Late Eighties Decline – Celtic v Partizan Belgrade, 1989

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·30 January 2026

Late Eighties Decline – Celtic v Partizan Belgrade, 1989

LATE EIGHTIES DECLINE- CELTIC v PARTIZAN BELGRADE, 1989…

On Monday 10 July, Mo Johnston signed for Rangers and sparked a frenzy in the Scottish media. This was due mainly to him being the first Roman Catholic to sign for Rangers in modern times…

It was even more shocking because the player had apparently “signed” for Celtic only a few weeks before, only to see the deal collapse due to rumoured issues over tax. Not only had Celtic lost an excellent player to the direct benefit of their greatest rivals, but they had also been made to look embarrassingly incompetent. The psychological blow to Celtic was huge, and most would argue that it took the club years to recover.

October 1990: Mark Hately of Rangers goes down on his knees as Paul Elliott of Celtic moves in during the Skol Cup Final at Hampden. Photo Russell Cheyne/Allsport

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Despite this, Billy McNeill strengthened the squad by buying Mike Galloway from Hearts, Paul Elliott from Pisa and Darius Dziekanowski (hereafter referred to as “Jacki”) from Legia Warsaw. Bolstered by these new additions, Celtic started season 1989/90 quite well with four straight wins but then followed this with a series of draws and a defeat at Love Street to St Mirren on 9 September.

Three days later, Celtic faced Partizan Belgrade in the First Round of the Cup Winners’ Cup in Yugoslavia.

The match was played in Mostar due to recent crowd trouble at Partizan’s own stadium. Celtic wore their notorious yellow and green “convict” away strip, so nicknamed because its jagged vertical stripes resembled the outfits worn by chain gang prisoners in old American movies.

The first leg proved to be a tough match, with the referee booking four Partizan players and Celtic’s Mike Galloway. It was played in pouring rain on a very heavy pitch. Partizan scored first after 21 minutes, when Milojevic collected the ball inside his own half, ran unchallenged to the edge of the Celtic penalty area and then finished with a low shot past Bonner. Galloway equalised just before half time with a fine shot from 12 yards, but the Slavs regained the lead in 55 minutes through Djordjevic.

A narrow 1-2 loss was not seen as a bad result. With the away goal, Billy McNeill said in the Daily Record: “We’ve still a real good chance of winning the tie.” In the same report, Mike Galloway echoed the manager’s thoughts but added, prophetically as it turned out, “We have the power and the crowd behind us to win at Parkhead, provided we don’t do anything silly.”

The second leg took place on 27 September 1989. No one in the 49 298 crowd could have possibly anticipated what was about to unfold. Quite simply, this was one of the most dramatic, exciting and incredible matches ever seen at Celtic Park.

Celtic v Partizan Belgrade – Darius Dziekanowski scores Celtic’s fifth goal in the ECWC at Celtic Park on 27 September 1989. Photo The Celtic Wiki

By chance, the match highlights were shown across the UK on the BBC afterwards so this remarkable match received huge TV exposure. Given the number of goals and the constantly changing aggregate scores, it is probably helpful to break down the match into phases to give a clearer sense of how the aggregate lead swung back and forwards between the two sides.

The first half gave no hint as to what lay ahead. 2-1 up from the first leg, Partizan scored first after only 7 minutes to make it 3-1 on aggregate. After 25 minutes, Jacki scored from a header to make it 1-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate. In his BBC commentary, Barry Davies exclaimed, in his own inimitable way: “The Pole scores against the Yugoslavs…and the Scots go mad!” He would repeatedly refer to Jacki as “the Pole” during the remainder of the match.

Most of the incredible drama came in the first TWENTY MINUTES of a breathless second half, with FIVE goals being scored. Two minutes into the second half, the Partizan goalkeeper spilled a shot from Peter Grant, and the rebound was tucked away by Jacki. The aggregate score was finally LEVEL at 3-3, with both sides having scored an away goal.

Five minutes later, Derek Whyte’s casualness 30 yards from goal saw him dispossessed by Durovski, who drove forward and passed across to Durdevic. He was left with a simple tap-in to make it 2-2 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate to Partizan. It also meant the Slavs had scored two away goals. Five minutes later, after 56 minutes, Jacki completed his hat trick, driving home a fine shot from an Aitken cross. 3-2 to Celtic, but 4-4 on aggregate and advantage Partizan on away goals.

In 61 minutes, Celtic’s defence was yet again totally exposed as a long pass beat the offside trap and left Durovski with a simple finish. 3-3 on the night, 5-4 to Partisan on aggregate. Four minutes later, Andy Walker finished off a superb cross by Jacki into the six-yard box. 4-3 on the night, 5-5 on aggregate but still advantage Partizan.

After goals being scored at a rate of one every five minutes, play settled for a short while. Then, after 81 minutes, Celtic scored their fifth, again from Jacki who finished off a low cross from Galloway into the goal area. 5-3 on the night, 6-5 to Celtic on aggregate. The crowd celebrated hysterically. Finally, Celtic were in front in the tie!

Now, in the words of The Times, “Celtic merely required to play out time and with a minute remaining they had sustained the advantage which would take them into the next round.” Sadly, Mike Galloway’s words after the first leg – “provided we don’t do anything silly” – proved prophetic. Celtic did something very silly indeed, as they had been doing all night when it came to their defensive duties. Celtic simply lacked the tactical discipline to see the game out using the most common ploys- holding possession, keeping the ball deep in the opposition half and generally slowing the game down.

With one minute remaining, Joe Miller lost the ball near the corner flag at the Partizan goal line. A quick break down the left wing saw a cross come in which was nodded on to Scepovic in a central position, who scored with a free header from around six yards out. “It is UNBELIEVABLE!” gushed Barry Davies on BBC. 5-4 to Celtic on the night, 6-6 on aggregate but advantage to Partizan on away goals.

It was too late for Celtic to respond. “Celtic (winners by 5-4) somehow contrived to end up eliminated, victims of the away-goals rule after a series of defensive lapses at almost regular intervals.” (Dreams and Songs to Sing, by Tom Campbell and Pat Woods).

When the final whistle blew, most of the huge crowd was literally stunned into silence. They had witnessed an incredible match which featured NINE goals, a brilliant individual performance by Jacki (FOUR goals and ONE assist) and a continuous ebb and flow in the fortunes of both sides. The dramatic nature of the match inspired classical musician and Celtic fan James MacMillan to compose an instrumental piece called “The Berserking”, which is quite possibly a musical tribute unique in world football.

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter

In Celtic in the Eighties, David Potter summarises the events perfectly: “It was truly astonishing and devastating. The game became a “cause celebre” throughout all Europe and there cannot be very many players who scored four goals and finished up on the losing side.”

After the match, unsurprisingly, Jacki’s individual performance was highlighted. It would prove to be his best-ever match in a Celtic jersey, and arguably the greatest performance of his entire career. The team was praised for scoring five goals and for the resilience shown in repeatedly bouncing back from each setback. However, the loss of four goals and the careless way they were lost were rightly regarded as inexcusable. The whole Celtic team was condemned for its tactical naivety, with most blame being directed at defenders Rogan, Whyte and Aitken.

Manager McNeill was also heavily criticised for failing to make a substitution when the score was at 5-3, on the grounds that this would have used up valuable seconds and broken the momentum of play. Unbelievably, it was rumoured that even Jacki was lambasted in the dressing room after the match because he tried to score a fifth goal when, at 5-3, he could have laid the ball off to a team mate in a much better position.

Partisan would eliminate Groningen of the Netherlands 6-5 on aggregate in the second round. In the quarter final, they would lose 1-2 to Dinamo Bucharest in Romania and lose 0-2 in the second leg. As for Celtic, they were now out of Europe and out of the League Cup. It was only the end of September and there were still many games to play, but Celtic’s league form had been inconsistent and unconvincing. It would deteriorate further from January onwards and include some truly dreadful results. Celtic would eventually finish fifth and fail to qualify for Europe.

Celtic’s decline in Europe was now being matched by a precipitous decline at home…

James McDevitt

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