Paul Byrne scored for Celtic in back-to-back games against Rangers but it didn’t stop the doubts.  

“Before we went to Ibrox for the New Year game in 1995 Tommy Burns pulled me off the bus,” said the Irishman. “He said someone at Hamilton that worked for the bus company had called the club to say I had put £5,000 on Rangers to win the game.

"For a start there was no chance that I would have had £5k in my pocket. But Tommy got me off and said he had to ask me and was there any truth in it and I swore that of course it was nonsense.

"It was someone up to a bit of mischief before the game and trying it on. After, when I had scored, I said to Tommy ‘ah, now Tommy, if I’d five grand on this I’d have hit the corner flag.’” 

There was nothing ambiguous about his goal either. Byrne hasn’t lost a second of it in his mind. Not the floating John Collins cross or the rasping right-foot volley that flew into the bottom corner of the net to give Celtic a point. Sliding on his knees to an appreciative Celtic support behind the goal remains the climactic moment of his Parkhead career but the goal itself is bigger than just a footnote from one of the long barren periods in the club’s history when highlights were few and far between. 

Now on the circuit of the Celtic legends who entertain rapt audiences with tales of high jinks and glimpses behind the curtain of their playing days, for Byrne his association with the club would have been significantly diluted without that moment. 

As Celtic head to Ibrox tomorrow afternoon with a number of players expected to make their inaugural appearance in the fixture, Byrne’s story serves as a reminder that there are goals and then there are goals. 

It’s difficult to see Kyogo Furuhashi endearing himself any more to the Celtic support given the start he has made to his career in Glasgow. In many ways the same ought to be said about Liel Abada who, at just 19, has made a blistering start to life at Celtic. Both will be expected to feature against Steven Gerrard’s side and if they sustain the form they have showcased since their arrival the chances are they leave an indelible print on the psyche of the club’s support. 

“It’s incredible because I think without that goal at Ibrox that I wouldn’t have anywhere the status that I do in the eyes of the Celtic support,” said Byrne.  

“I am part of the Celtic legends circuit and I go to the golf days with John Hartson and I’ve been over in New York and Philadelphia at functions and to be honest I don’t think that would exist for me without that goal. I do think it was that big. 

“Frank Connor used to say to me all the time ‘if you don’t get to the back post I’ll break your fuckin’ jaw….’ My Dad used to say to me to always hit the ball first time because the keeper doesn’t expect it so that goal was a mixture of both of those voices inside my head. 

“There was just the sense of relief, the joy of scoring….it doesn’t leave you.  

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“It came at a desperate time for us as a club and where we were, how long we had gone without and trophy and when Rangers were in the middle of their nine-in-a-row years. There hadn’t been too much to shout about, that’s for sure. But I actually think that as time has gone by, the Celtic support can appreciate just what I gave and brought to the club.” 

Comparisons with Celtic then and Celtic now bring to mind the phrase that the past is a different country. There were suggestions last season that the performances and chaos around the club were reminiscent of the 90s but it is a disingenuous parallel. Byrne and his colleagues could no more dream of treble trebles and nine-in-a-row than they could of setting up a pre-season training camp in Mars.  

If Celtic’s form and sense of freefall last year had sobering echoes of dark days, for those who were part of the club when there seemed so little light at the end of the tunnel the goals against Rangers and the sporadic victories had to be sufficient to dine out on.

“It was a difficult time to go and play for the club,” said Byrne. “That season we played at Hampden was so tough. We were losing to anyone, to everyone. You could feel the whole club just sagging with the weight of it all.

"As players we were under the microscope every minute. Every poor pass, every poor game, it was just an awful time. I think when you are winning games and are successful so much can slip by. You can have an off day or you make mistakes but it doesn’t bring on the same onslaught.  

“I know that last season there was an element of toxicity on social media. I can’t imagine that either. People forget you have kids, you have a family. The criticism can be scathing.

"I think I scored a few big goals for Celtic but that is the one that everyone remembers. I stayed until the end of the season but it was the start of a new era and I knew I was drifting out of it. 

“We won the Scottish Cup with a nervous 1-0 win over Airdrie but I didn’t play in it. But you can sense the relief at the club, just as you could feel the sheer hell when we lost to Raith Rovers in the League Cup final. I scored my penalty that day and I am always relieved at that because I would have hated that to be have been the association that people had in their minds. 

“I was never seen as one of the big players but I gave my all for Celtic and for an Irishman it was just a joy to go and play for the club, no matter how tough it was at that period. And those goals against Rangers definitely helped me. I am proud of them. And anyone who does it tomorrow at Ibrox will carry it with them too.” 

If the atmosphere around the club is different now, so too is the structure and demands. Byrne played with Collins and Paul McStay but his time was coming to a close as Fergus McCann’s new era brought in the likes of Paolo di Canio, Jorge Cadete and Pierre van Hooijdonk.  

There is an envy now at the riches Celtic have in terms of player quality even if the double-edged sword of that thought is that the presence of such players in Byrne’s time might have blocked his path to the first team. 

“I love Kyogo,” he said. “The guy would be a dream to play with. He is so clever; his movement, his touch, his finish. He is just a quality player. The fans love him already but he looks like being a phenomenal Celtic player.

"I just hope they hang on to him because you fear that the more successful he is and the better he does at Celtic the higher the risk there is of someone coming in and taking him. 

“It would be amazing to play with a guy like that just because he works so hard and has so much quality. As I said, I was never going to be one of superstars at the club – and certainly my wages reflected that! – but I think I gave my all.

"No matter how dark it was at times I’ll always be grateful for having had the opportunity to be a Celtic player. And a Celtic player that scored at Ibrox to boot…”