25 years on

Ross Hall lists his favourite signings since the arrival of MoN

This summer will be 25 years since Martin O’Neill stood at the front door of Celtic Park and was introduced as our manager. I don’t think even he could have imagined the dominance that he was about to bring back to the east side of Glasgow with a mix of the players of previous years and a good sprinkle of the players he knew well from his time in England and some gems from across Europe….

In those 25 years we have seen 236 senior players sign deals with the club, some were loans, some of those were then turned into permanent deals but 236 deals done according to TransferMrkt which means an average of 9.44 signings per season.

Celtic FC - All transfers | Transfermarkt (Here is the link if you want to have a look for yourself and maybe add your personal favourites in the comments) I’m also hoping my fellow Celtic Underground contributors will join in, or maybe we can argue it out on a podcast and discuss any input from subscribers as well.

It should come as no shock that Ange Postecoglou had the most signings in 1 season when he arrived and rebuilt the team with 17 moves in 2021/2022 which was 3 more than Tony Mowbray managed in 2009/2010.

Over these 25 years we have filled the trophy room to the rafters with Leagues and Cups, won an undefeated treble under Brendan Rodgers and seen so many other great moments that even those with the best memories will still see clips of great goals, wonderful moments and realise they’d forgotten about them.

So, I thought I’d have some fun in this international window and pick my favourite manager and 11 signings from the past 25 years and it was tough, I’ll also mention in the interest of fairness there has been some amount of shockers in that time. I’d usually say players who just didn’t find the right environment but there were some absolute howlers, but I’ve had enough Celtic negativity for one week so I’m focussing on the good ones, no…. wait, some of these are better than good. As Martin O’Neill would say “They were absolutely brilliant for me”.

To start with the managerial team and I’ve enjoyed so many of them and what they’ve put together, a few obviously haven’t worked out but the main men for me are the ones who started this era of dominance off.

Martin O’Neill, John Robertson and Steve Walford:

5 years: 282 games / 213 wins / 29 draws and 40 losses

Martin and his team changed the mentality inside of our club. He added quality, characters and done the one key thing any manager needs to do when they arrive and that is get the support to buy in. When we have those key pieces, we can achieve great things and when people talk about honouring our legends with stand names, statues and all these things. These 3 men should be high up on that list because they are LEGENDS of our club in my book.

Now to the signings and this was tough. I’ve had a list of 26 players written down for a while and I’ve chopped and changed my favourites a few times but I’m writing this now so I can change it no more, bet I do as I’m typing….

11^th place: Emilio Izaguirre “Izzy”

Sometimes you get a player who comes and you have no idea where he’s come from or what to expect and the just have to stand back and hope the person who brought them here had a good eye for a player. In August 2010, Neil Lennon signed oor wee Izzy for a reported 650k from Motagua in Honduras. Bargain, an absolute steal even if you just based it on his first season alone where he won 3 player of the year awards. He stayed 7 seasons, and came back for another a year after leaving. Won 7 titles and 5 cups.

Izzy was the left back we’d needed for a while and he just got what it meant to be in the Hoops. A buzzbomb of a left back who racked up 271 appearances over his 2 spells with the club.

10^th Place: Mikael Lustig

Scott Brown said that when Lustig turned up and the players were like wtf have we got here, this guy is hopeless. Neil Lennon told him to show a bit of patience and now they are best pals and together were leaders for many years both on and off the pitch. Lustig like Izzy seen 8 seasons in the hoops and played 273 games and picked up 16 winners medals during his time with us. His goal vs Rangers in the 5-1 win, his rabona pass in the Puskas nominated goal that was scored by Moussa Dembele, the celebrations from the piano player to stealing the coppers hat. Loads of love for this Swedish mad man.

9^th place: Kyogo Furahashi

The wee man from Japan. Not many knew what we were getting when Ange Postecoglou signed Kyogo in the summer of 2021, many were still trying to work out who Ange was. I consider myself a lucky one as I’d seen Kyogo Furahashi about 16 months prior to signing for us and I never thought he’d wear hoops but he did, and he done it with style. 165 games, 85 goals and so many that were just stunning. The lob vs Hibs in the cup final, the numerous goals vs Rangers including that half volley from distance…. Ian Crocker must have said Kyogo and sensational so many times that it could have easily become his name.

8^th Place: Daizen Maeda

This was a tough call as I have a lot of love for Kyogo, and like Kyogo I had the good fortune of knowing a wee bit about Daizen before he arrived so I was excited for what he could be. He’s surpassed what I hoped for. This man is a machine and while he may lack the finesse of many others who haven’t made this list, I make no apologies for him being on it. He’s what my wee boy refers to as a cool dude and I love the energy and desire he shows when he is on that pitch. 149 games, 57 goals and hopefully many more to come. Easily my current favourite player, closely followed by Jota who was also on my list, maybe he’ll make it on next time.

7^th Place: Tom Rogic “Big Tam”

Tam joined us in 2012 and for the first 3 seasons he played in 15 games and many probably felt he was the boomerang that we didn’t want, that kept coming back for another pre-season to “get up to speed”. Well Ronnie Deila caught that boomerang and thank God that he did. What a player on his day. Arguably one of the most technically gifted players of the 25 years and when he scored the winner in the Cup Final vs Aberdeen to seal the undefeated domestic treble….. I can still feel the joy of that spine tingling moment as I write this. From a young lad winning a Nike competition vs 75,000 entrants to lifting 16 trophies in the hoops and producing moments of just absolute top tier quality. Love it.

6^th Place: Artur Boruc “The Holy Goalie”

I can’t tell you how much joy I’m having writing this, and this man just makes me laugh. That picture summed him up perfectly. He did not give a fuck about who he was up against. He just put those gloves on and done his thing. After years of having at best average goalies and at worst goalies who wouldn’t have got a game for Hibs, Boruc arrived on loan initially and made himself one of the most loved and hated players in Scotland. Loved by us, hated by the rest and you know a player is good when other clubs fans hate them almost instantly. Sadly, the end of his time wasn’t at the standard that he started off with but 6 trophies and many highlight moments including the Spartak Moscow shootout that led to Tommy Burns appearing to fly as he jumped on the pile of bodies celebrating, to the unbelievable stop from a looping shot from David Wotherspoon at Easter Road to name just 2. He was the Holy goalie and he really did hate the Huns.

5^th Place: Fraser Forster “The Wall”

Artur was the start of something good with us and goalkeepers and this man for me Fraser Forster has been the best of them. We’ve seen Kasper Schmeichel, Joe Hart and Craig Gordon all come in and make big impressions for us but this man…. Wow. Newcastle got a young Shay Given from us many years before and it was often mentioned as a sore point because of all the poor ones we had endured, then we borrowed and eventually signed this big fella in 2010 and got 197 games from him before he left to go south. He then returned again on loan in 2019 and continued where he left off. Barcelona and Messi were left amazed by him as he stole headlines on the back pages across Spain with his performances. He was as reliable as they come and came up with some huge moments including the League Cup win vs Rangers during his second spell. 236 games and left the biggest set of gloves to fill in my lifetime of watching Celtic.

4^th Place: Virgil Van Dijk

My favourite player as a kid was Paul Elliott, and he was a damn good player on his day. In 2013 when Van Dijk signed from Groningen having been pursued by John Park and Neil Lennon he was a relatively unknow quantity. However according to his team mates it was apparent from his first session that he was almost too good to be playing in Scotland already, and it was no real shock to see him leave shortly into his third season with us and go on to become an elite player, one of the best defenders of this generation. He wasn’t quite the Ballon d’Or when he was with us but you could see he oozed quality. Strutting about the pitch showing the technical ability that put many midfielders to shame, banging in free kicks from 25 yards and he really was a joy to watch for a guy like me who loved seeing a good defender bossing games for us.

3^rd Place: Shunsuke Nakamura “Naka”

2.5 million… I hope Strachan was wearing a mask when he robbed Reggina as he signed Naka. Football is often about a moment. One kick of the ball that results in it make that lovely swish sound as it hits the net. Naka somehow found a way to score goals, especially free kicks that made that swish sound just seem that little bit sweeter. Man Utd, the winner vs Killie and the dipping, curving, peach of hit that left McGregor trying to work out what dimension the ball was passing through as he attempted work out its final destination….and he never got close, it swished down the back of that net sending Celtic Park into ecstasy. Naka in my lifetime is one of the finest free kick takers I’ve ever seen. Him and Juninho (Lyon) weren’t just good, they made an incredibly difficult skill look easy. He also just happened to be a damn fine player as well. 166 games with 34 goals and the majority probably made the goal of the month or goal of the season contests.

2^ND Place: Scott Brown “Broony”

I still remember being at the Hibs game at the end of 06/07 where we were singing his name. It was so bizarre. Gordon Strachan introduced him as our player that summer and for the 4.5 million paid I think it’s safe to say we got good value from Broony over his 619 games. 22 trophies wasn’t a bad return along with some truly iconic moments along the way. The creation of the Broony vs Diouf, the many, many great pretenders who tried and failed to put him back in his box and 14 seasons of his ability, leadership and determination to show that we were the best team in this country. He had some tough moments along the way, but he never stopped growing in our shirt and ended not just playing for us but leading us like the Champion that he was.

1^st Place….. Would you have guessed it…….

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The Evil Genius that is Chris Sutton (I love that picture)

Chris Sutton turned up shortly after Martin O’Neill arrived to partner Henrik Larsson. What was to come were some of the happiest days many of us will ever have had supporting Celtic.

As a pair he and Larsson were not just one of the best strike pairings in Scotland or the UK, but arguably one of the best in Europe for a period of time. Sutton also displayed a willingness to do the job for us even when things were coming to and end. Playing in defence, midfield and if he’d have got the chance, I bet he’d have done alright with the gloves on. 199 games and 86 goals doesn’t seem like enough for the player he was but from the moment he scored the goal in his first game vs Rangers in the 6-2 demolition he was one of us. He came up here for just over 6 million from Chelsea with many saying he had a point to prove, well he told them and he helped play a big part in turning us from a team that was struggling to get close to Rangers into a team who has dominated them for the last 25 years.

Sutton still gives me a lot of joy as he never tires of sending the message that Celtic are his team and the best team in this country.

I genuinely have had so much fun writing this. It’s not overly thoughtful or insightful, just good fun. The memories and feelings that come flooding back when you look at the past 25 years and think of the players and managers who you have cheered for, cried for at times and celebrated beside is really quite cathartic.

Thanks as always for reading this, it really is appreciated and I hope to see lots of comments below or in the chat with your top 3, 5, 10, 50 players of the past 25 years and hope thinking about why gives you as much joy as it has me.