Despite being part of the Feyenoord team that beat Celtic in the 1970 European Cup Final, Wim Jansen will always hold a special place in the hearts of the hoops faithful. When the club was up against it, trying to stop a financial doping Rangers, it was Wim who stepped in and ensured that the legacy of the Lisbon Lions and Quality Street Gang lived on. For that reason, Wim will always be regarded in heroic terms at Celtic Park.
Having delivered a Scottish League Cup and stopped the ten, Jansen stepped down from his post and took a break from the game. A few years later he undertook a job with a club in Japan and then returned to Feyenoord as a Technical Adviser and latterly as an Assistant Manager. He retired from the game in 2009.
Incidentally in that season when Jansen went on to win the league and stop Rangers becoming the first club to reach Ten-in-a-Row, he lost his first two games against Dunfermline and Hibs and had lost 4 games by this stage in the season yet he still went on to win the title against a better team that theRangers have at the moment. Leagues are won or lost on Wim Jansen’s birthday.
Wim Jansen turns 74 years old today and we wish him all the very best.
