Celtic Heroes: A Non-Celts, Skelping Roll of Honour

I think is it about time that we had a Roll of Honour for players who have not played for Celtic, but have nevertheless done a great job for us.

I am talking of men like Zander Clark who have had one brief moment of glory and have been revered by Celtic supporters for doing a great job to augment our happiness. So let’s start with Zander. Clearly last night makes him not far short of being St Johnstone’s best player of all time for his goal, (and I think we should let him say he scored even though someone else may have touched it in) which even attracted the admiration of my wife, who is no-one’s idea of a football fan and who thought until last night that goalkeepers weren’t allowed to score against each other.

And then two penalty saves – by no means classy saves, it has to be said, but Zander the Magnificent stopped the ball from going in – which effectively put his team into the semi-finals. Last night we didn’t sing Hail Glorious Saint Patrick. It was Hail Glorious Saint Johnstone! Any budding poets or lyricists feel like making up some words? Maybe along the lines of “Hail Glorious Saint Johnstone, the darlings of Perth, for one brief night, the best team on earth!” Something like that?

But number one in the Roll of Honour would still have to be Albert Kidd of Dundee. His two goals at Dens Park that day now nearly 35 years ago make him the undisputed number one, I feel. Away back in 1898 Barney Battles did something similar, scoring for Dundee to beat Rangers and give Celtic the League, but Barney perhaps does not really count, because he really was a Celt, who had fallen out with the establishment and would return in due course.

So what about some others? Ally Mitchell scored a famous goal for Kilmarnock in 1998 when the referee allowed an inordinate amount of time to encourage Rangers to score a winner – but the goal came at the other end.

Sammy Reid scored the goal in 1967 for Berwick Rangers to beat the Glasgow version, and even his brother was given a standing ovation by Celtic supporters the following week!

Adrian Sprott combined a career in the Police force with a few undistinguished moments for Stenhousemuir and Hamilton, undistinguished apart from the day that he put Rangers out of the Scottish Cup in 1987.

And then there was Craig Brewster, a man of many clubs who scored the goal in the 1994 Scottish Cup final which gave Dundee United their first Scottish Cup. It was against – guess who! – and if you look at it on You Tube, you will see why it was described as the worst Scottish Cup final goal of all time. The worst? No, Dundee United and Celtic supporters agree that it was one of the best!

And then there was Jimmy Blair who scored the only goal of the game in the 1921 Scottish Cup final when Partick Thistle beat another Glasgow team at Celtic Park.

And there must be many more. So what about some nominations? Remember they must be men who did a great job for Celtic supporters without playing for Celtic. No sneaky or nasty ones, though, like Craig Whyte or Andy Halliday or Mark Warburton or Pedro Caixinha!

Players who have made us happy without playing for Celtic. Nominations, please! Post your suggestions below…

David Potter