Charlie Miller has relived the agony of losing out on 10-in-a-row under Walter Smith.
The summer of 1997 was a period of massive expectation at Ibrox. Brian Laudrup agreed to stay on for the last year of his contract, Smith raided Serie A to refresh his squad while Celtic scrambled about all summer looking for a new manager. When Wim Jansen was appointed readers of The Sun were informed that the Dutchman was the ‘second worst thing to hit Hiroshima’ in reference to his previous job.
When Celtic lost their first two matches of the season the party streamers were being prepared for the greatest achievement in the history of Scottish sport- Jock Stein’s golden era was about to be erased from the record book.
Celtic only managed to win 22 of their 36 SPL matches but it was enough to pip Miller and his team-mates to the title by two points.
Dave Murray had hired a chopper to take his victorious squad from Tannadice to a party at Ibrox on the final day of the season. The Lounden Tavern wasn’t the only premises that had booked up a 10-in-a-row party.
Reliving a 22 year old nightmare Miller told the Daily Record:
The pain of missing 10 in a row was indescribable. You could definitely say the elation of winning nine was completely wiped out by the deflation of missing 10. It is still heartbreaking to this day knowing we should have finished the job and made history.
We had got ourselves ahead of Celtic by beating them with a few games to go then we blew up against Aberdeen and Kilmarnock. Even then Celtic drew twice before finally getting over the line on the final day. It was agony. We should have been well away from them long before that and we knew it.
I lost count of how many times we had it in our own hands. We had got ourselves back in position but then blew it. It was just really disappointing.
We had the biggest chance to make history – and it would have gone on to be 11 in a row because then Dick Advocaat came in and won the league in his first season. But if you don’t take your chances it comes back and bites you in the bum.
I was only 21 when we won 9 in a row. We had Coisty, Goram, Gough – guys that had been there for years. I was a bit naive and never took it in as much as I should have. I never truly realised how big an achievement it was. We were winning so much back then that I just thought it was going to happen every year.
Then in the 10 in a row season Walter bought big. He brought in Lorenzo Amoruso, Marco Negri, Stale Stensaas, Sergio Porrini and a few others but half way through the season when Walter said he was leaving and then Brian Laudrup said he was leaving and we sold Gazza … there was a lot of things that happened that were disappointing.
Marco getting smashed in the eye with a squash ball didn’t help either! Then you had Coisty who was out injured for a chunk of the season but you can make all the excuses you want – we only have ourselves to blame. We should have finished the job.
This time next year the pain could be magnified if Celtic become the first team to win 10 successive league titles.
