MEMORIES OF….PETER GRANT

Saint Anthony on Peter the pointer

Away back in the mists of time, in December 1981 to be exact, Scotland under 18’s played West Germany on a bitterly cold night at Ibrox. I attended that game, courtesy of free tickets given out by the school, and Celtic starlet Paul McStay was creating headlines at the time by captaining an impressive Scotland team. However, it was two other Celts who I will remember better from that night. There was a half time penalty shoot-out between Charlie Nicholas of Celtic, Davie Cooper of Rangers, and Billy Stark of St Mirren, each of them accompanied by a youngster from their club. The penalties were taken against Scotland goalie, Alan Rough. Nicholas and the young Celt scored all 10 penalties and won easily. The Celtic youngster was Peter Grant and that was the first time I laid eyes on him and he showed commendable composure from the spot for a boy of just 16. As an aside, the Ibrox stand was in uproar when Nicholas accepted a set of football strips from his old school as the prize and took off his Scotland tracksuit top to display the Celtic hoops he was wearing underneath.

Three years later Peter Grant returned to Ibrox to make his Celtic debut on a day when the 1-0 defeat was immaterial due to Aberdeen being certainties to lift the title later that month. Peter became a regular from the 1984-85 season and the early signs were positive. On 6 October 1984, Celtic faced Alex Ferguson’s then dominant Aberdeen at Parkhead. The first choice Celtic midfield trio for many seasons had been Paul McStay, Murdo MacLeod, and Tommy Burns. In games against Ferguson’s Dons’ side they had looked lightweight on occasions and intimidated by the likes of Neil Simpson and Neale Cooper, who were very aggressive players. That day Peter Grant ended up rolling about on the ground in a tussle with Cooper, and it was clear that Celtic, under Davie Hay, would now fight fire with fire. It was no coincidence that Celtic won 2-1 with a fighting display.

In November 1984 Peter had a fine match as Celtic beat Rapid Vienna 3-0 in a ECWC second leg at Parkhead. However, he blotted his copybook on two occasions that night. He missed a penalty and then was caught on TV, appearing to stamp on a Rapid player who was on the ground. Many years later, Scott Brown would be ordered off for committing a similar offence on Barcelona’s Neymar, but on this occasion Peter’s misdemeanour went unnoticed by the referee, but he then endured something of a trial by TV and dropped out of the side for a considerable period.

Peter’s progress was stunted during the 1985-1987 period by playing him at right back on occasions, a position he never seemed entirely comfortable in. It wasn’t until Billy McNeill returned as manager in 1987 that Celtic were to see the best of him. McNeill played Peter alongside the inspirational Paul McStay and Celtic enjoyed a fantastic season. Grant dove-tailed perfectly in the middle of the park with his running and strong tackling complementing the more cultured skills of McStay. Grant scored a stunning, memorable goal on 2 April 1988 at Easter Road on a bright spring day when Celtic were in top form after wins at Ibrox and Pittodrie. He also played a big part in another important Easter Road game that season when his powerful long range shot crashed off the bar to allow Billy Stark to nip in and score the winner in a closely fought Scottish Cup quarter final replay. Sadly for Peter, he missed the Scottish cup final win over Dundee United after failing a fitness test with an injury he picked up in training, which must have been a huge disappointment for him after having enjoyed such a fine season.

For the next few seasons, Peter was unlucky with illness and injury and by 1990, Celtic had lost a huge amount of experience as Roy Aitken, Tommy Burns, Billy Stark, Mark McGhee, Frank McAvennie, and Mick McCarthy all departed the Celtic scene without suitable replacements being found for them. This put a huge weight on the shoulders of the likes of Grant, McStay, Derek Whyte, Joe Miller, and Andy Walker, all relatively young players, who lacked the experience to cope with such pressure. Boardroom strife and managerial upheaval then meant that Celtic drifted into mediocrity for several seasons.

Peter was still at Parkhead in 1994 when his old team mate, Tommy Burns, returned to Celtic as their new manager. Burns knew that Grant and McStay were vital to keeping the Celtic spirit alive with such a cosmopolitan squad which now included Pierre Van Hooydonk and would later see such diverse talents as Andreas Thom, Jorge Cadete, and Paolo Di Canio on show. Burns’ new Celtic side made it to the 1995 Scottish Cup final against Airdrie. Celtic were nervous about this game after having lost the League Cup final to Raith Rovers the previous November, and many observers saw them as vulnerable. The week before the final, Peter was carried off at Tannadice with a foot injury, and history looked like repeating itself from 1988 when he missed the Dundee United final. There was therefore some surprise amongst the Celtic support when he ran out with the team at Hampden. The game was a tense, nervous affair, with Celtic desperately hoping for some success to kick start the Fergus McCann era. Van Hooydonk paid back his transfer fee by scoring the only goal of the game but Peter Grant was seen by many as Celtic’s most important player on the day after a vital tackle on Airdrie’s Alan Lawrence late in the game when Lawrence looked like scoring. An Airdrie goal so late in the game would have been catastrophic but Celtic prevailed. There was much emotion on show after the cup was lifted and displayed in front of the fans.

Sadly for Tommy Burns, he couldn’t deliver the league title which Fergus McCann so desired, and Wim Jansen replaced him as Celtic manager in the summer of 1997. Peter Grant’s last Celtic appearance came in a League Cup tie against St Johnstone in Perth in August 1997. It was to be his only appearance under Jansen. Shortly after that, he moved to Norwich City. ‘Peter the pointer’, as he was affectionately known, had been a Celt for 13 years and had played under six different managers during that time. His devotion to Celtic had been rewarded in January 1997 when a full house of 47,000 had attended at Parkhead to see his testimonial fame against Bayern Munich. Not many footballers are able boast that Lothar Matthaus and Jurgen Klinsmann turned out to pay tribute to them in their benefit game, on a night when Bayern showed their class. A fitting reward for a faithful Celtic servant.