The Celtics under Martin O’Neill were at their best in the 2003–04 season. Usually, we didn’t build on that, and if we had, things may have turned out completely differently.
Martin O’Neill’s Celtic team had a spectacular season in 2003–04, winning the domestic double and making it to the UEFA Cup quarterfinals, when they famously defeated Barcelona. After scoring 105 goals and earning an amazing 98 points, the team secured the league title. We also set a record by winning 25 straight games. We were quite methodical during that season.
In addition, Rangers suffered a whitewashing, losing all four league games and being eliminated from the Scottish Cup. Henrik Larsson’s appearance in a Celtic shirt would also be its final one. He was departing after seven incredible years to join Barcelona, the King of Kings.
It should come as no surprise that Henrik finished top of the scoring chart that season with 41 goals in all competitions.
He scored two goals in a victory over Dundee United, and it was an emotional moment as he said goodbye to the Celtic Park crowd. A few weeks later, he added another brace in his final competitive match for the team, a 3-1 victory over Dunfermline at Hampden as we completed the double by winning the Scottish Cup.
Henrik was without a doubt our outstanding player that campaign, but we dominated the domestic competition thanks to the efforts of his teammates as well. It could be considered the pinnacle of Martin O’Neill’s brilliance. Although we had won the triple crown in 2000–2001, this team appeared to be far more cohesive.
Naturally, we made it to the UEFA Cup final the year before, but we were eventually unsuccessful in finishing the season. Perhaps that served as a catalyst for the fantastic season we had the following year.
At the height of their careers, the players who comprised our team’s core that campaign were also. Jackie McNamara was thirty, Paul Lambert was thirty-four, Neil Lennon was thirty-two, Chris Sutton was thirty-one, and Henrik was, of course, departing.
David Marshall, John Kennedy, Shaun Maloney, Liam Miller, and Stephen Pearson were among our January additions; they were all excellent young players. Although Stan Petrov, at 25, was also a fixture in the first team, we ought to have strengthened our lineup that summer with a couple more excellent additions.
Rather than moving forward, we chose to do what we seem to do so often: we stopped. Henri Camara was our loan player in place of the best player of our generation. We signed an aging Stephane Henchoz and a Juninho who was past his prime.
Perhaps we could have accomplished so much more if we had signed a few players of established quality and made a few slight financial cuts. Rather, we had a miserable European campaign and an agonizing title defeat on the final day of the next season. What might have been. It sounds quite familiar.
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