Title Deeds

It’s now 20 years since Celtic had to stop the 10 and Simon Donnelly looks back at a nail-biting season.

- Mark Henderson

CELTIC are now going full-tilt for their seventh successive title this season and long may the run continue.

However, there wasn’t always a surplus of title silverware in the East

End of Glasgow, quite the opposite in fact and 20 years ago this season, Celtic just HAD to win the title to stop Rangers from bettering Jock Stein’s record nine-in-a-row and reaching the dreaded 10.

Simon Donnelly was an essential member of the squad who will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of one of the most important league wins in the club’s history.

It doesn’t feel like 20 years ago to the former Celt and he can still recall the climax to the season as if it was yesterday

He said: “It still ranks as my most memorable achievement in the game. It was the only time I won the league with Celtic, but with it being such an important one, it will go down in the club’s history and I am proud to be a part of it.

“It’s up there with getting into the Scotland World Cup squad in 1998, but that wouldn’t have happened without the league campaign we had, so that’s definitely the top memory from my career.”

He added: “I played in the majority of the games and scored 16 goals that term, just a few behind Henrik Larsson, but obviously it was a full squad effort.