Scottish Daily Mail

Centenary year spirit’s in the air for McAvennie

- By BRIAN MARJORIBAN­KS

THE exhausting quest to make history under the most intense pressure. The never-say-die spirit that so often ends up producing priceless late goals. When Frank McAvennie casts his mind back to the Celtic centenary doublewinn­ing team of 1987-88, he detects a lot of parallels with the treble Treble chasers of 2019. After McAvennie’s famous late double sunk Dundee United in the Scottish Cup final 31 years ago, the late Tommy Burns wept on the pitch as he proclaimed that Celtic team would still be remembered in another 100 years. Likewise, the current vintage will ink their names in history should they sweep the board for an unpreceden­ted third consecutiv­e campaign. And after watching Celtic score vital late goals over recent weeks at Kilmarnock, Hearts, Dundee and at home to Rangers, McAvennie insists the centenary spirit is alive and well at Parkhead. ‘I can see parallels between the centenary season and this current season — but I hope Celtic do it easier than we did in 1988,’ smiled McAvennie, ahead of his old side’s Scottish Cup semi-final with Aberdeen on Sunday. ‘That season we were under immense pressure to deliver and it turned out to be a special season for the club. ‘If you look back at the Rangers team we were up against — Woods, Butcher, Roberts, Gough, Wilkins, Francis, Walters, Durrant, McCoist — we should not have won the league. ‘But we never knew when we were beaten and that got us over the line, particular­ly in the cups. ‘I remember the Scottish Cup semi-final against Hearts at Hampden. ‘It was probably one of my worst games for Celtic. We were getting beaten 1-0 with three minutes to go and the Hearts fans were all celebratin­g. ‘Unfortunat­ely for them, we scored two late goals to win the game. ‘In the final after we equalised, there were 14 minutes left. ‘I remember late on asking the referee how long was left now and he said: ‘Just under a minute.’ ‘Wee Joe Miller took the corner and, after I scored, it took me 10 minutes to get back to the halfway line. I knew Dundee United would not be coming back from that. ‘Clinching the league and cup double in the centenary season is now synonymous with Celtic as a club. ‘Even great teams need a bit of luck and

Celtic have certainly got that at the moment. ‘They are scoring late goals like we did in that centenary season. ‘Even when they are not playing well, they still get the win, which is the mark of a good team.’ McAvennie takes issue with anyone who suggests that Celtic’s tendency to become last-action heroes is down to good fortune. ‘I find it funny when people say Celtic are lucky,’ he said. ‘Celtic have always scored late goals. It’s instilled in you when you join the club that a game is never finished until the final whistle. Celtic always push to win the game. ‘After Celtic scored a 96th-minute winner at Dens Park recently, I heard Jim McIntyre saying Dundee would not have got that goal. ‘Well, they had the chance to because both teams played for 96 minutes. ‘And Dundee should have scored before Celtic got the winner but their guy bottled it and made a pass instead of shooting and Celtic went straight up the park and scored. ‘The Dundee manager wouldn’t have said a thing if his side had scored that.’ McAvennie believes the centenary team of 1988 were able to handle the pressure that comes with hunting down a double because so many of them knew the unique demands of the club. By the end of that season, those who had not grown up as supporters had joined the likes of Burns, Peter Grant and McAvennie in calling themselves fans of the club. In that respect, McAvennie believes Neil Lennon, as a former midfielder, captain and now in his second spell as boss, has a huge role to play in steering Celtic over the line after replacing Brendan Rodgers in an interim capacity. ‘Lenny’s influence on the team in the run-in will be massive,’ said the former Parkhead striker. ‘Celtic is in his DNA. The club is in his blood. He will have wanted to change a few things after taking over from Brendan Rodgers but you can’t do that because the end of the season is so close. ‘The semi-final against Aberdeen on Sunday will be a hell of a game but I’m expecting a big performanc­e from Celtic on the big pitch at Hampden. ‘Derek McInnes has done a hell of a job at Pittodrie. ‘This is the first time in years his Aberdeen have not been in second place — and that will hurt. ‘His team has turned over Rangers a few times in Glasgow this season but they keep falling short against Celtic. ‘They will be wanting to turn Celtic over to reach the Scottish Cup final. ‘And if Celtic play the way they’ve been playing in the last couple of weeks, it will be interestin­g. ‘But, in fairness to Neil, just before Brendan Rodgers left Celtic, they were not playing too clever then either. ‘But I’ve a feeling Celtic will turn on the style on Sunday. ‘If it’s anything like 1988, the fans should make sure they stay to the very end. ‘As Billy Connolly used to say: “How long is left? Two minutes? That’s plenty of time for Celtic”.’

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