The 3 Amigos.

Pierre
Jorge
Paolo

What i wouldn't give to have those three back in Celtic shirts right now. I know alot of Celtic fans that are still angry with the way in which they left the club, but no one can deny they were * good to watch (cheers Tommy).

Big Pierre is in the papers today saying there was a 4th amigo...my favourite ever Celtic player, Andy Thom. How great would it be too have those 4 playing with us right now?

Anyhow, whats your thoughts on these players?

 

If John Collins never left Celtic would probably have won the League and stopped them at 8 in a row.

We had quality players at the time except in midfield where it was guys like O'Donnell, Grant, Hannah, Hay and O'Neil. McStay only played 15 League games.

Kerr
McNamara Boyd Stubbs McKinlay
Di Canio Grant Collins Thom
Cadete Van Hooijdonk

Collins was scoring 12/13 goals a season and would probably have done so again, the added quality would probably have won the League.

Or even better if McStay wasnt injured

Kerr
McNamara Boyd Stubbs McKinlay
Di Canio McStay Collins Thom
Cadete Van Hooijdonk

That team could have gave O'Neill's team a game.
​

 

You could argue we played better one touch football when Pierre and Thom played up front the season we lost one game.

Di Canio was a joy to watch since his debut but I always remember the Falkirk cup games when the rest of the team would give him the ball and expect him to create something every time.

 

They were all cracking players. Di Canio and Cadete were the sexier signings at the time, mostly because people had heard of them and not many people had heard of big Pierre, but in the end Van Hooijdonk ended up being the best signing of the three.

Di Canio would have been an absolute legend here if he had stayed for longer. The way Fergus McCann handled the Di Canio situation is a black mark on his legacy and it cost Celtic a great player. Still, it's hard to get too angry at a man who saved the club and rebuilt Parkhead.

 

The story l heard at the time from a reasonable source was that when Di Canio came he was given a £12,000 a week contract which he had never been paid as much in Italy despite doing the rounds with several clubs. After one season in which we won nothing he wanted his contract increased to £20,000 per week at which Fergus told him to "get tae". This is where his "leetel problem" came from.

 

An Amigo on losing title to Huns in 1996, nearly broke TB's heart

PIERRE VAN HOOIJDONK last night claimed Rangers had been guilty of financial doping as he compared them to Tour de France drug cheats.
The former Celtic striker has no sympathy for the Ibrox side after watching them tumble to the Third Division following a financial implosion. The Dutchman was part of the Hoops side that finished second to the big-spending Ibrox club in 1996 – despite losing just one game all season.
Van Hooijdonk claims the sums Gers spent on stars they couldn’t really afford gave them an unfair advantage.
And he reckons that sowed the seeds for their eventual descent into administration then liquidation.
He said: “I’m not sorry for Rangers. I’m sorry for a lot of things missing from Scottish football now.
“But they spent too much. They made their mistakes.
“People can say we went a season and lost once while David Murray was signing players he could not afford.
“I agree. I know why people would say that.
“But is it the same as Floyd Landis winning the Tour de France because of doping?
“Is there a similarity there? If you are number two do you say you should have won the Tour de France? Maybe, I can see why they say that.”
But van Hooijdonk admits Gers haven’t been the only club guilty of overspending.
He said: “In football there are so many other clubs who did the same as Rangers.
“In Spain there are a lot of teams in debt. But in Holland if you are £1million in debt that’s you finished.
“Across Europe there are no rules which say you are allowed to have, say, just £500,000 of football debt.
“It’s completely unregulated. And that’s why football has never been a completely honest competition.”
The 43-year-old believes there should be no forgiveness for clubs in a financial mess.
He said: “Rangers made their mistakes and they have to pay for them – like many other clubs these days.
“I say to my Dutch friends who played for Rangers that they should help.
“We lost two clubs from the Dutch First Division this year. It’s a pity but if you do the crime you must do the time.”

 

You also have to wonder what might have happened were it not for that cheating * Farry not allowing us to register Cadete on time.

 

That's not quite how Di Canio tells it in his book, although what you've said does partly tie in with his version.

Di Canio said he arrived at Celtic and signed a contract for x amount per week. Fergus McCann told him before he signed the contract that if he did the business for Celtic then the contract would be re-negotiated at the end of the season. Di Canio went on to be Player of the Year in Scotland but, when the season came to a close, Fergus McCann wouldn't renegotiate the deal. Di Canio felt betrayed and wanted out.

 

Ah yes, the mythical "verbal contract".

Any agent worth his salt would get such an agreement in writing.

Methinks Di Canio was at it.

 

You could be right. If McCann did in fact say that to Di Canio then he should have honoured the agreement though. Fergus wasn't exactly shy about playing hardball or refusing to spend money where he felt it wasn't necessary so I am not disposed to dismiss Di Canio's version of events out of hand.

 

If he did say it then of course he should have honoured it.

I just don't see an agent accepting such a deal from a club, verbal contracts aren't worth the paper they aren't written on and those vultures know this better than anyone.

His agent has probably told him he can get double in England and he's went cap in hand to Fergus who has told him to sling his hook.

Money won in the end.

IMO of course.

 

The three amigos team were unbelievable. Great article that from big Pierre

 

TB's teams of 95/96 were crucial in bringing the good times back to Paradise after a horrible few years in the early half of the decade, though of course Fergus McCann has to take a lot of credit too.

But for the first time that decade, we actually felt we could realistically take the fight back to the Huns again, and apart from the Barnes debacle, the feelgood factor of being a Celtic fan has never been too far away since then.

 

Wee Fergus was solid when it came to contract negotiation, that's why we lost these guys, in fact, I'm sure he told big Pierre to 'come back when your sober' haha

That was a quality * team, absolutely loved Andy Thom, was a massive fan of him, created so many goals.

 

I doubt he would have believed that tbh. The EPL was not the big I am it is now, nowhere near as good as Serie a or La Liga and their wages were pitiful. I'm pretty sure i've read that Sevco were highest payers in Britain during that period - only a team like Manchester United could match them.

 

It was right at the start of the Sky boom though.

English football was swimming in money.

We lost Pierre to Forrest ffs!

 

Was that when Sky came in? I always believed it was the late 90's, early 2000's mate :smiley-laughing002:

 

It was. That was when we lost Di Canio. :smiley-laughing002:

 

It wasn't all bad! We gained Regi Blinker :icon_mrgreen:

 

don't mention that name.

I'll never forget him * it out of a 70/30 ball in his favour with the opposition goalie in a European tie.

I can't stand shitebags.