On Sunday 30th November 1997, I woke up much earlier than I would usually have for a Sunday morning. At the time, I was not far past my 15th birthday so, like all teenagers, I could out sleep a sloth but the reason for my early rise that day was that it was my first cup final.
At that point, I already had my season ticket for Celtic Park for a few years and of course I enjoyed going to the games but Celtic winning things was something that didn’t really happen so this could be the start of a new thing for me.
This time round, maybe, just maybe things could change. The date in question was the day that Wim Jansen’s Celtic team travelled south to Ibrox to play against Tommy McLean’s Dundee Utd side.
Prior to that game, I’d only ever been to Ibrox once and that was for an international when Scotland lost to West Germany and myself and my mate got lost going back to the bus which just so happened to be part of a school trip.
Other than that, my Dad tries to avoid Ibrox and I tend not to go there either.
However, being cup final day, we were willing to make an exception. We were really glad of it too. For anyone who doesn’t remember, the result was a 3-0 win for Celtic with Marc Reiper and Henrik Larsson scoring their goals within 3 minutes of each other. Later on in the day, Craig Burley scored a third.
The build up to match was a bit surreal for me, as I said, I didn’t know what it was like for us to win anything. I had heard stories about previous cup wins and watched videos of them (yes younger readers, videos and not DVDs or youtube footage).
On the way to the game, I saw a car load of Celtic fans who had their car windscreen smashed by some so called Rangers fans. Maybe my Dad was right about not going to Ibrox although there was a Rangers fan who told them to park the car in his driveway so that they didn’t miss the game and come back and worry about the car later on. A decent gesture by the person in question and one that reminds me that most football fans are decent people.
Right, back to the game, it was such a nervous time. I always remember being terrified that Utd might beat us, they didn’t have a great league season that year but prior to that, the Raith Rovers league final, also at Ibrox was my only real memory of the League Cup final.
We had won it once in my life time, I was about 3 months old at the time.
I mentioned earlier on about the two goals coming within a few minutes of each other. The joy and euphoria of the first goal hadn’t had time to sink in by the time the second was scored so from there on the rest of the game was a bit of a blur as it was time to celebrate my first ever hoops trophy win.
My next stand out memory of the League Cup had to be the ‘Henrik final’. That was the first trophy of Martin O’Neill’s era and a match that I very nearly missed out on. We were unsuccessful in our attempt to get tickets so ended up booking some posh corporate thing instead where we sat in amongst well spoken business men with suits.
I am sure some of them are still in shock at seeing myself and my old man in amongst them, to say that we used some nice colourful language when analysing the performance of the referee that day would be an understatement.
Prior to the game, it was a meal at Parkhead then a bus transfer over to Hampden where we sat and chatted to Ronnie Simpson. After the game, it was back to Celtic park where Martin O’Neill and a few of the players brought the trophy in to show it off to us who were lucky enough to be there.
I also got Neil Lennon’s pint that he had just before going into the room where the fans were. If you’re reading Neil, I still owe you a pint from that day.
The actual match, like so many from a long time ago, is a bit sketchy but I always remember Henrik’s third goal where he beat about half of their team and rounded the keeper.
The next few years of course were the most successful in Celtic’s recent history and if I was a superstitious person, I’d maybe think that a league cup final v Kilmarnock could be some sort of omen but I’m not so I’m expecting a tough game from a team who will be more than fired up for it.
A team who have given us a scare in the past and a team who will be certain that they can beat us. To be confident is ok but please don’t turn up expecting to win, we will have to battle for everything but I’m sure the boss and the players will know that already.
In between those two, some may remember the win over Aberdeen but that was in the John Barnes / Kenny Dalglish season so I’d rather not write much about that one.
Follow Steven1888 on twitter
CLICK HERE for Rangers players negotiate cut price summer transfers
CLICK HERE for Blue Knights leader prepared to walk away
Follow Video Celts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
