Re-visiting our 10 IAR season

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EricBoAnderson

Well-Known Member
Naturally an extremely disappointing season however after how they have went about trying to win their 10 (9.75 in reality of course) I can't help but look back a feel a tiny bit better about season 97/98. Just feel our downfall was we let too many players grow old together. Even with this had Amo and Negri not got injured then I think we would have had a enough to do it. But at least we took it down to the wire and gave it everything until the end.
 
EricBoAnderson said:
Naturally an extremely disappointing season however after how they have went about trying to win their 10 (9.75 in reality of course) I can't help but look back a feel a tiny bit better about season 97/98. Just feel our downfall was we let too many players grow old together. Even with this had Amo and Negri not got injured then I think we would have had a enough to do it. But at least we took it down to the wire and gave it everything until the end.
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Ran out of steam. Won’t ever know if Walter announcing his retirement has an adverse affect
 
SirWalterSmith said:
The great what if. Think the story was going to break and Walter announced it so the players would hear it from him.
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I always thought Murray was expecting to get roasted at the agm for our European record(think we were knocked out just before agm) so the story broke to take the heat off
 
People on here will tell you we lost the league that season because we sold Gazza just after Christmas.

What is overlooked is he was an unfit overweight underperforming mess for the entirety of that season. Mind you he wasn’t the only one.

Unfit players (Gascoigne), disinterested players (Laudrup), injuries (Amoruso, Negri), and that’s only scratching the surface to be honest.
 
EricBoAnderson said:
Naturally an extremely disappointing season however after how they have went about trying to win their 10 (9.75 in reality of course) I can't help but look back a feel a tiny bit better about season 97/98. Just feel our downfall was we let too many players grow old together. Even with this had Amo and Negri not got injured then I think we would have had a enough to do it. But at least we took it down to the wire and gave it everything until the end.
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We didn't turn on the players who gave us so much.
Just realized we gave our all and it just fell short. Was still proud of them. They wanted it s much as us.
Thats the difference between us and them.
No surrender!
 
albertz81 said:
People on here will tell you we lost the league that season because we sold Gazza just after Christmas.

What is overlooked is he was an unfit overweight underperforming mess for the entirety of that season. Mind you he wasn’t the only one.

Unfit players (Gascoigne), disinterested players (Laudrup), injuries (Amoruso, Negri), and that’s only scratching the surface to be honest.
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Ageing stalwarts and the fact they all knew Walter was going at the end of the season was just a stretch too far.
 
Death of Diana. We were heading in to an OF game where we would destroy the tims but it got postponed.
I was a TINY bit worried that only Negri was scoring and in the end we just struggled.
I don't think it was pressure and we never really blew it. It just never happened.
I look back at all those years as some of my happiest.
Timmy's last ten years will all be forgotten. They have tried to raise their spirits recently by producing little NIAR and qudrooble tebbble videos and comments. I actually have no problem watching old firm defeats that ultimately were meaningless.
Our NIAR time was glorious and is remembered by us and them.
TI*R was all they wanted from the last 10 years. They could have been going for their 10th treble in a row this season. They could have won the league cup and the scottish cup this season but missing out on the "tenth" title is all that would matter.
Right now, if we win the league, the past 9 years to Timmy will be like Bobby Ewing stepping out of the shower.
 
Frank Burnside said:
We ran out of steam and were unlucky with injuries & issues outwith our control - Gazza's personal issues & Laudrup's head messed up with the Chelsea contract he signed then tried to get out of almost immediately.

But we were never embarrassing, we were never a laughing stock.
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I’d say Laudrup was more affected by the Ajax deal not coming off rather than the Chelsea deal, if memory serves he didn’t sign that until after the season had finished.
 
alba73 said:
I always thought Murray was expecting to get roasted at the agm for our European record(think we were knocked out just before agm) so the story broke to take the heat off
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You could be right. ENIC wanted Walter gone . Somehow Iain king got a hold of the story and Walter broke if himself. Wouldn't put it past Murray leaking it to save his own skin
 
albertz81 said:
People on here will tell you we lost the league that season because we sold Gazza just after Christmas.

What is overlooked is he was an unfit overweight underperforming mess for the entirety of that season. Mind you he wasn’t the only one.

Unfit players (Gascoigne), disinterested players (Laudrup), injuries (Amoruso, Negri), and that’s only scratching the surface to be honest.
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I
alba73 said:
I always thought Murray was expecting to get roasted at the agm for our European record(think we were knocked out just before agm) so the story broke to take the heat off
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Yeah we were shocking in europe that season if memory serves. Think we were knocked out champions league by some swedish team? Ridiculous considering the players we had
 
Smkz23 said:
I’d say Laudrup was more affected by the Ajax deal not coming off rather than the Chelsea deal, if memory serves he didn’t sign that until after the season had finished.
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Was that what it was? I always thought he'd agreed to sign for Chelsea earlier but wanted to cancel after finding out he'd be part of a squad rotation policy. It's been a while, I'm maybe mixing up stories.
 
Still think it was a blown opportunity. We effectively 10 years of work because of one goal

there was no excuse for it, but there were explanations. Walter leaving, too many players past their best (Gough, Ally, McCall), etc. Yet Negri in the first six months was unstoppable and Albertz was arguably the best player in the League that year and stayed immense all the way to the end. With the squad we had, we should have done it.

So close, yet so far away.
 
Frank Burnside said:
Was that what it was? I always thought he'd agreed to sign for Chelsea earlier but wanted to cancel after finding out he'd be part of a squad rotation policy. It's been a while, I'm maybe mixing up stories.
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That much is true as regards his time at Chelsea, as regards when he signed I’m sure @SDF can tell us.
 
Kyle in Sydney said:
Still think it was a blown opportunity. We effectively 10 years of work because of one goal

there was no excuse for it, but there were explanations. Walter leaving, too many players past their best (Gough, Ally, McCall), etc. Yet Negri in the first six months was unstoppable and Albertz was arguably the best player in the League that year and stayed immense all the way to the end. With the squad we had, we should have done it.

So close, yet so far away.
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Gough came back after an SOS from Walter after amo got injured
 
Kyle in Sydney said:
Still think it was a blown opportunity. We effectively 10 years of work because of one goal

there was no excuse for it, but there were explanations. Walter leaving, too many players past their best (Gough, Ally, McCall), etc. Yet Negri in the first six months was unstoppable and Albertz was arguably the best player in the League that year and stayed immense all the way to the end. With the squad we had, we should have done it.

So close, yet so far away.
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I think as well there was so much pressure leading up to the nine god knows how it impacted on the team. But when you compare our squad to Celtics. It shouldn't even have been close.
 
I don't understand how Walter's retirement announcement could be seen as a possible reason for our failure.

The team was naturally reaching the end of its cycle and it was inevitable he was going to go, sooner rather than later.

He did the same thing in 2010/11 and we won the league, which was seen as a perfect swansong. I'd have thought it would have been a similar idea that season - a successful team looking to bow out one last time.

I think it's become a convenient excuse for a range of failures that season, the biggest of which may have been the fact that 10 was never the real priority - it was getting nine.
 
Hindsight is brilliant but Barry Ferguson should have been given a run. 6 months later he was running the rangers midfield. Needed that fresh youthful exuberance. Theres a clip of us winning at Ibrox against dundee united. Barry was through on goal gazza instead of passing to him took the shot on that went wide. Barry slammed the ground in frustration. An 18 year old giving gazza shit.
 
What was it, we were top of the league with three games left?

Then there are moon howlers saying Celtic threw it away this year?

Not even in the same ballpark.
 
The problem was that during the 8 and 9 in a row seasons we had to be on our game every match as every point was vital with the mentally challengeds pushing us for the best part of those two years.

Most of us going into the 97-98 probably thought that with the squad we had it was just a matter of doing what had to be done to win 10iar as after winning 9 it seemed to lift the pressure off us.

There was no pressure on the mentally challengeds that year but once they strung a few results together I think we found it hard to adjust to being in a title race. That said both teams were rank and I dont think either team could string a decent run and it was just a matter of who was top at the end.
 
Laudrup never hit the heights of the previous 3 seasons. Gascoigne just wasn't at it, and his decline was rapid from the high of 8IAR to struggling at Middlesbrough and Everton.

Negri chucked it after his squash injury, Amoruso was a marquee signing who was injured for most of the campaign, Thern looked like a guy on his last legs.

And we never properly replaced Robertson, Stensaas was murder.

Add to that the aging McCoist, Goram, McCall, etc. Gordon Durie not finding the net often enough.

It was just a culmination of loads of things.

But we fought to the end and the players and manager left with their heads held high.
 
ClockworkOrange said:
I don't understand how Walter's retirement announcement could be seen as a possible reason for our failure.

The team was naturally reaching the end of its cycle and it was inevitable he was going to go, sooner rather than later.

He did the same thing in 2010/11 and we won the league, which was seen as a perfect swansong. I'd have thought it would have been a similar idea that season - a successful team looking to bow out one last time.

I think it's become a convenient excuse for a range of failures that season, the biggest of which may have been the fact that 10 was never the real priority - it was getting nine.
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I agree about ten not being the priority . Even now the players involved say ok we missed ten but can you imagine we missed 9
 
DarthVader said:
Laudrup never hit the heights of the previous 3 seasons. Gascoigne just wasn't at it, and his decline was rapid from the high of 8IAR to struggling at Middlesbrough and Everton.

Negri chucked it after his squash injury, Amoruso was a marquee signing who was injured for most of the campaign, Thern looked like a guy on his last legs.

And we never properly replaced Robertson, Stensaas was murder.

Add to that the aging McCoist, Goram, McCall, etc. Gordon Durie not finding the net often enough.

It was just a culmination of loads of things.

But we fought to the end and the players and manager left with their heads held high.
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Thern definitely was on his last legs but I remember him having a purple patch towards the end of the season. Could tell he used to be a quality player.
 
aldoshmaldo said:
Gascoigne produced one of the most classy and disciplined performances I’ve ever seen from a centre mid against Celtic at Ibrox in November that season.

Pure class that day. Not going past players, just the way he totally controlled the match. He was exceptional that day.
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I remember a few weeks earlier to that he produced a midfield masterclass for England against Italy to qualify for the world cup in France. Based on this performance and the one you mention, you would have thought we were on for the ten and that England had a chance in France but fast forward 6 months and he was the shadow of that player due to his lifestyle choices
 
amabluestar said:
We were going to have 3 teams.
1 For Europe, 1 for League, I for Cups.
Took it to the last day at Tannadice, and not one of us left the park for an hour after the final whistle.
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I remember the sun pullout mate. Ah memories of the three teams. And in the end it was super ally who almost dragged us home
 
considering we won feck all, I do look back on that season fondly. First season going to away games regularly and of course there was the semi final.
 
Smkz23 said:
That much is true as regards his time at Chelsea, as regards when he signed I’m sure @SDF can tell us.
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Story broke he was signing for them in February. Gullit was the one who wanted him in the first place.

Gullit met with him a day before he was sacked and agreed the deal. Vialli took over and the deal still went through but Laudrup was told when he arrived he was part of the rotation.
 
amabluestar said:
We were going to have 3 teams.
1 For Europe, 1 for League, I for Cups.
Took it to the last day at Tannadice, and not one of us left the park for an hour after the final whistle.
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Losing the cup final was quite an odd occasion as well as that squad deserved to sign off with a trophy even if it wasn’t the league title everyone wanted
 
OohAhHuistra said:
Losing the cup final was quite an odd occasion as well as that squad deserved to sign off with a trophy even if it was the league title everyone wanted
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It’s probably symbolic that they lost that cup final, because of two horrendous decisions.
 
It’s weird looking back.

NIAR seemed a mythical type achievement that the Tims would always have above us.

As the years past and 8 then 9 came along the realisation that we might equal it brought massive pressure.

The win at Dundee United when we finally did, after messing up v Motherwell at home, is still my favourite and most emotional game.

Being honest after getting NIAR we weren’t nearly as focused on doing 10 as a support they were in stopping us. The intensity was lost.
 
EricBoAnderson said:
Thern definitely was on his last legs but I remember him having a purple patch towards the end of the season. Could tell he used to be a quality player.
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The story goes that he was getting ready to retire in 97 and got an offer to go to us on a free and earning 30 grand a week persuaded him to delay the retirement party.

His pass to Albertz at the piggery to set up Ally for the diving header was a thing of beauty
 
aldoshmaldo said:
Gascoigne produced one of the most classy and disciplined performances I’ve ever seen from a centre mid against Celtic at Ibrox in November that season.

Pure class that day. Not going past players, just the way he totally controlled the match. He was exceptional that day.
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Good shout.And up until he got sent off(disgracefully by baldy Rowbotham)at the piggery 10 days later he was the best player on the park.Copped a hefty ban which put him out for all of December and we all know his demons when he wasn’t playing.
 
We only won 21 out of 36 games. Ended up with 72 points.

A total we are almost at this season after 24 games.

Most folk reference the Killie game but we beat Celtic to go top of the league with 4 games to go then lost at Pittodrie with Amo being sent off.

Had we won there I am certain we would have seen it out.
 
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