8. ARTMEDIA BRATISLAVA 5-0 CELTIC — 27 July 2005
Just a few months after ‘Black Sunday’, the clouds had not lifted from Celtic. Martin O’Neill had gone – replaced by Gordon Strachan – and still feelings of disappointment remained. But the new boss had the perfect chance to get off to a winning start.
Travelling to Slovakia, this Champions League qualifying match should have been standard fare for Celtic, certainly across two legs. Even at 1-0 down at half-time, there seemed to be little need for worry. That is, until the second half began.
Within 12 minutes, it was 2-0. And just when Celtic needed to defend, the roof caved in as the Bhoys lost three goals in the final 15 minutes. The scoreline of 5-0 was catastrophic in footballing terms, and an insurmountable hurdle. Even a fighting 4-0 win in the second leg couldn’t change things, although raised valid questions about how the first leg disaster had manage to happen.
Still, Strachan’s team soon improved and claimed a League and League Cup double that season. And his European record went on to be very impressive, including two Last-16 appearances in the Champions League.
Continued on the next page with yet another Celtic horror show…
5-1 defeat at Ibrox in 1988. We went there as champions and took the lead then Andrews decided to become Dracula. The match started there 9 in a row. Can’t get any worse than that.
4-0 at St Mirren in March 2010. Tony Mowbray’s last game. Watching him sitting on the bench, totally passive and unable to do anything about what was happening, you knew it was the end for him, and you got the feeling that he knew it too. A good man, but the job was just too big for him.
Losing to the new Ibrox club in the Scottish Cup semi final of 2016 was one of the most horrible days of my supporting life and I’ve been attending since 1973. However, 2 plus points came out of it. Like the ICT defeat in 2000, the board got their finger out and gave us Brendan for the first time. The other was it allowed the David Gray last minute winner in the cup final. I’ve never celebrated or laughed so much at a non Celtic/Roma/Italy goal in my life.