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Personal
Fullname: Robert James Douglas
aka: Rab Douglas, Robert Douglas
Born: 24 April 1972
Birthplace: Lanark, South Lanarkshire
Height: 6.03
Weight: 14.12
Signed: 16 October 2000
Left: 6 June 2005
Position: Goalkeeper
Debut: […]
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 19
Biog
| “I played for Scotland. I won the Third Division, the First Division, a couple of SPLs, some Scottish Cups and played in the UEFA Cup final. For a daft goalie who came into the game late, it’s not bad is it?” Rab Douglas |
As the first-choice goalkeeper Rab Douglas received overall mixed reviews, with certain fans heavily criticising his gaffes, for example infamously allowing a tame Mikel Arteta strike trickle through his fingers to open the scoring in a 3-3 draw v Rangers at Celtic Park in October, 2002.
That shouldn’t overshadow the good points. An early highpoint was Rab Douglas’ finest hour, which is widely considered to be the UEFA Cup third round tie against Valencia in 2001. Although the first leg in the Mestalla finished 1-0 to the hosts, Rab Douglas pulled off a string of saves to keep Valencia at bay. For a keeper who had taken such a leap to Celtic and now performing in Europe it was a lot to admire.
In the UEFA Cup run to the final 2003, Rab Douglas also played his part in the team. However there were still concerns, but the new presence of Magnus Hedman at the club didn’t deter Rab Douglas, and after Magnus Hedman’s failed stint, it inadvertently helped to prove Rab Douglas’ worth to the club and he was back in goals.
You just have to look at Rab Douglas’ haul of medals at Celtic. Granted he was playing in a side which was formidable in attack, but they held a great record in matches undefeated over the time Rab Douglas was there and so he too deserves some recognition for this. He played his part well in what was a golden period for the club.
Rab Douglas, unfairly, was too often maligned by various sections of the support. Granted he wasn’t the greatest keeper in the world, but he was an honest guy in the goals who did always try his very best. Some clangers (including one against Rangers which bounced off him into the net as he tried to collect what looked like an innocuous shot) are things that are brought up too often. He actually had many great games and Celtic had a fair record under him. Many Celtic managers have had weaknesses to find a great keeper, even Jock Stein often struggled.
Ridiculously some have tried to pin blame on Rab Douglas for the loss in the UEFA cup final in 2003, which is complete nonsense and looking for an easy scapegoat. He played his part very well in the run to the final, where notably his finest moments came against Liverpool in this run, pulling off some magnificent saves and really kept Celtic ahead in the tie (and still in the cup). He did actually have a fair game in the UEFA Cup Final, and players are going to tire in long hard games (the game went into extra-time). After centre-half Bobo Balde was sent off, a depleted tired defence was never going to be easy to play behind, and the winning goal was in extra-time.
One further notable incident was in 2004, when Rab Douglas was sent off at half-time (off the pitch) in the UEFA cup match against Barcelona, handing promising keeper David Marshall his competitive debut, which effectively sealed the beginning of the end of Rab Douglas’ time at Celtic as first choice (the young David Marshall had a blinder of a game in the return leg and saved a penalty in the first game). The daft thing is that in the altercation that got him the red card in the tunnel, he was actually innocent and had actually only stepped in to stop it all kicking off between others! Unlucky off the pitch as at times on it. He didn’t let it get him down and despite losing his place at times to the upcoming David Marshall he still gave his all whenever asked.
After weeks of speculation, Rab Douglas announced that he was leaving the club after the Scottish Cup win in 2005. After his time at Celtic, Rab Douglas went on to play for Leicester City, Millwall and Wycombe before returning to Dundee in the summer of 2008.
As a measure of his worth at Celtic, he even made the grade at international level with 19 appearances for Scotland, the last of which came against Italy in 2005.
An affable bloke, and at the end of his time he gave good service to the club and left with the good wishes of all.
Rab Douglas summarised his own career better than anyone else ever could:
“I will never be everybody’s cup of tea, but I can look back with huge pride on what I have achieved, not just for myself, but for my friends and family. Some guys play 10-15 years and don’t win a thing. I played for Scotland. I won the Third Division, the First Division, a couple of SPLs, some Scottish Cups and played in the UEFA Cup final. For a daft goalie who came into the game late, it’s not bad is it?”
We wish him all the best.
Playing Career
| Club ____________ |
From ____________ |
To ____________ | Fee ____________ |
League __________ |
____________ | Scottish Cup_ _____________ |
__________ | League cup ____________ |
Other ____________ |
||
| Dundee | 01-Jul-08 | Free | 9 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Plymouth | 14-Mar-08 | 04-Apr-08 | Loan | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Wycombe | 01-Jan-08 | 01-Feb-08 | Loan | 2 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Wycombe | 24-Oct-07 | 05-Dec-07 | Loan | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Millwall | 14-Sep-07 | 21-Oct-07 | Loan | 7 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Leicester | 06-Jun-05 | 01-Jul-08 | Free | 32 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Celtic | 16-Oct-00 | 06-Jun-05 | £ 1,500,000 | 107 (1) | 0 | 17 (0) | 0 | 7 (0) | 0 | 30 (0) | 0 |
| Dundee | 01-Aug-97 | 16-Oct-00 | £ 100,000 | 119 (0) | 0 | 6 (0) | 0 | 8 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 |
| Livingston | 26-Oct-93 | 01-Aug-97 | No appearance data available | ||||||||
| Totals | £1,600,000 | 278 (1) | 0 | 25 (0) | 0 | 17 (0) | 0 | 31 (0) | 0 | ||
| goals / game | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||||
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Premier League:
Scottish Cup:
UEFA Cup:
- 2002-2003 Runner-up
Scottish League Cup:
Pictures
Rab Douglas interview: Keeping up appearances
(Scotland on Sunday)
Published Date: 04 January 2009
IN THE days when he combined part-time football with his job as a bricklayer, Rab Douglas could never have anticipated a career with Celtic. Neither did he believe, after winning two league titles, four Scottish Cups and 19 international caps with the Glasgow club, that his peak would be spent in the wilderness.
Neither did he believe, after winning two league titles, four Scottish Cups and 19 international caps with the Glasgow club, that his peak would be spent in the wilderness. Now, towards the end of a long and strange career in which he has been all or nothing, hero or zero, victim of the classic vagaries of high-profile goalkeeping, the 36-year-old is content to settle for something in between.
Since joining Dundee last summer, there has been none of the spotlight Douglas is used to, none of the pressure, prizes or politics he has experienced elsewhere, but plenty of first-team football, which, in the light of recent traumas, isn’t to be sniffed at. Excited though he is by this Saturday’s return to Celtic Park for a Scottish Cup fourth-round tie, it is a thrill to be playing at all after two-and-a-half years on the bench. “You enjoy it more when you’re older because you never know when it might be your last game,” he says.
He thought that landmark had passed already. After leaving Celtic in 2005, he spent three ruinous years with Leicester City, where he dropped so far out of the picture that hardly a single club was interested in signing him when his contract expired at the end of last season. Until his father-in-law, Peter Marr, the former Dundee owner, alerted him to the possibility of a return to Dens Park, where he had spent three happy seasons in the late 1990s, he was preparing to retire and set up a goalkeeping course in Atlanta. All of which would have been a shocking way to round off a career that had taken him to the UEFA Cup final only five years earlier.
Leicester tested Douglas to the limit. Signed by Craig Levein, he was a regular in his first few months at the Walkers Stadium, but a match against Derby County in February 2006, during which he sustained a season-ending injury, proved to be his last for the club. By the time he had recovered his fitness, Levein had long gone, together with his prospects of a recall. As a succession of new managers – from Rob Kelly and Nigel Worthington to Martin Allen, Gary Megson and Ian Holloway – proceeded to ignore his claims, he had to settle for short loan spells with Millwall, Wycombe Wanderers and Plymouth Argyle.
Douglas says he trained like a trooper, and played well on loan, even winning the man-of-the-match award in his sole appearance for Plymouth, but not one Leicester manager was impressed. His only possible explanation is that the club’s board wanted to sever all links with the Levein era. “It was soul-destroying,” he says. “I trained all week, knocking my pan in, but I wasn’t getting a look-in. No matter what I did, I was completely bombed. I had several managers, and some of them told me I could go before they had even seen me train or play. I found that astounding. I’ve spoken to a couple of people, and I’m sure it was coming from a higher level. Maybe I’m being cynical, but a few of the boys from Scotland got bombed. Mark De Vries, Alan Maybury, Stevie Hughes and myself were all shipped out.
“The one thing I’m proud of is that I remained professional through it all. The goalie coach never ever had to pull me in about my attitude. It’s one thing if a manager or a chairman questions my ability as a goalkeeper, but they won’t ever question my commitment. I would never give anyone the satisfaction of having to pull me for that.”
Now, Douglas is putting it all behind him, revitalised by the role of elder statesman at Dundee. “I’ve got pants older than some of these boys,” he says, admitting that the appointment of Jocky Scott was his idea. When Alex Rae departed in October, Douglas suggested to Dave McKinnon, then the club’s chief executive, that they consider the manager he had played for at Dens a decade earlier. Scott duly arrived, and the team found their feet, not scoring many goals, but not losing many either, thanks in part to the man between the posts. Having been without a club only six months ago, Douglas is now hoping for a new contract, which Dundee would be well advised to offer him, given that Levein is lurking over the road at Tannadice. “With my family connections, I wouldn’t go there, couldn’t go there,” he says. “I’d have to sleep in the spare bedroom.”
Before he joined Celtic in 2000, Dundee were the making of Douglas, a late starter if ever there was one. He was part-time with Livingston before moving to Dens at the age of 25, helping his new club to promotion in his first season and earning them £1.5m two years later. He was 28 when he moved to Parkhead, 30 when he made his debut for Scotland. He admits that football didn’t come naturally, and that he had to sweat for every step up the ladder, which serves only to underline the magnitude of his achievements. While not everyone at the highest level remembers him fondly, his only failure was to meet the standards he himself had raised.
He’s not sure how he will be received in the east end of Glasgow on Saturday. He contributed in no small way to what was a glorious era under Martin O’Neill, but he wasn’t a character, a showman in the Artur Boruc mould. And he made some of his biggest mistakes in the biggest matches, which is the nightmare combination for any goalkeeper, never mind one that plays for the Old Firm. Inevitably, he is remembered less for the highlight of his time at Parkhead, a breathtaking UEFA Cup performance against Valencia in the Mestalla, than for a series of Glasgow derbies in which he was found wanting.
The first of those came in only his third appearance for Celtic, a 5-1 defeat at Ibrox which gave him an early taste of the fixture’s blame culture. The last was a 2-0 home defeat in which he was hung out to dry for his part in a goal by Gregory Vignal. Worst of all, though, was the 3-3 draw at Celtic Park in October 2002, when Mikel Arteta’s shot trickled through his fingers. Later held accountable for all three goals, Douglas admits he considered quitting the game. “After that one, I really thought I’d had enough. That was me… finished. But then I spoke to big Terry (Gennoe, Celtic’s goalkeeping coach], Martin (O’Neill] and Debbie (his wife], who were all brilliant. If I’d given up, and stopped being paid to play football, I’d probably still have played it on a park somewhere. That’s how much I love it. So why give someone the satisfaction?
“I hate seeing any goalie make a mistake, even if the boy is keeping me out of the team. People won’t believe that, but I’ve been in that position and it’s horrible. Speak to any goalie who has made a mistake in a big game and they will tell you it is the loneliest time. But with the Old Firm, it is magnified. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Some of the stuff I had to put up with was unbelievable, getting analysed in the press by guys who didn’t even know me. It was all wrong. Nobody makes mistakes deliberately.
“The one thing you can say about me is I am honest, but it hasn’t always helped. At Celtic, there were times when I cost the team goals, and I was probably too honest in admitting it. There are guys who make mistakes and never admit to them. I held my hands up. Sometimes when nerves get to a guy, he doesn’t play, he fakes an injury, but that’s something you could never ever say about me. I always had the balls to stand up and be counted. I’ve never been one to hide.”
He is proud of the seven consecutive clean sheets he racked up in his first season at Celtic. He also points out that, while O’Neill’s faith in him later faltered when David Marshall and Magnus Hedman provided competition for the goalkeeper’s jersey, the manager saw fit to play him 162 times in five years. Douglas was criticised all right, for country as well as club, but he was Scotland’s first choice for a while, and not many can say that.
Last summer, he was among those invited to Chris Sutton’s house for a reunion of the team that took Celtic to the UEFA Cup final in Seville. O’Neill was there, together with his assistant, John Robertson, and Paul Lambert, whom Douglas describes as his best friend in football. For all his troubles, it reminded Douglas of the company he has kept, and the standards he has reached. “I will never be everybody’s cup of tea, but I can look back with huge pride on what I have achieved, not just for myself, but for my friends and family. Some guys play 10-15 years and don’t win a thing. I played for Scotland. I won the Third Division, the First Division, a couple of SPLs, some Scottish Cups and played in the UEFA Cup final. For a daft goalie who came into the game late, it’s not bad is it?”
Anfield was my greatest night
The Sun, 2009
ANFIELD was the venue for the best night of Rab Douglas’ football life.
He’s convinced the Emirates can become the same for the man who took his Celtic goalie jersey.
Artur Boruc will play a vital role for the Hoops as they attempt to overturn a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal at Parkhead and make the Champions League group stages.
Douglas knows exactly how it feels to be part of a Celtic side heading to the home of a Premier League giant. Totally written off, seen as mere cannon fodder.
That’s why keeping a clean sheet in the sensational 2003 UEFA Cup quarter-final triumph over Liverpool was all the sweeter.
Martin O’Neill’s Celtic had a point to prove after a 1-1 draw against the Reds in Glasgow had left their dream of going all the way to Seville hanging by a thread and how they made it as goals from Alan Thompson and John Hartson sickened the Scousers.
Two rounds earlier — after a narrow first leg Parkhead win — Celtic had also gone to Ewood Park and stuffed Blackburn Rovers 2-0.
They had been motivated by Rovers boss Graeme Souness’ ‘men against boys’ jibe in the aftermath of defeat in Glasgow, trying to use his side’s dominance to mask the result.
Gunners gaffer Arsene Wenger and his players haven’t fallen into the same trap of giving Celtic quotes to pin up in the away dressing room.
But Douglas, now back at Dundee, said: “The fact is everyone else down south will have dismissed Celtic’s chances.
“No doubt the English football writers have already done it. It will definitely be tie over as far as they are concerned.
“I’m also certain there will be snide comments about the standard of the SPL and how Celtic won’t be able to live with Arsenal at the Emirates.
“Fair enough, people down there can say what they want.
“But Celtic proved six years ago exactly what can happen — and I’d love to see Tony Mowbray’s side emulate us on Wednesday night.
“The current side has an even harder task because of last week’s defeat at Parkhead.
“But an early goal by Celtic, or just making sure they get the first one, will really put Arsenal under massive pressure. I’d be very interested to see how they handled that, as good a side as they are.
“I’m also sure at the other end Artur Boruc will produce another big performance. He’s done it before and he can do it again.
“I can never forget the Liverpool and Blackburn matches. Martin O’Neill’s team talks at Ewood Park and Anfield were brilliant.
“The players needed little extra motivation but Martin found precisely the right words in the dressing room for that added touch.
“I remember the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up as we ran out each time. Both Blackburn and Liverpool thought they had done enough. But we shocked them big style.
“The clean sheet at Anfield was particularly special for me, up there with anything else I’ve achieved in my career.
“We did Scottish football proud with magnificent performances. That was important to us — to make sure the people down there gave our game a bit more respect.
“First and foremost we wanted success for Celtic. But we also didn’t want anyone rubbishing our league as Micky Mouse.
“I’m sure it will be the same for the lads just now. That can be powerful motivation.
“Shaun Maloney and Aiden McGeady are tremendously talented boys. I saw that for myself in my time at Parkhead. I’m happy to see that both are in very good form.”
Douglas says beating Arsenal would rank every bit as highly as the wins over Blackburn and Liverpool. He said: “It would be a fantastic achievement for Celtic to get through.
“It was obviously a different era in 2003 and different players.
“But without a doubt Celtic qualifying on Wednesday night would be as good a result as they’ve managed in recent times.”