30 years ago – in July 1996 - the Lisbon Lions stand was opened at Celtic Park, continuing the ground’s redevelopment.
There are four stands at Celtic Park: the main stand, North Stand, Lisbon Lions stand and Jock Stein stand. Each time one these has been opened, matches have been held to celebrate this.
The original Celtic Park opened in 1888 before 1892 when the Bhoys moved the short distance to the second site, which remains the location where the Celts play.
Over the years, the look of this venue has changed significantly, with many stands and structures being built and then knocked down, and in the case of the original pavilion, burned down as happened in 1929.
If looking at the current Parkhead, the history of this can be traced back to 1971, when the main stand was built, although the foundations of this are much older.
The oldest of Celtic’s stands is the main stand. Work on this began in 1970 and was eventually completed in 1971. It ran behind schedule which led to one very strange scenario.
By 14 August 1971, the League Cup campaign had begun but Celtic could not yet play at home due to the building works. This meant that their match versus Rangers had to be played at Ibrox – but with Celtic as the home team, and Celtic season tickets being valid!
11 days later, the main stand was finally ready for use. In terms of opening games for this new facility, there are two relevant fixtures. The first of these came in the League Cup on 25 August. Morton travelled to Celtic Park and the main stand was now open for fans.
To say the least, this was a less than auspicious occasion to mark the stand’s maiden game. Despite getting a penalty – which was missed by Kenny Dalglish – the Celts fell to a 1-0 defeat. Although Celtic still made it through to the final, they famously lost 4-1 to Partick Thistle.
However, this Morton fixture was not the main stand’s official opening event. Instead, that took place a week when Nacional from Uruguay were the glamour opponents invited to mark the occasion.
60,000 supporters were in Celtic Park, with the main stand being ticket-only and sold out. They watched on as Celtic legend Jimmy McGrory – the club’s all-time top scorer and former manager – performed the official ceremony.
This was a much brighter moment as the Hoops won 3-0 to officially christen the new stand with victory. Although there were also complaints from the Scottish League who were upset at the game being played during the season, despite the Scottish FA agreeing to this.
In the following decades, little major reconstruction work took place at Celtic Park. By the early-1990s, this left the club facing a major problem. The Hillsborough tragedy had led to a demand that all football stadiums be all-seated.
In this era, Celtic faced major financial problems and simply did not have the money to build such a venue. Pipe dreams of moving to Cambuslang soon disappeared. Eventually, this led to Fergus McCann’s takeover, after which there was rapid building progress at Celtic Park.
In the 1994-95 season, the Bhoys vacated their usual home and instead played at Hampden. Whilst they were away, Celtic Park was razed to the ground, except for the main stand. Building work soon followed at a cost of £17 million.
In place of the old Jungle section of the ground, a massive new North Stand was built. Quite simply, this towered over what had been the former ground. Also, with seats for 27,000 supporters, this was one of the biggest stands in Britain.
By 1995, everything looked brighter again for Celtic. The takeover had long since been completed, the Bhoys had held a successful share issue to raise much needed funds and, most importantly, the club’s first silverware since 1989 sat in the Parkhead trophy room.
In addition, the North Stand was now finished and ready for an official opening. On a gala day on 5 August 1995, fans got their first experience of this new venue.
A sell-out crowd turned up in Glasgow’s east end, with the brilliant sunshine capturing the general mood of optimism. Rod Stewart did the official honours at the ribbon-cutting to open the North Stand, before a friendly match was held.
Celtic’s opponents were Newcastle United, with a team full of stars including David Ginola and Peter Beardsley. They all helped entertain the supporters in a 1-1 draw. John Collins got the first goal in front of the new stand, thanks to a 30th minute penalty, before Les Ferdinand’s second half equaliser proved to be the last scoring of the match.
Now that one part of Fergus McCann’s new construction was complete, it would not be long before more building work took place. Behind the west stand – or old Celtic end – a temporary stand was erected, but this was only a short-term solution.
One year on, there was yet another new stand to be opened. And like in 1971, there were two relevant matches when it came to doing this.
Throughout the 1995-96 season, more building work had taken place at the east end of the ground, on the site of what had previously been referred to as the ‘Rangers end’. Now this stand was complete and ready for action.
On 31 July 1996, another English team made their way north of the border. This time it was Arsenal’s turn to experience the new Celtic Park, but it was also the first time for Celtic fans too.
Another sell-out crowd – this time with 47,300 fans – were in the ground. They witnessed a 2-1 win for the home side. In fact, Arsenal led for most of the match thanks to a Lee Dixon goal, but two very late strikes from Simon Donnelly and Phil O’Donnell ensured a green-and-white win.
Despite Arsenal being high-profile visitors, this match was not the official opening of the stand. Instead, this took place a few days later.
On 3 August 1996, Billy Connolly this time was given the opening honours. Wearing a standout green suit, the Glasgow comedian officially opened the new east stand, before a clash of the hoops where Celtic played Sporting Lisbon.
This match showed the best and worst of Celtic in this era. The Celts looked good going forward and enjoyed a two-goal advantage thanks to goals from Jorge Cadete – playing against his old club – and Simon Donnelly.
However, with ten minutes remaining, this good work was undone in little more than a minute. As the clock struck 80, Luis Filipe halved the deficit. And very shortly after this, the unfortunate John Hughes knocked into his own net, to seal a 2-2 draw.
In fact, you can argue that this stand has had three official openings. The first two came in 1996 when the building work was first done. The next happened four years later, but this time without any building changes.
Instead, the event in the year 2000 concerned a change of name. The stand was simply referred to as the east stand, although some fans referred to it using the old ‘Rangers end’ adage. But now Celtic wanted to use the venue to honour the club’s greatest side.
It was agreed that the east stand would be officially christened the ‘Lisbon Lions’ stand in celebration of all those players who contributed to European Cup glory in 1967. This was in response to a public vote in the choice of name, with Fergus McCann being runner-up.
On 1 February 2000, Bayern Munich came to Celtic Park. In front of a less than full Celtic Park, the Germans claimed a 2-1 victory. In truth, it was an unimportant game, and it was one that almost did not happen.
The previous Saturday, high winds had damaged some of the stadium, including the new stand. This had forced the postponement of Celtic’s Scottish Cup clash with Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The weather eventually calmed down enough to fix the roof and let the Bayern game go ahead.
But, of course, when it came to replay the Scottish Cup tie, the Celts were left wishing that the weather had again stopped this. Famously, ‘Super Caley went ballistic’ and knocked the hoops out of the cup, considered to be one of Celtic’s worst ever results.
In fact, when the Lisbon Lions stand received its official name, the full ground was now complete. After the east stand was finished in 1996, attentions turned to adding the final piece of the Celtic Park jigsaw.
Where the temporary stand had stood at the west end of the ground, construction began. By 1998, this was finished and ready to be opened for fans to use. The completed 60,000 stadium was an impressive sight; the biggest football ground in Scotland.
Once more, two matches were involved in the opening of this new stand. On the face of it, the first game played in front of fans should have been a major moment. As well as a fully rebuilt stadium, the Celts were in the qualifiers of the Champions League for the first time since it was rebranded from the European Cup.
On 22 July 1998, Dublin side St Patrick’s Athletic came to Celtic Park. 56,864 were in the ground. They watched an utterly lacklustre match which ended 0-0. There were even boos as the team left the pitch at full-time, although Celtic did at least go on to win the second leg.
This disappointing fixture was not the official opening though. Instead, that took place just over two weeks later. Liverpool were the latest team from England to open a Celtic Park stand.
Before the match began, there was a poignant ceremony. This latest stand was to be named after Jock Stein, the man who had led Celtic to Europe’s pinnacle. His wife Jean opened the stand, and she was joined by most of the Lisbon Lions, who showed off their famous trophy.
This time it was a sell-out and 59,727 supporters crammed into the ground, a sight which has become common in the years since. They did not get to cheer a goal as the Merseyside men claimed a 1-0 win, but Celtic knew they were on the upward track.
The changing face of Celtic Park has been truly remarkable, including the surrounding areas. For now, the ground has a fixed feel to it although there are always demands from supporters for further changes, including another tier being added to the main stand.
In addition, there are regular fan discussions about whether more names should be added to the ground; figures such as Brother Walfrid or Fergus McCann are usually promoted in relation to this.
Whichever stand you sit in at Celtic Park, it is one that has been witness to so many memorable moments in the club’s history. The club’s home since 1892, it’s one place that you know where there’s going to be a show.
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