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Fullname: Thomas Gravesen
Height: 5.10
Weight: 13.06
Born: 11 March 1976
Birthplace: Viejle, Denmark
Signed: 30 Aug 2006 (undisclosed from Real Madrid)
Left: 18 August 2008 (released from contract)
Position: Midfielder (Central)
Debut:
Squad No.: 16
Internationals: Denmark
International Caps: 66 caps
International Goals: 5 goals

Summary

Born March 11, 1976 in Vejle, Denmark

Signed a 3 year contract from Real Madrid for an undisclosed fee [BBC]

He has 56 caps for Denmark, scoring 5 international goals

On 30 August, having fallen out with the manager, the fans, the press etc, Gravesen was thrown a lifeline by old club Everton and been loaned to them for the season 2007-08 [BBC], however things didn't work out there either and the loan was not renewed much to the consternations of the Celtic managment.

On 18th August 2008, Celtic did a deal with Graveson, and Graveson was moved on. [BBC]

Biog

Thomas Gravesen was bought from Real Madrid as the biggest buy of the season for Gordon Strachan to help wet the appetite for the fans. Alongside other buys like Jarosik, the big Dane was expected to fit in well and provide the steel and determination to take us further than we had before. As much as we did go further than before in the Champions League in 2006/07 and won the SPL by a canter, the truth is that Gravesen did not prove to be a pivotal player at all.

Single minded, head strong and possibly over arrogant, his performances generally left little to be said. He was never awful, and he has a place in the hearts of some Celtic fans having scored twice against the Huns (in 2 separate games), but he was never a consistent performer. Too many times he seemed to just play his own game play running about like a headless chicken, and damaging the structure of the team's formation. Best example of this came in the last Celtic v Rangers game of season 2006/07 in which we were embarrassingly outplayed in, and Gravesen was just running aimlessly everywhere.

He had his moments, with the as said goals against the Huns, but possibly his best was when in one game he just drove a lackadaisical side to victory against St Mirren by scoring a hat-trick. Great performance there but never enough. He ended up either left out or simply benched for a number of games, and when he came on, as in the away game v AC Milan in the Champions League he did give the side a lift.

One game in which expected for him to do well was the game v Copenhagen away. Slated by the Danish press for chucking the national team, but he was as rank as every other player in the Celtic team that day as we lost 3-1, being 3-0 down at one point.

The manager reached the end of his tether after a summer warm-up match in which the team got humped, and WGS publicly slated Gravesen which signalled the end for the big guy. A frightening looking character with a steely look, but really that was all there was to him sadly for much of his time at the club. Then again was it the manager's fault not being able to accommodate the big guy?

If there is one thing that he will be remembered for is a classic picture taken by Number7 of the KStreet forum which can be found in pictures page below.

He was released from his contract in Aug 2008 after Everton decided to neither buy him permanently or roll on the loan period - Celtic had to settle up a reputed £1million to terminate his contract and he subsequently retired from football in January 2009 after failing to find a new permanent contract with a club.

We hope him all the best, but all in all in terms of wages spent on him and his final settlement from the club compared to his overall contribution his signing proved to be an unsuccessful one.

Playing Career

Club _____________				From			To		Fee		League				Scottish Cup _________			League cup __________				Other_
Everton				31-08-2007			12-05-08		Loan		-
Celtic				30-08-2006			18-08-08		£2,200,000		18 (4)			6	0 (4)	0		1 (0)		0		4 (2)	0
Real Madrid				14-01-2005			30-08-2006		£ 2,450,000		25 (9)			1	0 (0)	0		0 (0)		0		6 (2)	0
Everton				24-07-2000			14-01-2005		£ 2,500,000		131 (10)			11	6 (2)	0		6 (0)		1		0 (0)	0
SV Hamburg				01-08-1997			24-07-2000		Free_________		46 (5)			4	0 (0)	0		0 (0)		0		0 (0)	0
Vejle BKI				01-08-1995 _____________-			31-05-1997 _____________-		Youth		58 (0)			10	0 (0)	0		0 (0)		0		0 (0)	0
											Apps			Goals	Apps-----	Goals		Apps		Goals		Apps	Goals

Honours with Celtic

Scottish League

• 2006-07

KDS Honours
MOTM Winners 2006-07
09-Sep-06	Aberdeen 0 v 1 Celtic	SPL
12-Nov-06	St Mirren 1 v 3 Celtic	SPL
23-Dec-06	Celtic 1 v 0 Falkirk	SPL
03-Mar-07	Celtic 2 v 1 Dunfermline	SPL

Quotes

"I won't work with him any more than I'll work with any of my players," said Strachan on the Hoops £2.2m signing, "It's quite simple - Marcello Lippi always said if you tell a player four times where to be and what to do and they don't get it, then forget it. He got the same time as everyone else last year and it'll be the same again."
(WGS 2007)

"We tried our best to get a system which suited Thomas and it hasn't worked," said Strachan. "It was the system to blame, not the player or the club."
(WGS Jul 2008)

Pictures

• Player pictures