‘Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious’ – interview with Paul Hickson, the Scottish Sun sub-editor whose headline became synonymous with the greatest shock in Highland football history
It was seven words long and perfectly-formed – capturing in a nutshell the seismic nature of what Caley Thistle had just gone and done.
The Scottish Sun’s ‘Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious’ headline not only encapsulated the story beautifully, it became the story for a time.
It is easy to forget now, 25 years on, just how earth-shattering the events of February 8, 2000 were in the football world.
Celtic’s humbling by a team just six years fresh from the Highland League reverberated around the world, making news on several continents.
Even The Sun’s English edition, not renowned for any kind of fixation on Scottish football, led with it on the back page.
Caley Thistle’s subsequent advancement to Premiership status, Scottish Cup glory, European football and six more victories over Celtic – so far – has perhaps softened the result’s standing in the great pantheon of shocks.
Without question, though, it remains a contender for Scottish football’s biggest upset – and certainly spawned its greatest headline.
That fateful Tuesday, Scottish Sun sports sub-editor Paul Hickson was already expecting a late one at the paper’s old Kinning Park offices.
Celtic’s Scottish Cup tie had been shunted to midweek after the guttering blew off the Lisbon Lions’ stand.
Old pro and safe pair of hands Rodger Baillie was reporting from Celtic Park. While these working nights were always fairly adrenaline-charged for editorial production staff, nobody anticipated anything other than a straightforward evening.
Celtic, admittedly, were a team in disarray under novice boss John Barnes.
They had already lost the league and rumblings over Barnes’ tactical naivety were growing.
Within just 16 minutes of play at Celtic Park, Barry Wilson’s opener had Hickson and sports editor Steve Wolstencroft on high alert.
“Celtic were in a bit of a crisis, weren’t they?” Hickson recalls of the night. “Caley Thistle were a good, solid side, with players not yet at the apex of their careers, some of whom would go on to better things.
“In saying that, no way were we expecting any kind of upset. At the time, there hadn’t been anything of that magnitude since Rangers lost to Berwick in 1967.
“As soon as Caley took the lead, we started work on the headline.
“Sometimes you can sit for hours trying to think of one and you’re never happy with what you come up with.
“A few of us were gathered together, bouncing around ideas, including Wolstie. The Super Caley part wasn’t new. Nearly every time Caley Thistle beat somebody it was used.
“Someone, I think it was Wolstie, mentioned a headline used for the Liverpool legend of the 1960s, Ian Callaghan: ‘Super Calli scores a hat-trick, QPR atrocious’.
“I’d not heard of it and, 30 seconds later, I blurted out ‘Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic are Atrocious’.
“It kind of tripped off my tongue and Wolstie, the force of nature that he was, immediately darted off to get working on it.”
Even if Celtic had stormed back and won comfortably, the headline was staying.
“Celtic quickly came back to make it 1-1, but even at that point we were planning to do the headline anyway,” the 64-year-old, originally from Morecambe, recalls.
“I think even if it had finished 5-1 to Celtic, we’d have run with it.
“It was enough of a shock that Caley Thistle had taken the lead. Then they pulled away again, 3-1, and the rest is history.”
Hickson, now retired, is remembered by past Sun colleagues as a very likeable gentle man, soft-spoken and never one to blow his own trumpet.
Were he that way inclined, he could easily point to many headlines of note from a distinguished career that took him the length of the UK at multiple top newspapers.
The ‘ballistic’ headline caused an absolute sensation, but with the exception of one television news appearance and a couple of written media interviews, the man who coined it has tended to steer clear of chatting about it publicly.
As he puts it plainly, ”I’m the sort who doesn’t like a fuss”.
Even as he finished work and made his way home late that day, Hickson had no idea just what a legend he had created.
In fact, as his phone lit up next morning with Wolstencroft’s name and number flashing, the first assumption was he had left some kind of mistake in the paper.
“Myself and the legendary Kevin Kelly both stayed in East Kilbride and I gave Kev a lift home that night after work, really late,” Hickson recalls.
“We were talking about what a massive upset it was, what might happen next at Celtic, but at no point did Kev say ‘that was a brilliant headline’ or did I say ‘I’m proud of that headline’. It wasn’t really foremost in our thoughts.
“We were already thinking past that to ‘when is John Barnes going to be sacked?’
“That was the back page story, even on the night - to Wolstie's regret as he has said a few times since.
“He wishes he had done the Super Caley headline on the back page, as they actually did in England. It was the back page lead in England, which probably gave it more exposure. Ours was the match spread.
“I really had no idea what was coming. I dropped Kev off and just wanted to get to my bed.
“It was my day off the next day, but Steve Wolstencroft rang me. I thought ‘what have I done wrong?’ Had I got the scoreline wrong or something?
“Steve said something like: ‘Well, you’ve caused a right old fuss, haven’t you … the whole country is talking about you.’
“I said ‘oh no, what have I done?’
“It turned out there had been lots of reaction to the headline. It was all over the news channels.
“Suddenly there were people like English professors discussing it.
“Other than having people calling up all the time wanting to speak to me, it wasn’t really a big deal.
“There haven’t too many of those I've entertained over the years because I’m really a ‘no fuss’ kind of guy.
“There were a few nice touches. I got a few headline of the year awards, that kind of thing.
“There was a bit of a buzz. It was a landmark moment, in terms of the result. Celtic and Caley Thistle have met quite a few times since, over the years, and it wouldn’t be quite the same landmark these days.
“But it was unimaginable 25 years ago and the headline was just another strand to the story.
“It was maybe the next time the two teams played each other, I agreed to do a TV interview. I vaguely remember being interviewed for somebody like Reporting Scotland, leaning on the art desk in the old newsroom in the Sun’s old newsroom.
“Twenty-five years later, I’m not in any way fed up with the whole thing, but as I say I’m not really a guy who likes a fuss.
“We all produce work we are secretly pleased with and there have been plenty of headlines I’ve liked for different reasons.
“Especially with others within the industry, you can have a giggle about them.
“Lots of people go through their careers and are not remembered for anything. I guess that headline is one I’m remembered for.
“Not every one of them is made a fuss of and gets you invited on Reporting Scotland.”