Phil O’Donnell’s outstanding Celtic debut

This day in 1994. Twenty nine years ago today Celtic made the short trip to Maryhill to take on Partick Thistle on league duty.

It was only the fourth league game under the leadership of Tommy Burns and spirits were high after our last league outing which was a 2-0 victory at Ibrox, and add to that the fact we were unbeaten in the league. It also happened to be the debut of one Phil O’Donnell who had just completed a £1.75 million move from Motherwell making him the most expensive transfer in the history of Celtic football club.

Phil was only 22 but was a superb player who was expected to go far in the game. He was already a Scottish Cup winner with Motherwell when as a teenager he scored in their famous 4-3 win over Dundee United at Hampden in 1991.

There would have been a lot of pressure on young Phil’s shoulders due to the transfer fee, but it never hampered him as he struck a dream double as we beat the Jags in a 2–1 win. Both his goals were trademark Phil O’Donnell, he struck twice before half time to effectively put the game to bed and earn us a precious three points.

Phil would have been a proud young man that day, as a Celtic supporter scoring a brace on his debut would have been the stuff of dreams for him. God bless you Phil.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

Trivia from The Celtic Wiki – Phil O’Donnell becomes the first Celtic player to score two goals on his Celtic debut since Andy Walker and Billy Stark against Morton in 1987.