1987-01-03: Celtic 8-3 Hamilton Accies, Premier Division

• Anton Rogan enjoyed eightsome reel on his Celtic debut

By: Paul Cuddihy on 03 Jan, 2019 09:41
http://www.celticfc.net/news/15553
• IT was on January 3, 1987 that Celtic played host to Hamilton Accies in a Scottish Premier Division match.
Manager Davie Hay made three changes to the starting XI which had lost the Ne’erday derby two days previously, with Danny McGrain and Willie McStay returning to the side. The third change was a 20-year-old Irish defender who was making his Celtic debut.
For Anton Rogan, it proved to be a memorable game as the Hoops beat Hamilton 8-3, with Brian McClair scoring four of the goals while Alan McInally and Murdo MacLeod both scored two apiece.
Over the next five years, Rogan would go on to make 169 appearances, scoring five goals and playing his part in the Centenary double success, and the 1989 Scottish Cup triumph (picture below)
In the recently published book, This Is How It Feels To Be Celtic, the Belfast Bhoy recalls the day he fulfilled a lifelong ambition to play for Celtic.
Celtic, and Davie Hay in particular, had kept faith with their original judgement of Anton Rogan as a footballer, having initially wanted to sign him in 1984 as an 18-year-old. Two years and two leg breaks later, he finally put pen to paper on a contract and headed over the water to begin life as a Celtic player.
It was a difficult transition for the young Irishman, however, with an initial lack of first-team opportunities helping to fuel the homesickness he was suffering from, to the point where he was ready to give up on Paradise and head home to Ireland.
Anton Rogan explained: “When I signed in 1986, I stayed with a family in East Kilbride and they were really nice people. I was 20 and it was my first time away from home, and I tried to have a go at it. In the first couple of months, I was playing for the reserves and only playing a game here and there, and I found that quite hard, while going from part-time football to full-time football isn’t easy as you have to adjust to so many things.
“It got to around November and everyone I knew was back home in Ireland while I was in Scotland, sitting on my own and I started to think that I’d had enough. I decided to wait until Christmas and when I went back home, I’ll just say to my parents that I wouldn’t be going back.
“I played really well in the reserves throughout November and December and everyone was raving about me, but that didn’t matter. I just wanted to be home. No matter what age you are, if you travel away, you get lonely, and I was on my own most of the time, except from the family I was staying with.

“Davie Hay told me I could go home between Christmas and New Year, so I left on Christmas Eve and I wasn’t due back until December 30th. I went home to Belfast and I had a great time with my family and friends all in the house to see me.
“When it was quiet, I said to my dad that I didn’t fancy it and I wasn’t keen on going back. He told me that the decision was up to me and that he’d respect it, whatever it was, but if he was in my shoes, he’d go back and see out the season and then make a decision, because it was only another four or five months. So that’s what I decided to do.
“I went back on the 30th, and then Rangers beat Celtic 2-0 in the New Year’s Day game. After that game, Davie Hay told me I would be training with the first-team the following day, although I just thought I was making the numbers up.
“There was an old guy who used to sell newspapers around Glasgow, and he used to know everything that was going on at Celtic. I don’t know who it was who gave him the information but he knew everything. So when I walked out of Celtic Park after training on the Friday, he said, ‘Get your boots looked out because you’re playing tomorrow.’ That’s the Gospel truth. I don’t know how he knew but he did.
“The following day, Tommy Burns picked me up at the Clarkston Toll roundabout, we drove into Celtic Park and, sure enough, I was in the starting XI for the home game against Hamilton Accies, which, thankfully, we won 8-3. After that, for me, my life completely changed. I went from sitting in my own in the house and not seeing anyone, to all of a sudden meeting lots of people. When you play for Celtic, your life does change. For me, the defining moment in my career was when my dad suggested I should go back to the end of the season. If he hadn’t said that, I would have stayed in Belfast and my life would have been completely different.”
Given that he didn’t get much advance notice of his Celtic debut, Anton Rogan was struggling to let family and friends back home know about his good news. He did manage to call his dad, though, and a source of parental pride surged down the line between Belfast and Glasgow, with Anton leaving it to his dad to spread the word, given this was in the pre-mobile phone and Internet era.
“I remember I walked out of Celtic Park after the game and four of my mates were standing there waiting for me. They had hired a car and driven over from Belfast, just to see me play. Danny McGrain came out and saw me with them, and invited them into the stadium so that they could get pictures in the tunnel and the side of the pitch.
“I wasn’t expecting anyone to come over for my debut as it was such short notice, and the fact it was just after New Year and we’d just lost against Rangers. So it was brilliant to see them there after the game.
“One of them, Tony Rooney, was my football manager when I was a kid for Red Star, the team I had come across to watch Celtic with back in 1977. When he saw Danny, I thought he was going to faint. The next thing, Tony was standing talking to his idol.
“That’s probably why Danny became my idol as Tony loved him so much. Even now, when I talk to Tony, he still says that was the best day of his life … a grown man and he’s still saying that over 30 years later. I just loved Danny McGrain.
“I was lucky enough to play alongside him, which was absolutely fantastic. What a man he is. I just loved the way he played football and the way he was. He was a humble man and had no arrogance about him. For me, it was always Danny.”