Yes.
It is a strange game to start a new feature with but the reason why I picked our second heaviest European defeat will become clear later on.
We went into this game in late October as favorites. Xamax were a mid table Swiss outfit struggling both on and off the park. I suppose the same could be said that we were a struggling Scottish outfit both on and off the park.
We had reached this stage after dispatching Ekeren 3-1 on aggregate but the game in the Stade De La Maladiere Neuchatel turned into our worst nightmare. The game proves that European away nightmares haven’t been just a recent occurrence.
Hassan scored four on the evening and as the footage – albeit grainy and seeming filmed on a hand held camera – proves our defence was as welcoming to European striking no-marks as an Essex girl is to peroxide and fake tan.
Our manager – Liam Brady – pointed to the lose of Mike Galloway and Gary Gillespie for the defeat. Clutching at straws there.
The return leg saw Charlie Nicholas miss an early penalty and us failing to score the 4 goals needed to turn the tie around. Joe Miller grabbed a consolation. The return leg was shown live on the BBC either in the hope of a unbelievable turn around or so that the nation could laugh at out futile attempts to retrieve the lost cause.
I didn’t go to the second leg. The first leg was a hard enough listen on the radio so I decided to follow my teenage rites of passage by attending my first ever gig at The Barrowlands instead.
Manchester band James didn’t disappoint where Charlie Nicholas did.
The reason Neuchatel came back into my mind is that the club no longer exists. In January this year the Swiss League revoked the twice league winners license. The club were formally declared bankrupt after Chechen owner Bulat Chagaev was arrested for financial mismanagement and fraud.
There is talk of the club – which Sepp Blatter is/was the honorary president – reforming in the fourth tier amateur league.
The foes going to the wall. I wonder if it will catch on?
Celtic team for both legs:
P Bonner; M McNally, D Wdowczyk, P Grant, D Whyte, S Fulton, B O’Neil, P McStay, A Cascarino, T Coyne , C Nicholas. Subs used G Creaney & J Miller
Bonner; McNally, Wdowczyk O’Neil, Whyte, Galloway, Miller, McStay, Coyne, Nicholas, Collins. Subs used T Cascarino & G Creaney
Memory jog via www.thecelticwiki.com
aye ,remember watching the highlights of the first leg & being unable to believe the level of ineptitude,thanx for the memory,also well remember the “Celtic Legend ,Nicholas” ,missing the penalty,arsehole,and am no talking about the penalty,
I remember listening to the game on a wee radio in my mum and dads bed room, funny enough , in the very same room I watched Brataslava game! Think I’ll stay away from there from now on’ ha ha.
I should have added this to the main blurb but Xamax got Real Madrid in the next round and were beaten 4-1 on aggregate after scoring a 1-0 victory in Switzerland.
Madrid reached the semi finals were they were beaten by Torino (who lost on away goals to Ajax in the final).
I was at the game in Neauchatel. My abiding memory is not the result or the fact that the military had guns pointed at us in the stadium.It was that 51 people went to the match on our bus and 53 came back, meaning that I spent a lot of time on the floor coming back from Switzerland, which was not particularly comfortable, even with the aid of a bottle of Smirnoff blue. By the way, it was 1991.
I will update the title it was meant to say 91/92.
Though UEFA do class it as the 92 UEFA Cup.
A sad tail but your ending brought a smile. Its sad to see a club go under (except you know who) you hope even if its years later you can get revenge. Like beebhoy7 i remember listening to the game on radio & it’s was horrible it felt like everytime they got the ball they scored. If only Nicholas had scored that early penalty but we were not a good team & didn’t look like scoring 4. If you told anyone at Celtic park that 11 years later we’d have being playing in the UEFA cup final you’d have got lifted by the men in the white coats.
Xamax were shafted by the owner. Allegations of fake paper work, bank accounts and proof of funds a plenty. Guy was a criminal.
The Swiss FA took swift action after his arrest. They had to as UEFA had already threatened them after they failed to punish FC Sion which they have now done (36 point deduction).
The SFA should take note.
Luckily wee Fergus came to the rescue for Celtic. Maybe he got his money back, and a bit more, but he kept out the same type of characters that brought down Rangers!!!