The last time Mick McElwee went to Parkhead was in December 2011. He was among the Celtic fans, celebrating when Joe Ledley headed the only goal of a tumultuous match against Rangers. "When they have a full house at Celtic," McElwee says, "the atmosphere is difficult to describe." On Wednesday night he hopes there will be a wall of silence. McElwee returns as assistant manager of Lincoln Red Imps, aiming to cause one of European football's greatest upsets.
This is a David-and-Goliath story with a twist. In domestic competition, Lincoln Red Imps are the ultimate Goliaths. They have won the Gibraltar Premier Division for the past 14 seasons. Overall they have won 22 league titles and 35 cups in their 40-year existence.
In the Champions League, however, they morph into David, particularly when they play a side like Celtic. Yet they won the first leg of their second qualifying round match 1-0 a week ago, thanks to a superb individual goal from Lee Casciaro, and will not be wide-eyed sightseers on Wednesday night.
“We’re not here to enjoy the atmosphere or to say that we played at Parkhead,” McElwee says. “We know they are a great team but we want to finish the job off.”
McElwee, an Irishman who moved to Gibraltar in the 1980s, won five titles in a row with Lincoln as a player. He saw that and raised it as manager, winning 10 on the bounce. Lincoln did not lose a league game for 88 matches between April 2009 and September 2014. “Like any unbeaten run, it starts somewhere. Then you end up losing a game five years later and saying: ‘Well, when was the last time we lost a league match?’”
In the absence of accessible official documentation, McElwee had to search through his own records to find out. “When we are beaten in local competition it’s big news, so we kind of know how Celtic feel when an unexpected result comes along. It happens to us as well.”
The club first played in the Champions League two years ago, after Gibraltar became a member of Uefa. They were eliminated in the first round, but reached the second round last year before losing 3-0 on aggregate to the Danish champions Midtjylland.
McElwee stood down before that, in 2014, and was replaced by the Spaniard Raúl Procopio. “I was in charge for 10 years, and throughout that time we had the best players in Gibraltar so it was natural that we should win. It’s not rocket science. We put a lot of time and investment into bringing through young players and they developed together. There were no foreign players in those days, so if you had the best Gibraltarian players you had a very strong chance.
“Since we joined Uefa the club has become more professional. I’d say we’re semi-professional now, split between full-time Spanish players and our part-time core of Gibraltarian players.”
The appointment in April of the Uruguayan Julio César Ribas, whose previous management jobs include Peñarol, Venezia and Oman, has taken the club to another level. “We’ve progressed significantly since Julio took over. There has been a big jump. His approach is different to any coach we’ve had, and our preparation and mindset have changed.”
Even if some of the personal circumstances have not. In games involving part-time players, the media are obliged to list the jobs of those involved. McElwee will be returning on Friday to his role as marketing manager of Toyota in Gibraltar. The captain, Roy Chipolina, is a customs officer who had to take annual leave because he has used up all his special leave through travelling with club and country, while the goalscorer last week, Casciaro, is a policeman.
Casciaro, 34, and his brother, the speedy winger Kyle, are Lincoln’s best chance of an away goal on the counter-attack. “He’s a natural, intuitive footballer,” McElwee says. “I’ve seen him score goals at local level when he’s received the ball 70 yards out and gone past everyone. His goal last week was a vintage Lee Casciaro goal and will go down as the most important goal every scored by a Gibraltarian. I was pleased that Lee scored it because he has been the focal point for our team for so many years. He deserved that extra bit of recognition.”
Casciaro also scored at Hampden Park last year, when Gibraltar lost 6-1 to Scotland during Euro 2016 qualifying. Many of the Lincoln team played in that match and will know that, if they concede early, tonight’s match could go the same way.
"It'll be a different game from last week," McElwee says. "We can assume there will be a great reaction from Celtic; I'm sure they'll come out all guns blazing and Brendan Rodgers will want them to press us high up the pitch. That will give us space in behind though. I know it's a cliché, but we're looking forward to it. Where else would we want to be? If you asked the players, 'What would you like to be doing right now?', it would be this – to be involved in a match against a great club, and with a fighting chance."
The winners play Zalgiris of Lithuania or Astana of Kazakhstan. “I never thought Lincoln would play Celtic in a competitive match, and actually be able to compete with them,” says McElwee. “It’s not even the stuff of dreams. It’s more like fantasy football than real life.”
The “Our Vision” page of Lincoln’s official website says the club strive for “A feeling that will last a lifetime…” They had that feeling a week ago. If they go through , they will become immortal.
(Guardian service)
