THE VITALS:

Team: Celtic

Brand: Umbro

Era: 2001-03 (Used for the 2001-02 & 2002-03 Scottish Premier League Seasons, the 2002 Scottish Cup Final, the 2003 Scottish League Cup Final and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: GOOD

This shirt following nearly two decades (at the time of writing), has seen its fair share of wear to say the least, as evidenced by the bobbling, discolouring of the white and the removal of the felt sponsor. With that being said however, the shirt is still more than wearable, and the blemishes have been reflected in the price.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19.5 inches

Shirt Length: 26.5 inches

Made by Umbro in 2001; their template lends itself to a fine size small fitting football shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

The newly minted Scottish treble winners were adorned with a glorious new modern contemporary home shirt by Umbro for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. While the previous shirt was almost a throwback to their shirts from the yesteryear; this effort was very much in tune with the new decade of the 2000’s! This shirt was equipped with an imitation v-neck and the addition of a series of black trims, while the green hoops were reduced to 6 on the main body. While the hoops covered the entirety of the sleeves in the previous iteration, the underarms are now being broken up by solid white panels; thus, creating a phenomenal shirt for ‘The Bhoys’ for that legendary 2 season stint! This shirt would be worn as Celtic won the league title in 2001-02 and reached the final of the Scottish Cup in 2002 and the finals of the Scottish League Cup and the UEFA Cup in 2003!

THE SEASON(S):

Martin O’Neill would write himself into Celtic folklore as he guided the club to a legendary domestic clean sweep in the his debut season in charge of the club in 2000-01, and thus, enabling an opportunity for a first ever foray into the UEFA Champions League Group Stages!

John Hartson, Dianbobo Balde, Momo Sylla and Steve Guppy were the new additions to the club in the 2001-02 season. The club would reach the Champions League Group Stages after defeating Ajax 3-2 on aggregate in the crucial 3^rd Round Qualifier! Drawn along with: Juventus, FC Porto and Rosenborg; Celtic would enjoy famous wins at Celtic Park over both Porto and Juventus, but would be relegated to the UEFA Cup after narrowly missing out on qualification to the 2^nd Group Stage. Their European journey would end in the UEFA Cup 4^th 3^rd Round when they were beaten by Valencia on penalties but would defeat the 2000 & 2001 UEFA Champions League runners-up 1-0 at Celtic Park to evoke the shoot-out!

While the European foray ended somewhat prematurely, the season would still be considered a huge success as the club retained the league title after accumulating a record 103 point haul! They would sadly relinquish both of the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup; reaching the final of the former, only to lose to bitter rivals Rangers!

Magnus Hedman and Ulrik Laursen were added to Martin O’Neill’s squad ahead of the 2002-03 season, however, the season would begin on a dour note as they threw away a 3-1 home lead from the 1^st Leg to eventually crumble in the 2^nd Leg against FC Basel in their Champions League Play-Off to reach the Group Stage’s!

The league season would begin with 5 straight wins, however, they would meet their match in the form of a doggedly determined Rangers side, and in one of the most incredible Scottish title races; Rangers would eventually dethrone Celtic, albeit on goal difference!

Their city rivals would also get the better of them in the Scottish Cup Final, while they would get to the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup, in what was reverse of outcomes in the domestic cups from the previous seasons.

Their UEFA Cup journey began with a 10-1 aggregate win over Lithuanian side – Suduva, before taking the scalps of: Blackburn Rovers, Celta Vigo, Stuttgart, Liverpool and Boavista to reach the May 21^st Finale in Seville against FC Porto no less! An exhilarating contest saw Celtic battle back from behind on two separate occasions, however, they would be beaten 3-2 after extra time to conclude this most incredible and agonisingly heart-breaking of season’s!   

The notable players that season(s) were:

Shaun Maloney, David Fernandez, John Hartson, Chris Sutton, Henrik Larsson, Jamie Smith, Steve Guppy, Lubomir Moravcik, Colin Healy, Stylian Petrov, Neil Lennon, Didier Agathe, Bobby Petta, Alan Thompson, Mohammed Sylla, Paul Lambert, Liam Miller, John Kennedy, Stephen Crainey, Johan Mjallby, Stanislav Varga, Ulrik Laursen, Joos Valgaeren, Jackie McNamara, Tom Boyd, Olivier Tebily, Dmitri Kharine, Rab Douglas, Jonathan Gould