Owen Archdeacon is a player who made a name for himself in the 1980s at Celtic but just couldn’t quite become a regular in the starting XI under either Davie Hay and Billy McNeill…
The Greenock born winger made his debut as a substitute in 1984 against Motherwell at Celtic park in a 4-2 win and made it a debut to remember as he scored in the final minutes to become the first Celtic player to score in his competitive debut for 13 years.
Owen was a talented left sided winger who starred for Scotland at youth level and was highly regarded and he showed that talent in glimpses in his limited first team opportunities at Celtic none more so than the 1985/86 title winning side when he was relied upon more due to the absence of Davie Provan, and he made 23 appearances scoring three goals as we won the title on a memorable last May day at Love Street in 1986.
That was as good as it got for Owen and although he did scored a memorable goal against Rangers in 1987 he failed to make an impact under Billy McNeill and would eventually sign for Barnsley in 1989. All in all Owen made 45 appearances for the club scoring nine goals.
Owen would go on to be an influential member of the Tykes in his seven years down south making over 200 appearances and scoring 23 goals and is still fondly remembered by the supporters at Oakwell.
He would then join Carlisle whom he helped win the football league trophy in 1997 before heading back to Scotland with his hometown club Morton whom he played for until retiring in 1999.
Owen certainly had the ability, that was never in doubt, but sadly lacked the consistency to be a regular in the Celtic side, but he’s a name that supporters of a certain era can still vividly recall.
Here’s Owen’s goal against Rangers, one of the strangest and funniest goals we’ve scored against either of their clubs! Enjoy!
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
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