Better Late than Never for Tosh McKinlay Signing for Celtic

Tommy Burns swooped to sign the talented left back who by then was 29 years of age, and he would go on to give the club five years of terrific service.

Many Celtic supporters felt and still do feel that it was a few years in the coming when Tosh was eventually enticed to Celtic Park. Tosh after all was a well known figure in the Scottish game after spells at Dundee and Hearts and it was no secret he was a big Celtic supporter, so naturally it was believed that we missed the boat on snapping up a much younger Tosh.

Tosh McKinlay had already played a part in a historic moment in the club’s history, but that was in the dark blue of Dundee with young Tosh playing his part in the Dens Park sides famous win over Hearts that played a massive part in the Hoops winning the 1986 Premier League title, courtesy of Tosh’s teammate and fellow Celtic supporter Albert Kidd who scored twice to become an instant Celtic icon.

Tosh would taste success in the green and white of Celtic as he helped the club to Scottish cup glory in 1995, just a few months after signing, indeed it was his tremendous assist that resulted in Pierre Van Hoojidonk scoring what proved to be the only goal in a slender 1-0 victory over Airdrie at Hampden.

The left-back was well renowned for supplying that sort of ball into the box, and big Pierre benefited more than once. The Scotland international possessed a very cultured left peg, and between Tosh and John Collins our strikers were spoilt for service.

The Glasgow born player would go on to make 139 appearances for his boyhood heroes, and despite falling out of favour in the famous 97-98 title winning campaign (mainly due to an altercation with Henrik Larsson on the training ground – see photo below) Tosh was in the match day squad on the final day, and he soaked up the atmosphere on the sidelines just like every other supporter in the ground.

For Tosh McKinlay it was a case of better late than never as he got to live the dream playing for Celtic.