johnstone but it didn’t settle the nerves

Then I braced myself for the radio commentary – still 1-0, still 1-0 but Rangers doing well at Tannadice and a guy called O’Boyle (who I thought still played for Dunfermline) came close for St Johnstone – and eventually I could take it no longer and decided to go and see how my flowers were doing in the spring sunshine.

Cars in the background, birds in the trees, flowers not really needing the gallons of water that I poured on them, then suddenly a shout from one of my neighbours’ gardens…what did that mean?
Good or bad news?

Then my 14 year old son (no great football fan but sympathetic to the cause and who hadn’t until that day appreciated that his father knew words beginning with the letter “f”) came running out to say that someone called “Brackback or something” had scored. Back into the house, but still a long time to go!

The moment Ten in a Row was stopped! Celtic Park went crazy!

Eventually the radio commentator said that the “referee is picking up the ball”.

I knew everything would be all right! Well, no, actually, I didn’t. And a few days later, the “self destruction” complex struck again when Wim Jansen resigned.

And then Wim was off!

No, 1998 was far from a vintage year, but everything was forgiven for we had prevented that nightmare phrase of ten in a row.

David Potter

A fight for my life then joy as Celtic stop the Ten

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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