Thomas Gravesen is probaly regarded as a cult-hero amongst the Celtic fans for his short stay at the club.
Signed for £2m from Real Madrid, the former Danish international arrived in Glasgow with anticipation as as he was the first player to be signed by the Parkhead club from the La Liga side.
In two seasons at Celtic, Gravesen made 27 appearances in total during a time under Gordan Strachan where the former Hoops gaffer called the Dane ‘uncoachable’.
However, 6 goals, an SPFL title and a Scottish Cup alongside a goal in a win against Rangers endeared Gravesen to the Celtic support.
But it was his endeavours in the Champions League for the club that didn’t exactly endear him to the match officials as Gordon Strachan fondly recalls.
How Gravesen caused ‘bad decisions’ by referees
Gravesen made six appearanes for Celtic in Europe’s top competition but it was the hilarious story of how the match officials in one game almost took the Hoops midfielder to task that had Sam Allardyce in stitches.
Strachan said [No Tippy Tappy Football], “We played Benfica in the Champions League and we were winning 1-0, which is great because in those days we used to beat teams in the Champions League.
“So at halftime the fourth official sayd to me, ‘Mr Strachan, could you go and see the referee?’
“I was like what’s happened? Is he going to send somebody off? Have I said something or has my coaching staff said something?
“And the referee says, ‘Mr Strachan, I’m not enjoying the game.’ And I said, ‘We’ve all had cr-p games pal, don’t worry about it, you will get better.’
“And he says, ‘No, no, not me. I can’t enjoy it. Mr Gravesen keeps talking to me. I cannot concentrate. I wanted here and enjoy the game. I’ve heard about the atmosphere. I’m making bad decisions because he keeps speaking to me.’
“I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and he said, ‘I’ll have to book him because when I’m running back, he would be running about going are you staying here tonight? Is your family here? If you want to go out tonight, I’ll take you to places.’
“And we thought he was making this up and we looked at it when we debriefed the game the next day. The game’s there, we were defending but talking to the referee pointing to him and the referee’s shoving him!”
Gravesen has always kept Celtic close to his heart. He once donated his fee for appearing on Open Goal‘s live event at the SSE Hydro back in 2021 to the Celtic Foundation.
For his short stay at the club, the big Dane left his mark on the Celtic supporters and will always be remembered for his madcap ways during and after he left Glasgow in 2008.