There is a certain vintage of Celtic fan that will remember following the team through the nineties and during that period of pain as we watched our rivals mop up trophy after trophy.
The ‘Celtic Da’ is an expression that is often used when referring to that fan and I cannot believe that I am one of them.
Ten years without a title and six years without any kind of silverware is a period of time that many of us wish to forget.
Some of that pain was partially wiped away when Pierre van Hooijdonk nodded in that ninth-minute winner against Airdrie in the 1995 Scottish Cup Final, but it was to be another three seasons before we were finally crowned the Scottish Champions again.
And what a season to do it.
Rangers had been absolutely imperious in their pursuit of Celtic’s record nine in a row and Paul Lambert reveals it was the Lisbon Lions that motivated him to make sure that their record was never surpassed.
Speaking on the Off The Record podcast, Lambert said, “Looking back on it, if we’d lost it we’d have absolutely destroyed the Lisbon Lions’ legacy.
“I loved the Lions when I spoke to them. They were brilliant, listening to all their stories. They’d done the nine-in-a-row but not once did any of them say: ‘you’ve got to stop this 10 in a row.’
“Wee Bertie, Jinky, none of them ever put pressure on us.
“Certainly, I never heard it from them.
“But in the back of my head, I knew how important it was to the club to stop the 10 in a row.”
The title that set Celtic on course for domestic domination
The younger section of our support will probably not realise that that title was a springboard to the success we have enjoyed over the last 23 years.
Whilst it took another three years to win the title back, the foundations were already in place to build the legacy that we hold now.
Fergus McCann future-proofed us for financial dominance by increasing Celtic Park’s capacity to 60,000 whilst Martin O’Neill set the benchmark for future Celtic managers to reach.
In the early 2000’s O’Neill led us to our first treble since 1969 and he took us to our first European final since 1970 where, ironically, Wim Jansen helped his Feyenoord team to a 2-1 extra-time European Cup win.
We have never looked back since.
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