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Requiesce in pace Wim Jansen and Thank You

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With the sad news of the passing of Wim Jansen announced today, all connected with Celtic, alongside all who knew and loved the former Celtic manager, will be in mourning.

It’s not many men who could go down as a Celtic great having spent one sole season at Celtic, but Wim Jansen was such a man. And it’s not many managers who could leave the club just three days after winning a title yet be held in the highest regard by everyone connected with the club but that was the case when it comes to Wim Jansen.

After all the title the Dutchman won was no ordinary title and the circumstances under which he prevailed simply couldn’t be underestimated, and his reasons for leaving were fully understood.

Wim Jansen spent only a year in Glasgow but he led Celtic to arguably our most important League title, the club’s first since 1988, but also the one that ensured Celtic’s record of nine-in-a-row was not surpassed. Whether Wim Jansen really appreciated the magnitude of that season when he arrived, I’m not so sure, but during a nerve-shredding season that went to the final day he certainly picked up on the importance along the way.

Having arrived much like Celtic’s current boss from Japan, like Ange Postecoglou he was an unknown manager to many of us. His playing career of course had taken in the European Cup, when he was part of the Feyenoord team who defeated Celtic in Milan in 1970, and he had been both a club and national icon as he played his part in arguably the greatest national side never to win a World Cup with Holland at both the 1974 and 1978 World Cup Finals, but as a manager, he was an unknown to many in Scotland, yet within 12 months he was a Celtic legend.

When Wim Jansen arrived at Celtic, the club had parted company with Tommy Burns, there was turmoil within the changing room, that saw the Three Amigos of Pierre Van Hooijdonk, Jorge Cadete and Paulo di Canio leave, and every real chance of the goals that could challenge high spending Rangers went with them. To be clear, to everyone outside Celtic the 1997-98 season was seen as an extended coronation as Rangers were expected to stroll through the league and collect 10-in-a-row.

9 May 1998: Celtic Coach Wim Jansen and Murdo McLeod celebrate after a Scottish Premier League match against St Johnstone at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland. Celtic won the match 2-0 to become the league champions. Photot: Shaun Botterill/Allsport

Wim Jansen also was the first Celtic boss to be named as Head Coach, as not only was the Celtic playing staff in a state of flux, the footballing structure too was being modernised, as Jock Brown stepped into a newly created position of General Manager, with Brown tasked as being the buffer between chairman Fergus McCann and the Head Coach, following a somewhat problematic relationship between manager and owner during Tommy Burn’s time in charge.

Add to that, Wim Jansen, with Murdo McLeod beside him to help bring some understanding of the peculiarities of the Scottish game, started the season with some uninspiring results and Celtic were playing catch up from the beginning of the season. However soon Jansen’s message, initially explained as being lost in translation, seeped through and results started to improve, in part due to some inspired recruitment that brought the likes of Craig Burley, Stephane Mahe, Marc Rieper, Paul Lambert and Jonathan Gould to the club, but also the jewel in the crown, a certain Henrik Larsson.

As things began to gel, Jansen lifted Celtic’s first League Cup in 15 years with a 3-0 over Dundee United at Ibrox and with it an optimism started to grow, bolstered further by an excellent European performance before going out on away goals to Liverpool. Then came Celtic’s 2-0 win over Rangers at Celtic Park in the New Year Derby as goals from Craig Burley and Paul lambert turned optimism into belief.

It was far from plain sailing of course, after all this was Celtic and this was the 1990’s, and when Celtic had the chance to win the title at East End Park on the penultimate weekend of the season, having taken the lead through an early Simon Donnelly, the nerves got the better of some and Dunfermline equalised late in the day, but with the benefit of hindsight it was meant to be, as despite a few shaky moments after Henrik Larsson opened the scoring against St Johnstone on the final day of the season at Celtic Park, Harald Brattbakk scored the second and allowed ten long years of hurt to be exorcised in the sun at a brand new Celtic Park.

From next to no hope at the start of the season Wim Jansen had turned a club around and delivered a title for Celtic, that had it not happened, not only would a proud Celtic record have been surpassed, it’s difficult to believe Celtic would not have gone into a complete tailspin once again.

Yet three days later Wim Jansen was gone and Celtic did have to start again, but at least with the solid foundations of a title winning squad and a world class striker from which to build.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – FEBRUARY 18: Wim Jansen is seen during the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park on February 18, 2017 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It soon came to light Wim Jansen wasn’t altogether certain Celtic was suitable a long-term option for him, nor were the club it would seem, as a termination of contract option was available to both manager and club at the end of the season, and Wim Jansen took up that option, with long standing rumours of a breakdown in the relationship between the general manager, the owner and Wim Jansen and Murdo McLeod, indeed Murdo McLeod followed suit soon after.

With much of this known to fans, and with the celebrations still going strong, Celtic supporters, although bitterly disappointed, in no way blamed Wim Jansen, instead their ire was directed elsewhere.

Instead, Wim Jansen having arrived as an unknown, left as a modern-day miracle worker. The man who stopped the Ten was forever more a Celtic legend, created in possibly the shortest possible time in which you could become one.

It is a dreadfully sad day for his family and friends, and all connected with Celtic, to hear of the passing of Wim Jansen. Yet he will long live on in the hearts of those he leaves behind, and in the stories and the songs of a club who remember their history like few others. And the page that belongs to Wim Jansen will be one returned to today and tomorrow but also for many years to come, as the legend of the man who stopped the Ten is passed down through the generations.

Requiesce in pace Wim Jansen, and Thank You.

Niall J

About Author

As a Bellshill Bhoy I was taken to my first Celtic game in the summer of 1987. It was Billy McNeill’s return to Celtic Park as manager and Celtic lost 5-1 to Arsenal . I thought I was a jinx, I think my Grandfather might have thought the same. It was the finest gift anyone ever gave me when he walked me through Parkhead's gates.

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