Former Celtic loanee Craig Bellamy admits the pain of losing the league title to Rangers on Helicopter Sunday still sticks with him.
The final day of the 2004-05 season saw Martin O'Neill 's side go to Motherwell needing only to win to secure the title to keep Rangers from claiming the title. Celtic took the lead at Fir Park as Chris Sutton put them on the path to glory despite Alex McLeish's men leading at Easter Road, but Scott McDonald struck twice in the dying minutes to turn the title race on its head and seal one of the most dramatic ever finish to a top flight season.
And more than 17 years on Bellamy, who spent six months on loan at Parkhead from Newcastle United, admits the pain still lingers after the Celtic players let the title slip through their fingers on the last day of the campaign. Despite the Welshman lifting the Scottish Cup during his time in Glasgow's east end he admits the defeat in Lanarkshire still gnaws away at him.
Speaking to The Central Club, Bellamy said: "We lost the league on the last day, and it's still numbing now. I can still see that helicopter coming round. We are one minute away from winning the league and then we concede. And then it just went silent.
"The helicopter went and the fans didn't know what to do. It was just, over. The league was over that quick. I missed chances, and we were 1-0 up, but look credit to Rangers. For the last four or five games in a row they had to win.
"If they had lost one of them, they were gone. The league was over and it was ours, but they kept going. They won the league rather than us losing it. It's easy to say you lost against Motherwell in the last game of the season when nine times out of ten you are going to win that, but credit to Rangers."
Bellamy also revealed that he reached out to former Rangers skipper Barry Ferguson to congratulate him on the title success. However, the now Burnley assistant was snubbed by the Ibrox hero. The former Blackburn, Manchester City, Liverpool and West Ham forward added: "I spoke to Barry Ferguson after it, who was the Rangers captain, I rung him up and congratulated him. (Pauses) Actually, funnily enough I couldn't get through to him and I had to leave a message. I said well deserved, credit to you, you won that league. And then a week later we went and won the (Scottish) cup."
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