Wrong man at the wrong time – Liam Brady as Celtic manager

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The Celtic Star

·30 de setembro de 2025

Wrong man at the wrong time – Liam Brady as Celtic manager

Liam Brady as Celtic manager – Wrong man, wrong time, wrong place, and his record in the transfer market didn’t exactly help…

Liam Brady Celtic football manager August 1991. Photo The Celtic Wiki

The early 1990s was a bleak period in the history of Celtic football club, one I like many more of you were around to witness, and it goes without saying that it was a very underwhelming and concerning time to be a Celtic supporter.

Vídeos OneFootball

The biggest reason behind that was our custodians who shockingly mismanaged our club so much so that they nearly ran it into the ground as their self-serving attitude had the club teetering on the brink of oblivion. One example of their gross incompetence was the summer of 1991 when they decided to hire Liam Brady as manager of Celtic.

Brady, a mere novice in footballing management, a great player, but no credentials of any sort in the dugout became the first man to manage the club without even donning the famous green and white hoops was seen as the man to replace club legend Billy McNeill who was sacked after two trophy-less campaigns. Unsurprisingly the Irishman was hardly an inspiring choice for the Celtic supporters.

UEFA Cup 1 FC Cologne Celtic Glasgow 15 09 1992 2 0 team manager Liam Brady Celtic in Background Jörg Berger Cologne HM. Photo Imago

Indeed the calibre of choice alongside Brady on the shortlist was uninspiring as whole with Yugoslavian Ivan Golac who would later become manager of Dundee United, Frank Stapleton and Cesar’s trusted number two Tommy Craig being the other contenders.

Brady was a superb player, indeed he was world class midfielder, but his knowledge as a manger was non existent, yet he was handed the role much to everyone’s surprise.

Maybe the Celtic hierarchy seen the success of great player turned instant manager Grahame Souness at Ibrox and thought Brady was capable of similar results. However Souness was helped by having an unlimited supply of dodgy Dave’s borrowed cash, Brady on the other hand didn’t.

Brady wasn’t exactly working on a shoestring budget either but enjoyed nowhere near the riches the former Rangers boss enjoyed at Ibrox, the same riches his one time assistant and new man in the Ibrox dugout Walter would enjoy during Brady’s tenure at Celtic Park.

30.07.1991: Photo imago/ColorsportTony Cascarino (Celtic) – Paul Davis Testimonial 1991, Scottish Premier League 1991/1992, Celtic Glasgow

Brady’s record in the transfer market was another reason for his failure in Glasgow. Not long into the job he was allowed to spend a whooping £1.1 million on his former Irish international teammate Tony Cascarino who arrived from Aston Villa. To be fair it was seen as a bit of a coup at the time as he was a highly regarded player down south, but ultimately he proved to be one the most uninspiring signings in the history of Celtic Football Club.

The ageing injury prone, Gary Gillespie at just under a million quid was another, whilst the £1.5 million splashed out on Stuart Slater who would go down in the Tony Cascarino category.

Stuart Slater Glasgow Celtic FC 02 August 1993 Photo Mary Evans Allstar Richard Sellers

His decision to re-sign the ageing and out of shape Frank McAvennie was another baffling move by the Irishman.

Brady would eventually hand in his notice in October 1993 after another defeat in a sterile performance away to St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, which was duly accepted by the incompetent cash-strapped Celtic board.

It was no surprise that his appointment turned out to be a catastrophic failure. Liam Brady certainly was a case of wrong man, wrong time, and wrong place. And Celtic wee in dire need of change, new people in charge and a new vision for the club. Thankfully the wheels were already in motion.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

Continues on the next page…David Potter’s take on Liam Brady, Celtic’s seventh manager…

Liam Brady’s years at Celtic Park were not good ones. Two full seasons and a bit in which not a trophy was won, not even a Final was reached while the club was frankly going to Hell.

It was not all the likeable Irishman’s fault; he was not even the main culprit. He was working for a Board whose total lack of knowledge about football, finances, business and even the realpolitik of Glasgow was truly astonishing.

Liam’s appointment was itself astounding. He had been a great player for Arsenal and Juventus, but he had never been a Manager. And now in summer 1991, he suddenly found himself in charge of Celtic, and an underfunded Celtic side who were light years behind Rangers and even a great distance below teams like Aberdeen. It defied belief.

Liam Brady Celtic football manager August 1991

And Liam also showed a total lack of knowledge of Scotland and Scottish football. He kept belittling the Old Firm derby games and comparing them to Arsenal v Tottenham, and Juventus v Torino. Celtic went out of the League Cup to Airdrie – a seismic, cataclysmic event in most Celtic households, but Liam said “Ah, but Airdrie are not a bad team. They beat Aberdeen as well, you know!” The man simply did not understand Celtic and their fans.

His acid test came in the Scottish Cup semi-final of 1992 one wet (very wet) April evening. For a few weeks Celtic had been playing well in League games and were even being talked about as “the form team of Scotland”. They dominated Rangers that night – but simply couldn’t score. But goalscoring is a very important facet of football, and domination counts for nothing.

Things went from bad to worse in 1992/93, the situation not helped by Rangers having a good run in Europe. The return of McAvennie might have worked with better management, and in men like Boyd, McStay and Collins there was obvious quality, but several other players were clearly not Celtic class.

Brady was allowed to continue against the background of imminent revolution until October 1993. After a dreadful defeat at McDiarmid Park, Perth in which, allegedly, there were fisticuffs in the Celtic dressing room, Brady was asked to leave by a Board who were desperately trying to blame it all on the Manager.

The faults lay a lot deeper than Liam Brady, but he had to go – a man clearly not cut out for the job.

David Potter

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