Guess who’ll cry come 9th of May

There were 365 days between the 9th May 1997 & the 9th May 1998, but the contrasting feelings & emotions in my family, friends & I couldn't have been more different.  To give this story the proper context I will need to go a wee bit further back in time to explain.

For anybody that doesn’t know me, I am big Celtic fan who grew up in the 1980’s getting to some matches,  but mainly listening to match commentary on the radio & watching highlights from the matches on the TV.

I was born in 1978 with a serious heart condition & had gone through 4 major heart operations before I was 10 years old.  My family would feed me with tales of the 9 in-a-row champions of Scotland & how the Lisbon Lions were the 1st non-Latin team to win the European Cup in 1967. 

I celebrated the Celtic team of 1988 securing the league & cup double in their centenary year, but from 1990 through to 1997 Celtic had gone through a very difficult period & had only won one trophy in 1995 during this spell.

Our biggest rivals on the other hand were winning all competitions in front of them, winning 8 championships in a row & were on course to equal the record set by Celtic between 1966 & 1974

As the 1996-1997 Scottish Football season progressed, it became clear that Celtic would struggle to remove our rivals from the top slot.   I had been to countless matches during the season, balancing life as a student, part time worker & Celtic fan as best as I could.

As the season drew to a close, we began to fall out the race for the Scottish title, but we still had the chance to win the Scottish Cup.    A semi-final replay against Falkirk at Ibrox stadium on Wednesday 23rd April 1997 would be our last chance to try to secure a token of success for the season.

On a night when the weather conditions were awful Celtic lost 1-0 to Falkirk & pretty much ended our season.   I sat near the front of the Govan Road stand at Ibrox with my future wife Linda that night & we were both soaked through in the incessant rain.  When I got home I went to sleep & hoped to waken up thinking the disappointment was a bad dream.   However, this would be the start of a 6-week period that would change my life.  

I became un-well overnight with flu like symptoms & I deteriorated over the next few days.   I was admitted to Glasgow Royal infirmary on Saturday 26th April with a suspected stroke, but after multiple tests, scans & examinations the doctors discovered that I had contracted Bacterial Endocarditis & this was stopping my heart from functioning properly.

For the next 2 weeks, I would drift in & out of consciousness & was given intravenous antibiotics to fight the infection but it was clear that the drugs were not going to be enough to help me fight the infection.   During this period I received a visit from 2 Celtic players when Malky McKay & Tommy Johnson came to the hospital to see me, but I was so unwell the visit very much passed me by.  

My consultants visited me around the 6th May to confirm that I would need emergency life saving surgery.

On the 9th May I made my way to theatre for open-heart surgery, a pulmonary valve replacement procedure.  I spent the vast majority of the day in surgery as the surgeons tried to repair the damage done to my heart.  

The following day my condition worsened & I went into cardiac arrest, I would need to go through further emergency surgery that day to save my life.   My family and my girlfriend Linda were given the news that the next few hours would be crucial.

I would spend another 10 days in intensive care as my condition slowly improved.   I was moved back to a ward in the hospital 2 weeks after surgery & began my post operation rehab, it was then that I found out Rangers had equalled our 9-in-a-row record & that our coach Tommy Burns had been sacked from his job at Celtic park.  

My mum would later joke I was suffering from a broken heart after we lost to Falkirk.

I was discharged from hospital in early June to continue with my recovery; thankfully I had a big family & supportive girlfriend to see me through those early months. 

On the 3rd July the sports writers started to make some noise on the radio suggesting a new manager was on his way to Celtic Park, I took a trip to the stadium with my brother Benny to see what was going on.

Plenty of players came & went over the course of the next few months, Paolo Di Canio left for Sheffield Wednesday, & we made some new signings like Craig Burley & Darren Jackson.   However, it was the arrival of a forward from Feyenoord that would get some people talking – Henrik Larsson joined Celtic that summer & after a slow start he certainly cemented his place in the clubs history.

Celtic started the league badly, failing to win the first two games.  If we were going to make in impact this season we’d need to make a move soon.  A battle of Britain UEFA cup-tie against Liverpool seemed to lift the players & the club but it wasn’t enough as we lost the tie on away goals.  

The month of November saw two matches against Rangers in just over 10 days.   Celtic lost the 1st match at Ibrox & drew the 2nd at Celtic Park thanks to a last minute header from Alan Stubs.   How valuable would that result be at the end of season? 

The month ended with a League Cup Final visit to Ibrox, the scene of our defeat to Falkirk earlier in the year & where my serious illness seamed to start.

My brother George managed to secure me a ticket for the match & I watched on as Celtic beat Dundee Utd 3-0 to win the League Cup for the 1st time in 15 years.   It was great to see a trophy coming back to Celtic Park, but our main aim must be to stop Rangers reaching 10-in-a-row.

The big matches kept coming as we moved towards the traditional New Years day derby with Rangers at Celtic Park.  We had signed Harald Brattbakk in December to help us score more goals.

My brother-in-law gave me his ticket for the match that day.   We won 2-0, the first coming from Burley & the 2nd was a wonder strike from the right boot of Paul Lambert in the dying minutes of the match.   Celtic had won their first new-years day derby since 1988 & were back in the race for the title.

Both teams stuttered through the remainder of the season as the pressure of winning & losing 10-in-a row seemed to make the players freeze.   In April Celtic lost to Rangers twice in a week, first the Scottish Cup Semi Final at Celtic Park & then at Ibrox.

As the league season came to an end, the pressure on both teams was beginning to tell.  On the 2nd last weekend of the season Rangers lost to Kilmarnock at Ibrox, a result that gave Celtic the chance to win the title with a win the following day against Dunfermline.  The tension got to the players & we could only earn a draw loosing a goal in the last few minutes to finish the match 1-1.  The League title would be decided one week later on Saturday 9th May.

I didn’t have a ticket for the match against St Johnstone & in the age before wall-to-wall TV coverage, my dad & I were left listening to the radio for updates on how the match was progressing.   All Celtic had to do was to win the match at home & we would be Scottish champions for the first time in 10 years.

Within 3 minutes of the match starting my dad & I were jumping around the kitchen celebrating the news of a goal for Celtic through Henrik Larsson.  However nerves on the pitch meant that we struggled to add a 2nd goal that would give us some breathing space.

News came through from Tannadice that Rangers were winning against Dundee Utd.   If Celtic slipped up the league would be lost to our biggest rivals.

I couldn’t listen anymore & went to my room & hoped for the best, I was switching the radio on & off checking for the score & I turned on the radio in time to hear the commentator describe Harald Brattbakk scoring the 2nd goal for Celtic & secure our first championship in 10 years.

I went downstairs to see my dad crying with delight & we cheered & sang our way through the final 20 minutes of the match.   When the final whistle blew a huge cheer was heard across the east end of Glasgow as Celtic fans celebrated winning the Scottish title.

The 9th May will be etched in my memory forever.  In the space of 365 days the tears of anguish & fear were replaced with tears of joy & relief.