Paul Lambert signed for Celtic in 1997 for a fee of around £2 million. It would prove to be money well spent by Wim Jansen.
Paul of course was a decent player with St Mirren were he won the Scottish cup as a 17 year old in 1987. He would also prove his talent at Motherwell in a decent three year spell.mIt wasn’t until he made a surprise move to German giants Borussia Dortmund in 1996 that his true talent flourished, and he became a regular player in the Dortmund side and played a major part in their champions league win against Juventus in 1997.
His job of man marking the genius that was Zinedine Zidane was done to absolute perfection as the Germans triumphed in a 3-1 win over the Italian giants and then Champions league holders. In doing so, Paul wrote himself into the history books by becoming the first player from the UK to win the biggest prize in European football with a foreign club. A high accolade indeed.
Paul had a dream first season with the German side and he was idolised by the Dortmund supporters. His form had made other sides in Europe stand up and take notice and he became a wanted man.
Paul wanted to leave Dortmund for personal reasons and it was Celtic he choose as his next destination and he signed for the club in November 1997. Not before being given an emotional send off by the Dortmund supporters in his farewell game against Parma in a champions league game, which showed how highly regarded Paul was at Dortmund.
Paul didn’t hang about and won his first honour in a matter of weeks as the league cup was clinched at Ibrox. He then played an integral part of the league title win that season that stopped the dreaded ten. He will be best remembered that season for his stunning goal in the new year derby which clinched the three points in an all important victory.
He would spend the next seven years at the club winning eight honours including being part of Martin O’Neill’s treble winning side as well as skippering the side as we reached the UEFA cup final in 2003.
Paul was a great presence in the midfield. He was so calm and composed. He could pass, tackle, and pop up with an important goal now and again, and he was a true leader. He was the complete midfielder and proved he was a class act on more than one occasion and he has the accolades to back it up.
Paul Lambert was a truly world class talent who could have played in any of the so called bigger leagues. We were lucky he spent the peak of his career at Celtic.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
