Great Moments in Hunskelping History: The Start Pt. 1

By: Matt | September 28th, 2009

Celtic meet their oldest and most fierce rivals this weekend. As the week progresses, we will look back at various great victories over Rangers and hope to feel this excited again on Sunday.

Things were not looking good. Celtic faced a must win situation on a Wednesday night in April of 2008. While it was a rare midweek night match against Rangers, Celtic were behind Rangers in the standings by four points. Celtic needed to win this night to have any chance of making a comeback and winning their third straight SPL title. A draw or loss would all but give the title to Rangers. Celtic Park had a buzz not seen yet in the season. Every supporter knew the importance of the match and were ready to play their part. The Green Brigade’s displays that night created two rallying cries for the Celtic faithful. “Keep the Faith,” was the cry of the Bhoys of 111. Their most infamous display would be unveiled at half-time, but for the time being, the team, crowd, and all the supporters watching all across the world knew that if we could just get through tonight, Celtic would have a heart beat.

Shunsuke Nakamura had been mostly held in check in his Celtic career against Rangers, having yet to score before this match. However, as was the norm with the man from Japan, he can create moments of brilliance when you least expect it. Twenty minutes into the match saw Naka do just that. The ball found Nakamura about 30+ yards from goal. They might as well rename this area the “Shunsuke Nakamura zone” as the Japanese Bhoy has made a career of twisting keepers bodies every which way as a result of the rockets coming from his feet. Naka sent an absolute screamer that had Alan McGregor going left and then right before seeing the ball whiz past his ear and into the net. It was Nakamura’s first goal against Rangers, and in typical Naka style, it was worthy of millions of youtube hits. It was also exactly the start that Celtic needed.

The next victory for Celtic would be off the field and in the stand. For too long, Celtic and Rangers have been incorrectly grouped together. Many people see the two clubs as two sides of the same coin, which is not correct. There are numerous reasons why the two clubs are different and Celtic should not be kept in the same breath as Rangers, but that is another blog. However, the Green Brigade felt enough was enough and it was time to send a message. At halftime, the Green Brigade unveiled a banner pointing to the Rangers support with the message “Scotland’s Shame.” It was a simple message, yet to the point, and easy to interpret. Celtic Supporters 1-Rangers Supporters 0.

Naka’s goal and the Green Brigade’s banner created a good feeling going into the second half around Celtic Park. However, things were going to get interesting. In many ways, this game was a great representation of the 2007-2008 season as a whole. Like the season as a whole, Celtic got off to a good start, came under adversity and it seemed all would be lost, before coming from behind to ultimately triumph. That second part of the story occurred this particular Wednesday night in April when Nacho Novo, of all people, netted an equalizer for Rangers in the 55th minute. It would continue when Carlos Cuellar’s red card for the most blatant hand ball in history resulted in a penalty that Scott McDonald would miss in the 70th minute. It seemed Celtic’s chance was blown and Rangers would get a vital point at Celtic Park on their way to the SPL title.

The second half slowly wasted away. Celtic could not make any headway past Rangers’ now infamous 10 men behind the ball strategy that led to a UEFA Cup Final and a subsequent riot and destruction of the city of Manchester. The 90 minutes came to an end and injury time began with Celtic’s title hopes badly needing a medic. Celtic had one last hurrah as Gary Caldwell sent a long cross into the box. It’s never a good sign when Gary Caldwell is the start of your attack, but something amazing happened. Scott McDonald got a header that went square across the goal line where the imposing figure of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was. With Rangers down to 10 men on the field and Celtic bringing everyone up to attack, there was bound to be someone open. Fortunately for Celtic supporters across the world, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink’s forehead that you could land a plane on was un-markable and the big Dutchman put Celtic ahead in the most dramatic of fashions.

Of course, we all know that this was the beginning of the amazing turn around that saw Celtic down and out of the title race in April to become the champions of May. This game represented the never say die attitude of the team that year. No one was sure what would happen the rest of the season or even if Celtic had it in them to turn the train wreck around, but this game gave Celtic a chance, which was more than any Celtic supporter could have asked for at that point.