A Moment To Savour

[ian1964 10,720]

By Andrew Dickson

 

POLL Rangers fans for their favourite moment supporting the club and some obvious choices will crop up.

 

The Cup Winners' Cup victory against Dynamo Moscow in 1972 is one, the night Nine in a Row was clinched at Tannadice a quarter of a century later another.

 

Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Sergio Porrini celebrate at the final whistleSo too is the day the Light Blues went to Parkhead and won their 48th league title with an emphatic 3-0 win over Celtic in Dick Advocaat's first season as manager at Ibrox.

 

It's hard to believe that this today it is exactly 10 years since Neil McCann's double and a Jorg Albertz penalty led to that dramatic victory.

 

For most Gers supporters, memories of the day remain as vivid now as they were in the weeks that followed their team's remarkable triumph.

 

Scheduled to start at 6.05pm so that it could be broadcast live by Sky Sports, a lot of people reflect on what unfolded over the next 90 minutes for the wrong reasons.

 

Generally regarded - maybe even accepted - as Scotland's shame game, it was a match in which referee Hugh Dallas was struck by a coin and several home fans invaded the pitch.

 

Three players were also sent off and a man fell from the second tier of the Jock Stein Stand as many of those in attendance let the occasion get the better of them.

 

Yet as it was, the visiting Light Blues support's behaviour wasn't in question and the club's only blemish back then was Rod Wallace's red card four minutes from full time.

 

Rangers fans celebrate winning the league at ParkheadIt consequently goes down as one of Rangers' greatest Old Firm victories and on the day they claimed their 100th derby success, taking the title too made it so much sweeter.

 

A decade on, the SPL's decision not to have such a match deciding the outcome of the championship again - a ruling made in the aftermath - stands firm.

 

That's why Rangers and Celtic will meet for the final time this term on May 9 - a date when it's impossible for either team to win the league on the day - rather than later on.

 

There's something sad about that when you consider the side that came out on top in 1999 played little part in the shameful scenes witnessed at Parkhead.

 

For everyone with Ibrox connections, the way Gers took their Glasgow rivals on in Advocaat's debut season and won on their own patch is to be celebrated.

 

The Little General's men were the better team on the day and better over the course of the season as they went on to take the silverware by six points.

 

Jorg Albertz celebratesNeil McCann gave Rangers an early lead on 13 minutes when he poked in Wallace's low, fast cross after he had been released by Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

 

And Albertz made it 2-0 from the spot on the stroke of half-time to spark bedlam at both ends, given Dallas had been treated after being hit on the head by a coin seconds earlier.

 

It says much about the former official that he called every major decision in the game correctly, including Vidar Riseth's foul on Tony Vidmar that led to the penalty.

 

It may say more about Albertz that of the 76 goals he scored for the club, his finish in the city's east end was one of his coolest as he sent keeper Stewart Kerr the wrong way.

 

"It wasn't hard for me to concentrate on the penalty because I liked making decisions like that on the park," the German said.

 

Jorg Albertz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst celebrate the German's penalty making it 2-0"I knew that if I missed we would probably have allowed Celtic back into the game but I was strong enough mentally to cope.

 

"In fact, I was looking forward to taking the kick. It was probably the most important one of my career because of what was at stake.

 

"It was the best atmosphere I've ever played in that day at Parkhead but it was also the most dangerous.

 

"It was only one or two idiots who ran on to the pitch to take a swipe at Dallas and in hindsight it could have been a lot worse had others decided to charge on.

 

"You get nervous when you see people running on to the park but the majority of fans would never think of doing that.

 

"You always get abuse from fans when you go away but that's part of the game - it's more serious when people start trying to attack the referee.

 

"Dallas deserved a lot of respect for how he handled the situation as it was all going off around him when he awarded us the penalty.

 

"When you watched the game back on television later, you saw that every call he made proved to be right."

 

Neil McCann scores his second goal and Rangers' thirdMcCann - now at Falkirk - ensured Gers would be crowned champions when he slotted in the clincher 15 minutes from full-time.

 

Moved inside to support Gabriel Amato up front, Advocaat's decision to give the little winger a slightly different role was a masterstroke as it paid off handsomely.

 

Substitute Jonatan Johansson threaded him in on goal with a cute touch and McCann rounded Kerr to slot into the empty net.

 

But his run took him straight in the direction of seething Celtic fans as he celebrated and it goes without saying that he was quick to veer away from them again.

 

McCann said: "I knew as soon as I had scored the third we were champions but I was also conscious of what was going on around me.

 

"I didn't want to cause a riot with my celebrations and my momentum was carrying me towards the Celtic fans so I had to slam the brakes on pretty quickly.

 

"As I changed direction and I started to run towards the Rangers fans, I definitely let myself go a little bit more but that's not surprising.

 

Neil McCann celebrates his second goal and Rangers' third"Scoring the goal that clinched the championship was a great honour and it is something I will never forget. It was a great feeling.

 

"I was delighted with both goals because I was just looking for us to win the game and to score twice was out of this world.

 

"The first was very special for me because it put us in a very good position and set the ball rolling.

 

"But my second was my favourite because I knew that as soon as I had rounded the keeper we had won the championship."

 

Of course, the shameful incidents at Parkhead 10 years ago weren't on the same scale as some of the troubles at previous Old Firm games.

 

Exactly 100 years back, for example, fans of both sides rioted for four hours when it was decided extra-time would not be played in a Scottish Cup final replay between the clubs.

 

As the trophy was withheld, troublemakers tore down barricades, lit fires and fought with police and it was a similar story in running battles after the 1980 final at Hampden.

 

Rod Wallace and Jonatan Johansson congratulate Neil McCann on his second goalWhat happened in 1999 has still left a lasting impression though and from Gers' point of view, it was for keeping their heads when others were losing theirs.

 

"It was an incredible match and the whole experience is something I'll never forget," McCann added. "It was the most amazing atmosphere I've ever played in.

 

"I thought it was all going to boil over when Dallas was hit by a coin and a couple of fans started to stream on to the pitch.

 

"I think we were all a bit scared as we thought about the consequences but we had to retain our concentration and just get on with the game.

 

"The majority of the players involved managed to keep their cool but there were a few who lost it.

 

"I didn't understand some of the Celtic players who lost the place because they must have known what was at stake for their club.

 

"Probably the pressure and atmosphere on the night got to them but I was pleased we held it together and I think we deserved our win.

 

"To go there and win the championship was obviously very special for everyone involved with Rangers."

 

For Advocaat, claiming his first title in Scotland gave him the second part of what was to become a magnificent Treble.

 

Lorenzo Amoruso celebrates at the final whistleThe sixth in the club's history, it was completed when Wallace's strike gave Rangers a single-goal Old Firm victory in the Scottish Cup final four weeks later.

 

Advocaat went on to win the league and Scottish Cup again before stepping aside and making way for Alex McLeish to take his place in the hot seat in December 2001.

 

His first campaign was undoubtedly his best at the Ibrox helm and even he couldn't have imagined it going so well.

 

Advocaat said: "It was a big occasion for the Rangers fans to win that game against Celtic and we were very proud to have done that for them.

 

"I was absolutely delighted with the way we both played and controlled ourselves. I think we deserved the championship over the course of that season.

 

"We lost the first game then went top after the third match and from then on we stayed there. We deserved a lot of credit for that.

 

"When you look at what we did in Europe and our triumphs in the championship, Scottish Cup and the League Cup, I don't think it could have gone any better.

 

"I'm a person who likes to win and that year was a good one for me. What we achieved in that season exceeded my expectations."

[CammyF 7,979]

Where to start

 

Firstly, well done the official website for having the balls to publish this article. For a supposed Old Firm Shame game, Rangers didn't do too much wrong (well, apart from winning the league title at the cesspit). Home fans and players were who shamed themselves and the Scottish footballing nation with their coin throwing, invading the pitch, falling from the stands and waiting behind to throw objects at the Rangers players as they left the pitch. Then after the match, Hugh Dallas' home was attacked. The guilty party can still be seen at Parkhead in the corporate area of the stadium.

 

My own recollections of this day? Not getting a ticket from my season ticket allocation nor securing one from any sources. To say they were like 'hens teeth' was an understatement. Got a call on the morning of the game from a friend in Glasgow saying that he had a ticket for me. So off I went to uplift this ticket from his 'rangers friendly pub' and I just had to partake in a few shandies pre-match. The journey accross Glasgow was eventfull to say the least, but worthwhile once I entered the cesspit. The Rangers end was bouncing and buzzing with anticipation. You had the feeling that this was going to be a special day.

 

The Mopes were reduced to 10 men and Neil McCann was running riot and opened the scoring when he finished a fantastic sweeping move. Then the Tims imploded - the coins came raining down and the fans started to come onto the pitch. Order (as such) was restored and Hugh Dallas gave Rangers a penalty. Albertz fired home and the tims continued to self-destruct all around Parkhead. Neil McCann ran round Kerr to round things off and Rangers had won the title in the midden that is Parkhead.

 

Afterwards, all the talk was off the referee but the only decision he got wrong all day was NOT sending of Kerr for hadling the ball outside his area - a straight red card offence, but Dallas, perhaps wary of what was happening all around him decided on only a yellow.

 

After the game I made my way back to Ibrox to watch our heroes return. Just another unforgetfully day (one of so, so many) in the life of a Rangers fan.

 

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEBXpORfsPU&feature=related]YouTube - THE FILTH 0-3 RANGERS (HIGH QUALITY)[/ame]

Cammy F

Edited May 2, 2009 by CammyF

[Norris Cole 0]

The cowardly bastards in the mhedia up here will never, ever refer to it as the 'Celtic Shame Game', always 'Scotland's Shame Game' or 'Old Firm Shame Game'.