Celtic centenary season legend Frank McAvennie joined his former Celtic teammate from that never-to-be-forgotten campaign, Peter Grant at Gracie’s yesterday afternoon for the launch of the campaign to build a statue of Lisbon Lion Jim Craig in Govan.
Macca scored a late double in the closing stages of the Scottish Cup Final against Dundee United in May 1988 to turn around the match and deliver a fairytale double for Celtic’s 100th season. If you were there you’ll never forget that wonderful Hampden in the Sun afternoon.
Yesterday while holding court McAvennie discussed multiple Celtic matters and started by praising a player who Frank reckons has many similar attributes to himself in his time wearing the Hoops. That player is Julian Araujo who could reportedly be available this summer for a permeant transfer from Bournemouth for a fee of around £8m. It’s fair to say McAvennie would approve of this deal going through.
“The Mexican, I don’t know where he was that weekend because I like him,” McAvennie said yesterday afternoon. “He’s got fire in his belly and he doesn’t pull out a tackle. He loves the crowd.
“He loves having a banter with the fans, away fans even! And that’s a bit off my own heart. I love that.
“He’ll never pull out a tackle and he wouldn’t have let that happen at the weekend because he’d have been fighting with everyone. So that’s the kind of thing we need.”
Gutted to think we might never see Julián Araujo in front of a full North Curve at Celtic Park.
He has that rare fan connection – playing & celebrating like the badge means everything.
He’d have thrived off the noise and fanatical support of a raucous Green Brigade at Paradise. pic.twitter.com/qw8WeMSq2v
— La Gazzetta dello Celtic (@GazzettaCeltic) March 25, 2026
McAvennie was also critical of the attitude of the Celtic players in that damaging 2-0 defeat at Tannadice at the weekend, saying that they lacked fight. “I was disgusted by Celtic players rolling over at Tannadice,” Frank McAvennie told STV News, watch below…
‘I was disgusted by Celtic players rolling over at Tannadice’https://t.co/eshjch7LOF pic.twitter.com/UI4QOlxBou
— STV News (@STVNews) March 25, 2026
— Matt McGlone (@MattMcGlone9) March 25, 2026
Frank McAvennie was helping to launch a campaign to build a statue of Lisbon Lion Jim Craig in Govan.
Post your own thoughts in the comments section below…
Quick Tip – Add thecelticstar.com as your ‘Preferred Source’ on Google News for quick access to the Celtic content you value the most. It takes just a few seconds and you’ll notice the difference straight away! – Click HERE….Hail Hail!
Introducing The Celtic Star App and our new ad-free Premium Service...
Go ad-free on The Celtic Star, get a FREE trial period to try it out. Also download our new App – available for both Apple and Android – and get the best Celtic content on your phone without fighting through pop-up ads and being forced to watch videos.
Our new PREMIUM service comes with a free seven-day trial so you can look before you book. If you are happy to continue the price will be just 99p per month or £9.99 for the year. For that you get an AD-FREE SITE plus access to our premium content, and you’ll also help us make The Celtic Star even better and less reliant on advertising revenues, allowing us to be more focused on publishing the best Celtic features on the internet.
Click HERE to access your FREE trial. We think you’ll like it! We’re Obsessed with Celtic and we think you are too! Join us hand in hand...
