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PETER GRANT
(by David Potter, from KeepTheFaith website)
Celtic fans always love a trier, and no-body tried harder for Celtic than Peter Grant. It was Peter's misfortune to be at Celtic Park at a turbulent and unfortunate time of the Club's history. It was his further misfortune to suffer many injuries, often at crucial points of seasons, and injuries which kept him out of key games. But it was his privilege to be loved and adored by the fans who loved him and whom he loved back.
“He wore his heart on his sleeve.” “He played for the jersey.” Such clichés do not in fact do justice to the service for Celtic that Peter gave over 12 or 13 years, serving a variety of managers – Davie Hay, Billy McNeill, Liam Brady, Lou Macari and finally his erstwhile team mate Tommy Burns.
He made his debut as a substitute in a 0-1 defeat to Rangers in 1984, just as that awful season was about to reach its nadir in the loss of the Scottish Cup Final to Aberdeen. His best position was in midfield. Celtic were rich in midfielders, for Peter's career coincided with that of Paul McStay and (later) John Collins. In truth, Peter lacked the class of McStay, but made up for it in commitment, at a time when commitment to the Celtic Cause was not always a conspicuous feature of Celtic players. Peter, for example watched Murdo MacLeod, Brian McClair and worst of all the odious Maurice Johnston leave the Club, when the Club obviously needed their talents.
But Peter stayed. He would not have been true to himself otherwise. In later years, after he retired as a player, Peter worked for Norwich City and Bournemouth and now West Ham, but always worried about Celtic. No doubt, like the rest of us, he knew that sensation gnawing away at his vitals. This is caused by feelings of being far away when one's beloved Celtic take the field and one is unable to do anything to help. Love of Celtic is of course a congenital and terminal illness. One will never lose it. Peter knows that. So do we all.
Peter will be proud of his part in the two League Championship victories of 1986 and 1988. He was a substitute, but on the field at Love Street on the day that Albert Kidd and BBC Radio Scotland did the job for us, and he was more or less an ever present in Billy McNeill's Centenary Season League Championship – until near the end when an injury compelled him to miss the last few games and the Scottish Cup Final. But he was one of the first on the field at the end of the Cup Final (looking very smart in his suit that day), after Celtic beat Dundee United in the last minute.
He played in two successful Cup Finals (as well as the dreadful one of 1990 against Aberdeen, which was resolved by a penalty shoot-out). In 1989, he played against Rangers in the 1-0 victory and was outstanding in the second half as Rangers became ever more desperate. On one occasion, the TV cameras seemed to catch Peter laying one on Mark Walters – an optical illusion, of course! But they also showed the gritted teeth, the sweat, the preparedness to die for the Cause, if necessary, which was the hallmark of Peter Grant.
But his best Cup Final was the one against Airdrie in 1995. A decade down the line, it is difficult for youngsters to imagine what that Cup Final meant to the Celtic community, which had suffered so much in the recent past. Peter had been injured a week or so before the game, and was widely believed to be out of contention for a place. But Peter was determined. Pain meant little to him, as he tackled with ferocious determination the Airdrie players who might just have denied Celtic. Repeatedly himself fouled by cynical men who knew exactly how to foul and get off with it, Peter kept his calm and dignity with one particular tackle earning the unanimous approval of the Fourth Estate in the Press Box. His joy at the end was shared by us all.
The desperate days of the early 1990s were awful for Peter. He suffered as much as we did as the grand old team were under-funded, betrayed and cynically manipulated by a family dynasty who talked a lot, but cared little other than for their own position and privilege. Peter was employed by them, so had to hold his tongue, but there was little doubt what he was thinking.
More than a few times Peter was in trouble with referees. On occasion, he seemed to overdo his commitment to the Cause, but that was simply Peter's nature. When off the field, he is a gentleman, articulate and clear thinking, and polite and gallant as he proved when he shook hand with Royalty before the Airdrie Cup Final, at the time when the Celtic fans were singing of their true allegiance in “The Soldiers' Song”. Now and again, the Jungle would sing ‘politically incorrect' in tribute to Peter Grant, but it was a mark of the affection in which he was held.
Indirectly, proof comes of his love for the Cause in the interviews that Rangers used to do in their programme. They would pick a fan, often Neanderthal and primitive, from the back streets of Larkhall or Belfast and ask him his favourite food, etc. The food was always something like “True Blue Pies” or “Orange Juice”, but when it came to the pet hate, it was almost invariably Peter Grant. Occasionally Mike Galloway or Tony Mowbray got a mention, but Peter usually won.
Peter won two caps for Scotland in 1989. He is proud of them too, but for Peter, Celtic came first and foremost. He will be rightly happy in the success of Martin O'Neill. What a pity that he couldn't have been part of it on the playing field!
Fans will second that devotion
The Scotsman 22/01/1997
HUGH KEEVINS
THE bond between a club and its supporters will rarely be better exemplified than by the size of the attendance at tonight's testimonial match for Peter Grant.
There will be as many of the player's detractors in the expected crowd of 35,000 to see Celtic play Bayern Munich as there will be those whose admiration for Grant is undiluted. The vote of thanks from the fans in the stands will be unanimous, however, because there is a universal recognition that, for better or worse, he is one of them.
Grant has shown sufficient forbearance in the face of adversity in a variety of forms, on and off the park, to vouch for his devotion to the club he joined 15 years ago. Long service medals will not be able to be struck in future as a consequence of the Bosman ruling and the arrival of a meaningful freedom of contract. Tonight's game may even be the last testimonial match ever given to a Celtic player.
The contest falls within a glut of competitive games but, against the odds, it will be a noisy celebration of a career based on honesty and application.
Nobody, least of all Grant, would claim that his was an underestimated talent. But there is enough there for him to be, from the age of 17 until today, a first-team choice for five managers at Celtic Park. Scotland also bestowed the highest playing honour on Grant twice during the late Eighties.
"He has a commitment to the club that is second to none," says Paul McStay, Celtic's captain and Grant's lifelong friend.
When the pair were much younger, a night out led to McStay, who was celebrating his 21st birthday, temporarily losing his angelic image and Grant demonstrating the fearless side of his personality.
Innocent horseplay involving a supermarket trolley led to the former being given a dressing down in his local police station. Grant was a late arrival on the scene, loudly suggesting that a Celtic player might know what kind of justice to expect in Larkhall.
The player's garrulousness is legendary. When his colleague Paolo Di Canio gained notoriety through stating that 90 per cent of referees in Scotland were Protestant and openly biased against Celtic, Grant was immediately placed under suspicion of having prompted the Italian.
The charge was denied when Grant said, with his tongue in his cheek, that he would have told Di Canio the correct figure was 100 per cent.
On the day that Fergus McCann launched Celtic's Bhoys Against Bigotry initiative, tonight's honoured guest was the butt of good-humoured innuendo.
It would all have been a source of mystery to Jurgen Klinsmann, whose presence will help swell the numbers tonight, even though he once had a Rangers supporters club dubiously named in his honour.
The German, though, can understand the affinity between the Celtic supporters and Grant. "Peter must always have felt that he was part of a family at Celtic. I admire that," he said.
"I think supporters more readily identify with players like him than those who stay for two or three years and then go away again."
Tommy Burns, Celtic's manager, threw his boots into the crowd on the night that he played for Celtic for the last time. He understands the emotional toll that has been taken of someone like Grant at a club where a once plentiful supply of success dried up nine years ago.
"This night has been a source of worry for Peter for the last 12 months because he thinks nobody will turn up and he will be considered a failure," he said.
"But he has shown a level of dedication that has been above and beyond the call of duty at times and has learned more about himself in adversity.
"If I had to sum up his contribution to the club in a few words, I would say he has been a wholehearted servant."
It is probably the only epitaph Grant would want.
A green letter day; June 2009 The Sun
JUST the thought of wearing the Hoops for the first time was enough to make Peter Grant cry with joy.
And while a debut defeat to Rangers at Ibrox made him want to shed tears again, he'll always cherish the moment he became a Celt.
April 21, 1984. A green letter day.
Twelve years after a heartbreaking exit from Parkhead you wonder if he's welling up again.
For former idol Grant's poised to become a homecoming Bhoy – this time as a coach for the club he'll never stop loving.
Over the last fortnight he's been on tenterhooks as the deal to make Tony Mowbray the new Celtic manager has hung in the balance.
Now, though, West Brom trio Mowbray, No2 Mark Venus and first team coach Grant look set to be announced on Wednesday.
And it will rank as great a moment for him as the day Davie Hay broke the momentous news that he was being blooded against Rangers.
Grant – also with Norwich, Reading, Bournemouth and West Ham over the last decade – poured his heart out on a Celtic TV special about what the club means to him.
The ex-midfielder, who made 365 appearances in the Hoops, said: "I got the opportunity to go onto the groundstaff at 15.
"I was just cleaning the boots for absolute legends.
"Guys I stood cheering on the terracing, all of a sudden I was going into the dressing room and taking their boots.
"The likes of your Danny McGrains and Tommy Burns – people I just adored.
"To be able to go into the dressing room and pick their boots up and to clean them was an HONOUR for me. Some people would look on that as a hindrance.
"But for me it was an honour and a privilege.
"Then I went through the youth ranks. I was the captain of the team that became the first ever winners of the BP Youth Cup at Celtic.
"In that season I got the opportunity – a fantastic opportunity – out of the blue to play in the first team.
"People always say 'If I got that chance once I would be delighted'.
"Fortunately for me that chance came against Rangers at Ibrox, which was a major, major surprise to say the least.
"I remember we were going to play Airdrie reserves.
"I always used to go to mass first thing Saturday mornings just to make sure I kept away from injury.
"I went back and my mother said to me 'You've had a phone call from Celtic Park, you've got to go in early'.
"I just thought the game had been changed. I went into Celtic Park and I remember two absolute legends walking past me – Bobby Lennox and Jimmy Johnstone – and looking at me.
''They said to me: 'Peter, you'll get your first breather tonight about nine o'clock'.
"I just started laughing because I was more nervous about these guys talking to me more than anything else.
"I remember somebody saying to me that I had to go to the physio's room, that Davie Hay wanted to speak to me. I went in and Davie was sat there.
"He said: 'Granty, you're playing over at Ibrox today. If I didn't think you could do it, you wouldn't be playing'.
"Then he just walked out and that was it. That was the way he spoke to me. When Davie left I actually started CRYING with excitement. I just couldn't believe it.
"I hadn't even travelled with the first team or anything. I was actually gobsmacked.
"I must have done OK in the game. We lost 1-0 and that's always rankled with me.
"But to go on and play in, somebody said to me, over 50 Old Firm games was amazing.
"If I'd played 50 games for Celtic I would have been delighted.
"But to play in 50 Old Firm games was something else for me."
Grant, 43, was a Celtic first-teamer for 13 years and got a richly deserved testimonial against Bayern Munich shortly before he bid farewell to Paradise.
And the day he left was so emotional he couldn't bring himself to look back at the stadium he worshipped.
Grant said: "I thank God every day for the opportunity I got. I was very, very fortunate.
"I've been away from Celtic now near enough 10 years, but people always remember me as Peter Grant of Celtic. It's something I'm very, very proud of.
"People say that playing at Ibrox must have been the happiest day of my life. And it was a fantastic day, nobody can ever take that away from me. But at Celtic Park the following week, we played Hibs and won 3-2.
"Now my dream had been to run out at Celtic Park, with the Celtic fans singing 'Walk On'.
"That was me, I was happy as Larry. If someone had put me in a box then and taken me to Heaven then I would've been happy.
"THAT was the one dream I did have – to run out at Celtic Park, nowhere else, just once, in front of the Celtic fans singing 'Walk On'.
"Forget all the trophies we won and lost, the disappointments and the great times. That's a memory that sticks in my mind.
"Driving down London Road and turning up into Kerrydale Street and seeing the sign 'This is Celtic Football Club'. I just thought it was fantastic.
"The only time I didn't look was on the way out when I was going down to sign for Norwich City. I was driving away with my big friend Raymond Sparkes and I wouldn't look back.
"He said: 'What's the matter?'
"I just said: 'I'm not going back there as a player. Let's just go.' "
The pain of enduring Rangers' unrelenting march to nine-in-a-row was the most acute hurt for Grant at Celtic.
But it also helped shape his never-say-die character – perfectly illustrated in the 1995 Scottish Cup triumph over Airdrie when he played through a knee injury.
Grant said: "The nine years were very difficult. It was the culmination of us not being good enough, the culmination of losing the likes of the Raith Rovers League Cup final.
"That period of time wasn't good enough.
"It's part of Celtic's history now, but the club moved on, Fergus McCann came in and the rest is history.
"Tommy Burns came back and put something in place. We had a fantastic footballing side people loved to come and watch.
"I think we were the only team that ever got clapped off at the end of the season without winning anything."
Fans will second that devotion
The Scotsman 22/01/1997
HUGH KEEVINS
THE bond between a club and its supporters will rarely be better exemplified than by the size of the attendance at tonight's testimonial match for Peter Grant.
There will be as many of the player's detractors in the expected crowd of 35,000 to see Celtic play Bayern Munich as there will be those whose admiration for Grant is undiluted. The vote of thanks from the fans in the stands will be unanimous, however, because there is a universal recognition that, for better or worse, he is one of them.
Grant has shown sufficient forbearance in the face of adversity in a variety of forms, on and off the park, to vouch for his devotion to the club he joined 15 years ago. Long service medals will not be able to be struck in future as a consequence of the Bosman ruling and the arrival of a meaningful freedom of contract. Tonight's game may even be the last testimonial match ever given to a Celtic player.
The contest falls within a glut of competitive games but, against the odds, it will be a noisy celebration of a career based on honesty and application.
Nobody, least of all Grant, would claim that his was an underestimated talent. But there is enough there for him to be, from the age of 17 until today, a first-team choice for five managers at Celtic Park. Scotland also bestowed the highest playing honour on Grant twice during the late Eighties.
"He has a commitment to the club that is second to none," says Paul McStay, Celtic's captain and Grant's lifelong friend.
When the pair were much younger, a night out led to McStay, who was celebrating his 21st birthday, temporarily losing his angelic image and Grant demonstrating the fearless side of his personality.
Innocent horseplay involving a supermarket trolley led to the former being given a dressing down in his local police station. Grant was a late arrival on the scene, loudly suggesting that a Celtic player might know what kind of justice to expect in Larkhall.
The player's garrulousness is legendary. When his colleague Paolo Di Canio gained notoriety through stating that 90 per cent of referees in Scotland were Protestant and openly biased against Celtic, Grant was immediately placed under suspicion of having prompted the Italian.
The charge was denied when Grant said, with his tongue in his cheek, that he would have told Di Canio the correct figure was 100 per cent.
On the day that Fergus McCann launched Celtic's Bhoys Against Bigotry initiative, tonight's honoured guest was the butt of good-humoured innuendo.
It would all have been a source of mystery to Jurgen Klinsmann, whose presence will help swell the numbers tonight, even though he once had a Rangers supporters club dubiously named in his honour.
The German, though, can understand the affinity between the Celtic supporters and Grant. "Peter must always have felt that he was part of a family at Celtic. I admire that," he said.
"I think supporters more readily identify with players like him than those who stay for two or three years and then go away again."
Tommy Burns, Celtic's manager, threw his boots into the crowd on the night that he played for Celtic for the last time. He understands the emotional toll that has been taken of someone like Grant at a club where a once plentiful supply of success dried up nine years ago.
"This night has been a source of worry for Peter for the last 12 months because he thinks nobody will turn up and he will be considered a failure," he said.
"But he has shown a level of dedication that has been above and beyond the call of duty at times and has learned more about himself in adversity.
"If I had to sum up his contribution to the club in a few words, I would say he has been a wholehearted servant."
It is probably the only epitaph Grant would want.
