MEMORIES OF MORAVCIK

Watching Celtic struggle at times this season to create chances shows how much we have missed a real creative midfielder. In the recent past Celtic have had some excellent creative midfielders – Shunsuke Nakamura for example, but none touch the brilliance of Lubomir Moravcik.

When Moravcik was signed by Dr. Jozef Venglos from Duisburg in 1998 for the total of £300,000, people in the media were aghast at signing a 33 year old ‘midfield journeyman’, indeed Hugh Keevins was suitably pompous about it as I recall. However, these people didn’t know that Moravcik was already a legend at French side Saint Etienne, and had played for Czechoslovakia 42 times – including in the 1990 World Cup – and Slovakia 38 times. Venglos, also from Slovakia knew what type of player Moravcik was as he managed Moravcik during the aforementioned 1990 World Cup. Moravcik made his debut in a day of celebration for Celtic fans as the hated ‘general manager’ Jock Brown had resigned. He contributed some nice touches in a 6-1 win over Dundee at Celtic Park. However, Moravcik really came to prominence a couple of weeks later when Rangers visited Parkhead…

The day was November 21st 1998, the scoreline was Celtic 5 Rangers 1 and the star of the show – Lubo. He scored two goals in a superb victory, the first a fine shot from the edge of the penalty area and the second a great header after a run from midfield. Strangely Moravcik seemed reluctant to celebrate his goals, thankfully this would soon change.  A couple of week later Lubo turned in another excellent performance as he inspired a Celtic side drawing 0-0 at half-time with Dunfermline to a 5-0 victory. Already the signs were there that Lubo would be an excellent player, his touch, his range of passing and of course his free kicks were all a joy to behold. Lubo ended the season with 6 goals in 17 games, as the season limped to a close as Rangers won the treble. Lubo was sadly ineffective in that season’s cup final against Rangers.

The next season, the great John Barnes/Kenny Dalglish ‘experiment’, was undeniably a failure, but it did contain some great personal moments for Moravcik, including the famous ‘controlling the ball with his arse’ incident against Hearts. There were also brilliant goals against the likes of Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen to remember. Lubo also won his first silverware with Celtic that season, as Celtic defeated Aberdeen 2-0 in the league cup final. Lubo had got the only goal in the semi-final against Killie. Lubo ended the season with 9 goals in 39 games. The next season would prove to be something very special…

The Martin O’Neill era at Celtic Park has to go down as one of the most successful in recent history, his first season – 2000-01 – giving Celtic a rare domestic treble, in what will go down as one of the club’s best seasons ever. It could also be considered Lubo’s best season, as he finished with 14 goals, which included a goal against Bordeaux in the UEFA Cup, and then another masterclass against Rangers.

Celtic hadn’t won at Ibrox in almost seven years before the day of April 29th 2001, but that was all to change as Moravcik ran riot in a 3-0 victory, scoring two goals. The first an instinctive shot from a Larrson pass as Lubo ran into the box from midfield. His second goal was even better, as he twisted and turned the hapless Fernando Ricksen before slamming the ball past Klose.  It truly was one of the best performances by a Celtic player against Rangers in many a long year.

The next season would prove to be Lubo’s final one with Celtic, and one in which he realised his dream of playing in the Champions League, and his celebrations after Celtic qualified by beating Ajax 3-2 on aggregate were memorable. Lubo graced the Big Cup stage with aplomb, turning in a superb display in the 4-3 victory over Juventus in one of the best ever European nights at Parkhead. He also chipped in with 6 goals, including wonderstrikes against Hibs and Motherwell as Celtic easily retained the title. Sadly he was on the bench for the cup final defeat against Rangers, who knows perhaps his skill could have won Celtic the game that day. It is a testament to how good a player Lubo was that when he was substituted after his final appearance against Rangers, Rangers manager Alex McLeish went over to Lubo and shook his hand. After his days at Celtic were over, Moravcik played for a season in Japan before retiring.

At the start of this article I bemoaned the lack of a ‘Moravcik’ style player in this current Celtic side, the only player that seems to come close is Kris Commons, although he has played in more advanced positions – sometimes even up front – than Lubo ever really did for Celtic. Commons also chips in with more goals than Lubo, but he doesn’t have the guile Lubo had. Or indeed the free-kick prowess. Hopefully in the summer one of the first players signed is a real creative midfielder. Even then, we will always have our memories of Moravcik.