Sixteen years ago today Roy Keane’s Celtic debut ended in shock defeat as the Scottish Cup holders were humbled by Clyde at Broadwood.
With Celtic coming out of the blocks slowly, Clyde actually had the ball in the net twice only for the officials to rule against them before Craig Bryson headed the First Division side in front.
Legendary Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc then saved a penalty from Stephen O’Donnell only for Eddie Malone to stun the visitors with a volley into the top corner.
Maciej Zurawski struck late for Celtic but Clyde held on for a famous win.
Clyde, who had previously ran Rangers close in the CIS Cup, were outstanding for the first hour and truth be told Graham Roberts’ side were worthy winners on the day.
Keane had a very quiet game as the then current SPL leaders struggled to cope with their eager opponents and a badly rutted pitch.
Keane later spoke about this day in his Autobiography, stating he wasn’t happy with his own performance. He said:
“My first game [for Celtic]was Clyde, away, in the third round of the Scottish Cup. We were beaten 2-1. It was a nightmare. I wasn’t happy with my own game. I did OK, but OK wasn’t good enough. After the game – the disappointment. As I was taking my jersey off, I noticed the Nike tag was still on it. When I got on the bus John Hartson, a really good guy, was already sitting there and he was eating a packet of crisps – with a fizzy drink. I said to myself: ‘Welcome to Hell.’”
In future years this match become almost less about Keane’s debut and was actually remembered more for another new signing making his first start for Celtic. The performance of Chinese defender Du Wei is still remembered by fans who watched the match to this day. In his one and only appearance for Celtic the international player was run ragged and looked completely out of his depth. Sixteen years later he still gets mentioned by fans discussing failed transfers.
The Daily Record lapped up the Chinese players failure at Broadwood, going with the title of “Show Him Du Wei To Go Home” for ex-Celtic player Murdo MacLeod’s column.
Celtic player Adam Virgo, who actually came on for Du Wei at half time against Clyde, later claimed that he was played in his place for commercial & not footballing reasons. Many were not convinced of this, especially as the match was against Clyde, and if Celtic wanted to cash in on Du Wei, he’d have been played in higher profile games, which he wasn’t.
Adam Virgo, in a far reaching interview with vitalfootball years later, stated: “We played Clyde in the Cup and I was promised again that I would start. The manager played a Chinese boy instead as he was told the game would be live on Chinese television, so the club would get more money.”
With this match being the Celtic debut of Roy Keane and Du Wei, on top of it ending in an embarrassing defeat to a lower league side meaning we were dumped out of the Scottish Cup, this match will unfortunately always be remembered by Celtic fans following the club at the time. Thankfully things improved for Celtic and they ended up winning both the League title and the League cup that season softening the blow of this chastening afternoon in Cumbernauld.
Conall McGinty
