It's ten years since Celtic won the Wembley Cup

By Hamish Carton

July 24, 2019

It’s hard to believe that an entire decade has passed since Celtic won the Wembley Cup.

The Bhoys, led by Tony Mowbray, charged down to the home of English football in the summer of 2009 to build fitness and unity ahead of a busy season. They probably came away with more than they expected.

(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Mowbray’s side won both of their matches – against Al Ahly and Spurs – scoring seven goals and conceding none. The bizarre points system meant the Hoops topped the mini league table ahead of the Egyptians, Londoners and the tournament’s other team Barcelona.

It proved to be the one and only year the tournament was staged – not a bad record for Celtic to have. However, the season didn’t go from strength to strength from that point as Mowbray’s Celtic faltered pretty much from the off and the Englishman was sacked in March of the following year.

However, Mowbray will always have the Wembley Cup to fall back on.

(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

It wasn’t just the Wembley Cup that Celtic played in

The Hoops went through a phase of playing in several pre-season competitions. The year after the Wembley Cup, we were once again down in London trying to win the more renowned Emirates Cup.

We fell just short, finishing third behind hosts Arsenal and Lyon.

The following summer it was the Dublin Super Cup at the brand new Aviva Stadium in the Irish capital. It was another decent enough showing from Neil Lennon’s men as we finished second in the standings ahead of Inter Milan.

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Now it seems that our summers are far more regimented as we have less fun and instead focus on the importance of Champions League qualification. Of course, that is the most important thing. But it’s just a shame that pre-season events like the Wembley Cup don’t seem to happen anymore.

They were great for supporters.