Celtic fans will forever remember the 1998 side that won the title to stop Walter Smith’s Rangers winning ten-in-a-row.
There were a number of talented players in that side, more notably, Celtic legend Henrik Larsson, as Wim Jansen became immortalised in a double-winning season that destroyed Rangers.
Compare and contrast that Celtic team to the one Martin O’Neill has at his disposal, it appears that even at its weakest, former Hearts boss Jim Jefferies still believes that there is one current Hoops star who would be good enough to play in Jansen’s famous Celtic side.
Would Callum McGregor start ahead of Paul Lambert in 1998?
Let us know in the comments!
Callum McGregor would be a ‘definite’ in Wim Jansen’s Celtic side
Former Hearts boss Jefferies was speaking about the title battle between Celtic, Hearts and Rangers when he said that only Callum McGregor would get into that famous Hoops side that stopped the Ibrox ten-in-a-row.
Jefferies told the Daily Record, “No disrespect to the Rangers and Celtic sides today but there’s not many that would get a game for those teams back then.
“Walter Smith had the likes of Brian Laudrup, Paul Gascoigne and Jorg Albertz. Celtic had Henrik Larsson at that time too.
“OK, I’d definitely say Callum McGregor would have been a first choice pick for Celtic but how many others?
“These were tough teams to beat, tougher than the ones we see now.
“But that’s no fault of Hearts today. Hearts can only beat the teams in front of them and they’ve been doing that all year.
The 1998 Celtic team that broke Rangers’ hearts
The Celtic squad that beat Rangers to the title in season 1997/98 was littered with quality players, none more so than in the heart of the Hoops midfield.
Here is how the team looked then:
- GK: Jonathan Gould
- GK: Stewart Kerr
- DF: Tom Boyd (captain)
- DF: Stuart Gray
- DF: Malky Mackay
- DF: Tosh McKinlay
- DF: Jackie McNamara
- DF: Alan Stubbs
- DF: Enrico Annoni
- DF: Stéphane Mahé
- DF: Marc Rieper
- MF: Craig Burley
- MF: Peter Grant
- MF: Paul Lambert
- MF: Brian McLaughlin
- MF: Phil O’Donnell
- MF: Regi Blinker
- MF: Morten Wieghorst
- FW: Simon Donnelly
- FW: Darren Jackson
- FW: Tommy Johnson
- FW: Andreas Thom
- FW: Henrik Larsson
- FW: Harald Brattbakk
Would McGregor really have started ahead of the likes of Paul Lambert, Phil O’Donnell and Craig Burley?
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