A SUCCESS AS PLAYER AND AS A MANAGER
WIM Jansen’s light burned brightly in Scotland in one golden year, when his influence changed the history of his club.
He was Celtic’s first manager from outside Great Britain and Ireland when he arrived in 1997 – and few expected him to succeed after nine years of Rangers dominance.
He is revered as football royalty in his native Netherlands, where he made his mark on the field before achieving success as a manager.
Some Scots will remember that Jansen was one of several superstar Dutch players to be left on their backside as Archie Gemmell scored his famous goal in beating the Netherlands 3-2 at the 1978 World Cup.
But the shrewd midfielder picked himself up and went on to play in the final itself.
He had played in the previous World Cup final in Munich too and is regarded as a key player in one of the best teams ever.
Jansen played all seven games before the Dutch finished runners-up to hosts West Germany in 1974.
He was also a European Cup winner – playing in the Feyenoord team that beat Celtic in the final in 1970.
Jansen joined Rotterdam club Feyenoord at the age of 10 and played in the first team for 15 years.
He made 476 appearances, scoring 39 goals, won four league titles, the European Cup, Uefa Cup, League Cup and Intercontinental Cup. He made 65 appearances for the Netherlands.
He also won a Dutch title while playing for rivals Ajax.
As a manager, he led Feyenoord to cup wins in 1991 and 1992 after a time in the doldrums.
Before joining Celtic, Jansen worked as assistant manager of Saudi Arabia alongside Leo Beenhakker and managed Japan’s Sanfrecce Hiroshima.