Blame it on the fact that I’ve been doing some research recently into the 1978 World Cup in Argentina but Celtic’s defeat by Juventus in last night’s Champion’s League tie had an element of déjà vue – In Scottish terms.
Let me elaborate. Earlier this season, I was among a group of Barca supporters that travelled to Glasgow for that Champion’s League group stage tie which has earned a special place in the history of Celtic. Cold and wet and blasted by the sound of the home supports, it was hard, as a visitor, not to come away with a sense of respect at the way that Celtic worked their socks off and managed to outmanoeuvre and beat, if only by a narrow margin, the supremely stylish and successful FC Barcelona. (see an earlier blog of mine on my site https://www.jimmy-burns.com/blog/football/love-in-celtic-park/)
With the evidence of hindsight, that match involved a below-par performance by some of Barca’s key players which Celtic exploited, and won by default. And while Celtic’s achievement, in getting as far as it has in the Champions League, is worth honouring, it has been inflated thanks to the poor showing , by comparison, of the Scottish National Team in the qualifying stages for the 2014 World Cup , and the absence of the Old Firm rivalry because of Rangers’ relegation.
And yet to judge by the expectations generated by its win over Barca , and Celtic’s subsequent qualification into the last sixteen of the Champion’s League, one would think that Lennon’s boys had not just earned a rites of passage into the top echelons of international football, but also secured a certificate confirming them on a par with the very best.
Thus did we come to last night’s game when the roar of Glasgow’s east end reverberating round Parkhead , and the defiant image of Lennon on the touchline, had an even greater self-assurance than usual, touched with the arrogance of a conquering tribe that is ready to sweep all before it.
Well now that Celtic, outclassed and, despite protests of latino bias against the ref, ultimately humiliated by Juventus last night, is facing almost certain exit after the second-leg, it is difficult to resist a historical parallel with the fiasco of Scotland’s campaign in the 1978 World Cup. In the run up to the tournament to Argentina, the mood between October 1977 and June 1978 , as David Potter recalls in his excellent history of the Scottish national side ‘Wizards & Bravehearts’, varied between the euphoric and the ecstatic.
“There was little happening on the domestic front to hold any interest in a singularly insipid season, and conversation centred almost exclusively on Scotland’s chances in the World Cup,” recalled Potter, before adding “Ally MacLeod not only caught the mood, he typified it, telling everyone that Scotland would win the competition.”
Well substitute Celtic for Scotland, and Lennon for MacLeod, and you have almost a repeat scenario of self-delusion verging on farce.
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