Personal
Fullname: Carl David Muggleton
aka: Carl Muggleton
Born: 13 September 1968
Birthplace: Leicester, England
Signed: 11 January 1994
Left: 21 July 1994
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: Celtic 0-0 Dundee Utd, League, 22 January 1994
Internationals: England
International Caps no senior; U-21: 1 cap
Biog
Signed by Lou Macari, Carl Muggleton made his Celtic debut in 1994. In total, he made 13 appearances for the club.
Carl Muggleton played 13 times for Celtic, 12 league games and one Scottish Cup game. Notably, he had 6 shut outs in his first six consecutive league games, which was a Celtic record for consecutive clean sheets in the Premier Division – a record which stood for another 10 years after he left – but then Carl let his form slip.
Overall conceded just 9 goals. Not actually too bad a record overall when you take in that he was playing behind a poor defence in a very demoralised team. The club was hitting its nadir at this point in the 1990s, and he had joined at a time just prior to the Celtic Takeover during the ‘Sack the Board’ days when matters were at their worst, and the atmosphere was tense.
So why is he lampooned by sections of the support? Firstly, to those in the support who were quite childish, he had a bit of a funny name. OK, whatever, but the main reason is that he was bought in by discredited manager Lou Macari at the tail end of the old Biscuit Tin days alongside Wayne Biggins (who was a failure of a signing), so is sadly bracketed in with others with whom he really doesn’t deserve to be with. The truth is that he is lampooned chiefly by fans who more than likely never actually saw him play.
He was a good shot-stopper and deputised very well for Pat Bonner in his time. If anything, he was a welcome surprise in an otherwise poor era. The club was skint and had to rely on the odd break.
From his short record, you can’t have asked for too much more and in many ways his first games were a stellar patch of personal performances in what was a dire time for the club, not conceding in his first six league matches. However, Motherwell seemed to be a bane as Celtic lost 1-0 in the cup to them and then again in the league to break Carl Muggleton’s run which pricked his balloon.
His form dropped in his last few games he played for Celtic, and the First Team conceded more goals than should have but he was playing in a difficult environment.
When Pat Bonner took back over the no.1 spot for the end of the season run, Bonner didn’t fare any better, and proves that Carl Muggleton was not the problem.
The team had no morale, no confidence in the manager and a huge inferiority complex after debacles and failures in the past five years or so. The defence in front of him was woeful & disorganised many a time. Carl Muggleton was a whole-hearted player and did a fine job with no complaints.
Possibly his high mark was away from Scotland. Post-season, Celtic played in a mini-tournament, consisting of Celtic, Hearts & Aberdeen in Hamilton Canada, titled the ‘Hamilton Cup’. Celtic went on to win this mini tournament, but the star performance was from Carl Muggleton who saved two Hearts penalties as the Bhoys progressed to the final after the lottery of a spot-kick shoot out when the match has finished 1-1 in normal time. He deserved this moment of mini-glory after all the difficulties of his first six months at Celtic.
It wasn’t enough for the new management at Celtic, and he left to join Stoke for £150k in the summer of 1994, as newly appointed manager Tommy Burns didn’t have him in his plans (possibly the move was partly due to internal politics). An ignominious exit after Carl Muggleton’s fair efforts.
He departed after his few games where those in the know believed that he should have stayed (and deserved to stay) with Celtic for longer and prove that he was better than the misinformed one-eyed cynics were making out.
We wished him all the best.
Post-Celtic
Carl Muggleton joined Stoke City from Celtic joining up with Lou Macari again. He had a very productive time with Stoke making over 150 appearances for the team. Towards the end of his time with the Potteries club he had loan spells with Sheffield Utd, Mansfield, Rotherham and Chesterfield. He moved to Cheltenham Town in 2001 but only saw six months there as a backup before going out on loan to Bradford. For the 2002/03 season he joined Chesterfield and enjoyed four seasons there becoming a fans favourite at the club.
He left at the start of the 2006/07 season for local rivals Mansfield Town. Remarkably he was still playing in competitive football up until the end of season 2007/08, where after he retired from playing at the age of 40.
He was some guy. It shows some great spirit for anyone to still be playing after for so long, and he is very much worthy of respect.
He moved on to working as a part-time goalkeeping coach for Notts County, and as a driving instructor, and later was coaching with the Northern Ireland u21s.
He is always welcome back to Celtic Park any time.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES (subs) | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1994 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Shut-outs: | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Club | From | To | Fee | League | Scottish/FA Cup | League cup | Other | ||||
| Mansfield | 17/07/2006 | 31/05/2009 | Free | 52 (1) | 0 | 7 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| Chesterfield | 22/05/2002 | 17/07/2006 | Free | 112 (0) | 0 | 3 (0) | 0 | 5 (0) | 0 | 4 (0) | 0 |
| Bradford | 29/12/2001 | 29/01/2002 | Loan | 4 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Cheltenham | 01/06/2001 | 22/05/2002 | Free | 7 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Cardiff | 15/03/2001 | 08/05/2001 | Loan | 6 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Chesterfield | 09/12/1999 | 20/01/2000 | Loan | 5 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Mansfield | 09/09/1999 | 10/11/1999 | Loan | 9 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Sheff Utd | 28/03/1996 | Loan | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Rotherham | 01/11/1995 | Loan | 6 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | |
| Stoke | 21/07/1994 | 01/06/2001 | £150,000 | 148 (1) | 0 | 5 (0) | 0 | 17 (0) | 0 | 6 (0) | 0 |
| Celtic | 11/01/1994 | 21/07/1994 | £150,000 | 12 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Sheff Utd | 26/11/1993 | Loan | No appearance data available | ||||||||
| Stoke | 13/08/1993 | Loan | 126 (0) | 0 | 3 (0) | 0 | 14 (0) | 0 | 6 (0) | 0 | |
| Liverpool | 21/09/1990 | Loan | No appearance data available | ||||||||
| Stockport | 01/03/1990 | Loan | 4 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Hartlepool | 28/10/1988 | Loan | 8 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | |
| Blackpool | 01/02/1988 | Loan | 2 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Chesterfield | 10/09/1987 | Loan | 17 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | |
| Leicester | 17/09/1986 | 11/01/1994 | Apprentice | 46 (0) | 0 | 3 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 5 (0) | 0 |
| Totals | £300,000 | 564 (3) | 0 | 23 (0) | 0 | 38 (0) | 0 | 28 (0) | 0 | ||
| goals / game | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
Honours with Celtic
none
Quotes
Interviewer: “AFTER NINE YEARS AT LEICESTER YOU FINALLY MOVED ON TO CELTIC – WHAT WAS THAT EXPERIENCE LIKE?”
Carl Muggleton: “It was incredible and you don’t realise quite how big the club is until you get up there. You have to be careful where you go as there is such a big rivalry with Rangers but it was a great city. Lou Macari signed me and the people of Glasgow made me and my family feel very welcome. We bought a house and settled up there but Lou was sacked in the summer and I came back and spoke to Tommy Burns who told me that the club had accepted an offer from Stoke and that I should take it!”
From Carl Muggleton – Tales from a goalkeeping journeyman (link)
“I’ve always said I love[d] my time in Glasgow, great club, great fans…”
Carl Muggleton on Celtic via Twitter @carlmuggleton (2015)
Pictures
Podcast
From 26 Mar 1994
