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Personal
Fullname: Graham Carey
Born: 2 May 1989
Birthplace: Dublin
Signed: 1 September 2005
Left: 8 July 2011 (to St Mirren)
Position: Winger
Debut: Rapid Vienna 3-3 Celtic, Europa League, 17 Dec 2009
Internationals: Republic of Ireland Senior / U21
International Caps: 0 / 6
International Goals: 0 / 3
Biog
Graham Carey was rated as a versatile, left-sided attacking midfielder/forward when he joined Celtic as a 16 year old in 2005, just as the new Gordon Strachan reign was beginning.
He had been attached to Shelbourne while at school and was an Irish age group international. Came across with Paul Cahillane and Tim Kiely, who have since returned to Ireland: Cahillane becoming a GAA star and Kiely joining Cork City.
Graham Carey stuck at it and moved up the ranks to the fringes of the reserve team, impressing with his play on either wing. The problem for him was that with Conroy a fixture on the reserves’ left flank and older “projects” like Mizuno and McCourt also needing a game, Graham Carey decided to get out on loan in order to get some playing time.
He linked up with his Shelbourne mentor Pat Fenlon at Bohemians in February 2009,. and he helped ‘the gypsies‘ win the League but failed to extend his loan in order to play in July’s Champions League qualifiers against Red Bull Salzburg.
On his return to Celtic, he tried to catch the eye of new Celtic manager Tony Mowbray but he appeared to be left in limbo with the SPL reserve league disbanded. At a unorganised and dishevelled Celtic, it was no easy time to make a name for yourself either.
He finally made his first team debut in the Europa League dead rubber against Rapid Vienna on 17 December 2009. It was a cracking match as Celtic came back from the death to draw 3-3 having been early being 3-0 down. The match was played in freezing temperatures of around -6C to -8C. Admittedly it was a dead rubber match with a number of reserve players playing in the match, but still a great result. It was though a write-off of a season.
Further loan spells would ensue, the first to fellow SPL club St Mirren between February and May 2010, and following this impressive loan spell (which included a run to the League Cup final) Celtic rewarded Carey with a 2 year contract extension. The second loan spell was to Huddersfield Town between July 2010 and January 2011, where he also impressed.
Graham Carey returned to Celtic following this loan spell in England but was allowed to leave at the end of the season, signing a 2 year deal with St Mirren on 8th July 2011.
He went on to also play for Ross County, but then he moved to Plymouth Argyle where he was to have a long career and achieved success with a great goalscoring rate. He later moved over to CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) for a few seasons, stuck there during the covid pandemic. However, he had the honour to score CSKA Sofia’s first ever goal in the 2021–22 UEFA Conference League group stage against Roma in the Stadio Olimpico, lashing the ball into the top left corner, although Roma still won 5-1.
He returned to Scotland to play for St Johnstone in 2022, …
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Playing Career
| CLUB | FROM | TO | FEE | LEAGUE | Scottish Cup | LGE CUP | OTHER | ||||
| APPS | GLS | APPS | GLS | APPS | GLS | APPS | GLS | ||||
| Huddersfield | 14-Jul-10 | 03-Jan-11 | Loan | 18 (1) | 2 | 3 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 2 (0) | 1 |
| St Mirren | 01-Feb-10 | 31-May-10 | Loan | 10 (5) | 3 | 0 (1) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Celtic | 01-Sep-09 | 8 July 2011 |
0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | |
Honours with Celtic
none