FOR Pierre van Hooijdonk, the first cup was the sweetest.

The Dutchman progressed to become a full international during his four years with NAC Breda but it took a move to Scotland before he finally got his hands on some silverware. It was a poignant moment for both player and club.

Celtic approached the 1995 Scottish Cup final against Airdrieonians on a barren run of six years without a trophy. Just two months before van Hooijdonk had arrived, they had lost the Coca-Cola Cup final to Raith Rovers. Another defeat to first division opposition would have been unthinkable for Tommy Burns and his players.

Victory was narrow – an early van Hooijdonk header was all that separated the sides – but it was sufficient to restore confidence and self-belief around Celtic Park.

The 1990s had not been kind to Celtic, who struggled to live with Walter Smith's Rangers, but this win was a line in the sand. It would provide a platform for Burns to go on and create a team capable of competing once more with the Ibrox side. A title win would prove to be outwith both Burns' and van Hooijdonk's grasp, but this cup success was a turning point regardless. Not once in the following 18 years would Celtic again feel intimidated by their Glasgow rivals.

"I remember what it meant when the referee blew the final whistle, I knew then what it meant to the club," recalled van Hooijdonk, back in Glasgow to promote Sunday's William Hill Scottish Cup final between his former club and Hibernian. "I was just new at the club having arrived in January and I knew Celtic had lost the League Cup final against Raith Rovers.

"The club was down and the whole atmosphere wasn’t great. I heard all the stories and knew Celtic were going through a tough period. When I arrived I knew of the club but didn’t know about their history.  I didn’t know it had been six years since they had last won the league, for example. I saw the joy of the fans and also of the players who were Celtic through and through like Peter Grant, Paul McStay and Tommy Burns. They tried to get me to realise what it all meant before the game but, at the final whistle,  I saw it for myself."

Typically Dutch, van Hooijdonk doesn’t mince his words on anything. His first thought upon arriving at Celtic was just how poor a team they were. By the time he left two years later, in fairly acrimonious circumstances, they had been transformed by Burns.

"I came from a club in Holland which was eighth in the league but when I entered Celtic I was glad we didn’t play each other in a friendly," he added. "I moved to Celtic to make a massive step up club-wise but the balance between the size of the club on and off the pitch was a massive gap.

After a few training sessions  I could see that the standard wasn’t great. Tommy said after the cup final that he was disappointed with the performance but that wasn’t unusual as that year we didn’t play particularly well.

"The next year we played very well but the cup final was a turning point. Tommy changed it in a short time. The players who were involved in that era were a part of the big transformation. The size of the club is well known all over the world but on the pitch good players came in. There were also good Scottish players arriving like Jackie McNamara and John Hughes who made a big impact. From then on it improved and there was also a share issue. That gave the club more possibilities."

Those possibilities included the recruitment of Jorge Cadete and Paolo di Canio who, along with van Hooijdonk, would be labelled the Three Amigos. It was not meant as  a term of endearment by Fergus McCann, the Celtic owner whose parsimonious approach to business led to various fall-outs with the dressing room, but van Hooijdonk remembers it fondly regardless.

As if on cue, Cadete wanders across to where the Dutchman is sitting and the pair hug warmly before making jokes about their respective hairstyles.

"I’m not surprised [that people still talk about the Three Amigos].  A lot of people remember it as the start of the transformation – on the field. People call it madness, but I wouldn’t say madness. I was not mad on the pitch, Jorge wasn’t. Paolo? Sometimes. But everybody talks about us as the players who added something necessary to the club.

"Tommy Burns did that.  He transformed the team completely. We went from launching long balls down the channels when I arrived to playing beautiful football. Fergus called us the Three Amigos. But he missed out Andy Thom – he was the fourth. He was definitely at the same level as me, Jorge and Paolo. Maybe McCann meant that comment as a criticism. I don’t know, I never asked. For me it still sounds nice."

Celtic lost only one game in the 1995/96 season and still finished four points behind champions Rangers who, backed by Sir David Murray’s largesse, went on to win a record-equalling nine titles in a row.  Such lavishness, however, would eventually catch up with Rangers, the amassed debt leading to administration and then liquidation. Van Hooijdonk had little sympathy for them.

"I’m not sorry for Rangers,” he said. “I’m sorry for a lot of things missing from Scottish football now. But they spent too much. They made their mistakes. I say to all my Dutch friends who played here in Glasgow for Rangers that they should help [bail them out]. The fact is that Rangers made their mistakes and they have to pay for their mistakes. Like many other clubs these days. We lost two clubs from the first division in Holland this year.

"It’s a pity for them but, if you do the crime, you must do the time."