# 1996–97 Celtic F.C. season

The 1996-97 season was the 103rd season of competitive football by Celtic.
Celtic finished the League second to Rangers same as the previous season; despite getting more points than their rivals against the rest of the teams in the league, they lost all four Old Firm derbies to end five points off the Govan club, which this way equalled Celtic's 1966-74 record of nine-in-a-row league titles.
Manager and former player Tommy Burns was sacked shortly after losing the Scottish Cup semi-final to Falkirk, and Billy Stark finished the season as caretaker. It was the second season in a row with no major honours for the Glasgow club, and the ninth in a row in which they failed to win the League.

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

## Season Summary

Once again, the season saw a very close title race between the two Old Firm teams. Celtic consistently remained second, only topping the table for a few days at the start of November, but stayed hot on the heels of Rangers, usually only being a couple of points behind them, and sometimes only by goal difference. However, points dropped on consecutive weekends in late November and early December saw the gap increase. Both sides endured turbulent runs of form in March, the pressure of the "Nine In A Row" - one seeking to achieve it, the other stopping it - telling. Following a 1-0 victory at Celtic Park during the final meeting of the two that season Rangers pulled decisively ahead in the title race, and this led to the dismissal of manager Tommy Burns three games before the end of the season.

## Competitions
### Scottish Premier Division
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rangers (C) | 36 | 25 | 5 | 6 | 85 | 33 | +52 | 80 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Celtic | 36 | 23 | 6 | 7 | 78 | 32 | +46 | 75 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Dundee United | 36 | 17 | 9 | 10 | 46 | 33 | +13 | 60 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 4 | Heart of Midlothian | 36 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 46 | 43 | +3 | 52 | |
| 5 | Dunfermline Athletic | 36 | 12 | 9 | 15 | 52 | 65 | −13 | 45 | |
* ↑ As the League Cup winners Rangers had qualified for European competition via their league position, the place in the UEFA Cup was passed to the next highest placed team in the league, Dundee United.

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | A | A | A | H | A | H | H |
| Result | D | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | W | L | D | L | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | L | L | D | D | W | W | D | W |
| Position | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Cup
## Statistics
### Disciplinary record

Includes all competitive matches. Players listed below made at least one appearance for Celtic first squad during the season.
| N | P | Name | Europe | Europe | League Cup | League Cup | Scottish Cup | Total | Total |
| 5 | DF | Alan Stubbs | | | | | 3 | 3 | |
| 17 | MF | Morten Wieghorst | | | | | | | |
| 1 | GK | Gordon Marshall | | | | | | | |
| 18 | DF | Malky Mackay | 1 | 1 | | | | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | DF | Stuart Gray | | | | | | | |
| 5 | DF | Enrico Annoni | | | | | 1 | 1 | |
| 10 | FW | Phil O'Donnell | | | | | | | |
| 11 | FW | Simon Donnelly | | | | | | | |
| 16 | DF | John Hughes | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | DF | Tom Boyd | | | 1 | | | 1 | |
| 9 | FW | Pierre Van Hooijdonk | | | 1 | | | 1 | |
| 7 | MF | Paolo Di Canio | | | 1 | | 1 | 2 | |
| 11 | FW | Jorge Cadete | | | | | | | |
| 14 | MF | Brian O'Neil | | | | | | | |
| 3 | DF | Tosh McKinlay | | | | | 1 | 1 | |
| 33 | DF | Peter Grant | | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | DF | Jackie McNamara | | | | | 1 | 1 | |
| 42 | MF | Paul McStay | | | | | | | |
| 42 | MF | Brian McLaughlin | | | | | | | |
| 10 | FW | Andreas Thom | | | 1 | | | 1 | |
Last updated: 22 July 2014 Source: Competitive matches Ordered by , and = Number of bookings; = Number of sending offs after a second yellow card; = Number of sending offs by a direct red card.

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| No. | Pos. | Name | Age | EU | Moving from | Type | Transfer window | Ends | Transfer fee | Source |
| 7 | FW | Paolo Di Canio | 28 | EU | AC Milan | Transfer | Summer | 1998 | £3,000,000 | |
| 6 | DF | Alan Stubbs | 24 | EU | Bolton Wanderers | Transfer | Summer | 1998 | £4,000,000 | |
| 16 | MF | David Hannah | 23 | EU | Dundee United | Transfer | Summer | 1998 | £650,000 | |
| 17 | DF | Enrico Annoni | 30 | EU | Roma | Transfer | Winter | 1999 | £300,000 | Source |
| 33 | DF | John Convery | 16 | EU | Glenavon | Transfer | Winter | 1998 | Free | Source |
| 12 | FW | Tommy Johnson | 26 | EU | Aston Villa | Transfer | Winter | 1998 | £2,400,000 | |
Total spending: £8.85 million

### Players out

| N | Pos. | Name | Age | EU | Moving to | Type | Transfer window | Transfer fee | Source |
| 1 | DF | Mike Galloway | 31 | EU | | Retirement | Summer | Free | Source |
| 4 | DF | Rudi Vata | 27 | EU | Apollon Limassol | Transfer | Summer | Free | Source |
| 11 | MF | John Collins | 28 | EU | A.S. Monaco | Transfer | Summer | Bosman | Source |
| 2 | DF | Lee Martin | 28 | EU | Bristol Rovers | Transfer | Summer | Free | Source |
| | DF | John Hughes | 32 | EU | Hibernian | Transfer | Mid-Season | £250,000 | |
| | MF | Declan Boyle | 22 | EU | Derry City | Transfer | Winter | £20,000 | Source |
| 9 | FW | Pierre Van Hooijdonk | 27 | EU | Nottingham Forest | Transfer | Mid-Season | £3,000,000 | |
Total income: £3.22 million