Celtic’s 10-in-a-row-buster Harald Brattbakk: ‘It’s easier to stop 10 than win 10’
Harald Brattbakk helped Rosenborg to ten league titles in a row, but the ex-Celtic striker says the highlight of his career will always be denying Rangers' ten.
The former Norway striker scored the clincher on the final day of a rollercoaster season in 1998, to help Wim Jansen's men halt Walter Smith's march to an historic ten in a row.
Jock Stein's all-conquering Celtic side slipped up after nine titles in the 1970s, and this season it's Neil Lennon's men who are struggling to deal with the pressure of chasing ten.
Having won ten and stopped ten, Brattbakk is in a unique position to offer his views on this season's title race in Scotland.
The obvious question: which is easier?
“It's easier to stop ten,” Brattbakk says, without delay.
“It only takes one chance or one shot to win one title...but to win ten you need to perform at your best for ten years; that's a much, much bigger achievement.
“Having said that, winning 2-0 against St Johnstone and stopping Rangers from getting ten — it might be easier, but it was better.
There are few comparisons between this season and Brattbakk's debut season in Scotland, in 1997. Back then, Smith's men, going for ten in a row, enjoyed a solid start to the season and had lost just once by the time the Norwegian arrived in Scotland.
Wim Jansen's men, on the other hand, had lost five games before the January 2 clash in Celtic Park.
On Saturday, Steven Gerrard's underdogs can go 19 points clear (albeit with three games more played), should they defeat Celtic for the second time this season.
“When I arrived late in 1997, I was not too aware of the situation of stopping ten in a row, I really didn't feel that pressure at first,” Brattbakk said.
“I came in December and we'd lost a few games so it's hard to think anything is decided just yet,” he said.
“In January, or close to February, you'll get a better idea, and the games will all become more important as the season goes on.
“It's mostly now about how the players handle the pressure, and the experienced players, like Scott Brown, will need to ease things for the younger players.”
Neil Lennon has come under fire from Celtic fans this season as the club struggle to match last season's heights, but Brattbakk recalls a similar slump in Rosenborg's ten in a row season.
“The manager [Nils Arne Eggen] was instrumental in Rosenborg getting to ten titles, and one of the best things he did was in the summer of 2001, when we were starting the 'ten season'. We were a bit behind early on and when we came back from the summer break, we expected things to change, and the coach to do new things.
“But the most important thing was how he went on as if nothing had happened... the sessions remained the same, there was nothing different off the pitch, we just focused on the next game, next win, next tackle.
“It was about being confident in what we knew we could do.”
Lennon has taken a similar approach, staying calm while those around him called for radical change. Victory today, and then in the Hoops' three games in hand would slash Rangers' lead to four points – and all of a sudden, hope returns.
Celtic denied Rangers on the final day of the '97/'98 season, and Brattbakk hopes the current players can still experience something similar.
“It's rewarding to have won so many titles with Rosenborg, but everything around that game, that title in 1998... it's still the most special thing I've been through in my career,” he said.
“I've never seen emotions run so high, anywhere. I've been fortunate to win titles, play in the Champions League, and for and against good teams, but that experience of '98 comes out on top of my list.
“Everyone asks me what I remember from that day — but it's nothing! I was focusing on the job at hand and there was a huge party afterward, so it's hard to remember a thing."
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