MARTIN O’NEILL swept to a breathtaking domestic treble in debut season as Celtic manager after arriving from Leicester City in the summer of 2000.
As he prepared to defend the silverware in his second crusade, the Irishman insisted it was his priority – even above progress in Europe – to retain the Premiership trophy.
O’Neill achieved the feat with a certain amount of flourish and swagger.
The ambitious gaffer and his all-action squad swatted aside all before them as they roared to the championship with an awesome total of 103 three points, dwarfing the previous term’s best of 97.
READ ALL ABOUT IT…how the leagues were won.
The Parkhead men went 18 games undefeated until they slipped to their solitary loss against Aberdeen at Pittodrie, 2-0 three days before Christmas.
However, with four games still to play, O’Neill’s second successive league title was wrapped up on a pleasant April 6 afternoon in 2002 in front of 59,752 cavorting fans when Henrik Larsson fired in a supreme hat-trick and John Hartson added two in a rampant 5-1 success over Livingston.
The championship had been delivered with style and panache against Jim Leishman’s enterprising line-up that was sitting fourth in the league and determined to gatecrash the party.
Larsson wrecked their plans inside three minutes when Paul Lambert and Hartson combined to set up the Swede and he did the rest with his customary aplomb from six yards.
GOAL-DEN BHOYS…hat-trick ace Henrik Larsson is congratulated by two-goal John Hartson in the 5-1 win over Livingston to seal the 2001/02 title.
Hartson added a second in 19 minutes when he volleyed a cross from Didier Agathe behind Javier Sanchez Broto, the Spanish keeper who would join up with the champions in the summer.
The netminder was helpless again when Hartson headed in No.3 six minutes later when he got on the end of a clever delivery from Steve Guppy and the ex-Leicester City winger was the provider again for Larsson to knock in the fourth just beyond the half-hour mark.
Larsson claimed the matchball with his third goal on the hour mark and it was left to Barry Wilson to give the small travelling support something to cheer by steering an effort past Rab Douglas late on.
At the final whistle, the Swedish superstar smiled: “You never get used to winning trophies. It feels absolutely fantastic.
“The title is the trophy we have been playing for all season and the way we did it was tremendous.”
* READ the full inside story of Celtic’s extraordinary 2001/02 championship triumph – and FIFTY other title successes – in ‘CELTIC: 50 Flags Plus One’ on sale now in CQN’s special Christmas sale. Just click below.
