Celtic now don't look out of place in the UEFA
Champions League. But they have to win this game
came from Ajax. The calibre of player they
had then was top drawer,
Was it any consolation that it was such
a top-class outfit who had ended your
run in Europe?
Not really to be honest, At that time, we
always felt capable of matching ourselves
against most teams. You just have to hold
your hand up and say that they were better
than us, When it came to the second game
at Hampden, we still thought we could pull
it back. We won 1-0 but it was too much of a
deficit against a team like that.
How big a miss was the calming
influence of Bobby Murdoch over the
two games?
Bobby was probably one of Celtic's best
midfield players so you miss players like
that. But at that time the ethos was that no
one man was greater than the team.
Are you an admirer of Dutch football?
In those days, everyone associated
intelligent players with Dutch football and
that's not changed. There was the other
great Ajax team of the mid-90s who won
the European Cup as well. I remember
when Tommy Burns was manager and he
went over to watch their training methods
when Louis van Gaal was in charge. We
organised it through an agent we knew in
Holland at the time and Tommy went over
to look at their methods and he obviously
rated them highly. The difference with
Ajax then was that they were able to keep
their players but after Bosman it was more
difficult as their league doesn't have the
same financial resources as the top leagues.
Did you get to see a lot of Dutch
football during your time as a scout for
Celtic?
I spent a vast amount of time there. It was
mainly through a scout and he was highly
knowledgeable of Dutch football. I would
say I was in most boardrooms in Holland
looking at players and it was through that
we got big Pierre,
What have you made of Celtic's
displays in the UEFA Champions
League this season?
The performances in the first two games
merited more, points-wise. In the Milan
game, they created chances and should
46 Celtic vAjax
