First Season For The New Bhoy

We didn’t know what to expect when Henrik Larsson joined the Hoops…now we don’t what we’d have done without him.

- Joe Sullivan

HENRIK LARSSON arrived at Celtic Park in July 1997 from Feyenoord. Celtic’s new manager, Dutchman Wim Jansen had signed the dreadlocked Swede for £650,000, a sum that came to be seen as ludicrously low as Larsson rewarded his new club with an abundance of goals.

The two parties - Celtic and Larsson - came together that summer after a period of respective turmoil. The striker had endured an unhappy time in Holland, culminating in a legal fight to enable him to leave Feyenoord for Glasgow.

Celtic, meanwhile, had been unable to prevent Rangers from winning the league the previous season, a situation bad enough if had not been for the fact that it meant Rangers had now equalled nine-in-a-row.

Wim Jansen arrived in the close season as manager with one set objective - to stop the 10.

As well as Larsson, Craig Burley, Mark Rieper and Regi Blinker all arrived at Celtic Park as the Dutchman sought to quickly assemble a winning team.

Things couldn’t have started any worse for Celtic or Henrik Larsson in the league campaign, however.