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Fullname: Anthony Guy Cascarino
aka: Tony Cascarino
Born: 1 Sep 1962
Birthplace: St Paul's Cray, Kent (England)
Signed:July 1991
Position: Forward
Internationals: Ireland
International Caps: 88
International Goals: 19

Biog

Striker Tony Cascarino has to rank among the worst signings in Celtic history.

The former Millwall man was signed by the then recently appointed Bhoys boss Liam Brady for £1.1 million from Aston Villa in July 1991; Brady was formerly his agent and felt he knew him and what he could offer to the first team. At 6' 2" Cascarino was brought to add presence to the Hoops forward line but his record of 12 goals in 50 games for the Midlanders was far from impressive and didn't bode well.

He made his Celtic debut in a 4-3 victory at Dundee United on August 10th but failed to find the net during a goal fest of a game. Indeed the Celtic support had to wait until October 5th before they saw the London-born Republic of Ireland international score (who ended up not being Irish at all!). That first goal came in a game at Hearts and as part of an amazing sequence of events in a six minute spell, the striker came on as sub, scored and then got sent off!

Moving on, he would score the equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Ibrox on November 2nd which saved him from memory being rated our worst ever buy and gained him some kudos. However, his time at Parkhead would be mercifully brief with the forward complaining Celtic played too much football for his liking! After 30 appearances and a pathetic total of four goals Cascarino departed Celtic in February 1992 in a great piece of business for the Celts which saw Tom Boyd head the other way. The next game after the transfer, all the fans in the Jungle sang "Let's all laugh at Chelsea!". We really were relieved to see him go, but many smile that at least he scored against the Huns.

In his unconventional autobiography, he had a chapter on his time at Celtic and was scathing, complaining of the divided nature of football in Glasgow and his frustration of his time at the club. Disappointing, but it was a difficult time for the club and Brady was not a great manager. However, on various other occasions he has spoken very well of Celtic and the support, so it is hard to know how he really felt, but likely overall a very difficult time for himself. He did have mental issues which he has admitted in his book (usually due to self-doubt).

He fell out with Liam Brady (his Celtic manager) before he left, and their relationship turned decidedly frosty with Brady very frustrated at the poor showing of his key signing. Maybe Brady expected too much and his previous close relations with Cascarino was blinding him to the reality.

Since leaving Celtic, his career became one that only a maverick satirical author could write about. His time at Celtic can be best summed up by the following quote by himself:

"If I am honest, I don’t think I realised how big the club was. I joined them from Aston Villa, then a pretty big club in England, and I felt as if my career was taking a step backwards. At the time Celtic wallowed in the shadow of Rangers. We were a poor side, barely making an indent into Rangers’ supremacy in the league. It was, perhaps, the biggest regret of my career that I was unsuccessful there. I was proud to play for them but, on reflection, I should have stayed and endeavoured to develop. But I wasn’t a strong enough personality to be able to cope with the religious bigotry off the field. " (Tony Cascarino, 2003)

Anecdote: "Banjos and Cows' Arses"

Even though he was with the club for a very short space of time, Cascarino is still ridiculed in Scottish football circles. Lampooned by the wags that "he couldnae even hit a coo's arse wae a banjo!", BBC Scotland's "Off The Ball" decided to put this to the test.

In front of a studio audience, two BBC staff members dressed up in a pantomine costume as a 'cow' whilst another member of staff brought in his father's trusty old banjo (as you would) to help out.

Cascarino was next asked to assist in the act by proving to the public that what they were saying about him was wrong.

Taking the banjo in both hands, he relished the chance to prove his doubters wrong. However, he was a bit over eager, and Cascarino ended up walloping the poor 'cow' as hard as he could. The audience went quiet and all that could be heard were the poor squeals of pain from the poor stage hand ("Neil") who made up the 'cow's' arse. The banjo was broken into two (how was the guy going to explain that to his old man?) and poor wee Neil ended up in hospital.

The moral of this story? Err.... leave poor cow's arses alone I guess!
(Anecdote from BBC Radio Scotland's "Off The Ball" Aug 09)

Playing Career

Links

• Tony Cascarino on Celtic Fans - "Celtic Fans are a special breed... " (The Times)

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