The goalkeeping position has been a total mess at Celtic Park this season. In the summer, we signed Barkas for £4.5m. A Greek international, who had previously attracted interest from Roma, there were high hopes that he could fill the gloves of Fraser Forster. After a shaky start, fans hoped that he would settle but a series of mistakes, combined with an inability to make any save of note, meant that he was removed from the team (under the pretense that he was out injured after a clash with Shane Duffy).
Scott Bain took the reins and made two penalty saves. However, he also made some mistakes of his own including a poor pass out from the back which cost us a goal against Sparta Prague, and a terrible clearance at Pittodrie which led to the concession of a goal too. Bain also conceded eight goals in two back to back Europa League games. After a few weeks in the team, he was dropped and Barkas returned. We were told that the Greek man had needed some time to settle and that the spell out the side was highly beneficial. However, he made a shocking error to concede from a free kick in the San Siro, a match in which Celtic lost 4-2.
A week after Milan, Celtic faced Lille in a dead rubber at home. A number of changes were made to the side, including young Conor Hazard being given a chance between the sticks. Hazard was a boyhood Celtic fan, who came through the academy and had been our third choice keeper. The match was his competitive debut and he conducted himself well in a 3-2 win. As such, the young Irishman kept his place and put together a couple of decent performances, earning clean sheets and getting the nod to play in the historic Scottish Cup Final. With a quadruple treble at stake, Hazard looked nervous and made some errors, one of which cost a goal. The match went to a shoot out and he redeemed himself by saving two spot kicks to earn Celtic a historic victory.
Hazard followed up the Cup Final with two consecutive clean sheets, before bizarrely being dropped for Barkas. Neil Lennon said that Barkas was his number one and would play regularly going forward. The Greek star kept a clean sheet of his own but then was suspect for theRangers’ winning goal at Ibrox a few days later. After the game, Celtic went to Dubai and returned with 13 players confined to self isolation. Two of those were goalkeepers so Hazard retook the gloves for a game against Hibernian and flapped at a cross, which in combination with poor defending, cost Celtic two points in the last minute. A clean sheet against Livingston in the following game wasn’t enough for Hazard to keep the jersey.
Barkas came back in for the 2-2 draw at Livingston, the second match against David Martindale’s team in the space of a few days. Then, a week later, Scott Bain was brought back to the starting line-up as Lennon said that Barkas hasn’t adapted to the speed of the game and hasn’t been comfortable in Scotland. Bain retained his place for yesterday’s match, when Lennon again spoke about Barkas and slammed him for not doing all he can in training.
It’s been an absolute circus. Nobody has any idea who will play in goal from game to game. Each keeper feels like a number one and number three at the same time. But, this isn’t the first time that there’s been a goalkeeping saga at Parkhead.
During Jock Stein’s time at the club, no less than 20 men played in goal for the Celts.
Ronnie Simpson was his first real number one choice keeper and became a Lisbon Lion. He was phenomenal and even had the ability to come out and produce a back heeled pass in the European Cup Final. John Fallon was the second choice goalkeeper at that time. He was on the bench in Lisbon and produced very good performances in the World Club Championship matches after Simpson was injured by a missile in the lead up to the second leg in Argentina. Fallon was a very good player and a committed Celtic man who still attends every match at the age of 80. He played in the famous 1965 Scottish Cup Final and had many high points such as starring in the 1970 European Cup Quarter Finals, but, in truth, he was treated terribly by Jock Stein and the club when his Celtic career came to an end.
Both Simpson and Fallon were out of the picture by the time that Celtic reached the 1970 European Cup Semi Final, as Stein’s new signing Evan Williams played between the sticks in the last three games of the tournament. Williams left Celtic in 1974, having won four league titles and two Scottish Cups. He later said that after departing the club he was at a dinner with Ronnie Simpson, when Jock Stein came and sat next to the pair and apologised to them, remarking: “I didn’t realise how important you were to Celtic until you weren’t there anymore. And I didn’t realise that the goalkeeper is the hardest position to fill.”
Prior to Williams’ arrival, Stein had signed a goalkeeper from Dalry Thistle named Bobby Wraith. A Rangers fan from the Juniors, Wraith joined as third choice keeper but only made one appearance for the club, against Hamilton Academicals in the League Cup on 25 September 1968. Celtic won the match 4-2.
Similarly, Stein had previously signed a keeper named Bent Martin from AGF Aarhus in 1966, three months after Celtic met the Danish side in a European Cup Winners’ Cup tie. Sean Fallon and Jock Stein had taken notice of the young Danish keeper during the ties, where he had performed well in both legs. Fallon flew to Denmark just before Christmas 1965 and began negotiations. Martin’s only Celtic appearance came in a Glasgow Cup Semi-Final tie against Queen’s Park on 10 October 1966; a game which Celtic won 4-0. Bent left Celtic on the 23 December that year to join Dunfermline Athletic for a fee of £3,500. In 1968, he won a Scottish Cup medal with the Pars.
A mention must also go to John Kennedy, who joined the Hoops on 10 March 1965 – one day after Stein was appointed boss. It is unclear as to whether Big Jock brought him to the club or not, given the timing of his arrival, but he certainly made his debut under the great man; a 4-0 League Cup victory over Raith Rovers in September 1965. Kennedy had been signed from Distillery. He was born in Newtonards (Co Down), and as such qualified to represent Great Britain, which he did with distinction in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. After his Celtic debut, Kennedy never played for the club again and left for Detroit Cougars on a free, just two days before the 1967 European Cup Final!
Stein’s next major goalkeeping signing, after that of Evan Williams, saw Dennis Connaghan return to the club. He was brought in to compete with Williams, whose form had been inconsistent, and made his debut just four days after the dreadful 4-1 defeat to Partick Thistle in the 1971 League Cup Final. Connaghan never established himself as a first choice keeper at Paradise, but did have the distinction of playing in the 1974 European Cup Semi Final against Atletico Madrid and played in the 1974 Scottish Cup Final winning side against Dundee United. He was in the team that clinched a ninth successive league title at Brockville in April 1974 too, but had a contrasting time of things when in July that year, he infamously threw the ball into the back of his own net against Airdrie at Broomfield. That said, Connaghan redeemed himself the following week, when he saved two penalties against Rangers during a shoot out in the 1974 Drybrough Cup Final.
Another strange goalkeeping signing, in 1971, was when Stein brought former Hibernian keeper Gordon Marshall to the club on a free transfer. Aged 32, it was a peculiar move. Those convictions were confirmed when Marshall made just one appearance, against St Johnstone in the Drybrough Cup that August. Within six months, he was sold to Aberdeen. Marshall’s sons, Gordon Jnr and Scott, both played for Celtic in later years.
1973 saw a new season with a new bizarre goalkeeping signing. This time it was Graham Barclay, who was brought to the club from Lanarkshire Junior outfit Blantyre Victoria. He stayed at Parkhead for four seasons but only made one appearance: a 4-1 Scottish Cup victory over Clydebank in February 1975.
A more prominent signing by Jock Stein in 1973 was Ally Hunter, who was drafted in after the Manager became impatient with Williams and Connaghan. Hunter quickly endeared himself to the Celtic support with some fine displays and, towards the end of his first season at Celtic, he was instrumental in title success by keeping seven consecutive clean sheets. In no time, he established himself as both Celtic and Scotland number one. However, the 1973/74 season saw him alternate with Connaghan as neither convinced the boss anymore. He left for Motherwell in 1976 with a shut out rate of 47%.
By early 1975, Peter Latchford became the 11th keeper to play for Celtic under Jock Stein. The Englishman joined on loan from West Brom in February and made the move permanent that summer. He went on to have a distinguished Celtic career, making 272 appearances for the Bhoys in a 12 year stay at Paradise. Latchford was the exemplification of Jekyll & Hyde. He could be superb at times but was also prone to a howler and gave supporters nightmares. He was an extremely likeable character who won two league titles and three Scottish Cups with the club as the main goalkeeper. He also made fleeting appearances in the 1980/81, 1981/82 and 1985/86 League championship triumphs.
1976 saw Jock Stein bring Roy Baines to Celtic Park. The deal to bring the player from Morton saw Andy Ritchie go the other way. Baines had previously been on trial at Celtic in 1968, and although Jock Stein decided not to sign him on that occasion, he recommend him to Bob Shankly at Easter Road, who promptly took him to Hibs. Baines made just 16 starts for the Hoops in three years, but had a 44% clean sheet record and won two league titles. He was, therefore, a decent keeper. However, his transfer was marred by the excellent form of Ritchie who became a Morton legend. As such, most Celtic fans felt that we got a raw deal with the player exchange. An interesting tale of his time at Paradise is that Baines’ debut, against Dundee United in 1977, saw him save a penalty taken by Hamish McAlpine (Dundee United goalkeeper and regular penalty taker).
Big Jock’s last ever Celtic signing was that of Pat Bonner in 1978. Bonner was a Donegal man, who was signed from Irish club Keadue Rovers. He made his debut against Motherwell on St Patrick’s Day 1979, but his big break came about in 1980 when Peter Latchford suffered a hand injury. Bonner took his chance and asserted himself as a fine shot stopper and big presence. He did make some notable mistakes, but was regarded as the best Celtic goalkeeper since Ronnie Simpson (Artur Boruc and Fraser Forster arguably can lay claim to that accolade now). In signing Paddy, Stein didn’t realise what a mark he was leaving on the club. Indeed, Bonner would go on to play 641 matches for the Hoops, winning five league titles, four Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup. He featured in the iconic 1979 title winning season, the 1985 Scottish Cup Final, the incredible 1985/86 league success, the Centenary double season, countless memorable European nights and the monumental moment when Celtic broke their 1990s duck by winning the Scottish Cup in 1995. He is a Celtic great, who loves the club and famously remarked: “When I came over to Scotland, I came to realise just how important Celtic was to the Irish community, to give them an identity.”
Extraordinarily, Jock Stein worked with a further seven stoppers outside of the above, to bring the tally of keepers to have experienced his management to 21. These were: Tom Livingstone, who signed in 1969 and was released in 1972; Leif Nielsen, a Danish keeper who went on trial but didn’t make the grade and instead signed for Morton; Tom Lally who came on trial from Sligo Rovers in 1970 but was sent back to Ireland in 1971; Colin Shafar, who was signed from Celtic Boys Club; Stefan Gryzka, who signed from Whitehill Welfare in April 1972 and played for the reserves for two years; Michael Collins, who joined from Thornton Hibs in 1965 and went on to Alloa in 1967; Neil Carr, signed from Maryhill Juniors in late 1971 and went on to Clyde a year later. Each of these seven keepers failed to make a single first team appearance for Celtic.
Correct me if I’m wrong, Liam, but I seem to remember Stein actually signed a goalkeeper called Davidson around 1970, the son of referee Bobby Davidson (enough said). I think he was on the bench for a European tie in Milan.
Paul Aurige
Hi Paul, thanks for your comment. His name was Alan Davidson and he was the son of a referee as you said. However, he signed for us in 1979. He never made an appearance for us and was released in 1980. He went to the juniors but came back to professional football with Airdrie
There is one custodian missing, Jim Harkins who signed from Renfrew in 1967.
Thanks. I had noted him in research but saw he was on the groundstaff in July 1967,so wasn’t sure that he was signed in a playing capacity with us. I’ll do a follow up article with some of these as there’s a couple to add such as David Brown who was a youth player that got released at end of 1965 season.
Great article too, as a goalkeeper it’s fascinating to me how one of the greats went through so many in just over a decade.
Thank you. Yes it’s strange how after Simpson left he never really settled with a number one choice.