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Fullname: Paul Telfer
Height: 5.09
Weight: 11.06
Born: 21 October 1971
Birthplace: Edinburgh
Signed: 22 July 2005
Left: 2 April 2007
Position: Defender, Right-back
Debut: […]
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 1
International Goals: 0 goals
Summary
Born 21 October 1971 in Edinburgh
The then 33-year-old signed a two-year contract and becoming Strachan’s sixth summer signing of 2005. [BBC]
Strachan previously signed Telfer on a Bosman from Coventry in 2000 for Southampton. [BBC]
He has 1 cap for Scotland.
Paul Telfer left Celtic on 2nd April 2004 (BBC).
Played his last game in the Champions League v AC Milan. A great way to end a good career.
He made a total of 73 appearances for the club, scoring one goal.
Retired from all football in December 2007 due to injury (link), but yet still made comebacks and further retirements again and again.
Biog
“Dermot Desmond [Celtic’s largest shareholder] said: ‘If you buy him, you’re getting the sack!’. I signed him anyway!”
Gordon Strachan
Few other players, that this writer can think of, in their careers can surely have had as a dramatic a turnaround with the respect given to them by the fans as that with Paul Telfer. Admittedly bought as a stop-gap player (i.e. he was over 35/experienced/old), he did end up playing a much greater role for the club than even we’re sure the manager (WGS) or he himself believed he would.
Having come from one of WGS’ prior clubs (Southampton), ridiculous rumours flew about as to just why Telfer was at Celtic (e.g. he was WGS’s brother-in-law etc). Although, yes it is true he was relatively slow (he was in his 30s), but he wasn’t as immobile as many made out. His performances were genuinely workman-like and never amazing, but his ability was never up their with the best and after the Artmedia debacle (Celtic were knocked out of the Champs League in the qualifiers) he was too an easy target for many.
The financial fall-out from the Artmedia defeat meant Celtic couldn’t replace him and he ended up having to play a far more regular role than anticipated. He had a poor start to his time at Celtic, and that gave added ammunition to the boo boys against WGS as well as himself.
Replaced by Mark Wilson in his second season in the defence, he ended up in a squad role, as anticipated by many for him. However, an injury to Mark Wilson later on meant Paul Telfer was back in the first team, and excusing the first game v Manchester Utd away in the Champs league (where he was poor), he was solid and dependable and he seemed to grow on the fans with most getting off his back.
Dependable is the appropriate word to describe him, and to everyone’s surprise he ended up securing the right-back role for himself even once Mark Wilson was fit again (a rare occurrence). Many even attribute Nakamura’s best form to have been when Paul Telfer was playing behind him on the same wing.
In many ways, playing for Celtic was something that Paul Telfer probably never expected in his career, having only ever played for uninspiring clubs. An article with Paul Telfer noted a conversation between himself and WGS:
An old man, it should be emphasised, that the Champions League has made very happy. Strachan also related a recent talk between the pair in a sauna. “He was feeling his hip,” says the manager, “and I said, ‘When did you do that?’ and he replied, ‘Away to Benfica in the Champions League’, then he paused and said, ‘I never thought I’d utter that sentence in my life’. It wasn’t easy for him last summer with his family, but he didn’t want this chance to go away. I think his wife will realise now that this was a chance he couldn’t let go.”
The crowning achievement (for his career) was starting against AC Milan in the Champions League knock-out stages (Celtic had got through the group stages), and even though Celtic lost in extra time 1-0 after 180 mins of no goals in two legs, he gave a very good account of himself. The game was his last for Celtic, and he was at the age when his family was more of a concern than anything else and he decided to leave two months before the end of the season to be with them (his family didn’t settle in Glasgow).
When Celtic won the league at the end of the season it was disappointing that he didn’t return up north to join in the celebrations, but he likely wanted away to be with his family (plus he could be quite a grouch). He seemed to have an antipathy to football, reflected in a newspaper article where he was stated as an example of a sportsman who had fallen out of love with their sport. He never seemed to hide it too much, maybe he was just getting older or simply unappreciative of what he did have as a player. He later admitted in an interview that really golf was his first love, and that his managers had a problem in keeping him off the golf courses.
On the other hand, back in 1992, Paul Telfer and his then Luton teammate Darren Salton were involved in a horrific car crash. Paul Telfer suffered only minor injuries and went on to make a full recovery, but Darren Salton almost died and was forced to quit football following the accident. After experiences like that, maybe you can understand or sympathise with his sometimes nonchalant attitude to football.
Not everyone’s cult favourite player at the time but at the end of it all he gave a very good account of himself. Should have been better appreciated in his first season but hope the support made up for it in the second.
We wished him all the best for the future and hope he comes back to revisit the club.
Post-Celtic
He wrapped up his playing career with Bournemouth and Leeds, and then moved into stints in coaching (in the UK & the USA), even trying out for the Inverness Caledonian Thistle job as manager (curious as even further away from reach of family down south). He deserves respect as he cut his contract at Bournemouth short to help the then cash-strapped club out, with their Chairman Jeff Moysten stating: “I cannot think of a greater gesture of support at this moment in time for the football club
It may not have worked out in the football coaching field, but he kept up in his first love of golf in 2019. Paul Telfer proved that playing off one was no handicap when up against some of the best amateur golfers in the country as he produced one of the biggest shocks in the 125-year history of the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Championship. Paul Telfer knocked out the number one seed in the first round of an 18-hole matchplay and pushed another golfer who would go on to be crowned champion at the third attempt – all the way in the quarter-finals.
Quotes
“I am delighted to sign with a club like Celtic at this stage in my career. I look forward to working with Gordon and Garry [Pendrey] again and hope to be part of a team which brings much success to Celtic and its supporters.”
Paul Telfer
“It’s too late now to get anybody in for the first European games but I hope that we can do a bit more before the season starts. We have tried to bring in young players, but they cost money and like Adam [Virgo], he [Telfer] brings many options. They can both play in many positions and that’s what we need. This is a small squad, and we need more quality, but those players can play in various positions.”
Gordon Strachan
“Paul Telfer is a boy who I took there, there and there… and as a matter of fact Dermot Desmond [Celtic’s largest shareholder] said ‘If you buy him, you’re getting the sack!’. I signed him anyway!”
Gordon Strachan on podcast interview at the Edinburgh Fringe with Graham Speirs about the McManus & Caldwell pairing (2022)
Career
| APPEARANCES (subs) |
LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2005-07 | 56(1) | 3(0) | 5(0) | 7(1) | 71(2) |
| Goals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Honours with Celtic
(Honours are marked below in which the player has played in at least one of the matches in the campaign.)
Scottish League
Scottish League Cup
| KDS Honours | ||
| MOTM Winners 2006-07 | ||
| 29-Oct-06 | Killie 1 v 2 Celtic | SPL |
Pictures
Articles
Articles
Paul Telfer reflects on nearly landing the Inverness job when he was pipped by John Hughes
THE scene is Tynecastle on New Year’s Day, 2006.
A resuscitated Celtic side have just overcome a two-goal deficit to claim an enthralling win and breathe new life into their bid for the league title, extending their lead over Hearts to seven points. The balance of the match has been tipped by the weighty contribution of goalscorers Stephen Pearson and Stephen McManus, with the Celtic pair having since retreated to the dressing room without much fuss.
Neil Lennon does not get off so lightly.
“That was one of the most memorable games I’ve ever played in . . . as we left the field there were fans trying to get at Neil Lennon. I’d never seen so much hatred for a man,” says Paul Telfer, right-back for Celtic that afternoon and a witness to the verbal attack on Lennon.
The voluble abuse given to his erstwhile team-mate has dissipated during the subsequent nine years and is replaced by the quiet conversation of patrons of the local Starbucks in the affluent Indiana suburb of Carmel where Telfer now finds himself. It is not an audience likely to be captivated by soccer stories, even those which include being part of a team received by football aristocracy in the San Siro, while also refusing to bow to Manchester United.
His time in Glasgow extended to 21 months but Telfer’s career can more reasonably be measured by the scale of his experience. His achievements – he won two league championships and a League Cup during his time at Celtic Park, while he also competed in an FA Cup final with Southampton – shaped Telfer as a player to the extent that he almost took the form of a manager in the Highlands two years ago.
The former defender came close to filling the vacant post at Inverness Caledonian Thistle having been invited back to the Highland club for the final round of interviews, before missing out to John Hughes. Telfer retains an ambition to manage a club in the UK and is back on the lookout for a new challenge after leaving his position as assistant coach of North American Soccer League club Indy Eleven earlier this month.
“The people at Inverness were great when I spoke to them. They said it was down to two guys when I got asked back on the Sunday,” says Telfer, who remains director of coaching at local youth club, Carmel FC. “I was in the boardroom and was getting the feeling they were going to give me the job. I didn’t know who the other candidate was but when I was walking out, Paul Hartley was walking in. I played with Paul with Celtic and thought he must be the other guy, then John Hughes got it.
“That was really the first job I went to in management and the chairman said I was just lacking that little bit of experience. At Indy Eleven I felt like I was getting international experience, dealing with international agents, players from different cultures. My eyes have really been opened up wide. When I do get back to England or Scotland and try and get into management, I think this is only going to help me.”
His arrival in the States has offered new insight into the work of a coach and is the fulfilment of an enduring ambition to work abroad. Telfer declined the offer of a one-year contract extension in his last season at Celtic to return to his family home in England, but he acknowledges his children have settled well in Indiana.
“My son thinks he’s James Bond – he’s got an English accent and there are two girls knocking on the door every morning looking to walk him to school,” he says.
A life across the Atlantic has taken been pleasing for Telfer, but he is still able to look back and pick out the enchanting details of his time spent in Glasgow with impressive accuracy.
“Shunsuke Nakamura is one of the best players I’ve played with. You couldn’t get a beachball off that guy,” says Telfer, who shared a flank with the Japanese midfielder as he scored goals in successive meetings with Manchester United.
“After the game we won at our place [Sir Alex] Ferguson was going crazy at [goalkeeper Edwin] van der Sar, saying, ‘I’ll have to get you his DVD for Christmas. That is twice he’s done you now’. That boy.”
And while the renowned hairdryer treatment of one manager was known to get results, it is not always constructive to raise one’s voice, a lesson Telfer had earlier learned at Tynecastle.
UNSUNG HERO – PAUL TELFER
Posted by St Anthony | Aug 18, 2017 | Season 2017-2018 | 0 |
UNSUNG HERO – PAUL TELFER
When Gordon Strachan took over from Martin O’Neill as Celtic manager in the summer of 2005 it was obvious that he would look to bring in his own players as he sought to have the team play the way he wanted.
One of his first moves he made was to bring the dependable right back, Paul Telfer, from Southampton. Telfer had played for Strachan for a considerable part of his career at both Coventry and Southampton and the new manager knew that Telfer was a player he could both trust and rely on.
Paul did not enjoy an easy start at Parkhead. He was approaching 34 and was thought to have his best years behind him and Celtic fans did not take to him immediately as he was replacing fans’ favourite, Didier Agathe, in the right back position. Also, on his debut Celtic had disastrously lost 5-0 to Artmedia of Bratislava as they crashed out of the Champions league qualifiers and the team suffered a number of bad results early in the season.
Strachan eventually made his mark on the side with faithful servants, Agathe, Chris Sutton and Alan Thompson moving on to be replaced by new faces, Shunske Nakamura, Artur Boruc and Maciej Zurawski. Nakamura became particularly popular with the Celtic support with his remarkable ability to score from free kicks and his overall technique. Paul Telfer linked with Nakamura on Celtic’s right flank and Telfer’s unselfish running off the ball allowed Nakamura the time and space to showcase his considerable talents.
Celtic found their form in autumn and went on a 12 match unbeaten run, the highlight of which was two emphatic wins over Rangers in November within ten days. A difficult fixture at Pittodrie in December 2005 saw Celtic emerge as 3-1 winners with Paul scoring his only goal in the hoops with a hard low shot after a fine run into the Aberdeen box.
Telfer was a steady, unspectacular player whom the Celtic fans eventually took to. Despite his mature age he was a highly fit player with great stamina. He had a fine game in the memorable New Year’s day 2006 game at Tynecastle when Celtic produced a tremendous comeback from 0-2 down to win 3-2. In March, Paul won his first major football honour of his career when Celtic beat Dunfermline 3-0 in the League Cup final and he followed that up by winning a League championship medal in April when John Hartson’s goal clinched the title against Hearts in a 1-0 win at Celtic Park.
For the 2006-07 season Paul was expected to be a fringe player after Celtic signed young full back, Mark Wilson, from Dundee United. However, Wilson suffered a number of injuries which meant that Paul got to experience the wonders of Champions League football at the ripe old age of 35. He played in the vital game against Manchester United at Celtic Park in which Nakamura scored one of the most memorable goals in Celtic’s history with a trademark long range free kick. Celtic won through to the last 16 where they were desperately unlucky to lose to the eventual winners, AC Milan, after extra time in the second leg in the San Siro.
By the end of his second season Paul left Celtic on a free transfer as he was suffering from a niggling hip injury and his family were homesick to return to England. He left Celtic with good wishes and could look back on a successful period where he had collected two League medals and League Cup medal. But perhaps it is the Champions League games that Paul will recall with most relish where he performed with distinction against the might of Manchester United, Benfica and AC Milan.