(A.I.C.S.C Archive Article Looking on departure of the K.O.K)

From Zero to Hero!

In July 1997 the skies over Celtic Park weren't just grey, they were the darkest shade of black ever imagined, earlier that spring Celtic's proud record of the "9 in a row" had been equalled and with the buying power of the "mighty" Glasgow Rangers we were being led to believe that the 10 was just a formality. Once again a new Celtic manager was being paraded on the steps of Paradise that summer, Wim Jansen was to be that manager, or as he was to be named "Wim Who"?

While Rangers were spending money on strikers like it was going out of fashion, our big money signing was the one and only Regi Blinker who was "traded" for fans favourite Paolo Di Canio in a £1.5million deal, just before the season began for real Wim also bought another dread locked footballer Henrik Larsson in what has turned out to be the deal of the century. It was in Easter Road on a blistering hot day that he was to make his Celtic debut and what a start, he came on as a substitute to set up the winning goal, he picked out Celtic "fan" but Hibernian player Chic Charnley who hit a screamer into the Celtic net, where I stood that day on the Celtic end terraces I cringe when I think back to what I heard our future "king of kings" called, has he made a mistake since, if so none as obvious and after this anyway things could only get better, yes from zero to hero !

The 10 in a row season for Rangers ended up with the zero deleted and a 1 in a row for Wim Jansen's Celtic, Henrik Larsson scoring crucial goals during that double winning season, scoring the 2nd goal in the CIS Cup final victory at Ibrox, his most important goal though came on May 9th when after 2 minutes he scored against St Johnstone, that goal calmed the nerves and led the Bhoys to the 97/98 championship victory, Henrik Larsson the legend was born, although sadly within 2 days of that victory his mentor Wim Jansen was gone.

The following season the fans were once again gathered on the steps at Celtic Park when Dr Jo was paraded, and once again the scoring machine that was Henrik Larsson was to the fore and if one game was to stand out it was a certain 5-1 drubbing of our old rivals at Celtic Park in November that year, also arriving on the scene that day was Lubomir Moracvik who like the super Swede scored twice that day and both of them were to torture defensives for the next 3 seasons, no trophies meant once again the barriers would be up for manager presentation day, summer 1999 !

This time not did we just get one, we got two! The "Dream Team" we were told of Kenny Dalglish and John Barnes was to be the answer to all Celtic's troubles! Everything started great for Celtic that year with both Henrik Larsson and Mark Viduka scoring for fun, that was until one October night in Lyon, Henrik snapped his right leg while tracking back, typical of the guy that although a now superstar centre forward he was still working for the team. That injury to Henrik spelt the end for John Barnes who after the debacle of the Inverness Caley Thistle cup defeat was sacked, King Kenny was to follow him out the door that summer, cue the by now annual press conference and the new manager standing on the steps telling us what was going to happen that year!

For once those words issued were to come true "I will do everything I can to bring success to the football club", Derry man Martin O'Neill had arrived at the doors of Celtic Park and quoted those magical words. Straight away O'Neill replaced Viduka with Chris Sutton, that partnership on the first day of the season bore fruit with both scoring against Dundee United. All three trophies were won that season, yes the treble was won in what was the season that proved what a phenomenon this Swedish Bhoy was, no one expected Henrik Larsson to recover from his horrific break the way he did, to score 53 goals as he did that year and go on to win the UEFA golden boot along with player of the year awards left, right and centre was amazing considering the trauma he suffered the season before. Some of the goals he scored were top drawer as well, his first goal in the demolition derby, ie: the 6-2 against Rangers when he chipped Stefan Klos for the fourth Celtic goal that day, his chip in the CIS Cup semi final also against Stefan Klos (it was later reported if he chipped him anymore that he got to keep him!) or when he rounded Stefan Klos at Ibrox to score his 50th of the season, celebrating with 5 fingers up on one hand, the shape of 0 in the other, not all his great goals were scored against Klos with one against Kilmarnock in the CIS final probably the best of all and another classic in the Scottish Cup final in the 3-0 victory against Hibs.

The following season was to be another championship winning season with Henrik once again banging the goals in, this time though he was back in action in Europe, Champions League to be exact. He scored against the mighty Juventus only for the bhoys to be robbed in the last minute, in Celtic’s first campaign 9 points was not enough to see us tru' to the next stage but seen us drawn against Valencia in the UEFA Cup on a night of high's and low's for the King of Kings, a great first half goal levelled the tie, but a missed penalty by Henrik was to prove crucial during the shoot out and the 'Tic were eliminated, unlike that day at Easter Road there wasn't one in the house had a bad word to say about the bhoy such was his status now among the support. The following season seen Celtic drawn against Basle in the Champions League qualifiers, during the home leg and 2-1 up a penalty was won, putting to the back of his mind the miss the season before up stepped the Swede and to cut a long story short, we were in the UEFA Cup, ach I'm only joking Henrik, it wasn't all your fault! 

That UEFA Cup campaign was to have turned out to be a magical campaign for all Celtic supporters, the years of suffering were now forgotten about while the Celts took on and defeated anyone that got in their way, against Blackburn home and away Henrik was on the score sheet with his early goal at "the Bhoys against Men"decider at Ewood Park nearly as important and his winner in the 1st leg at Celtic Park. He was also on hand to score the single home goal against Celta Vigo, which was to prove crucial as John Hartson's away goal ensured that Celtic would now take on Stuttgart. Before that game though disaster struck again on the injury front when in a duel with future Rangers player Marvin Andrews resulted in a broken Jaw for the in form striker, we got a taste over those two games what it is going to be like from this May on, no No.7 on the field yet we still got tru' but what a panic it was those last few minutes in Germany. Liverpool was next up and guess who scored the solitary goal for the Celtic in Paradise, in his first game back from injury he scored within two minutes, now you know why he's a legend, ach the 2nd leg was a formality with Alan Thompson and Big Bad John dumping the Scouser's out of the cup, a script that wasn't written on the paper of any English reporters manuscript! Next up was Boavista, now you know the missed penalties we talked about earlier, well we won't mention them! but the King of Kings was on target again in both legs, but for those of us in attendance that night in the unfinished Portuguese Stadia what a moment it was when he scored with 12 minutes left, next up was Seville!

Well if Henrik Larsson is a phenomenon on the field, the support of Celtic FC proved to be as phenomenal once again off the field, at least 80,000 were in attendance that May day, with only 35,000 able to get their hands on tickets, crazy when you think about it! Well Henrik had the game of his life that night but sadly this time there was to be no happy ending, a 3-2 defeat in extra-time after he had twice got us back into the game as he said later "was hard to take, and still is". Yes watching back on the "Road to Seville" DVD I'm also inclined to press the off button at 2-2, and if that wasn't bad enough then to lose our grip on the SPL title the following Sunday when a 4-0 defeat of Kilmarnock wasn't enough to secure the title, losing out by one goal, it was a season that promised so much and yet delivered nothing in terms of silverware, but ah the memories seem to dilute those defeats, the great goals of Henrik Larsson culminating with his 200th Celtic goal that night in Seville.

This season was to be and now is the last Henrik will play for the bhoys at Paradise and on the playing fields of Europe, once again some great nights were laid on, against Lyon he was Henrik the playmaker while laying on goals for Chris Sutton and Miller, back on the score sheet against Anderlecht and also setting up the winner for Alan Thompson against Barcelona, his last European goal for Celtic was in the home leg against Villareal, injuries finally caught up on the Celts and Europe this season ended once again in Spain. With Celtic walking away with the league he also went to Ibrox on Sombrero Sunday MK2 and scored on his last appearance there, something I'm sure the home support were over the moon about and just for good measure he scored the winner against them in his last Scottish Cup tie too, is there nothing this bhoys hasn't done? Oh yes, he set up Chris Sutton for his last minute winner in the last Old Firm game in his last season, to complete the whitewash!

As Frank Sinatra once sang "and now the end is near and I must face the final curtain" well those words will never hit home as hard as they will in the minds of the Celtic support, until the moment Henrik Larsson finally walks of the field on the 25th of May at Paradise, we will have witnessed the final chapter been played out against Seville on the 37th anniversary of Celtic's greatest victory, but alongside Lisbon and Seville and the Stadium that is all part of Celtic's history, on that night we will stand and bow to a "Celtic Great", a man when the history books are re-written should have a chapter to himself, the one and only, Henrik Larsson.

Yeah, Frank might have sang about doing it "My Way" but did he ever get to hear every other Saturday 60,000 sing in adoration "you made us happy when skies were grey" and Henrik you really did, Thanks for the memories! 

Jim Greenan.