CELTIC 1 - HEARTS 0
Celtic last night were finally awarded their SPL prize - an overdue handing over of the bauble if you ask Martin O'Neill. There weren't many grumbles. O'Neill took hold of the trophy and held it aloft towards 60,000 supporters - a man, if he's not careful, in the process of being canonised before the masses. O'Neill was revered at a humble port called Filbert Street but it would be interesting to know
if he has experienced such
deification.
Celtic Park these days represents a rowdy jamboree. Lubomir Moravcik, dawdling on as a substitute here, peppered this match with some delightful flicks, enhancing the feeling of a club restored to the highest plinth of the Scottish game. It is, of course, a modest station in life, but the giddier European dreams could wait. Green and white confetti showered all over Parkhead. Celtic, their management and players, revelled in this spectacle.
The cheek and arrogance of the Glasgow football crowd were also worth witnessing. This bedlam of celebration around Parkhead grew into a right racket, but it was impossible to forget the suffering these supporters have endured during endless winters and springs of Rangers domination. Not that this recollection overly concerned them. ''Cheer up Advocaat'' and ''Let's all laugh at Rangers'' were regular, blithe choruses from supporters whose noses down the years have been used to some putrid puddles. It pays in moments of
triumph to have memories like drains.
All this, set against the backdrop of the crowds rolling up to Glasgow's east end. This was Celtic Park's sixteenth full house this season; in pictorial terms an audience as alluring as any seen in Britain. It may well be a factor in determining O'Neill's long-term allegiance to the cause. In a silence worthy of a sepulchre, Celtic's supporters once more paid their tribute to Jim Baxter in a moving moment of reflection before kick-off. In celebrating this championship feat, the name of Henrik Larsson could be unveiled in neon. The Swede's growing messianic status is becoming an intrusion. The
reason for this is written in
brutal black and white in every journal - 33 goals in 34 SPL games, the golden goal-a-game exchange-rate coveted by
strikers around the globe. Wim Jansen's seems a hazy, complicated, successful reign of four years ago and it is now largely irrelevant. Except for this - Jansen bequeathed Larsson to Celtic.
Paul Lambert, Celtic's captain, and last night's man of the match, took it all in afterwards. Lambert has pulled out of Scotland's midweek jaunt to Poland with a groin strain, but there was nothing hurting his tongue. ''We deserve this success - as you saw tonight there's a work-ethic about the team which pays dividends,'' he said. ''The facts speak for themselves; we've only lost one game all season. But this club needs success. Our fans demand it all the time.''
The game, though, wasn't all about Celtic. It also confirmed that Antti Niemi is probably the best goalkeeper in Scotland. Niemi's craft throughout a match of unrelenting Celtic pressure was astonishing, no more than when he defied an Alan Thompson shot when the Celtic player had time and space and a clear sight of goal from four yards out. If Hearts can hold on to Niemi, redemption will always be an option.
O'Neill has injected pragmatism into Celtic's bloodstream. The presence of Joos Valgaeren, Thompson, and a rejuvenated Johan Mjallby attest to it. And nowhere is it more apparent than in the continued banishment of Eyal Berkovic. When John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish brought Berkovic to Glasgow in 1999, the eulogies were gushing, if never quite borne out. The Israeli is clearly a talented
player, but O'Neill was unabashed about ignoring reputation. A supporter of the club, and a self-confessed disciple of Jock Stein, O'Neill has none the less restored Celtic by applying the game's fundamentals.
O'Neill is certainly Stein-like in one respect - as old football writers used to say, he has an eye for a player. In Glasgow today, people tend to be full of assumption about Didier Agathe's talent, but this player had spent seasons lounging around the first division. O'Neill plucked him from Hibs and the rest has been an
eyeful. Agathe last night played his twenty-fourth league match for Celtic, a chapter full of
contortionist's tricks and long,
rubbery legs hurtling beyond defenders.
Even Stilian Petrov, a player some of us quickly became too scared to mention in despatches, was transformed under O'Neill. When Petrov took the field at half-time last night to make a draw in a piece of baloney called the Paradise Windfall, the applause became deafening. It is casually thought Petrov's development has simply been a question of time, but it cannot be coincidence that he flourished upon O'Neill's arrival. Petrov, once his broken leg heals, will be one of nine midfielders competing for five places next season.
The title now wrapped up, O'Neill could afford to be whimsical with his team. There was no Chris Sutton and nor was
Moravcik in on the kick-off. O'Neill enjoys the charade of saying he wants to do some
sifting and testing in time for the Scottish Cup final, but he'll know his team for May 26 at Hampden. In the cases of Moravcik and Sutton, what is pertinent now is rest. In the case of Larsson - here scampering through his forty-sixth game of the season - rest is something only a ball-and-chain could secure.
Celtic had chance after chance, but only one would count, such was Niemi's defiance. In particular, this goalkeeper was cruel in denying poor, thirsting Larsson his fiftieth goal of the season. But when the Swede released Moravcik in the sixty-seventh minute there could only be one outcome. Moravcik danced into the Hearts area before drilling his shot low into the corner.
The little Slovakian is now 35 years old. He is one of several Celtic players waiting to hear about their Parkhead future. The difference between Moravcik, though, and a Ramon Vega, is that his manager would stand in vigil waiting to meet him. Moravcik's new deal will be
settled within days.
Hearts very much had a walk-on role here, although the task now facing Craig Levein certainly deserved an airing. In the modern game, traditionally big Scottish clubs such as Hearts and Hibs now occupy a parallel
universe compared to the strength of the Old Firm, and the task of their coaches seems frightening. Levein, though, in his five months at Tynecastle, has done nothing so far except talk common sense.
Hearts are comfortably sitting fifth in the SPL, but their city rivals this season have set them a benchmark for the future.
Levein, predictably, is placing faith in youngsters like Gary Wales and Andy Kirk, but if he can wisely plunder the Bosman market, and apply his qualities as a teacher to his players, the future for Hearts may be bright. In Niemi, if Hearts can hold him, Levein also has the staunchest ally.
''We didn't want to play this match and then lift the SPL
trophy having been beaten,'' said O'Neill later. A treble now awaits. And Celtic have a manager who leaves nothing to chance.
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