Paul Elliott was signed by Billy McNeill from Serie A side Pisa in 1989 for a fee of £650,000. The former Luton Town and Aston Villa man didn’t have the best of times in Italy, but the experience he picked up in the then best league in the world made him a better all round player.
And so it proved at Celtic, despite not having the best of starts mainly due to injury, he proved himself a very popular player amongst the supporters with his sterling performances. He was strong, tall and athletic and always gave one hundred percent. He was also a goal threat grabbing 5 goals in his 66 appearances for the club.
Two of them most notably against Rangers although we did lose both games, one of them the league cup final of 1990. Paul like a few players at that time suffered by playing in a poor side, and deserved much better. He along with Paul McStay and John Collins had far better quality than the rest of the team.
Paul Elliott sadly only spent two seasons at the club and left due to personal reasons, which was a shame as he was the best central defender to play for the club in that era. He would have graced any Celtic side, he was that good.
He signed for Chelsea in 1991 for £1.25 million much to the disappointment of the Celtic support. But Paul was homesick and wanted what was best for him and his family so a move back to his native London made sense for him and the supporters bear him no grudge.
Big things were expected of Paul in England but sadly his career ended after sustaining a serious knee injury after a tackle by Liverpool’s Dean Saunders in September 1992. He typically battled to come back, but two years later he sadly had to announce his retirement from the game at the age of 30.
24/03/91 PREMIER DIVISION CELTIC V RANGERS (3-0) CELTIC PARK – Celtic defender Paul Elliott (2nd right) and Richard Gough have to be separated by Judas and referee George Smith.
Paul Elliott will always be fondly remembered by the Celtic supporters who had the pleasure to see him in the Hoops, and I am certainly one of them.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
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