THE GREAT DANE

Marc Rieper enjoyed the best seasons of his career at Celtic Park

DANISH centre-half, Marc Rieper was one of a raft of players brought in by new manager, Wim Jansen as Celtic sought to stop the 10.

That the club succeeded was thanks in no small part to the productive blend of players and the sum of the skills each player brought to the team.

That Rieper didn’t go on to influence the fortunes of the team and win more trophies was due a toe injury sustained in October 2008, just a year after he joined the club from West Ham.

Although he was with the Celts until his retirement at the end of the 1999/00 season, the injury meant he played only 48 games for the Hoops, scoring three goals.

That not one of those 48 appearances was from the bench, perhaps tells its own story as the defender could have become a mainstay of the team for seasons to come.

His time with Celtic, though, was the peak of his career and he departed with many great and lasting memories.

Here we revisit a Celtic View interview from October 4, 2006 when he returned to the club as the Hoops took on Copenhagen.

A HERO of the team that stopped the dreaded 10 was a most welcome visitor to Celtic Park last week when FC Copenhagen came calling on UEFA Champions League duty.

Marc Rieper was more than delighted to act as tour guide to a group from his adopted hometown of Aarhus, which was a bit of a busman’s holiday for them as they are the organisers and sponsors of a local youth tournament back in Denmark.

And, as soon as Celtic came out of the hat with FC Copenhagen, there was only one man they wanted to make the trip with and they were delighted when Marc arranged a tour of the stadium for them prior to the UEFA Champions League action later that night.