CELTIC WOULDN’T BACK ME ... MY GUT TOLD ME TO LEAVE
Jansen reveals why he quit Parkhead after title triumph
WIM JANSEN has finally broken a 23-year vow of silence by revealing why he quit Celtic less than 48 hours after leading the Parkhead club to the title which ended Rangers’ ten-in-a-row hopes. The Dutch coach turned 75 this week and announced he is suffering from dementia.
Jansen was Celtic boss for only one season in 1997/98. His appointment was initially greeted with derision after he was brought in following a spell in Japanese football to succeed the axed Tommy Burns.
But he went on to form a formidable partnership with his No 2 Murdo MacLeod and won Celtic their first league flag since their centenary season in 1988.
More significantly, he was the man who stopped Rangers from becoming the first club to win ten titles in a row, after they matched Celtic’s achievements under
Jock Stein with nine championships on the bounce.
However, while the party celebrations were in full swing, Jansen stunned Scottish football by quitting Celtic after he invoked a get-out clause.
The reasons why he walked out on a chance to lead the Parkhead club into the following season’s Champions League have never been fully disclosed.
But in his new book, Meesterbrein (Mastermind), he finally reveals that a complete breakdown in his relationship with Celtic chief Fergus McCann and general manager Jock Brown (below) left him with little option but to resign.
And he recalled that he never spoke with them at all for half of his time at the club.
Jansen said: ‘The truth is, I hadn’t spoken to the board from January that season. Everything went through Murdo MacLeod.
‘Of course, you cannot sustain such a situation. If you enjoy your job and what you do, it’s very easy. But if you don’t, it takes up a lot more energy.
‘I wanted to continue to build a team at Celtic, but they didn’t want to spend any money. If you want to keep improving and go higher up, you have to spend money.
‘It got to a certain point that I didn’t want to wait for the next argument anymore, I couldn’t go any further.
‘For me, a big decision like that doesn’t depend on success or sympathy — it depends on vision. Do you move forward or do you want to stay still?
‘My gut told me to leave. And everything I do, I do by instinct.’
Jansen has nothing but fond memories of his time in Glasgow where he also led Celtic to a League Cup victory over Dundee United.
But he was stunned to discover Celtic had got rid of the famed ‘Three Amigos’ — Jorge Cadette, Pierre van Hooijdonk and Paulo Di Canio — before he arrived in Glasgow.
He said: ‘When I agreed to manage Celtic they didn’t tell me anything. Whatever team in the world you manage, if you sell your three top attackers, there is little left.
‘Working with Murdo was blissful for me because I was able to let him do a lot. In the team meetings, I focused on the game and he did the analysis of the opponents.
‘Back then, you didn’t have the same information at your disposal and I didn’t have the time to go to games. But because of Murdo’s knowledge and work I knew exactly what to expect every week.
‘John Clark was our kitman. He kept track of what was being written and who we could and could not trust.’
Jansen got off to a dreadful start and, initially, the critics were baying for him. New signing Henrik Larsson gifted Hibs the winning goal in an opening-day loss at Easter Road before they suffered a 2-1 home defeat by Dunfermline in their second league game.
And Jansen’s son, Wim Junior, revealed his father was reassured after a potentially hostile incident after the game.
He said: ‘A supporter broke through the gates to speak to my dad. The stewards panicked. But I will never forget that the man just walked up to my father and said: “Mr Jansen, don’t be a yes man”.
‘That was his message. Set your own course.’
And the former Feyenoord legend — who played in their winning 1970 European Cup final against Celtic and in two World Cup finals — began to get it right as his new signings gelled.
He explained: ‘You need time for these kinds of jobs, that’s all. We turned it around by making things change and that will not happen overnight. For example, we got Alan Stubbs to play as a libero and not as one of four defenders in a line. Tommy Boyd was the quickest of the two centre-backs, so we used him as cover. I had a very nice right-back in Jackie McNamara. I pushed him up to the right wing because I saw that he was not only fast, but also could beat a man and could make a good cross. And Henrik Larsson needed crosses.
‘We played Rangers in the second Old Firm game and equalised in injury time. In retrospect, those were crucial moments. If we had lost, then the gap would have been too big.
‘What happened when we won the league was special. It is always the people who create the atmosphere. That love is incredibly deep.
‘You can compare it with Feyenoord. There, the fans are also a 12th man. It’s great for a manager to have something like that behind you. That’s why I chose to come to a club like Celtic.
‘My wife Cobie still has letters from all sorts of people after we won the league.’
And Jansen junior revealed his father is still revered wherever he goes by Celtic fans.
He said: ‘Once we were waiting at Glasgow Airport. A stranger stood in front of my father, stammered a bit about Jansen the legend, sprinted to the nearest bookshop, bought the first book about Celtic he saw and ran back to get his autograph.
‘I get asked about him all over the world. Ask Celtic fans about him and you get two replies... he stopped ten in a row and he brought the King of Kings to Scotland!’