The Celtic Way's Big Interview with ex-player Mark Reid

He's as proud as punch that he played for Celtic. He is even prouder that it is something that his family can now rejoice in. Reid was a product of the Celtic Boys Club and signed full-time for the men in green and white in 1976.

He was as steady and reliable as they come. Unspectacular? Yes. Effective? Big time. Reid was part of the highly successful Celtic reserve team of 1979/80 and was originally deployed at left back but he also could fill in as a midfielder.

It was club legend Billy McNeill who handed him his first-team debut in a 1-1 draw at Dundee United in the League Cup on 12th October 1980 and he received an old-fashioned message of support which was very much of its time.

Celtic had suffered a series of bad results and the finger of blame was being pointed squarely at the defence. It wasn't long before Reid established himself as a mainstay of McNeill's early 80s side and he was to return to Tannadice in 1981 when Celtic clinched the 1980/81 title against Jim McLean's Dundee United with a famous 3-2 victory on Tayside. Reid had a ringside seat to watch arguably one of Celtic's greatest ever boys club prodigies - Charlie Nicholas. Even back then Reid admits that Nicholas was a special and precocious talent.

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Reid said: "I signed for Celtic in 1976 and it was Sean Fallon that signed me. I played u-15 football but I could play U14 football because of my age and I actually went back a year to play for Celtic Boys Club. I used it to my advantage.

"What a team we had. Celtic had many good players then like Charlie Nicholas and Jim Duffy. I went through Celtic Boys Club with Charlie and I was able to watch him make his mark in the first team before I did.

"Charlie had something back then as he was just better than everybody else growing up. He could score. He had a guile about him that was far better than somebody who was playing at the back or in midfield.

"There were two or three of us in the Celtic Reserves who were playing well but getting your chance in the first team was few and far between but the team was struggling and that is how I ended up with my opportunity. "I made my debut for Celtic in 1980 when the club were struggling and Big Billy rang the changes for the League Cup semi-final, first leg at Tannadice.

"I remember getting a telegram from Jimmy Lumsden who was involved in the Celtic Reserves and it simply read: "Confidence and concentration." That was the best and most sound advice I could get from anyone at the time. When was the last time somebody got a telegram? We drew 1-1 which was a good result against Dundee United as they were just starting to make their mark under Jim McLean at this point. Dundee United won the League Cup that season so that just goes to show you how good they were.

"I can visualise my debut and I can also visualise the next game where we beat Airdrieonians 4-1 at Broomfield. Nobody was happier than me when I made my Celtic debut and I went on to have a decent enough career with them for the next few seasons. I am very proud of it but it hits me when my children can now talk to other people and be proud of their dad who once played for Celtic. My son went up to work in Aberdeen and he was not the type to mention my name.

"However, he was out one night and the subject of Celtic inevitably got brought up. It allowed him to say that I had played for Celtic and he made a lot of good connections through that. I was over the moon because that meant that people were looking out for him. I am quite a humble guy and they love talking about it. That means everything doesn't it? When the family are proud of you for playing for Celtic then that's a wonderful feeling. It is hard to imagine that it ever happened but it did."

Not only was Reid a dab hand at playing football. He could also take penalties. It was a potent weapon in his armoury that took him to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada, and all because of his deadly prowess from 12 yards.

Reid takes up the story: "I was 14 and I won the Daily Express and Robinson's Barley Water sponsored penalty kick competition at Hampden Park during the 1976 Scottish Cup final between Rangers and Hearts.

"I was taking penalties before the final and at half-time. You can imagine the reception and treatment I got when my school name St Andrews was read out over the PA system! I won the competition and the prize was an all-expenses paid trip to Montreal for the 1976 Olympics. My dad came with me and it was a fantastic trip. I was 14 and it was an incredible prize.

"I had taken penalties all through primary school and they were all with my left foot so there must have been something in it. People talk about an educated left foot, don't they? I don't know how true that was but I discovered I was good at penalties."

That expertise from the penalty mark served him well when he was put on the spot twice during Celtic's 1983/84 League Cup run. It was Reid who fired the crucial winner from the penalty spot in the 1-0 semi-final victory over Aberdeen at Celtic Park.

If Reid thought that was a high-pressure kick then it was nothing compared to the strike that sent the 1983/84 showpiece League Cup final against Rangers at Hampden Park into extra-time as his last-minute penalty made it 2-2 in normal time.

Reid said: "Taking penalties never fazed me. I knew in the Rangers League Cup final that it was 2-1 and it could well end up being the last kick of the game. It was up to me to take the game into extra time.

"As soon as Celtic got the penalty the fans just assumed I would score and the game was heading into extra-time. I still had to score the kick. If you connect with the ball well enough you are going to score more often than not. I am old school and guys like Ray Stewart and Julian Dicks knew how to take a penalty. They rarely missed. Brian McClair scored a brilliant goal from a free-kick routine in that final and it is rarely mentioned because Celtic lost but it is a cracking goal.

"I watch players today and they pass the ball into the net and it looks great when it works but if that was me I would be putting it a bit higher. The goalkeeper will dive so my advice would always be to lift any penalty off the ground as your chances of scoring will increase because of that."

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The names of Reid's Celtic teammates trip off the tongue as he was in a star-studded Celtic team that included the likes of Danny McGrain, Roy Aitken, Paul McStay, Murdo MacLeod, Tommy Burns, George McCluskey, Frank McGarvey and the aforementioned Nicholas and McClair.

Reid reckons that had Celtic been more tactically astute and aware on the European stage they could have and should have fared much better than they did.

Reid said: "Tactics were different when I played and had Celtic adopted better tactics, especially during the away games in Europe then we might have achieved better results on that stage. The players were certainly good enough to do that.

"Sometimes Celtic were naive in Europe and instead of shutting up shop which we should have done back then we just kept going forward and that cost us dearly at times. Celtic's philosophy is always to attack irrespective of the opposition. It is 'The Celtic Way, isn't it?"

Although Reid did get to tussle with some real heavyweights on the European stage and enjoy some memorable nights. In three years, he played against the mighty Juventus (1981), Ajax (1982) and Nottingham Forest (1983).

The 62-year-old said: "Ironically, tactically at home against Juventus was a great night for Celtic when we beat them 1-0 at Parkhead.

"What a team Juventus had. They had Liam Brady, Dino Zoff, Claudio Gentile, Antonio Cabrini, Gaetano Scirea, Marco Tardelli and Roberto Bettega. Except for Bettega and Brady, the rest were all in Italy's World Cup-winning team of 1982 so that showed you the talent that Celtic were up against. Then the following season when we played Ajax they had the legend that was Johan Cruyff, Soren Lerby, Jesper Olsen and Jan Molby. Marco Van Basten was a young player coming through the ranks then and he was on the bench.

"The following year we played Nottingham Forest and Celtic played really well that night but they sucker punched us on the counterattack and the break. We could have got to the latter stages as Spurs won the UEFA Cup that year and Anderlecht knocked Nottingham Forest out in the semi-final."

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Reid won two League titles and a League Cup with Celtic. They are cherished medals. He scored 12 goals in 177 games before leaving for Charlton Athletic in 1985. In the 1980's Celtic had more to worry them than Rangers. They had the spectre of the New Firm - Aberdeen and Dundee United. Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen pipped Celtic to the title in 1980 and Dundee United would do the same again in 1983 which ruined Reid's chances of three league winners medals in a row.

Reid insists that Celtic more than held their own from the challenge from the north when you consider that the Reds would go on to win the 1983 European Cup-Winners Cup against Real Madrid in Gothenburg and Dundee United would narrowly miss out on UEFA Cup glory in 1987 when IFK Gothenburg defeated McLean's men.

However, he admitted that he enjoyed his regular tussles with Rangers legend the one and only 'Super' Davie Cooper.

Reid said: "What a competitive era that was in Scottish football. It was great for the supporters and everybody connected with Scottish football. Aberdeen and Dundee United both had cracking teams.

"It was Rangers who fell by the wayside for many years back then. I won the title with Celtic in 1981 and 1982 and it would have been a hat-trick of winners medals but Dundee United reeled us in during the home straight in 1983 when we had been miles in front of them. Whenever Celtic played Rangers back then, I was always up against Davie Cooper. I enjoyed playing against him. You had to try and read the fact that he would twist and turn all the time. They were excellent matches and it brought out the best in me. I thought I did okay against him.

"I always jockeyed him and hoped that he would pass the ball on rather than go down the line. He was a formidable player and opponent and he was an excellent player for Rangers."

Although surprisingly the best player that Reid ever encountered in his career was former Celtic boss Gordon Strachan. Reid said: "One name springs to mind for his class and that was Gordon Strachan.

"I played against him when he was at Aberdeen and then again at Manchester United when I was playing for Charlton. He was a superb footballer. He won the English Footballer of the Year with Leeds United in 1991/92 because he kept himself so fit. Strachan was something else and it was a joy to play against him."

One of the highest accolades bestowed on Reid didn't happen during his stint in Glasgow. It came when he was a member of Charlton's promotion-winning team of 1985/86 when he was named in the PFA Second Division team of the year.

Reid said: "When I went to Charlton in 1985 during my first season I made the PFA Second Division team of the year. Chris Woods and Steve Bruce were on that side so I was keeping esteemed company.

"It was a huge compliment as I beat Nigel Winterburn into the team which was a fair accolade for someone like myself. Nigel went on to achieve some wonderful things at Arsenal."

As unsung Celtic heroes go, Reid epitomises it. Reid said: "It is not easy playing for Celtic. Things change day by day and game-by-game. It's the best feeling when you win and the worst feeling when you don't, especially the games that you have to win.

"My abiding memory of playing for Celtic is the story. I was an s-form, I was on the ground staff, I cleaned boots, I swept the terracing, I hung up wet and stinking training gear that would be used the next day and I played against the first team in training matches. I can visualise it all. I knew the history of the club and the demands that were placed upon players. I shake my head at times and pinch myself when I think that I have walked out of that tunnel and played for Celtic.

"My son has got my strips and medals. He got a beautiful frame for them and they are proudly displayed in his house for posterity. That will do me."

Reid never made a song and dance about playing for Celtic. Yet there is something wonderfully poignant in the fact that his immediate family sing his name from the rooftops and are proud to tell everybody that their dad once played for Celtic. That more than anything will mean the world to Reid. Ever humble, Reid once took to social media and tweeted: "Proud to have worn that strip."

Those six words probably sum Reid up best.