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Fullname: Eyal Berkovic
Height: 5.07ft
Weight: 10.06 st
Born: 2 April 1972
Birthplace: Haifa, Israel
Signed: July 1999
Position: Midfielder
Internationals: Israel
International Caps: 82 Caps
International Goals: 14

Biog

The controversial but undoubtedly talented Eyal Berkovic has the likely unwanted distinction of being one of the most disliked Celtic players ever by the Celtic fans ourselves, a point mirrored at certain of the other clubs he played for as well.

He arrived at Celtic Park in the summer of 1999 in a £5.75 million move from West Ham United. The capture of the Israeli star was meant to signal an exciting new era for the Hoops under new management 'Dream Team' of coach John Barnes and Director of Football, Kenny Dalglish. In Israel he had the nickname of "The Magician"! The nicknames he was to gather away from Israel in Scotland (and England) were less polite and more colourful.

Berkovic had impressed enough in highlights during his spell in England with Southampton and the Hammers to have most Celtic fans wetting their lips in anticipation of the season ahead. But despite showing fleeting glimpses of his talent the little midfielder failed to settle into a Celtic side which struggled badly in the league after the loss of talisman Henrik Larsson to an horrific leg break in Lyon on October 21. However much of that was down to lack of efforts on his part.

As 1999 drew to a close Berkovic strung together some excellent performances to inspire Celtic to an unbeaten run which gave the fans renewed hope for the new Millennium. That hope was soon dashed as Celtic and Berkovic emerged from the mid-winter shutdown looking decidedly off key. Rumours were rife that Berkovic was a troublemaker and that the Celtic dressing room was far from a happy place.

Just how unhappy was made painfully clear on Tuesday February 8th 2000 when a pathetic Celtic were humiliated in front of our own fans by First Division Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup third round. The 3-1 defeat to the Highlanders was the final straw for Celtic fans who had by this time witnessed one too many spineless displays from Berkovic and some of his equally lavishly paid team-mates.

While that match signalled the end for John Barnes, Berkovic would stick around a little while longer. He continued to tease the fans with moments of magic. His performance against Kilmarnock in the April of that season was simply scintillating as he ran the Ayrshire side ragged as Celtic recorded a 4-2 victory. Even then though he spoiled matters by making undignified gestures to a Hoops support which with some justification had previously demanded more effort from their big money signing.

These brief cameos of genius could not disguise Berkovic's infuriating lack of heart/effort and petulant behaviour, and when Martin O'Neill was appointed as Celtic manager in June 2000 everyone knew time would soon be up for the immature Berkovic. Didn't exactly help when he started selling sanctimonious stories to the press on his time at Celtic.

O'Neill used the Israeli sparingly and by the start of 2001 he was barely on the fringes of the Celtic first team. In February - a year after the Caley debacle - Berkovic headed to Blackburn on loan and most Celtic fans would have happily paid the taxi fare to take him to Lancashire. He eventually left for good in the summer of 2001, joining Manchester City for £1.75 million. By then he had made 38 appearances for the Hoops, scoring 8 goals.

There can be few Celtic players who had promised so much, only to deliver so little.

It wasn't just at Celtic where he had become a persona non grata. At West Ham (prior to joining Celtic) he was involved in an infamous spat with later Celtic playing great John Hartson, who booted Berkovic in the mouth! We only wish he'd hit him harder. Berkovic's autobiography "Ha-Kosem" sparked controversy within the Israeli football scene because of the sharp one-sided and blunt/crude criticism of many of its figures. In 2006, he left a club he played for in Israel due to "poor professional relations" (says it all!).

He also had a spat with his club manager at Man City (Kevin Keegan) which was a very public falling out (similar to the situation at Celtic), and the following comment from him clearly shows his odious mentality:
"I don't see any reason why Kevin didn't play me because I was the best player in training for six months and everyone knew that. Man City's 45,000 supporters knew I had to play but Kevin was behaving like a big baby. I told him that and I think he deserves the sack."

Berkovic’s appetite for confrontation continued even after football. He was found guilty of assaulting the coach of his son’s schoolboy team, after his son was substituted in a game in 2007. You couldn't make it up could you?

If he had any intelligence he'd probably have seen that there was one common denominator in all this (i.e. himself), but that will likely pass him by and he will remain a person to loathe more than anything else.

Playing Career

Club	From	To	Fee	League		Scottish Cup		League cup		Other
Blackburn	06/02/2001	08/05/2001	Loan
Celtic	08/07/1999	21/07/2001	£ 5,750,000	29 (3)	9	1 (0)	0	0 (2)	0	4 (3)	4
West Ham	02/06/1997	08/07/1999	£1,750,000
			goals / game	0.15		0.14		0.19		0.44
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

Honours with Celtic

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