V iduka’s no torious no- show and rafting be f or e a cup final, recalls Riseth

IT’S fair to say Vidar Riseth never quite hit the heights that his compatriot Harald Brattbakk did at Celtic. The former Rosenborg man’s feat in scoring the goal that stopped Rangers’ bid for 10- in- row was a once- in- alifetime achievement. It is a footballing moment which is still lauded and celebrated as much as artworks by Henrik Ibsen and Edvard Munch. The Norwegian utility player still had his moment in a Hoops jersey, although it’s probably akin to comparing A- ha’s Morten Harket to the deeds of Roald Amundsen.

For two- and- a- half years Riseth planted his Norwegian flag inside Paradise at a time of great strife and turmoil behind the scenes at the club. He did hold the distinct honour of being Dr Jo Venglos first ever signing for the club - £ 1.5million from LASK Linz - but there was a parting of the ways at the end of the 1998- 99 season as Rangers swept to the domestic treble.

Things did not improve much either under Venglos’ successor John Barnes as season 19992000 started to unravel quickly. It all came to a head on that fateful February night against Inverness Caley Thistle.

Riseth felt that Celtic failed to attract the big- hitters that a club of their stature should have around that time.

“When I signed for Celtic the club was struggling as they did not have the money to sign the big- name players that the fans wanted to see,” Riseth tells The Celtic Way. “I joined and then two or three weeks later Johan Mjallby came in and then Lubomir Moravcik arrived.

“I remember when Lubo signed and everybody was like ‘ Lubomir Moravcik? Who is this guy? When are we going to get a big name?’ Lubo did not speak English too well when he arrived but he did all his talking in the park and everybody could see he was such a quality player. He was a brilliant player and the Celtic fans certainly enjoyed watching him.”

Utility player Riseth’s first season at Celtic was overshadowed by Henrik Larsson’s horrific leg break in a UEFA cup tie against Lyon in 1998. It had a destabilising effect on the team. Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright was brought in by Barnes to replace the talisman but offered only temporary respite.

“I remember when Larsson broke his leg,” Riseth continued. “It was terrible. He was the biggest star in the team. We had to bring someone new in and we brought in Ian. He came in for a short period.

“Everybody knew he was a great guy and everybody loved him as he was good for the club. He brought laughter to the team and he was so funny. It was what we needed at that time as we were all feeling low about Henrik’s injury.

“At this time, it was important for us to get a player like him into the dressing room. Not only did he lift the spirits but he also scored a few goals. I have to say that it was great for the club to sign up a big name like Wright and I think the fans enjoyed his short spell at the club too.”

Worse was to follow for the Norwegian when he was sent off in the notorious Old Firm ‘ Shame Game’ of 1999. The Ibrox side won 3- 0 at Parkhead on May 2 in a bad- tempered game that is etched into the Hoops’ history books for all the wrong reasons as the Light Blues clinched the title at the home of their city rivals for the first time.

“To lose against Rangers at home is the worst thing that can happen to a Celtic player,” Riseth said. “What can I say about this day? There were so many yellow and red cards and it was a really tough game. We did not play well at all.

“Rangers were a better team, it was not good for us. I remember I got a red card as well. If you are going to be sent off then I guess it’s probably better to be ordered off against Rangers though.”

The Bhoys played second fiddle to Advocaat’s men many times back then as the team from the south side of the city held a vice- like grip on the domestic game.

Despite feeling like the underdog whenever the two teams clashed during that particular era, Riseth pulls no punches as to why the Govan men lorded it over the Parkhead side.

“Rangers had a really good team back then, they were signing top players in European football,” he said. “We also have to remember they signed up players with money they didn’t really have. Celtic have never done that. The club spent the money they had, Rangers spent money they didn’t. It is not fair play.

“They had quality players and it was tough for us to beat them. Rangers were better because they had a better depth of squad and more players than Celtic to choose from.”

On a happier note, Riseth reckons his finest moment in a Hoops jersey came not at Parkhead but Hampden.

At that juncture in the season, John Barnes had been sacked and it was Kenny Dalglish who led the Celts to silverware - though not before Riseth had made some headlines with his particular choice of pre- final extracurricular activities.

“When Kenny took over we started to play better and won the League Cup with him in

Playing for Celtic was the best time ever

charge,” Riseth recalls. “That was a great experience, a brilliant time for me. I scored a goal for Celtic in the cup final and nobody can take that away from me.

“But I actually remember the week before it just as much because the press was a little bit tough on me. I come from Norway and there we participate in all sorts of different sports – the golden rule is that if you are born here then you are born with skis on your legs! That’s just how it is. Every Norwegian goes skiing.

“The week before the cup final the manager gave us two days off to be with our families to take our minds off the football and do other things. I said to my friend, Marco, that I wanted to go up the Norwegian mountain and take part in some rafting so that’s what we did.

“The guy who owned the place recognised me and took some pictures of us rafting on the river and the next day I was splashed all over every newspaper like ‘ how could Vidar Riseth go rafting before the cup final?’

“It was tough but, as you know, I scored the first goal for Celtic in the final and it was the best feeling ever. That was the perfect answer to the critics.”

It was a high moment in a Hoops spell that was categorised by a series of lows. None more so than being a member of the Celtic dressing room on the night Super Caley famously went ballistic as the Hoops lost 3- 1 at home in the Scottish Cup.

That was also the evening that Mark Viduka spat the dummy at assistant head coach Eric Black and refused to come out for the second half.

Riseth swears that he had never witnessed behaviour like it before or since from a professional footballer.

“Put it this way,” he said.

“It is OK as a team to argue and not agree on things. That happens. You have to go out on the pitch and do the job.

“What Mark ( Viduka) did in that instant was not good. In the dressing room, there were heated arguments and we had to come between two of them.

It was not exactly fighting but there was a big discussion.

“That was the first time in my career that a player did not leave the dressing room to play the second half. It shocked me a lot. I have seen players throw shoes and boots around – that is normal as every team has those moments – but I had never witnessed that kind of behaviour before.

“You still have to go out there and do the job. You are a Celtic player and they pay your wages. The problem was that everything that happened that night was reported in the press and that made it worse.”

Better times were around the corner for the Bhoys with the arrival of a certain Martin O’Neill. Sadly for Riseth, he didn’t play at all under the Northern Irishman as he was injured when he took over.

“I got injured when Martin arrived and he only had a few weeks to get a team together,” the Norwegian recalls. “I saw when he came to the ground and started to train the team and he gave his thoughts on the way he wanted us to play. The way he spoke to the players was excellent. There was an instant buy- in from the players and everybody wanted to be on his side.

“I saw straight away that he was a brilliant coach. He spoke with everybody, even the injured players, and that is the culture that you have to bring to the Celtic job. He made everybody feel part of it, even if you did not play for him.

“It was still refreshing to hear what a coach like him thought about you. To this day O’Neill is still the best coach I have ever worked under. He was adept at giving injured players proper rest and recuperation. It wasn’t about two hours of training every day as sometimes sessions lasted 90 minutes, an hour or even half an hour. He was a brilliant coach.

“I was there only for a short period and I saw all the training and the way I trained under Martin was the best way to train for football matches. Everybody believed in him and his system and the way he wanted to play. He was a great coach.”

So amid the highs, lows, arguments and injuries... how does Riseth feel about Celtic now?

“Playing for Celtic was the best time ever,” he said. “The fans made it that way and I liked the football culture in Glasgow very much; it is also not every country you can go to and get summer, winter, rain and snow all on the same day!

“But I do follow the fortunes of the club every week. I watch them on TV all the time. I just turned 50 and my wife surprised me with tickets for the Rangers game at home in April.

“They contacted us and gave us good tickets so I am going to bring my family and my kids so that they can experience it all for themselves. My children were too small to remember when I played for the club so they have only seen highlights on the TV.

“Even after 16 or 17 years I still have contact with the supporters and whenever I am back in Glasgow, I visit all the Celtic pubs and have a singsong and a drink. I just love it and I still feel part of the Celtic family.”