Monday 15 January 2007

Celtic 5 Aberdeen 0 - 1st April 1996

By the first day of April 1996, Celtic had lost only one league game all season. Yet they still trailed Rangers by 8 points with this game against Aberdeen in hand. 10 draws in 30 games played had seriously hampered Celtic's assault on the title.

This game against Aberdeen is remembered for a variety of reasons. It was a Monday night game, live on STV. It was a rout. It marked the home debut of Jorge Cadete after a protracted transfer saga. Jorge Cadete scored. The Celtic fans went wild. Radio Five went off air due to the noise.

In all, it was a fine performance from Celtic. Simon Donnelly opened the scoring earling on, with Pierre Van Hooijdonk adding a second before Half Time. Both players then scored again to put Celtic 4-0 up. And Cadete enjoys his dream debut to make it 5-0.

Cadete would add another 4 goals in the remaining 5 league matches of the season. It should have been more. However, the portuguese striker was caught up in one of the biggest scandals in Scottish footbal history when SFA chief executive Jim Farry deliberately held up Cadete's registration as a Celtic player, causing him to miss vital games in the title run in. The incident cost Farry his job. Whether it cost Celtic a league title is something that will be debated for years to come.







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