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Personal
Fullname: Francisco Javier Sánchez Broto
aka: Javier Sánchez Broto
Born: 25 Aug 1971
Birthplace: Extremadura, Spain
Signed: 24 Jan 2003
Left: 15 Aug 2003
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: Celtic 3-0 St Johnstone, SPL, 23 Feb 2003
Internationals: None / Spain U21s
International Caps: 0 (for seniors) / 2 (for Spain U21s)
Biog
| “I always support Celtic – even when they play against Barcelona.” Javier Sanchez Broto |
Javier Sánchez Broto was a popular figure among the Celtic support during his brief Parkhead career.
The Spanish goalkeeper moved to Glasgow from Livingston on a surprise short term deal in January 2003 as cover for the injured Rab Douglas and Magnus Hedman. This was the glorious ‘Road to Seville‘ season and was the best time to come on board to Celtic.
The former Real Zaragoza, Villareal and Airdrie man made a total of 10 appearances in his time at the club and impressed with a string of assured performances. His debut was a fine 3-0 victory over St Johnstone, and he played in a 2-1 victory over Rangers in the league but also the 1-0 defeat to Inverness CT in the Scottish Cup. In total he conceded just 7 goals with 4 clean sheets, a good record.
The Celtic support – who were not used to generally assured displays from their keepers in recent times – were keen for the 31-year-old to sign an extended deal. However he delayed committing to the two year contract offered by Martin O’Neill and the club then decided to withdraw their interest.
Some fans thought the club had missed out by not getting Broto to stay at Parkhead. His record though was nothing special, and he might have been useful as a back-up alone.
In retrospect it was a bad move from Broto’s point to not sign when he had the chance. Rab Douglas was a decent keeper but could be frustratingly poor at times. This should have given Broto opportunities, and given Rab Douglas the competition that might have helped give him the impetus to improve. Broto missed out on playing in the Champions League, and missed out on the classic matches v Barcelona in 2004 when a young David Marshall stepped up in goals and became a hero. That could have been Broto but he gambled on his new contract talks and lost.
Still he appeared to enjoy his time at Celtic:
“Celtic is a spectacular club. In Spain, they don’t even know half of how football is experienced there.”
Sadly, despite the highs over the whole season, Celtic did not win any silverware that season, so he was to leave Celtic without any medals, but still will have had a great experience in what was otherwise a wonderful season for Celtic.
Post Celtic he went on trial and tour with Ipswich before being rejected by them. He then joined Gordon Strachan at Southampton on a 6 week trial before moving on a 1 year deal to new La Liga club Real Murcia.
He was dropped as first choice goalkeeper by them and moved at the start of 2004-05 to further La Liga newcomers, Getafe. For 2005-06 manager Bernd Schuster failed to offer him a new deal and he joined Segundo team Hercules CF of Alicante.
Due to injuries sustained whilst playing for Hercules he retired from professional football. At time of writing, he was running a chain of football kit and equipment shops, dedicated to goalkeepers, in Zaragoza, Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia and online called ‘Solo Porteros‘ (‘Only goalkeepers’).
Celtic left a great impression on him:
“I always support Celtic – even when they play against Barcelona.”
Javier Sanchez Broto (2017, interview on Celtic Glasgow is Green podcast)
We wish him the best.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES (sub) |
LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2003 | 7 (1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Clean-sheets: | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 (40%) |
| Club | From | To | Fee | League | Scottish/FA Cup | League cup | Other | ||||
| Getafe | 23/10/2004 | 21 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | ||
| Murcia | 15/08/2003 | 23/10/2004 | 9 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Celtic | 24/01/2003 | 15/08/2003 | Signed | 7 (1) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Livingston | 30/03/2001 | 24/01/2003 | Signed | 46 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 3 (0) | 0 | 4 (0) | 0 |
| Airdrie (old) | 01/08/2000 | 30/03/2001 | Signed | 23 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 5 (0) | 0 |
| Malaga | 01/08/1999 | 01/08/2000 | No appearance data available | ||||||||
| goals / game | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
Honours with Celtic
none
Quotes
“Celtic is a spectacular club. In Spain, they don’t even know half of how football is experienced there. Until I got there, I’d never been to such a big club. It’s something incredible.”
Javier Sanchez Broto