Latest news with #PatBonner
Daily Record
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Daily Record
The Celtic secret to keeping rejuvenated Rangers at bay as one thing made clear
Pat Bonner reckons Brendan Rodgers will ensure the Hoops are in the best shape to stay on top. Rangers may be undergoing an American revolution. But the secret to Celtic staying in power in Scotland is all about EVOLUTION according to Pat Bonner. Something may be stirring in Govan after Andrew Cavenagh and the 49ers completed their takeover at Ibrox. It's got success-starved Light Blues punters excited again after years spent in their rivals' shadow. Parkhead legend Bonner has been in this movie before - almost 40 years ago when David Holmes' consortium took control and made their first move by appointing Graeme Souness. Rangers would go on to end a nine-year wait to be crowned champions of Scotland in the following 1986-87 season. Bonner knows times have changed dramatically since then though. Whereas Celtic had pipped Hearts on goal difference to lift the 1985-86 title - their first for four years at that point - the Hoops are currently in a position of power like never before in Scottish football. Winning 13 of the last 14 titles and with tens of millions in the bank is testament to that. Now it's about acknowledging that complacency is as big an enemy as anything from across the Clyde. Staying ahead of the game. And to do that, it's about evolving a squad that coasted to the title by 17 points last time out. The financial might lies in the east end of the city. And Bonner is confident the Celtic board will back Brendan Rodgers this summer. He knows to improve again they'll need to spend. And most probably spend big. Then it's about tackling any curveballs Russell Martin's new-look Rangers might throw at them on the pitch. Bonner said: 'They're in a position of strength. You have to kick on. You can't say, 'oh, we're good, everything's going great', because suddenly then you'll get found out. 'Brendan's very clever on that. He knows, he's been around. One thing for sure is that you've got to keep evolving. You've got to keep ahead of the game. 'The game doesn't stop and things change very, very quickly. So you have to keep ahead of the game, and that means that you evolve your squad.' It's not just in the transfer market the Hoops need to stay in front though. It's tactically too. Celtic only won one of the four Premiership meetings between the sides last season. And Bonner said: 'You're thinking about how Rangers are going to play next year. Rangers had a template against Celtic that proved very, very successful. But the rest of it wasn't successful. 'How Rangers will play next year will be really interesting. Will they play from the back? Will they have the players that play from the back? 'That's in the DNA of the new manager coming in. That's what he's done. Could he adapt only in the Celtic games and change back to playing that way? I don't think so. 'So I think that will be interesting for Brendan. How would we go about playing against Rangers now? 'I don't think Celtic will change too much. I think they'll still do the same thing. 'I think they'll evolve what they've done successfully. They want to be more consistent in key points, especially coming near the end of the season. That's not easy because you've played so many games. 'The final piece is the important piece. We're talking here about management rather than players. Players will go out and perform in whatever way. It's up to the manager to really get that across to the players and change and push it on. 'The players will just come in and train and take every game as they want. 'That's players for you. It's the management, the staff, the board. You've got to always look ahead. 'Don't rest on your laurels. Take nothing for granted. That's why you have to keep working hard. That's what management's about, leadership.' Celtic splashed out on eight new signings last summer - including £20m on Arne Engels and Adam Idah - as Rodgers looked to take his side up a gear on the European travels as much as domestically. There might not be quite so many this summer with the squad more in need of fine tuning rather than an overhaul. It's not just about the starting XI though. Improving the options for the finishing XI is every bit as important. Bonner said: 'You're not just talking about 11 players now. You're talking about probably 16, 17 quality players. 'You have starters and you've got finishers, a bit like rugby. 'And those finishers are really, really important, but they have to be quality. 'They can't just be another player coming off the bench for the sake of it because somebody's got injured. 'There's a reason why you're maybe bringing them off the bench. They'll not all start. 'Most players, apart from the odd one like Callum McGregor, will play 90 minutes every week. 'Most of them play 60, 70 minutes. You get a 90 minutes, of course you will. But that balance and that flexibility in your squad is critical. 'Especially if you play the amount of games Celtic play. Week in, week out. Having to win every game. 'Having to perform. Having to play at a very high level. So you need a real 16 or 17.' To that end Bonner has urged Celtic to give Brendan Rodgers everything he wants this summer to tool up for another crack at the Champions League and Treble. The legendary goalkeeper says it's about quality over quantity in the transfer market with no need for a stack of project signings. Parkhead chiefs broke with tradition 12 months ago when they splashed out a record £11m on Arne Engels and a further £9m on Adam Idah. In total around £40m was spent on 10 signings across the season with Jota and Auston Trusty also arriving for north of £5m. The bulk of that was paid for with the sales of Matt O'Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi. But with more Champions League millions having poured into the coffers after a successful run to the last 16 play-off, Bonner hope the Hoops number crunchers back Rodgers again. So far only Kieran Tierney is in the door after agreeing a sensational free transfer back to Parkhead from Arsenal. Nordsjaelland winger Benjamin Nygren and Fulham striker Callum Osmand look set to join him. And Bonner said: 'I hope they give Brendan what he wants and what he needs. 'It's not always about spending - but ultimately quality comes with money nowadays. 'It's about getting the right people and the right players that Brendan wants. 'And I think it's quality over quantity. 'I don't want to see five or six players coming in just for the sake of it. 'I think the players themselves who have been successful will want two or three real quality players to come in to help them. 'Brendan knows what he wants now. I don't see the club not giving Brendan what he wants, to be honest. It's important for the team to evolve and keep evolving.' The transfer window might only officially have opened last week but Bonner knows the clock is ticking on getting signings in and settled. He said: 'Recruitment is not easy because you've got to first and foremost have a profile of what you want. Yes, you want the best, but you want a certain profile. Then you have to identify them, and that could be over time. 'And you rely maybe on other people to come with a list or whatever, but you have your own ones that you want. 'Then you have to recruit them and motivate them to come into the environment. 'Then they have to want to come and fit into the culture, and then you have to manage them and get them into the team, and they have to perform. 'Not everybody's the same, that's the other thing. They're all very, very different.' * Pat Bonner was speaking as he helped launch the Refugee World Cup Scotland tournament, on Sunday, June 29, at Toryglen Regional Football Centre.
BBC News
14-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Given 'prayed to God' Bonner wouldn't get injured
Cast your mind back to the are dominating the Scottish game and Pat Bonner is the Celtic goalkeeper.A fresh-faced 17-year-old Shay Given is on the Celtic bench "praying to God" the Ireland international didn't pull up injured and force his debut. He was "a nervous wreck".He needn't fear long, though, Bonner carried on and Given was never thrown in the deep fact, he never did make that Celtic debut. But he's done alright former Newcastle United great was back in Glasgow promoting next month's friendly between the two sides, and his trip back north brought back memories and that 'what if' feeling."Driving up the road there past Barrowfield, I remember we had to change here at the stadium, and I had to run down the road as an apprentice and train," he said at Celtic Park."The first team boys were driving past, blowing the horn and stuff. It's just all the memories come flooding back."I was on the bench once for an Old Firm game when I was 17, praying to God that Pat Bonner wasn't going to get injured because I was going to have to come off the bench at 17. I would have been a nervous wreck, if I'm being brutally honest."The club's changed so much since I was here at 16 until 18. Even the stadium, look around the stadium now, it's just phenomenal."I was here when the old jungle was there across from the dugout. The way the club has moved forward and moved on, it's a phenomenal club now. It's a totally different animal, as such, but it's great to see how the club has progressed."I always brings back a special feeling coming back here."
BBC News
25-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Pundits react to Aberdeen's penalty shootout heroics
Here's how BBC Scotland's cast of pundits reacted to the Dons' cup final win:Aberdeen legend Willie Miller: "It's brilliant goalkeeping isn't it, from him. He's got a huge stretch, Mitov. He's a tall figure and if he guesses the right way and you're hitting it low then it's going to be really difficult for that to end in the back of the net."The penalty kicks from Aberdeen were quite sensational. Three of them were out of this world. The doubters were all out there. I tell you what, what a magnificent afternoon for my old club."Fantastic for the club, fantastic for Jimmy Thelin, fantastic for Dave Cormack and wonderful for these fans that are down here celebrating. This is something special, 35 years in the making. It's quite incredible."The underdogs, the total underdogs. Nobody including their dogs gave Aberdeen a chance of lifting this trophy, maybe apart from me, and they've done it."Former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner: "Well, well, well. What a good save, although it wasn't the best penalty to finish."You could see the nerves, you could see the pressure on Alistair Johnston. Dimitar Mitov comes up with the two big saves in the game."Brilliant penalties. You probably wouldn't expect Aberdeen to hit them so well. The last penalty was a really tired penalty. Callum McGregor's was well struck but it was a good height for the goalkeeper."Aberdeen deserved it from the point of view that of the way that they changed their structure, changed the way they were going to play. They defended their box well when they had to do it. They got their goal and then they hung in there."Celtic had the big chance with Maeda going through. That was the big one and they had the shots off the post and off the crossbar. They had the better chances, Celtic - probably - more control of the game but it just didn't click for them today."Former Scotland forward James McFadden: "Not many people gave Aberdeen any hope of winning this cup today. But when it comes to a cup final, you just never know."It is a time for heroes - Mitov is the hero this afternoon. But it was a monumental effort from Aberdeen as a squad to get over the line."It's been such a long time coming. What a season they've had - up and down, and what an end."Scotland captain Rachel Corsie: "Just listening to Mitov, the credit he gives to the manager. Players don't say that lightly."He pays a lot of testament to the fact players trusted him. He did something different today and it worked."The last few times they've played Celtic, they've been out of it by half time. He knew that wasn't an option today, they couldn't put themselves in that position."Former Scotland and Celtic captain Scott Brown: "Form goes out the window in a cup final. We've all been disappointed after a cup final, it's how Celtic bounce back."Winning trebles isn't easy. Aberdeen needed a bit of luck, but their defensive unit was really good throughout the game and the manager got the tactics spot on."It wasn't pretty over the 120 minutes, but there's no pictures on the cup at the end of the day."Former Scotland international Leanne Crichton: "It really is unbelievable stuff. Look at the fans, the players, they didn't know how to react."That's the beauty of football, that's what makes it so incredible on an afternoon like this."
The Herald Scotland
18-05-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
I'm Aberdeen Scottish Cup hero, but didn't want to hit winning penalty
The day after the schools cup final of May 1979 the headline in a special edition of the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser reported a night of joy for Chapelhall. For Brian Irvine it was anything but. Slumped on the Broomfield turf his 14th birthday had gone from a celebration to a wake. His winter of discontent was off to an early start. Six goals, extra-time and a 3-3 draw climaxed in a sudden death shoot out. Four players from the beaten Victoria school team missed from 12 yards and he was one of them. Quietly, he resolved to avoid taking any more penalties. The choice was taken out of his hands in the final act of the 1990 Scottish Cup Final. The first to end in a shoot-out after an edgy scoreless draw over 120 minutes the central defender became the most reluctant sudden death hero of all time when he smashed the 20th spot kick past Celtic's Pat Bonner to win the cup for Aberdeen. 'Hampden was my one and only penalty as a professional,' he tells Herald Sport now. 'I was last in the team lines to take it and the reason I didn't want to take one was that I usually always missed them as a boy. 'I was never confident with spot kicks. And that went back to that school's cup final we played in Airdrie eleven years earlier. 'After a draw, it went to penalties. I missed my penalty in the shoot-out and we lost the cup final. 'That kind of experience sticks in your mind and when they were looking for players to take a penalty at Hampden that's why I got myself so far down the list. It was right in my mind that I didn't want to take one. 'Ultimately, I never wanted to be the hero or hit the winning penalty, I just wanted the team to win and my confidence in that situation wasn't high.' Irvine remains the last man to score a winning goal for Aberdeen in a Scottish Cup Final and he hopes to celebrate his 60th birthday by watching his boyhood team lift the old trophy again for the first time in 35 years. A matchday ambassador at Pittodrie his presence at Hampden will hinge on family plans to mark his birthday. Now living in Inverness, he already travels to the central belt twice a week, every Monday and Friday, to provide a safe passage for a friend with special needs. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when he was still an Aberdeen player the long train journeys offer a constant reminder that everyone has their problems. 'I escort a man with learning difficulties from his parents' house in Inverness down to his care home in Musselburgh. I then go back and take him home at the weekend. 'When I speak about winning the Scottish Cup with Aberdeen I have to go into a different mode because it feels like a different world entirely. What I do now is million miles from the way life used to be as a footballer.' The three days in the middle of the week are spent working for Marks and Spencer and, in the aftermath of the recent cyber attack, there must have been times when the task of keeping the shelves full has felt like a challenge more daunting than slotting home a cup final penalty before 60,000 fans at Hampden. 'Charlie was the last of the regular penalty takers and after it was big Alex, Stewart McKimmie, Davie Robertson and a young boy by the name of Graham Watson after that. 'By the time I went forward there was almost nobody left and the switch had been flipped by a great save from Celtic's Anton Rogan by Theo. 'If I scored I won the cup. And if I missed the pressure went to the next guy – who was Theo Snelders.' Read more: Aberdeen manager Alex Smith would compare the first cup final shoot out to 'shooting wee ducks at a fairground'. As Irvine walked from the Hampden centre circle to the penalty spot he tried to banish thoughts of the day in 1979 when he'd struggled to hit a barn door with a beach ball from 12 yards and, come Thursday night, he'll be back in Aberdeen's Music Hall with old teammates McLeish, Nicholas, Gilhaus and Snelders to take a walk down memory lane. 'I've kept in touch with big Alex and seen him a few times over the years,' he admits. 'I saw Charlie at the Hall of Fame awards in January, but that was the first time since I played against him when he went back to Celtic after that final. 'Hans Gilhaus, I haven't seen since he left Aberdeen. I've seen Theo a few times, he's over quite a lot, but once you see each other again you fall into an old groove as if you'd only seen each other yesterday. 'It's 35 years now but we'll share some good stories and memories and the years will melt away. Despite moving from Inverurie to Lanarkshire for his father's job as a policeman, Irvine was always a Dons man and played through a golden era when open top bus parades down Union Street were as common in Aberdeen as Rowies and the northern lights. 'I feel privileged to have played in a more competitive era. I arrived at Pittodrie from Falkirk and my first team photo in pre-season had the championship trophy in the picture.' There was another trophy in 1995, when Roy Aitken's team beat Dundee to lift the League Cup. Referred to Aberdeen's Foresterhill hospital to check out the tingling in his feet weeks after a relegation play off escape act against Dunfermline Irvine was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and missed the final by a week. In his autobiography he wrote of despair and going AWOL, his wife Donna worrying herself sick. These days he adopts a quietly effective coping strategy. 'Most of the time I try not to think about it,' he admits. 'I try to block it out. 'I'm fortunate and thankful that for me it's mainly feelings and sensations in my legs and hands rather than the other end of the spectrum with parts of my body not working. 'When I was diagnosed it felt like the worst thing that could happen to me. 'I came back from illness to play and the disappointment is that I just missed the League Cup Final of 1995 when we beat Dundee. 'I was in the squad, but didn't make the starting eleven. I came back to play in the game the week after. 'The fact I was a professional so long probably helped me with the illness because I still like to keep walking, I still like to keep active. That's better for me than sitting in my chair thinking about it all the time.' A devout christian since he underwent an epiphany while driving to training at Falkirk, the club where he spent two years before moving north to Aberdeen. An Alex Ferguson dressing room must have been an eye opener for a man committed to biblical teachings, yet faith offered comfort and reassurance when the illness struck. 'I had been brought up going to church as a youngster, but it was nothing serious. 'That was a period of time where it all became real and it helped me through the uncertainty of the illness. 'That's not to say that you don't have doubts or questions. But that's part of the faith journey. 'Day by day I would take it one thing at a time. That's the same for life, you sometimes get overwhelmed by issues or problems going on. You get caught up in seeing the whole picture when all you can really do to get through is take it a day at a time.' '1990: The Legends Return', Thursday May 22, The Music Hall, Aberdeen. Tickets available from
