24 years ago this month, Celtic fell 3-1 at Parkhead to Inverness Caley Thistle, the most humiliating outcome in the club’s history.
In another CQN EXCLUSIVE series, we explore the games that preceded the disastrous outcome and the games that led to the mysterious Scottish Cup exit, as well as the positive change that helped Celtic enter a new chapter in their history.
Part Three of the edited excerpts from “The Winds of Change,” a 2015 CQN tribute book written by Celtic novelist Alex Gordon, are available here.
60,253 people showed up at Parkhead to watch the 3-0 triumph over a St Johnstone team that had defeated Celtic three times the year before, which was truly astonishing.
It was the largest crowd for a league match in ten years, according to statisticians. The average football fan had an insatiable need for excitement, and Barnes’ group was by far the largest attraction in town.
Again, the first thirty minutes of the game was nearly over. In just six minutes, Johan Mjallby scored a rare goal, and Mark Viduka added the second. Five minutes after the interval, Morten Wieghorst scored the third.
Amidst the exuberance and celebration, Lubomir Moravcik was telling his adoring audience that he could manage without the assistance of instructor Jozef Venglos. Indeed, Barnes was already an established fan of the Slovakian magician.
After his performance against the Saints, he singled him out and asked, “Am I impressed by Lubo? Even when I watch him in training, he still impresses me. He is a superb and exceptional all-around football player who is almost my age.
Moravcik was actually one year younger than his new head coach at the time, aged 34.
A week later, on August 15, Barnes unintentionally witnessed the team suffer its first loss of the year at Tannadice as Dundee United prevailed 2-1. The Tayside team was ahead by two goals at the half thanks to goals from Craig Easton and Billy Dodds.
Celtic had put up a bewildering display in the first forty-five minutes. A sarcastic scribe remarked, “So, Celtic are not invincible, after all.” In fact, there’s a good chance they still have significant flaws.
While Aberdeen and St Johnstone were occupied at the opposite end of the pitch, United had the luxury of questioning the central defense. In front of Jonathan Gould, Johan Mjallby and Olivier Tebily formed their collaboration, but neither of them seemed at ease in the other’s presence.
At times, Tebily’s sense of position alarmed him, as demonstrated by the way an entirely unmarked Dodds lobbed Gould for United’s second goal.
During the intermission, Barnes needed to attend to some work in the dressing room. It was the first time he’d been put in a situation this difficult. Did he had the acumen to make things better?
No changes were made right away, but new kid Stilian Petrov made his league debut when he replaced Morten Wieghorst in the 68th minute, with the side still two goals behind. Most likely, the young Bulgarian wasn’t expecting this baptism.
As the clock was ticking down, it seemed sense to insert Mark Burchill next to Viduka and let Larsson move freely behind the front two. But that afternoon, Petrov was the only one who had changed.
Nine minutes remained, and when United could not clear a corner kick from Moravcik, Berkovic scored a beautiful goal from the edge of the box.Vidar Riseth squandered the chance to tie the score as the competition drew closer. Keeper Alan Combe deftly deflected a bothersome drive from Moravcik into the air, where it lingered just right for the Norwegian to head in from close range.Sadly, he showed the attacking impulse of a defense, and because of his slightly off-kilter timing, the opportunity was wasted. However, everyone seemed to agree that an equalizer would have been unfair to the home team.Barnes stated: “We gave up two poor goals and United made it difficult for us.” We suffered a fitting defeat. We made an effort to act morally and responsibly. “I might have questioned our strategy if we had lost 2-1 while playing poorly and they had battered our goal. However, that did not occur.
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