Flashback: Dundee Utd 0-1 Celtic

Let’s rewind back to 2008.

A great year in general, let’s be honest. Glasgow experienced a brilliant summer, the Euros in Austria and Switzerland were sensational, John Terry slipped and missed a crucial penalty and lest we forget the Tories weren’t anywhere near capable of taking control of a government without Tony ‘The Big Dog’ Blair at that point.

At Celtic, and in May of that year, there was a bittersweet feeling ahead of this particular trip to Dundee.

Despite a fine six game winning run, coinciding with going top of the league and being in control of our own destiny, the death of Tommy Burns a week beforehand ensured a highly emotional night ahead at Tannadice.

The fact that this final game of the season was on a Thursday night added to the atmosphere too.

Celtic went into the game knowing a win would clinch the title, and hoped Aberdeen would show no mercy to Rangers who had to travel up there for their final day clash.

Dundee United were cruelly robbed at Ibrox a couple of weeks before as well, and there were plenty of conspiracies ahead of the match, mainly from the internet toilet that is the Follow Follow website, that they would LIE DOWN to us.

That notion was swiftly clamped early into the first half when the home side took the game to us, dominating proceedings and missing a glorious chance that fell to Mark De Vries, who somehow sclaffed his effort wide after skinning Stephen McManus.

Both title contenders on Tayside and in the North East went in at half time 0-0.

Midway through the second half, there was THE BUZZ. The news that Aberdeen had taken the lead against Rangers, and suddenly the tension in the air evaporated, the fans enjoyed themselves and the players reacted to it positively, with the midfield Timsguard of Paul Hartley and Barry Robson now BOSSING it and dominating the engine room.

Blog guest Jan Vennegoor Of Hesselink would settle any lingering nerves, with twenty minutes to go, rising to bullet home a header and ensure three in a row was a certainty.

Shortly afterwards, Zander Diamond would gleefully celebrate in Rangers fans faces as Aberdeen made it 2-0 and the boys of the YCV would need to be content with a Scottish and League cup double that season instead.

I always felt Gordon Strachan should have left after that, on a high, but his stubbornness, not for the first time, would be his undoing at the club. It was the perfect time to depart, having been written off and verbally lambasted earlier in that season, as well as getting the most he could out of some very limited players, it beggared belief he persisted with undoing his fine work in 2007-2008 with a largely disappointing 08/09, gifting Rangers the title when they should have been out of sight in the January of that campaign.

Regardless, May 22nd 2008 was, and always will be, a very special evening for us as fans.