With Celtic playing Athletic Club tomorrow evening for James Forrest’s Testimonial, I cast my mind back to the testimonial of a former Celtic player. The player in question is none other than Peter the Pointer, the one and only Peter Grant.
Peter earned his big night after nigh on 13 years as a first team player at the club having made his debut in a Glasgow derby as a fresh-faced teenager back in 1984.
Peter had experienced the highs of league title and Scottish cup wins at the club such as the dramatic 1986 league title win at love street and the famous centenary double win. The 1989 Scottish cup win over Rangers also of course.
He also experienced the lows of the early 1990s, dark days indeed, but he always gave his all, while not the most talented of players, he always gave 100 hundred and ten percent. He played for the jersey that was never in doubt.
Who can forget his tears after the Scottish Cup win in 1995? Our first major honour in six years, six long painful years. We were all Peter Grant that day. Peter himself played through the pain barrier after been giving next to no chance of playing the week before.
He was duly awarded a testimonial against German Giants Bayern Munich in January 1997. A game I can remember vividly attending as a 16-year-old. Not just to pay tribute to Peter admittedly, but to witness some of the greatest players to have played the beautiful game. Namely Jurgen Klinsmann and Lothar Matthaus.
I guess it was the same for most of the capacity crowd, who wouldn’t want to witness two of the finest players to have graced the game?
One young man also thought so, and as the game was restarting after half time I think, he evaded the stewards at the side of the park and ran up to Jurgen Klinsmann in the centre circle and produced a pen and paper for a sneaky autograph. Klinsmann obliged and made the young boys day before he was huckled away by the stewards. I often wonder if that young boy, now most likely in his late thirties still has that treasured autograph.
Klinsmann himself showed his class and grabbed a double in a 2-1 win for Bayern, Matthaus even in the veteran stages of his career showed he still had it.
The score didn’t matter a jot, and the night belonged to Peter Grant, a wonderful servant to Celtic football club. He wasn’t a superstar by any stretch, but he gave his all for the club and served us well. The bumper crowd who crammed into paradise tells you he was well respected by the Celtic faithful, myself included.
Klinsmann and Matthaus were the star attractions but the night belonged to the pointer himself, Peter Grant. A well-deserved testimonial.
Thanks for article. The boy you mention that ran on the pitch was my little cousin Robert. He received a written warning letter for that from Fergus Mccann that was framed and on his wall lol. Sadly Robert passed away in May this year, but he would have loved to have seen this in print. Thank you. HH
Did you remember the Celtic scorer that night?
None other than Malky Mackay the current Ross County manager.
He looked just as surprised as the crown did!
It wasn’t a bad game and a fitting tribute to a diehard Celt seldom anyones favourite player but gave us everything and hurt the same as us in the bad times and likewise reveled in the good times especially centenary season and 89 cup final win.