The 1990s were a time Celtic fans would probably rather forget. Rangers had a stranglehold on the Scottish top flight, winning nine titles in a row, before finally breaking that run in 1997/98. But could it have been different?
Well, it perhaps might have been according to a new interview with former Celtic striker Andy Walker.
Walker had two spells at the Hoops, in the late 80s into 90s and then between 1994 and 1996, earning three caps for Scotland. And he’s recently revealed that he could have been playing alongside Paul Gascoigne at Parkhead, had manager Billy McNeill got his own way.
Gazza played a key part in Rangers’ mid-90s dominance, lifting the title twice with the club, as well as the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup, but it could have been Celtic that hit the jackpot had the board put their hands in their pocket.
Walker said, “Billy signed me from Motherwell in 1987 and Celtic had a strong team then, with the likes of Mick McCarthy, Billy Stark, Frank McAvennie and Paul McStay there.
“We won the league and Scottish Cup in our centenary season, but Billy knew he still needed to strengthen because of the way Rangers were spending money.”
It was a period where Rangers were snapping up English talent due to teams being banned from playing in Europe, with Scottish clubs benefiting as a result. However, Celtic refused to do so, instead playing their cards conservatively.
On the other hand, Rangers brought in the likes of Trevor Steven, Terry Butcher, Gary Stevens and Chris Woods, spending money with that gamble paying off. The Celtic board didn’t see it like that, and rather than twisting like you might when playing cards on casino777.nl, they stuck with what they had and fell behind their rivals.
Walker added, “He told me that, in the summer of 1988, he’d informed the directors that he wanted to sign two players — Peter Beardsley from Liverpool and Paul Gascoigne from Newcastle.
“Bear in mind that Rangers had been able to sign up half of the England team then because English clubs were banned from playing in Europe at the time.”
Gascogine was much younger than he was when he signed for Rangers at this point, and was well on his way to become a huge star. Both him and Beardsley would have made a huge different to the side, elevating the team to new levels, but were knocked back by the board, with the powers that be claiming they already had a winning side and should stick with that.
The rest, they say, is history, but it’s an interesting story on what could have been, and typical of the short sighted attitude of the Celtic board at that time. Fortunately Fergus McCann arrived in 1994, six years later Martin O’Neill was appointed with the hoops dominating Scottish football this century.
