Back in 2002/03 season Celtic had plenty of quality attacking options including Larsson, Hartson and Sutton. Henrik was injured and a young Shaun Maloney came into the team to face Stuttgart in the UEFA Cup home leg and played up front with Chris Sutton. John Hartson was also missing.
Our supporters club would have travelled over on the bus and the boat back then and those European boats would be packed with Celtic fans sipping pints out of plastic pint tumblers wearing club polo tops or replica jerseys.
They were great times and we created some memories marching with O’Neill first time around. The Squirrel was our regular watering hole in Glasgow back then. We would have packed in for a few pre-match pints before getting a fish supper on the way to the ground. Once through the turnstiles we climbed the steps to take our seats in the Jock Stein Upper.
We all talk about how good the players were back then that Martin O’Neill had at his disposal and he had some quality players but he also had some very ordinary players and he got the best out of them. His man management skills have never been in question.
The team that night was Douglas, McNamara, Balde (Laursen 88), Valgaeren, Agathe, Lambert, Lennon, Petrov, Thompson (Smith 69), Sutton, Maloney. Subs Not Used – Marshall, Sylla, Fernandez, Healy, Guppy.
Stuttgart had a player sent off after 17 minutes for a foul on Petrov and then 10 minutes later they went 1-0 in front. Paul Lambert got the equaliser and just on the stroke of halftime Maloney scored from close range to make it a very happy half time.
In the second half Petrov made it 3-1. After the game we were straight back onto the bus to head straight down the road to Stranraer to catch the HSS sailing to Belfast. The bus down the winding road along the Scottish coast was always a time to try and get a bit of sleep before maybe a pint or two on the boat with the thoughts of going into work a few hours later never far from your mind. On the odd occasion a sick call went into work from outside the early house.
We go again on Thursday. Buses, Boats, Planes and Trains. Let’s hope Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney can inspire the current crop of Celtic players to another famous victory at Celtic Park.
Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast
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