The Rapid Red Herring

by Joe McHugh The build up to next week’s game with Rapid Vienna is in danger of becoming ridiculous after the outbreak of fake outrage over Red Strip Syndrome.

Of all the things that the cheats from Austria got upto 25 years ago I’m certain that the colour of their strip was amongst the least offensive.

For the record Rapid wore blue on their night of shame at Celtic Park, around that time every second European side to face Celtic seemed to come up with a blue strip with Real Madrid and Juventus also wearing blue.

Sadly Frank McGarvey, seen scoring against Rangers at Ibrox above, seems to be getting drawn in to a phony controversy about the Rapid match. The colour of their strip or an apology for their behaviour in 1984 are totally irrelevant.

Putting a few goals past the cheating Austrians will be far more satisfying than any PR stunts.

SINISTER
Much more nasty and sinister than the colour of their shirt were the efforts of everyone at Rapid to cheat their way through the tie, so successful were they that they almost cheated their way to the trophy before Everton intervened and prevented them taking the silverware.

On Thursday night all that matters is that Rapid are beaten on the park, nothing else.

Tommy Burns and the class of 84 would no doubt approve of any Celtic win but revenge doesn’t arrive 25 years later. The events of 84 are history, not forgotten or forgiven but mainly irrelevant to Thursday’s match.

Despite being inconsistent in the league the Celtic side of 1984/85 was capable of almost anything on their day.

McGarvey and McClair were regular scorers, Alan McInally was emerging and a striker from Watford was about to join the club, behind them a midfield with the ability, strength and experience of MacLeod, McStay, Grant and Burns was an obvious asset.

DEMOLISHED
The Cup Winners Cup was probably that teams level. They had demolished Sporting Lisbon the previous season, beaten a useful Gent side before Rapid came along and robbed them of two years European experience.

Although it was far from a golden era of success for the club the win over Sporting and the dramatic triumphs in the 85 Scottish Cup and 86 title success will be remembered longer and fonder than most.

REACTIONS
Younger readers will find the Rapid case fascinating, taking place in a distant time before the internet and with four television channels without rolling sports news and instant reactions demanded.

How Uefa managed to uphold Rapid’s appeal, giving them the replay they sought while increasing their fine for their behaviour in Glasgow is murky stuff. Even a one-off play-off would have been fairer than asking Davie Hay’s side to overturn a 3-1 deficit for the second time.

From hazy memory the appeal panel consisted of three Uefa delegates, the Bulgarian equivalent of George Peat (Airdrie and Stenhousemuir) and two other such nobodies, overturning the original verdict which most Celtic fans deemed fair and reasonable with Celtic fined for the supporters behaviour while Rapid took the majority of the blame.

Over the next week all sorts of reminders and flashbacks to the events of 84 are bound to appear.

There is a curiosity amongst younger supporters as to what the hell went on and how on earth Rapid managed to cheat their way through the tie.

PROTESTING
The then Celtic board seemed typically ineffective, there was no talk of protesting or withdrawing, the replayed tie could have been taken to Aberdeen but Old Trafford offered more cash even though the gate money was split between the clubs, Uefa and Manchester United.

There were some voices calling for Celtic to withdraw in protest but they went largely unheard in the stampede to Old Trafford and 40,000 plus Celtic fans headed down the M74 in December.

Tony Mowbray has enough problems and decisions to make regarding his Celtic side without revisiting the mid-eighties.

ESSENTIAL
After the defeat to Hapoel Tel Aviv two wins over Rapid and Hamburg are essential to put Celtic in the hunt for Europa League qualification.

No doubt the cheats from Vienna and the hard of thinking will concoct up some more nonsense over the next week in an attempt to stoke up emotions before the match.

Celtic fans would do well to body swerve the sideshows and channel their support into backing the team and giving Rapid another gubbing just like they received on their last visit to Celtic Park.

Celtic 3-0 Rapid will do me nicely.

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