McCahill, Steve

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Fullname: Stephen Joseph McCahill
aka: Steve McCahill
Born: 3 Sep 1966
Birthplace: Greenock
Signed: 31 Jan 1989
Left: Aug 1992 (free)
Position: Centre-half
Debut: Dundee 0-3 Celtic, League, 25 Feb 1989
Internationals: none

Biog

Signed from Dumbarton for £100,000 in January 1989 Steve McCahill made his Celtic debut as a sub in a 3-0 league win at Dundee on February 25 that same year. At time of signing he was a storeman and had yet to tell his employers he was leaving them.

He’d impressed heavily after a good performance for Dumbarton in the cup v Celtic, and manager Billy McNeill who claims to have had an eye on him before picked him up for Celtic. For Steve it was a great moment: “This move fulfills a boyhood dream”.

The centre-half was part of the Celtic team which lifted the Dubai Super Cup against Liverpool on April 4th 1989.

However on April 12th he broke his jaw in a game at Motherwell and despite making a fully recovery he was never really in the first team picture again. A wit may actually say he was lucky as Celtic entered the start of the barren years, and so being out the first team enabled him to avoid the worst of the ensuing onslaught. After the 1989 Scottish Cup win, Celtic didn’t win a trophy again till 1995, and matters both on and off the park were to be very difficult.

Liam Brady’s purchase of Gary Gillespie (an expensive transfer in) was the likely death-knell for Steve’s chances at Celtic. As Gillespie was no great success himself in his spell at Celtic, it is a question whether Celtic would have been better having not given Steve further opportunities in what was then a cash strapped & mismanaged club.

He played out the majority of his career as captain of the reserve team before joining Morton in October 1992, where he enjoyed some success in the lower leagues with a lower league title.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

none

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