B | Player Pics | A-Z of Players
Personal
Fullname: Craig Beattie
Born: 19 January 1984
Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland
Signed: 1 July 2003
Left: 3 July 2007
Position: Forward/Striker
Debut: Celtic 1-0 FBK Kaunas, European Cup, 6 Aug 2003
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 7 Caps
International Goals: 1
Biog
Beattie signed a 3 year deal in July 2005 [BBC]
He left to sign for 3 years for WBA in July 2007 for 1.25 Million [BBC]
Loaned to Preston for 2 months from March 2008
Loaned to Crystal Palace for 1 moth from September 2008
A product of the Murray Park (Rangers) conveyor belt, Celtic somehow nicked him after Rangers dumped him, and when given half a chance he was a fine player for Celtic.
The problem was thought that despite being a tall and strong player, he became over-accustomed to the medical room, with the running joke by fans that he spent more time there than on the pitch.
A sorry story saw him only play 18 games starting with the Celts, with as said continual injuries puncturing any runs too often. Despite the problems, the fact he was still given a number of games even from the bench showed the club had faith in him and belief in his ability, and so did some of the support. He played off the main strikers and on the wing too when needed and did well. However, with so many games from the bench he was gaining the unwanted tag of “supersub“.
He had a fair goal scoring rate despite having a poor first touch. Possibly his best spell was in the first quarter of the 2005/06 season, scoring 7 goals (six in the league). His most notable match was scoring two goals to defeat Inverness CT at Celtic Park 2-1, after Celtic had gone behind. He followed this up with a goal in the next two league games.
However, one bit of success for him was that he managed to keep ahead of what was then a prestigious signing. Aliadaire was signed from Arsenal on loan with many wowed by the signing believing that in time he would fit in well and be a steal. Expectations were not to match the reality, and Aliadaire flattered to deceive despite coming from the highly lauded Arsenal academy. Beattie outshone him and did very well.
His final game for Celtic was in the Scottish Cup final victory over Dunfermline 1-0, with Jean-Joel Perrier Doumbe scoring from close range from Craig Beattie’s pass very late on in the match. Craig Beattie was unlucky himself not to grab the winner just a few minutes earlier. It sealed a double, and over his time at Celtic he had helped Celtic to three league titles & three Scottish Cups, a wonderful experience, as well as playing in the Champions League.
At the end, it wasn’t convincing that Beattie would make it long-term at Celtic (due to his recurring injury situations as much as all else), but it was all academic as he left the club when a fair offer came in from WBA (whose manager was future Celtic manager Tony Mowbray).
For his own sake, we hoped his hamstrings gave him a break and allow him a long run in the first team for WBA. He was a hard battler and deserved a good run, but it was an unsuccessful move, and a nomadic footballing life saw him move to various clubs over next few years. Overall, what was at one time some very good potential, just never really worked out. So Strachan, who let him go, seems to have made the right call for the club.
Craig Beattie scored some good goals for Celtic, and for that he will be remembered favourably.
Post-Celtic
He kind of soured it a wee bit with some of the support in 2012. Playing for Hearts he scored the winning penalty in a topsy-turvy match with disputed decisions which took Hearts through to the Scottish Cup final to face Hibs, the first Hearts-Hibs Scottish Cup final in 100 years (dubbed the “Salt n Sauce” final!). The problem was that on scoring his winning goal he way over celebrated and was running round the whole support having taken his shirt off and swinging it around his head.
Not denying his moment of glory with Hearts but seemed a bit extravagant & over the top, and some took as if it was a dig at the Celtic support who had always given him good support in his time, but that was churlish from the critics.
Too much shouldn’t be taken from that display to overshadow all else, and instead just let him have his moment of glory (they went on to win the final).
Reputedly, Beattie tried to join Zombie Rangers/NewCo/Sevco in 2012 but knocked them back. Some say it was due to the low wages offered but he ‘denied’ that (but all cynics were adamant it was due to the money). The Celtic support are thankful he didn’t go there and that was good news.
He went on to play for a myriad of sides moving down the tiers, starting with St Johnstone, Barnet, Dundee, Zebbug Rangers (Malta), Ayr, Stirling Albion and Edinburgh City.
After football, after recovering from financial issues, he went on to take an administrative role as ‘Members Services Officer’ at the footballers’ union PFA Scotland.
[…]
Playing Career
| Club | From | To | Fee | League | Scottish/FA Cup | League cup | Other | ||||
| Sheff Utd | 20/02/2009 | 01/06/2009 | Loan | 1 (12) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 |
| C Palace | 25/09/2008 | 10/12/2008 | Loan | 15 (0) | 5 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Preston | 04/03/2008 | 05/05/2008 | Loan | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| West Brom | 03/07/2007 | £1,250,000 | 7 (21) | 4 | 1 (3) | 0 | 3 (1) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Celtic | 01/07/2003 | 03/07/2007 | Trainee | 18 (32) | 13 | 0 (4) | 0 | 3 (2) | 2 | 1 (5) | 1 |
| Totals | £1,250,000 | 42 (66) | 23 | 1 (7) | 0 | 6 (3) | 3 | 3 (6) | 1 | ||
| goals / game | 0.21 | 0 | 0.33 | 0.11 | |||||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Premier League:
Scottish Cup:
Pictures
Articles
NotTheView on Craig Beattie
Craig Beattie
Link: http://www.ntvcelticfanzine.com/farewell%20then/fwl%20beattie.htm
“You’ll never be a player son.” – John Brown to Craig Beattie.
Now there are some who will doubtless agree with that assessment of Craig Beattie; his first touch isn’t that great, he can appear very clumsy indeed and he has proven to be seriously injury prone.
But on the credit side he has pace to burn, a willingness to battle and most of all we have goals; Craig Beattie knows where the goal is and has a decent habit of sticking the ball there.
A decent case has already been presented on Celtic Quick News outlining his importance to Gordon Strachan’s Celtic. This season, for example, didn’t yield too many goals thanks to that hamstring again, but two that spring readily to mind are the winner against Hibs in February and the opener against Aberdeen the same month.
And while he didn’t find the net against Hearts early in the new year it can’t be argued that his introduction certainly turned the game in our favour.
Legend has it that Beattie was as blue nosed as you could get, right up until John Brown and Co. released him (Beattie was the last player Walter Smith signed during his first spell as Chief Orc). When Celtic heard that Rangers had released a player who had terrorised the youth leagues with his scoring record they couldn’t get round to his house quick enough to offer a contract. Beattie happily signed, now keen to get back at the Ibrox club.
His first real foray into first team duty came in season 2003-04, as he emerged in December to score his first top team goal in a League Cup tie against Thistle at Firhill. From there he featured on the bench fairly often, occasionally making it on to the park.
March of 2004 saw him take part in two huge games. First up he came on as a sub against Rangers in the Scottish Cup at Celtic Park as we attempted to finish their season for good. Celtic were leading at the time and still had the upper hand. The idea behind bringing Beattie on was to use his pace and hit them on the counter attack.
Within minutes he had been sprung down the right wing. There wasn’t a defender anywhere near him. Rangers goalie Klos elected to charge out and caught him somewhere around the waist, leaving him flattened on the track.
The referee awarded a free kick, but decided that a high challenge from a goal keeper 30 yards from his goal that didn’t involve the ball at any stage was a yellow card offence. Go figure. Beattie seemed dazed for the remainder of the game.
The following Thursday he took the field as part of the Celtic line up that faced Barcelona in the UEFA Cup, although he wasn’t playing his usual forward role.This time he was deployed as a right winger, the idea being that his pace would cause them problems.
He did manage one decent run and cross, but never really got into the game (unsurprising really, he never played as a winger prior to that game and was never asked to perform that role again afterwards).
His involvement was cut short by a half time fracas in the tunnel that saw Rab Douglas red carded. A substitution was required to replace the goalie and Beattie was withdrawn.
He pretty much never really saw the light of day first team wise for the remainder of the season.
But his potential had been recognised by teams further afield. During the summer of 2004 Beattie was the subject of a £1m bid by Spurs. We rejected it but the fact that an EPL club had shown an interest in him was an encouraging sign that we had a real player here.
With Larsson away and O’Neill seemingly stuck for any decent replacement ideas the stage seemed set for Beattie to force his way in to the team. On the pre-season tour of the USA he scored in every game, including goals against Chelsea and Man U. But before a ball could be kicked in anger his hamstring gave out and he was sidelined for 8 months.
By the time he was fit again the side was already running on empty, stumbling towards the horror show at Fir Park. Indeed Beattie actually got us that far by firing in a late winner against Hearts at Tynecastle a couple of weeks earlier.
He had scored a couple of weeks prior to that, an important equalising goal against Hibs which turned uout to be no more than a signal for the Hoops to collapse towards a ghastly 3:1 home defat. Yet despite his contribution he couldn’t force his way in to the team on Cup Final day that season.
Basically Beattie suffered from the same problem that afflicted most young players at Celtic during that time; Martin O’Neill’s generals.
The change of manager, while a blow at the time, allowed a new culture to thrive at Celtic Park and Beattie was one of the first to benefit.
When WGS arrived he immediately started to assess what the squad was made of; not much appeared to be the answer. Martin O’Neill, during his handover, had made mention of the likes of McGeady, but hadn’t bothered to mention Beattie or Maloney. Ironic when you consider the impact they had on season 05/06.
To fill the apparent gap up front we signed Zurawski and (on-loan) Aliadiere from Arsenal, but as soon Strachan saw Beattie playing the young Gunner was finished. Why bother with a loan signing when you have a ready-made goal threat on your books?
Beattie missed on the Artmedia fiasco, but came off the bench to rescue a point at Fir Park four days later. The next game saw him again appear from the bench and score, wrapping up a 2:0 win over Dundee United, but the goal he scored will be the one that most people remember him for; Maloney cutting from the left floating the ball into the right of the box and Beattie meeting it full on the volley and crashing it into the far corner of the net.
A couple of weeks after the Ibrox defeat Beattie finally managed to force his way into the starting line up. He began to get goals in important matches (1:1 with Hearts in October) and even when he didn’t score he was maturing as a forward and contributing in build up play (5:0 against Motherwell in October also).
He was our top scorer at the end of October, then the roof fell in. He came on as a sub against United at Tannadice with Celtic leading 3:2. In the closing stages of the game he was sprung through the offside trap with Petrov. Instead of squaring to give the Bulgarian an empty net tap in he shot himself, but it went wide. Petrov went berserk – rightly. Beattie looked sheepish, and not just because of the poor call he had just made. His hamstring had gone again and his season was over.
As a supporter I can say it was frustrating because we were denied the services of, at that point of the season, our most prolific goal threat. For Beattie it must have been torture; another season ruined by a hamstring injury.
Last season was barely been any better. We didn’t really see him until well into the autumn and even then he seemed to very careful about when he ran full out.
Nevertheless, he still managed some useful contributions and goals (even getting his first Scotland goal)and he could also consider himself unlucky not to get a goal in the cup final.
His departure was all but inevitable when McDonald signed.
Beattie is a very useful forward, but his fitness record makes him unusable to Celtic. We just can’t be waiting for ever for him to be fully fit.
£1.25 million straight off the bat with a further £500k to come dependant on appearances etc. makes the Beattie deal a very impressive piece of business. He joins Mogga at West Brom, so he should be playing in a team that plays decent football and hopefully he’ll do better than big John did down there.
Craig Beattie on the senior Celtic stars he claims were ‘absolute p***ks’ as he details brutal training ritual
The former Hoops striker was given a baptism of fire after graduating to the first team under Martin O’Neill.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/craig-beattie-senior-celtic-stars-19009599
ByLiam Bryce
18:23, 26 AUG 2019Updated18:46, 26 AUG 2019
(Image: Daily Record)
We will use your email address only for the purpose of sending you newsletters. Please see ourPrivacy Noticefor details of your data protection rights
Craig Beattie has opened up on the brutal sink or swim environment he was plunged into as a youngster at Celtic.
The former Hoops striker graduated to the first team in 2003 during an era when the likes of Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton, Alan Thompson and Neil Lennon ruled the roost.
Beattie insists he’s on friendly terms with many of Martin O’Neill ‘s stars years later, but claimed they were especially tough on young players back in the day – an environment he believes was the making of him.
He says the culture shock proved too much for many a Hoops hopeful as the senior figures set an incredibly high standard on the training pitch.
“It didn’t bother me, but it was make or break,” Beattie told Open Goal .
“There are probably thousands of players who went in there and absolutely crumbled.
“Lads ask me about it now and say ‘what’s Lenny like? what’s Thommo like? what’s Sutty like?’
“And now I would say: ‘Absolutely spot on’. They’ll never pass you at events, charity do’s, absolutely brilliant.
“But back then? Absolute p***ks.
“You could be on that training ground – and we only trained for half an hour, three 10 minute games – and be the best player on the park for 29 minutes.
“But you could give the ball away once and get absolutely berated. Literally, strips torn off you.
“For me that was all part of the character building, you had to stand up to that.
“I’ve got Thommo shouting at me because I’ve given the ball away and I’ve got big Bobo (Balde) kicking lumps out of me.
“He was the nicest guy in the world but he was just so awkward and clumsy. He would never hurt you intentionally but he’d be all over your toes.
“He was strong as an ox, obviously. It was good learning, you’re not going to come up against much bigger or stronger than that on a weekend.
“If you’re up against that every day it stands you in good stead for matches.”
Training sessions often proved fiercely competitive under O’Neill’s watch, especially when the senior stars were pitted against the youngsters on a Friday.
Beattie described a harsh training ritual where one player would be forced to wear a yellow bib to mark them out as the worst performer over a session.
He added: “They were feisty. That was on a Friday – three five minute games, two touch, one touch and all in.
“They got naughty at times, and we used to vote for the yellow bib.
“Basically, everybody has to vote for a player in the losing team to take the the yellow bib for the worst player.
“The game could be such good quality that you could miss one chance and end up wearing this bib.
“You could score a goal but the game would maybe end 2-1 and you would get this yellow bib.
“It became quite naughty at times. The young lads were so up for it and we would beat them quite regularly.
“We were that up for and there were times we would win and they would hate us voting for them.
“(Would any of the main men get picked?) Of course they would. Once our boys grew a set it would be like ‘get on him, why are we not voting for him?’
“They would have a proper bite, they wouldn’t like it. Thommo wasn’t happy getting it one day, he thought the boys stitched him up.”