How Roy Aitken’s departure sent Celtic into a tailspin

Roy Aitken made his Celtic debut as a 16-year-old in a 2-0 victory against Stenhousemuir in the League Cup semi-final on 10 September 1975.

By the time the club captain made his 672nd and final appearance for Celtic over 14 years later, Aitken had won 6 leagues, 5 Scottish Cups and 1 League Cup, and had represented Scotland at the 1986 World Cup finals.

We have already looked at the circumstances around Roy becoming Celtic’s youngest-ever player, and have also explored some of the reasons behind his departure in 1990, and now we will look at his final appearance for the club who incredibly once adopted him to play in a European tie (more of that in a later blog).

 

The centenary season of 1987/88 had been, in the words of Billy McNeill, “a fairytale,” but the club monumentally failed to build on their timely success. With Celtic’s boardroom boasting the Premier Division and Scottish Cup trophies, pre-season brought the arrivals of just two new signings, both of whom failing to excite the Celtic fans looking ahead to the European Cup draw.

Two goalkeepers – Ian Andrews from Leicester City and Alan Rough from Orlando Lions – came in due to the injury of Pat Bonner and departure of Allen McKnight. Andrews cost £300,000 and Rough was brought in on a free, with the moves being financed by selling McKnight for £250,000 to West Ham, and Dougie McGuire, who signed a £40,000 deal with Coventry City. Can you imagine the reaction if social media was around in 1988?

Meanwhile, Rangers continued to spend big, bringing in Kevin Drinkell from Norwich for £500,000, and Gary Stevens from Everton for £1 million, then during the season, they added to their squad with the purchases of Neale Cooper from Aston Villa for £250,000, and Mel Sterland from Sheffield Wednesday for £750,000.

Celtic’s ‘in-season’ business consisted of Steve McCahill from Dumbarton for £100,000, and Tommy Coyne from Dundee for £500,000. Coyne had been a prolific striker at Dundee, and this capture looked like a shrewd bit of business, but then we swiftly lost Frank McAvennie, who rejoined West Ham for £1.25 million.

Completely out-muscled in the transfer market by our city rivals, McNeill’s men were sitting fourth in the table by the time Rangers trounced the champions 4-1 at Ibrox on 3rd January 1989.

The league title was surrendered with little more than a whimper, and a third-placed finish left Billy McNeill in no doubt that he had to improve on a largely forgettable league campaign. His immediate response was a Scottish Cup final win against the new league winners, which prevented the Ibrox side from securing a domestic treble. Following the Hampden victory, the man nicknamed ‘Cesar’ set about rebuilding his beleaguered team for the 1989/90 campaign.

The disappointment after Mo Johnston defected to the dark side that pre-season would have been most notably felt by Celtic’s captain and manager. Roy Aitken had alerted his gaffer to the possibility of a return for Johnston after lengthy discussions on international duty, then McNeill was dealt an embarrassing blow, having paraded the former darling of Celtic Park to the mainstream media, before the striker reneged on the deal in the worst possible fashion.

McNeill responded by recruiting domestic signings Mike Galloway (£500,000 from Hearts) and John Hewitt (£250,000 from Aberdeen); Polish internationalists from Legia Warsaw, Dariusz Dziekanowski (£600,000); and Dariusz Wdowczyk (£400,000); and Paul Elliott, who was a £650,000 capture from Serie A side Pisa, was preferred over Manchester United’s Paul McGrath. Elliott was a central defender who knew the Celtic boss from their time together at Aston Villa, the team that McGrath was to join that summer.

The season offered little, with precious few glimpses of hope arising in the European Cup Winners’ Cup and Scottish Cup.

There was the thrill of a famous 5-4 European victory against Partizan Belgrade during the first half of the season, but this ultimately resulted in failure as Celtic were knocked out on away goals after drawing 6-6 on aggregate.

Then we knocked Rangers out of the Scottish Cup, virtue of a Tommy Coyne winner, but we failed to beat them in the league all season.

It was the story of the campaign, as Celtic produced far too few moments of joy, all-too-often closely followed by a feeling of despair. By the turn of the year, Aberdeen had knocked us out the League Cup, whilst St Mirren, Dunfermline (twice), Rangers and Dundee United had all inflicted league defeats.

 

 

1990 began as 1989 had ended – in defeat, as Rangers won the Ne’erday game by a single Nigel Spackman strike.

As Celtic travelled to Love Street four days later, they were a lowly fourth in the table, just three points above The Pars, who had two games in hand.

Speculation around captain Roy Aitken’s future had been brewing for weeks, with Newcastle the favourites to win the captain’s signature. The way the club were going must have left Aitken bewildered. This was a man who had tasted success under the great Jock Stein, before enjoying monumental victories for Celtic, including the night when Ten Men Won The League, Love Street ’86, and the centenary double. When icons of the club like Tommy Burns and Roy Aitken start to look for the exit door, then you know you’re in trouble.

Following Celtic’s 2-0 victory over St Mirren on 6th January 1990, Aitken completed his £500,000 move to St James’ Park.

Here’s how Celtic lined up for Aitken’s final game:

St Mirren:
Money, Wishart, Black, Davies, Winnie, McWhirter, Shaw (Weir 75), Manley, Torfason, McDowall (McWalter 77), Kinnaird,

Celtic:
Bonner, Galloway, Wdowczyk, Aitken, Elliott, Whyte, Mathie (Walker 88), McStay, Dziekanowski (Hewitt 85), Fulton, Miller.

Scorers: Miller 5, Dziekanowski 43.

Referee: J Duncan, Gorebridge.
Attendance: 15,359.

Following Aitken’s departure, Celtic went on a league run of one win in 14, finishing fifth and failing to qualify for Europe for the first time since 1978. It was only thanks to a ‘superior’ goal difference that McNeill’s side didn’t finish as low as seventh, as Motherwell and Hibs were both on the same points total. In fact, only four points separated second-bottom side St Mirren and Celtic. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Scottish Cup final was then lost to Aberdeen on penalties to leave the Parkhead trophy room empty for the first of five consecutive seasons.

These were dark days indeed, and Celtic’s board having their pants pulled down in public by David Murray over the Mo Johnston affair was a catalyst for one of the worst seasons in modern history.

Celtic then lost Tommy Burns and Roy Aitken in quick succession and never started to recover until Fergus McCann took over the club four years later. It would take another year for Celtic to win their next trophy, six years after Aitken had captained the side to their treble-busting Scottish Cup win over Rangers in 1989.

For Roy Aitken, who will join ACSOM live in Glasgow this Friday, season 1989/90 was a bitterly sad end to a glorious Celtic career.

PAUL JOHN DYKES