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Fullname: Craig Beattie
Born: 19 Jan 1984
Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland
Signed: 1 July 2003
Left: 3 July 2007
Position: Forward/Striker
Debut:
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: 7 Caps [to be completed at end of his career]
International Goals: [to be completed at end of his career]

Biog

Beattie signed a 3 year deal in July 2005 [BBC]
He left to sign for 3 years for WBA in July 2007 for 1.25 Million [BBC]
Loaned to Preston for 2 months from March 2008
Loaned to Crystal Palace for 1 moth from September 2008

A product of the Murray Park (Rangers!) conveyor belt, we somehow nicked him after Rangers dumped him, and given half a chance he was a fine player for Celtic.

However, despite being a tall and strong player, he became over-accustomed to the medical room, with the running joke by fans that he spent more time there than on the pitch.

A sorry story saw him only play 18 games starting with the Celts, with as said continual injuries puncturing any runs too often. Despite the problems, the fact he was still given 18 games showed the club had some faith in him and belief in his ability, and so did some of the support.

He had a fair goal scoring rate despite having a poor first touch. At the end, it wasn't very convincing that he would have made it (due to the injury situation as much as all else), but its all academic as he left the club when a fair offer came in from WBA (manager was future Celtic manager Tony Mowbray).

For his own sake, we hoped his hamstrings gave him a break and allow him a long run in the first team for WBA. He is a hard trier and deserved a good run, but it was an unsuccessful move, and a nomadic footballing life saw him move to various clubs over next few years. Overall, what was at one time some very good potential, just never really worked out.

He scored some good goals for us and for that will be remembered favourably.

However, kind of soured it a wee bit with some of the support in 2012. Playing for Hearts he scored the winning penalty in a topsy-turvy match with disputed decisions which took Hearts through to the Scottish Cup final to face Hibs, the first Hearts - Hibs Scottish Cup final in 100 years (dubbed the "Salt n Sauce" final!). The problem was that on scoring his goal he way over celebrated and was running round the whole support having taken his shirt off and swinging it around his head. Not denying his moment of glory but seemed a bit extravagant, and it was over the top, and some took as if it was a dig at the Celtic support who had always given him good support in his time. Too much shouldn't be taken from it to overshadow all else, and instead just let him have his moment of glory (they went on to win the final).

Reputedly he tried to join Zombie Rangers/NewCo in 2012 but knocked them back. Some say it was due to the low wages offered but he 'denied' that (but we all know it was due to the money). We're thankful he didn't go there and that was good news.

Playing Career

Club	From	To	Fee	League		Scottish/FA Cup		League cup		Other
Sheff Utd	20/02/2009	01/06/2009	Loan	1 (12)	1	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	2 (1)	0
C Palace	25/09/2008	10/12/2008	Loan	15 (0)	5	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Preston	04/03/2008	05/05/2008	Loan	1 (1)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
West Brom	03/07/2007		£1,250,000	7 (21)	4	1 (3)	0	3 (1)	1	0 (0)	0
Celtic	01/07/2003	03/07/2007	Trainee	18 (32)	13	0 (4)	0	3 (2)	2	1 (5)	1
Totals			£1,250,000	42 (66)	23	1 (7)	0	6 (3)	3	3 (6)	1
			goals / game	0.21		0		0.33		0.11
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

Honours with Celtic

Scottish Premier League:

• 2003-04, 2005-06, 2006-07

Scottish Cup:

• 2004, 2005, 2007

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