Inside the opening-day Celtic victory that birthed the legend of Larsson and Sutton

The date was July 30 2000. The venue was Tannadice Stadium in Dundee.

Celtic were embarking on a new era under the Northern Irishman and travelled to Tayside to face Dundee United on the opening day of the 2000-01 campaign.

It was to turn out to be a memorable season in more ways than one.

O'Neill had brought Englishman Chris Sutton - a Premier League title-winner with Blackburn Rovers in 1994-95 - from Chelsea in a £6million deal in the summer to partnerHenrik Larsson in attack.

Larsson was returning from injury after sustaining a horrific leg break in a UEFA cup tie the previous season.

The critics and sceptics were out in force as Sutton was labelled a flop after his £10m move to Stamford Bridge turned into a nightmare while many doubted that Larsson could recapture his early Hoops form.

More fool them. Celtic triumphed 2-1 with both Larsson and Sutton getting on the scoresheet.

However something more spectacular was also afoot.

It was the day that spawned the start of Celtic's dynamic duo as the goalscoring legend of ‘Sutton and Larsson’ was born.

Former Celtic captain Tom Boyd had a close-up view of the strikeforce and he'd often marvel at their exploits as the Hoops scooped their first domestic treble since 1969.

They would also hammer Rangers 6-2 in the first Glasgow derby of the season with, you guessed it, Larsson and Sutton notching doubles.

Between them, Larsson (53) and Sutton (14) scored 67 goals that season as the Swede waltzed off with European football's highly coveted Golden Shoe.

Boyd posits that there was something special in the Dundee air from that very first night more than two decades ago as the O'Neill revolution kicked in on day one.

"When Celtic signed a player of the quality of Chris from Chelsea and teamed him up with Henrik you just got the feeling that something special was going to happen,” the 56-year-old told The Celtic Way.

“Whenever a new manager comes to a club it is all about the players he can bring in. Martin O'Neill absolutely transformed that Celtic side.

"He brought in fresh bodies and married them to what he already had at the club. Not only did he bring in Sutton but Alan Thompson, Neil Lennon and John Harston would all arrive during his time and they were real quality additions. 

“Celtic already had the likes of Larsson, Paul Lambert, Johan Mjallby, Jackie McNamara, and Stiliyan Petrov at the club but, in a managerial sense, O'Neill was definitely what we needed at the time.

"Bringing in Sutton in particular gave the team real confidence as it was a statement of intent by the manager right from the off.

“Sutty had a great goalscoring record before he joined Chelsea and he turned out to be the perfect foil for Henrik. He took all the pressure off him of being Celtic's main striker. The two of them just hit it off instantly – starting that day at Tannadice.

“The players all felt that Sutton coming into Celtic was a good sign that things were going to go well for us and that we could be successful.

Chris Sutton celebrates his debut winner at Tannadice

"The two strikers made the impact the manager would have wanted. Henrik was fantastic but Chris hit the ground running too. To have your two main attackers firing on all cylinders from the get-go was brilliant. Martin certainly wanted his two main forwards to get in among the goals straight away and that's what happened for us that season.

"Chris and Henrik had an instant impact on each other as they were our two goalscorers that day at Tannadice. For Henrik to score 53 goals in that campaign was incredible but a lot of the credit must also go to Chris as they were the perfect double act up front – they terrorised defences.

"Both were absolutely outstanding that season. There were times when I stood at the back of the defensive pack and watched on just marvelling at what they did together.

"The season before Larsson had been out injured with his leg break and serious questions were being asked if he could rediscover his goalscoring touch. He came back better than ever and proved any doubters wrong. I think that was partly because Sutton was up there alongside him to help him so much.

"He won the Golden Shoe by scoring 53 goals that season. That's over 25 times more goals than I got in my whole Celtic career!"

Larsson would go on to score 242 goals in 315 games for Celtic in total. Sutton managed 86 goals in a five-and-a-half-year stint in Glasgow's east end.

On the field, the pair had a telepathic understanding and Sutton – who won the English top-flight in tandem with Alan Shearer – maintains that Larsson is by far and away the best strike partner he ever played alongside.

That day on Tayside saw Larsson curl home a superb opener in 37 minutes before David McCracken equalised for the Tangerines four minutes after the restart. Sutton was not to be denied and bundled home from close range for what proved to be a priceless winner after 66 minutes.

Boyd said: "They both get on well enough off the park and they had a great understanding on the field. It started to gel instantly in that Dundee United game at Tannadice. It was still early doors but that friendship and partnership developed and blossomed as time went on. What better way to start that friendship and partnership than by scoring a goal apiece against Dundee United in a 2-1 win?"

It got Celtic off to the proverbial league flyer, especially after Dick Advocaat's Rangers had won the title the previous season by a landslide of 21 points.

Boyd remembers only too well how O'Neill constantly referred to Rangers back then as “the benchmark".

"There was huge pressure on Celtic that season as Rangers had won the title by so many points,” he said. “Martin came in and said that he would do his best to bring success to the football club and the rest is history.

"When I signed for Celtic in 1992 I thought we would have celebrated more trophy success but that wasn't to be. There is always pressure at Celtic but Rangers were going for their third title win on the spin under Advocaat back then. We knew we had to do something to prevent that from happening.

"Everything was geared for that Dundee United game as we felt that we had a point to prove to everyone. Rangers had a cracking team but we wanted to show that we could compete and go toe-to-toe with them for the big prizes.

"Rangers were the title-holders and had been there and got the T-shirt. Martin swept in and told us all from day one that they were the benchmark. If he said that once he kept repeating it. Even when Celtic were 15 points clear in the title race he kept saying that Rangers had set the standard, they were the benchmark and the team Celtic had to beat.

"He just didn't want us to slacken off. From the moment the season kicked off at Tannadice against United we were bang at it though.

“Martin spoke about Rangers in order to take all the pressure off his players as we started the campaign off ever so well. He did that to deflect the limelight off us as a team. That United game was pivotal to us as the Celtic journey under Martin really started there. We were a wee bit more assured in what we were doing.

“Martin had enjoyed success as a manager with Leicester City so we knew we were on a real sure footing which was in contrast to the era of John Barnes, who was the manager the year before.

"The style of play under Martin certainly suited the players a bit more too. It really developed under him and, in turn, he was given funds by the board to attract more quality players and that is why Celtic ended up being so successful."

Celtic would win three titles, three Scottish Cups and a League Cup under O'Neill, who also guided them to the UEFA final in 2003.

Boyd, though, insists the seeds of the success were sown on that fateful day at Tannadice when the management, players and supporters were working in unison; there was total harmony in the ranks.

The ex-Motherwell and Chelsea defender even reckons that O'Neill's trademark celebration of Celtic goals where he bounced up and down on the touchline was contagious and that it became a legendary feature of his tenure at the club.

Boyd said: "Everything that happened at Celtic under Martin grew from that day at Tannadice.

“The manager, players and fans developed an instant bond and that transferred to the supporters who got right behind us. Everybody connected with Celtic was singing from the same hymnsheet and it was all down to that crucial win against Dundee United.

"You only had to look at the way the Celtic manager celebrated our goals on the sideline when he jumped as high as he could in the air and he was so many feet off the ground. Martin in those moments showed exactly what it meant to him. It was an explosion of joy for him – as well as John Robertson and Steve Walford – when the team did something good and performed well.

"As players, if you gave everything to Martin he would certainly reward you and Celtic were simply outstanding all season. There was real excitement with his appointment and the feel-good factor carried over into Dundee in that first game of the season.

Tom Boyd, right, and Paul Lambert lift the treble-sealing Scottish Cup in 2001

"At the time Tannadice was a difficult place for Celtic to go and get results. Barnes's team had come a cropper there after a great start to the campaign the season before.

“That defeat knocked everything for six and we suffered a lot of problems after that with Henrik's injury and stuff. John still tried to implement his ideas but they just never quite worked out.

“Under Martin, things were a bit different and the fact that our two main strikers scored and we were off and running helped us all relax into the season and embrace all the challenges that lay ahead. That feel-good factor lasted most of the season and we had a wee blip with the 5-1 reverse at Ibrox but even then we took that result in our stride.

"From the Dundee United game onwards we just felt that the team was heading in the right direction and there was a better stature about us. Martin's knowledge of both football and his players was second to none and we all trusted each other.

"He transformed the team. There are still a lot of myths surrounding his side such as that we did not play good football – that is simply not true. Celtic have never been a kick-and-rush team.

“Under Martin, we didn't simply lump it up to big Chris up front. We could play and we had a little bit of steel about us. We scored some wonderful football goals. Larsson and Sutton had real stature and presence and they were both great headers of the ball.

“We developed a terrific bond that day at Tannadice and it sustained us for the whole campaign. The win against United was pivotal as it gave us confidence and the players relished the challenges that lay ahead in the months to come.

"Seeing Chris scoring a goal on his debut and linking up so well with Henrik was magic. We knew Henrik could score goals but we also needed Chris to chip in with his fair share and that day at Tannadice he proved that he was more than capable of doing that.

“It was fantastic for him personally but also for Celtic as a team. We had a lot to play for in that first game and it kicked off the O'Neill era in style. We never really looked back after that.

"At the start of any season, you want to win your first game and that victory away at Tannadice was a real turning point for us in terms of confidence and morale under Martin."

As Ange Postecoglou and his men get set to unfurl the league championship flag once again this weekend, for Celtic supporters of a certain vintage, season 2000-01 will always retain a special place in their hearts.

Boyd summed his feelings up by revealing that the Celtic players never wanted the campaign to come to a halt but that the victorious opening day of the season scenes on Tayside was the catalyst for everything that followed.

Boyd said: "We felt good about ourselves for the majority of that campaign. You cannot emphasise enough how the victory against United on the opening weekend was the launchpad for that and everything else that followed."

O'Neill's Celtic team were never a Lonely Hearts Club Band. They walked on (with hope in their hearts).

And as Tom Boyd will testify – it was left to Celtic's answer to Paul McCartney and John Lennon – aka Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton – to make sure you enjoyed the show every other week.