1997/98 had ended with two trophies and even more importantly stopping 10-in-a-row. It had also unfortunately ended with the resignation of Head Coach Wim Jansen and what appeared to be a further consolidation of the power of Jock Brown. For the second season running the club were left searching for a new Head Coach for the coming season.
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Jansen was approached to become coach at Vitesse Arnhem in Holland. He turned this down.
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Early candidates for the Head Coach’s job were Martin O’Neill, Craig Brown (again), Nevio Scala (just resigned from Borussia Dortmund), Dave Jones of Southampton, Guus Hiddink the Dutch National coach (who turned the job down), Antonio Oliveira of Porto, Egil Olsen the Norwegian National coach, Nils Arne Eggen the out-of-contract coach of Rosenborg, Mick McCarthy (then managing Ireland) and Gordon Strachan.
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Kevin Pilkington, the goalkeeper from Manchester Utd. who had been on loan at Celtic Park and managed 1 sub appearance in the end-of-season Friendly against Sporting Lisbon, returned to Old Trafford and was promptly released. He went on to join Port Vale.
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David Hay’s case for unfair dismissal with the Industrial Tribunal court carried on. Jock Brown cited the lack of and haphazard nature of the scouting files. Hay’s brother discounted Celtic’s version of events on the request for a rise in Hay’s basic salary. On 2/7/98 he lost his case against Celtic, the tribunal finding in Celtic’s favour.
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Alan Stubbs was becoming a signing target with both Everton and Blackburn Rovers asking on his availability.
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A consortium fronted by Jim Kerr and backed by Brian Dempsey announced they would challenge Fergus McCann for control of Celtic.
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On 5/6/98 Murdo MacLeod was sacked as Assistant Head Coach. "On behalf of the club I would like to thank Murdo for his contribution to Celtic and wish him all the best for the future." Following this Murdo went to the chipwrappers leading Celtic to intend suing him for breach of contract and issuing false statements.
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22/6/98. Egil Olsen turned down the approach by Celtic as he was due to have a hip operation and wanted to take time out. Tommy Svensson, ex-Sweden National coach was installed by the bookies as favourite. At Celtic Park Eric Black took over pre-season training for those of the first team squad not involved in the World Cup. Svensson then turned the job down saying that he would miss his grandson. Martin O’Neill had by then also signed a new contract with Leicester City. With the pre-season tour of Holland approaching fast time was starting to run out.
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Celtic were said to be making a bid for Croatian defender Robert Jarni, then of Real Betis (Daily Record, 26/6/98). It appeared that the club were seeking a defender as the next weekend they were l inked with Lens defender Eric Sikora.
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6/7/98. The club are linked with Gerard Houllier then Technical Director to the French Football Federation. Celtic flew out for their pre-season in Holland without Jackie McNamara, Simon Donnelly, Craig Burley, Paul Lambert, Tom Boyd, Darren Jackson, Tosh McKinlay, Marc Rieper and Morten Wieghorst – all of whom had been involved in France ’98 World Cup – and were given extra time off. Eric Black along with Kenny McDowall and Danny McGrain took charge of the squad.
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Morten Wieghorst signed a new 1 year deal on return from the World Cup. Celtic were drawn against St Pat’s Athletic with the winner going on to play Croatia Zagreb for the Qualifying Rounds of the Champions League.
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Kevin Sweeney was appointed as a non-executive Director