'We beat Rangers 5-1 – but the Celtic job was excruciating and just too much'

A manager who led Celtic to a 5-1 win over Rangers found the job “excruciating”, according to one of his former players.

Celtic were on a high in 1998 after thwarting Rangers’ quest for a 10th title in a row. However, their plans for the following season were soon thrown into disarray when boss Wim Jansen left, citing differences with then owner Fergus McCann and managing director Jock Brown.

The Hoops then made one of the most left-field appointments in their history in Jozef Venglos. The Slovakian has previously managed Aston Villa and Fenerbahce, plus his country, but found the pressure of the Parkhead job too much, Celtic hero Paul Lambert has recalled.

“Jozef came in and he was a really top guy,” the former midfielder told the Undr The Cosh podcast. “A nicer guy you couldn’t wish to meet.

“I think Celtic was too much pressure for him because he came in at an older age (62). The best thing he did was bring Lubomir Moravcik in. He was so good, you couldn’t tell what his strongest foot was. He was brilliant.”

Lambert added: “But that job was excruciating for Jozef. To be fair, we beat Rangers 5-1 on Lubo’s debut. That bought a wee bit of time, but the job was too much for him.”

Celtic went on to finish six points behind champions Rangers and Venglos left the manager’s role that summer. Asked if the expectation was also too much for John Barnes, who was sacked just a few months into his reign after replacing Venglos, Lambert added: “I got on well with John, I never had any problems with him at all.

“I don’t know what he thought, coming up from Liverpool to Glasgow. To be fair, we started the season really well.

“I then got injured, Henrik [Larsson] broke his leg. The bigger players were injured at the time. Obviously,