| Match Pictures | Matches: 1999 – 2000 |
Trivia
- Match ranks as one of the lowest points in Celtic’s history, or was it actually a blessing in disguise?
- Loads of infighting in the dressing room and a shambolic performance from our manager in handling it all.
- Larsson was out of this game with a broken leg.
- Probably Inverness Caledonian Thistle’s greatest game ever – they weren’t even a Premier League side at this point.
- John Barnes was sacked from his job soon after (2 days later).
- Kenny Dalglish took over from him as interim manager for the remainder of the 1999-2000 season, with Martin O’Neill following as the new manager in the summer following.
- Following on from the 3-2 loss to Hearts at home in the previous game, Eyal Berkovic had given a press interview where he said that Celtic were not good enough to trouble Rangers this season and that there is “very little hope” of their resuscitating any prospect of regaining the league championship.
Celtic’s Nadir?
This match can be described as a key game, but for all the wrong reasons. Embarrassing? Yes but tragedy is a better description. At the end of it all, the skirmishes off the park were of far more importance than of those on it.
Inverness Caley at the time of this game were not even in the Premier League, so facing this side should have been an easy one for Celtic to clean up in and progress to the next round. However, Celtic were in turmoil, and John Barnes was in over his head as the manager, but we were still in the Scottish Cup and it was time to make the best of what we had left in the season.
Nothing could go wrong, could it? But of course it could, with tales of fights in the dressing room, Viduka throwing his boots in the bin, Ian Wright laughing his head off and the manager losing the confidence of everyone.
What is said to have happened at half-time, was that understandably assistant coach Eric Black raged at certain players for their lack of effort. Mark Viduka took exception to Black’s outburst and the forward had to be restrained from attacking the former Aberdeen winger. The enraged Aussie then threw his boots in the bin and refused to play the second-half. Meanwhile keeper Jonathan Gould rounded on team mate Berkovic and his lack of contribution to the team’s cause. The reign of the ‘Dream Team’ was coming to an abrupt, chaotic and shameful end.
Black would later reveal that he had intended to provoke a reaction from Viduka but the one he got was not what he had expected! Lubo Moravcik meanwhile recalled how Barnes just looked on helplessly as the situation escalated to near violence.
Celtic lost the game, and it was possibly one of our most embarrassing defeats that the club had ever faced. We were out of contention for the league and the Scottish Cup, and John Barnes head followed not long after as he was shown his jotters. Nobody shed a tear over his dismissal. Eric Black and Terry McDermott would join Barnes in the sackings.
The press and opposition fans took great delight in schadenfreude over the Celtic carcass, with the Sun’s classic headline of “Super Caley go balistic, Celtic are atrocious“.
In retrospect, the defeat could be seen as a good thing (albeit painful), and heralded in a sharp shock treatment which led ultimately to the arrival of Martin O’Neill the next summer. However, nobody at this junction could ever have imagined that this nadir would lead to as sharp a turnaround as happened in coming seasons. If ever a result was to test the patience of the Celtic support then this was it.
Importantly, credit must be given to Inverness Caledonian Thistle. They saw their opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. Their win could not be begrudged. They would go on to achieve promotion to the premier league and become a team which were never easy for anyone to beat in coming years, and if nothing else they deserved their moment of glory and respect.
Why is this a key match for the club? If nothing else, this game highlights the importance of why the following seasons were so celebrated by the fans.
Ironically, Celtic did have a number of class players in the side (Lubo and Viduka for a start), but clearly this game showed that all good sides need a good manager, and that was one element Celtic lacked (admittedly amongst many others). There were further lows in the remainder of the season, but this was a pivotal game if only to remind ourselves in later years of just where Celtic had come from and how low at one point Celtic had sunk.
Quotes
‘It was just an accident waiting to happen.”
John Barnes on the 3-1 defeat to Inv Caley in 2000, speaking in 2002
Teams
Celtic:-
Gould, Boyd, Tebily, Mahe, Riseth, Healy, Blinker, Moravcik, Berkovic, Viduka (Wright 46), Burchill.
Subs not used:- Kerr, Petta.
Goal:- Burchill 17
Booked:- Tebily, Wright, Healy
Inverness CT:-
Calder, Teasdale, Golabek, Mann, McCulloch, Hastings, Sheerin, Tokely (Byers 90), Wilson (Glancy 87), Christie, Wyness (Bavidge 79).
Goals:- Wilson 16, Moravcik 24 og, Sheerin 57 pen.
Booked:- Tokely
Referee: D McDonald.
Attendance: 34,389
Pictures
The Fallout
- Celtic give Barnes the sack for Cup humiliation
- Situation Critical at Celtic
- The Dream Team – background to, events of and subsequent responses
Stats
| Celtic | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | |
| Bookings | 3 | 1 |
| Red Cards | 0 | 0 |
| Fouls | 10 | 10 |
| Shots on Target | 14 | 6 |
| Corners | 17 | 7 |
| Offside | 7 | 1 |
CELTIC 1 – INVERNESS CALEDONIAN THISTLE 3
John Barnes’ first season as Celtic head coach is in ruins after Inverness Caledonian Thistle inflicted one of the most stunning Scottish Cup shocks in the competition’s history.
Going into the match trailing Rangers by 10 points in the Scottish Premier League, Celtic needed to launch a morale-boosting cup run but instead fell dreadfully at this first hurdle.
For the already under-fire Barnes it was the worst case scenario made real as First Division Inverness took the game to the Glasgow giants and humbled them with relative ease.
Barry Wilson’s 16th-minute header was cancelled out just two minutes later by Mark Burchill, but that was to prove Celtic’s last reprieve as the visitors regrouped and came again.
On 24 minutes Lubomir Moravcik put through his own net for a lead Inverness held to the interval, and then 12 minutes after the break Paul Sheerin converted a match-sealing penalty.
The astonishing reverse now seems certain to place massive question marks over Barnes’ position and that of the man who appointed him, director of football operations Kenny Dalglish.
Neither man could have envisaged as bleak a night as this when they assumed charge in the summer promising a brighter future.
The wheels have quickly come off this revolution.
Celtic were without Paul Lambert and Alan Stubbs through injury, but did reintroduce Olivier Tebily after his traumatic international duty with the Ivory Coast.
Burchill earned a rare start in attack, and Celtic started brightly when Jim Calder was forced to grasp a fierce Moravcik effort at the second attempt.
In swirling sleet, Eyal Berkovic slid the ball to Moravcik after 13 minutes – but his cross was just behind Burchill who diverted the ball over the bar.
Inverness moved ahead with their first attack of note, Sheerin’s cross from the left headed into the roof of the net by Wilson to delight the 4,000-strong travelling support.
Their initial joy was to be short-lived because just two minutes after falling behind Celtic were level in the when Berkovic slid Burchill through.
The Scotland international at first tried to find Mark Viduka. But a break of the ball gave him a second chance, and he found the time and space to drill low past Calder.
That looked to signal the end of Inverness’s hopes of a shock, but the speed of Celtic’s response was to prove misleading as they continued to lack composure at the back.
Viduka almost put the home team 2-1 ahead after 19 minutes, Richard Hastings clearing off the line after the Australian forward had rounded Calder.
But Inverness were lively on the break, and Jonathan Gould needed to be alert to stop Michael Teasdale scoring via a close-range header on 22 minutes.
The warning went unheeded, and just two minutes later Celtic were behind a second time as Bobby Mann’s header was deflected beyond Gould by his own player Moravcik.
The jeers echoed around the stadium as Celtic’s frayed nerves made clear an upset was a genuine possibility, Calder pushing aside a Viduka shot on the half-hour to preserve the visitors’ lead.
Berkovic set up Stephane Mahe for a 38th-minute strike which flew off a post as Celtic poured forward, but there was to be no instant response on this occasion.
Inverness were stretched before the break, Calder spilling a Moravcik effort only for Viduka’s shot from the rebound to fly off a defender.
But at the interval Celtic still trailed.
Barnes made a bold switch at half-time as he pulled off leading scorer Viduka and brought on former England international Ian Wright to partner Burchill.
Regi Blinker did well to reach the byeline after 50 minutes. But when he pulled the ball back for Burchill the youngster was slow to react, and his eventual shot was blocked.
Celtic’s plight worsened on 56 minutes when a needless push on Wilson by Blinker produced a penalty that Sheerin converted by sending Gould the wrong way for 3-1 to the visitors.
Now Celtic knew they were in huge trouble. Veteran Inverness goalkeeper Calder was proving defiant, denying a Wright snap shot and then pushing away a long-distance effort from Colin Healy.
Celtic had to give everything. But to their fans’ fury they seemed to have very little to offer, Tebily’s over-ambitious shot from 30 yards summing up their lack of invention.
After 78 minutes a Moravcik free-kick picked out Berkovic in space, yet despite being unmarked the Israeli looped a weak header tamely over the bar.
There was a lifeless feel to their play, but Celtic persisted in going forward, Wright playing in Burchill only for the experienced Calder to block at point blank range.
In the closing stages the Inverness fans added insult to injury by chanting ‘We want four’ – which was about the number of Celtic fans left in the stadium at the finish.
Caley’s minnows slay Celtic
BBC
Paul Sheerin puts the tie beyond doubt
Celtic 1-3 Inverness
Celtic’s season is in ruins following their shock defeat to tiny Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the third round of the Scottish Cup.
Humiliation by the First Division part-timers is almost certain to lead to calls for coach John Barnes’ head in a week that also saw the Bhoys slip 10 points behind Premier League rivals Rangers.
Inverness thoroughly deserved what is without question one of the biggest upsets in the history of the competition, but the ease with which the Glasgow giants crumbled will surely set alarm bells ringing.
The man who appointed Barnes, director of football operations Kenny Dalglish, is unlikely to escape the repercussions as his promise of brighter times ahead was shown to be false.
I think this is the moment Inverness arrived in Scottish football
Steve Paterson, Caley manager
It took just 16 minutes for Barry Wilson to put the visitors ahead with a well-taken header from Paul Sheerin’s cross.
Mark Burchill scored a minute later to restore equilibrium, only for team-mate Lubomir Moravcik to gift Caley the lead on 24 minutes by deflecting Bobby Mann’s header past his own keeper.
Sheerin then put the tie beyond doubt 10 minutes into the second half by calmly slotting a penalty.
Celtic lacked Paul Lambert and Alan Stubbs through injury, although Ivory Coast star Olivier Tebily returned to the starting lineup.
But even the absence of key players and the dreadful sleet-drenched conditions cannot explain the scale of the disaster that unfolded.
Celtic started well enough, with Moravcik going close, only to be immediately stifled by Inverness’s first meaningful foray into the attack.
Sheerin’s swinging cross from far on the left found Wilson who nodded it into the roof of the net to send the travelling Caley support- estimated at 4,000-strong – completely wild.
In reply, the home side cut deep into the Inverness half, where Burchill tried to feed Mark Viduka. Instead the ball broke back to him and he drilled it low into the corner of the net.
The enthusiasm of the Caley fans did not subside, however, and their players were not about to disappoint them as they claimed the lead again on 24 minutes with Moravcik’s own goal.
From then on, Celtic looked persistently fragile at the back and Inverness exploited the weakness with quick adventurous breaks that stymied the Parkhead side’s creativity to the point where it vanished altogether.
Stephane Mahe hit the post in the 38th minute, but it was the closest Celtic were to come for the rest of the match.
Barnes took leading scorer Viduka off at half time and brought on former England international Ian Wright to partner Burchill.
It was a good time to catch Celtic
Charlie Christie, Caley striker
It made little impact and the home side’s fate was sealed on 57 minutes when Regi Blinker shoved Wilson in the area, earning Caley a penalty, which Sheerin converted by sending Jonathan Gould to the wrong corner.
Celtic’s highly paid stars ran out of ideas and as the final minutes counted down they were treated to the ignominy of the visiting fans chanting “We want four” while their own supporters walked out.
After the match, Caley boss Steve Paterson insisted: “This was no fluke.”
“The players were magnificent. The players deserved to win on the night – there is no question about that.
“It was an unbelievable occasion and a magnificent day for the club. I think this is the moment Inverness arrived in Scottish football.”
Striker Charlie Christie added: “It was a good time to catch Celtic. They had some good players out, and we played out of our skins on the night. We knew we could always score goals but we had to defend well.”
Stiliyan Petrov recalls bust-up in Celtic’s dressing room
EWING GRAHAME
With Inverness 2-1 ahead at the interval (they would go on to win by 3-1), striker Mark Viduka clashed with assistant manager Eric Black, almost coming to blows. The Australian threw his boots in a bin and refused to go out for the second half while rookie boss John Barnes, hopelessly out of his depth, had little to offer.
Petrov was provided with a crash course in how a football club – and dressing rooms – can unravel. Barnes was dismissed the day after super Caley went ballistic and Celtic were atrocious.
“When I played, we had strong characters [in the team], guys who didn’t like to lose,” said the Bulgarian. “The manager didn’t have to motivate us or tell us what we were doing wrong; we knew. But [in Martin O’Neill] we also had a manager who could control us and tell us when we were doing well or how to put something right. If you had a bad result every 30 games, that was fine. You had to accept [that criticism] and work out how you were going to bounce back.
“As for Kenny, you need someone to get up and tell people the truth, tell them what it’s all about. Do you know what? Some managers don’t like that these days.
“John Barnes didn’t recover and, if you want to be a good manager, you need to be able to do that. These days, it’s not about what kind of training sessions you put on, it’s how you control and lead your team. If you have a team who will play for you and trust you, you are almost there.”
The changing room can be an unforgiving environment when teams are struggling and, if performances plummet, harsh words and confrontations are unavoidable.
“It’s terrible when it gets to this stage and it’s hard to control,” said Petrov. “It’s a delicate situation. As a player and a human being, you say things that you might sometimes feel sorry about later. But then it’s a collective. You need to understand each other and accept that some people react in different ways.
“Someone is a bad loser, someone shows their emotion a different way. We had arguments. Some things were said that hurt me, some things I said hurt other players but you leave it behind. It’s about the bigger picture.”
Miller was an unused substitute at Hampden and, according to Petrov, that will only have increased his frustration, which was allegedly vented in Murty’s direction after the final whistle.
“I’m not surprised by Kenny’s reaction,” he said. “I’ve played against him and he’s the kind of man who doesn’t like to lose. It hurts a lot – and will hurt for years to come – and Kenny knows that.
“He’s been with Rangers through some tough times, so he knows how important it is for the club to get back on their feet. I don’t know what has happened behind closed doors; a lot of things go on and there are always two sides to a story.
“But I would keep guys like Kenny because they know how to lead and also to explain what Rangers is all about. Celtic have that with Scott Brown.” Indeed, Petrov argues that part of the problem with Rangers is that they do not have enough club legends working at the club and educating young players and new arrivals about the ethos of the club.
“You need guys like that,” he said. “When I was here, we had Tommy Burns – Mr Celtic. Every game, he would tell us how important it was, what it means to the fans, what they’ll do if we win or lose. Every
single day.
“When you have that history right in front of you, you know what you are playing for. That’s a big problem for Rangers because, if you don’t know your history, then you won’t create a future. I believe that most of the Rangers players don’t really know what it means to play for the club. You can see that. If you have the pleasure to play for a club like Celtic or Rangers then you really need to understand what comes with it. If you don’t, you are in big trouble – and I think Rangers are in big trouble.”
l Stiliyan Petrov and John Hartson were speaking at the John Hartson Foundation annual golf day at Trump Turnberry. This event was for the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity. The Hartson Foundation aims to raise £1million by 2020.
