Tebily, Olivier

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Fullname: Olivier Tebily
aka: Bombscare
Born: 19 Dec 1975
Birthplace: Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Signed: 8 July 1999
Left: 22 March 2002
Position: Defender
Debut: […]
International: Ivory Coast
International Caps:18 caps
International Goals: 0 goals
Transfer fee in : £1.25m from Sheffield United
Transfer fee out: £700k to Birmingham City

Biog

Olivier Tebily, born in Abidjan on the Ivory Coast, was raised in France and in time became a naturalised Frenchman. Tebily first came to a level of prominence when signed by Steve Bruce for Sheffield United.

He had only played seven games for Sheffield Utd when he was signed by Celtic manager John Barnes in the summer of 1999 for £1.25million a remarkable piece of business by Steve Bruce who had only paid £200,000 for him. Tebily was unveiled alongside Eyal Berkovic and Bobby Petta. It was no dream team.

His eccentric approach to defending soon earned him the nickname “Bombscare“. He could swagger with the confidence of one who thought he could dribble past 5 or 6 players before then passing the ball across the goal or to a team-mate surrounded by opposition players. Clumsy too often, satirical comedy TV show “Only an Excuse?” made a good sketch about his ability to raise the blood pressure of the average Celtic supporter with his antics.

In fact, he was causing headaches from the start. In his very first appearance for the hoops, in a pre-season match against Leeds United, he managed to score an own goal. However, he made up for it when in his next game, another pre-season friendly this time against Newcastle, Tebily scored with a 49th minute header this time in the correct goal.

In fairness, he actually had talent as a player but the big problem was that he was prone to possibly excessive confidence and combined with lapses in concentration, it led to the ‘bombscare‘ situations. There actually have been lesser talented defenders at Celtic, but few have created as many ‘bombscare‘ situations as Tebilly did

He actually had a perfect build for a defender: good height, strength and pace. Everything you want from a defender but no powers of concentration. Absolutely none, and that was his downfall.

Tebily held down a regular starting place until Christmas, after which his next appearance was in the ill-fated “Super-Caley-go-ballistic” debacle, which resulted in John Barnes being sacked. For the rest of the season under Dalglish, Tebily thereafter started irregularly (much to the relief of the general support) and when he failed to break into MoN’s side he was eventually transferred to Birmingham City again being signed by Steve Bruce this time for the generous sum of £700,000. There weren’t many (if any) Celtic fans who bemoaned his departure.

Respected sport’s journalist Glenn Gibbons summarised Tebily in a stern but ultimately honest quote:

“Tebily has pace, strength, athleticism and willingness, but certainly lacks astuteness and concentration in defence and it is doubtful if he will acquire these essential qualities. He may have potential, but, like the head coach himself [i.e. John Barnes], he has no business serving his apprenticeship at Celtic.”

Bizarrely, despite getting only a handful of games in the first team in the treble winning season (2000/01) and then little used again in the following season, he somehow won a nomination for the 2001 ‘African Footballer of the Year Award‘. Curious one there.

Probably the most dramatic moment, in a very dramatic tenure time at Celtic, was when he joined up with the Ivory Coast national team for the 2000 African Cup of Nations. His return from his country’s unsuccessful campaign was delayed when the squad was detained in a military camp in the Ivory Coast, described by the authorities as a necessary move to ensure the players’ safety in light of the public reaction to their failure to reach the knockout stage of the competition, requiring FIFA to intervene so the players could return home.

Tebily did well at Birmingham under manager Steve Bruce. Eventually he moved to Canada to play for Toronto FC but he had only played four games for them when he picked up a bad injury. He subsequently retired and moved back to France. It just wasn’t to be for Tebily.

He later moved into business, owning a drinks company called ‘OT Cognac‘, as he worked towards his goal of becoming “the first African wine grower”.

We wish him the best.

Playing Career

Club	From	To	Fee	League		Scottish/FA Cup		League cup		Other
Birmingham	22/03/2002	31/05/2007	£ 700000	62 (21)	0	3 (3)	0	3 (0)	0	3 (0)	0
Celtic	08/07/1999	22/03/2002	£1,250,000	29 (9)	0	2 (1)	0	4 (1)	1	6 (0)	1
Sheff Utd	23/03/1999	08/07/1999	£ 200000	7 (1)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Chateauroux	01/08/1998	23/03/1999		No appearance data available
Totals			£2,150,000	98 (31)	0	5 (4)	0	7 (1)	1	9 (0)	1
			goals / game	0		0		0.12		0.11
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

Honours with Celtic

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