‘Bobo’s gonnae get ye,’ – Craig Moore terrified by Celtic’s fearsome defender

Chris Sutton has been talking on BBC Radio 5 Live about how feared former Celtic defender, Bobo Balde was from the opposition. The Englishman was taking part in a special programme called ‘Housery’, which discusses the use of dark arts in the game of football and how they are applied on the park and in secret.

Sutton, 50, was no stranger to a bit of physical altercation and did battle as a centre-forward and centre-back for tge Hoops during his stay in Glasgow’s East End. More often than not, the big man would be in amongst it all causes havoc with opposition parties and fighting for the jersey tooth and nail. But he has revealed that one man in particular was the cause of much fear and consternation throughout his duration at Parkhead, and that man was Bobo Balde.

Balde was so feared within Scottish football that the Hoops supporters even came up with a wee song called: ‘Bobo’s gonnae get ye!’. The big Guinea defender was a colossus at the backline for Martin O’Neill’s side for several years and was never afraid to shirk the physical side of the game on a consistent basis. His large frame was enough to put most men off their game and avoiding the idea of a tussle with the African giant.

Sutton recalled his teammate and the most infamous clashes with our fierce rivals Rangers over his time at Paradise and revealed on one particular occasion it was Aussie, Craig Moore who was the man running up the tunnel away from the imposing figure of Bobo. On the show, he said: “Bobo Balde, do you remember him? I don’t know if you would describe it as ‘housery’ but he used to have a habit of just indiscriminately hitting people in the tunnel most weeks – just because they didn’t like them or somebody aggravated them or something.
He used to do it with Craig Moore most weeks. I don’t know if you would call it ‘housery’ but he was a phenomenal player.”

However, New York Times football journalist, Rory Smith, who was joining Sutton on the 5 Live programme interjected: “That sounds like a vendetta against Craig Moore, if he is knocking him about most weeks, that suggests its MORE than housery.” It’s obvious that Mr Smith has never saw big Bobo Balde, otherwise he might not have made such a comment in the first place! In truth, Balde was a warrior for the Bhoys and you always felt no matter what, we would never be bullied by anybody when he was on the park. That hasn’t always been the case.

But Sutton continued, adding: “I remember an Old Firm game at Ibrox and big Oz, Craig Moore, he could handle himself. He was really aggressive and stuff. He went up and clattered into Bobo Balde. There was a coming together and I remember big Oz pointing the finger at Big Bobo and saying ‘we’ll see mate, we’ll see when we get up the tunnel’. But I’ve never seen big Oz move so quick, he was running past me laughing, saying ‘is he coming Terry?’ ‘Is he coming?’ I couldn’t stop laughing. Celtic fans have a saying ‘Bobo is going to get you’, I think if he had got his hands on him he would have ended him. If it all kicks off in the tunnel you wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him.”

Paul Gillespie

More Bobo pics? Go to the next page for a real treat…