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Real name	Gary Caldwell
Height	5.11
Weight	11.10
Date of birth	12-04-1982
Place of birth	Stirling
Position	Defender
Nationality	Scotland
Internationals:	Scotland
International Caps	-
Squad Number	5

Summary

Scotland international Gary Caldwell signed a pre-contract agreement with Celtic in January 2006 which allowed the defender to leave Hibernian for the Bhoys that summer.

The Easter Road skipper began his career at Newcastle United but it was at Hibs where he really made his name, winning a Scotland cap while on loan in Edinburgh in 2002.

After returning to St James Park a season long loan spell at Coventry followed before Caldwell moved to Hibs on a full time basis following a free transfer in January 2004.

His move to Celtic under-whelmed many in the Hoops support who believed the player was not of the standard required. Caldwell however was rated by the one person who really mattered, manager Gordon Strachan, and from his earliest days at Parkhead the centre-half was a first team regular.

Despite the manager’s loyalty Gary would remain a player to split opinion and his cause has not been helped by costly mistakes in key matches against Benfica and Barcelona in the Champions League. A spell at right-back was also less than impressive and there have been moments when he has appeared cumbersome.

Caldwell has however never offered anything other than his all to the Celtic cause and for the most part, over the course of two full seasons, his defensive displays have been solid and even occasionally outstanding. His keenness to play football has on occasion been his downfall as at times his execution has not matched his vision but on his game he is an assured ball player.

His form towards the end of the 2007/08 season was excellent and there are some signs that the player is maturing into decent and consistant centre half. The truth is that until late in the season he was the most criticised player in the squad (exc Lee Naylor), where many questioned his place in the starting team. His many critics seemed to be right when in the Barcelona game at home in the European Cup in 2008, where we were defeated 3-2 however two of the goals came from bad mistakes from our defence, in particular one of the goals where Caldwell's distribution went AWOL. The cry was from most "we never want to see him in a Celtic jersey ever again!!!".

Enough to put most players down, but WGS kept faith with him, and stuck with him in the starting side, and since that mare against Barca he never put a foot wrong again for the rest of the season (with good form following on into the next). He was the unsung hero in the two games v Rangers in the end-season run-up, and set up the two wonder goals that helped win the two games. Importantly, many talk about Naka's wonder goal in the Rangers game we won 2-1 (link), however not mentioned as much is that Caldwell picked out Naka with a brilliant long pass to give him the opportunity to make the goal, and in many ways was as brilliant as the final shot for goal. He deserves maximum respect. Similarly, Caldwell set up the final last minute goal which won us the game 3-2 v Rangers (link). His critics had to sit back and hold their hands ups after this.

Certainly he deserves credit for his part in the last day title triumph of that campaign (2007-08) as the Celts boasted the meanest defence in the league.

Not all his critics had been silenced but as Caldwell picked up his second championship medal in two seasons they were certainly a lot quieter.

KDS Honours

• 21-Oct-08 MOTM 08-09 Man Utd 3-0 Celtic CL (His first ever KDS MOTM)
• 05-Nov-08 MOTM 08-09 Celtic 1-1 Man Utd CL
  

All Clubs

1998-04 Newcastle United
2001-02 Darlington loan
2001-02 Hibernian loan [BBC]
2002-03 Coventry loan [BBC]
2002-03 Derby County loan
2004-06 Hibernian Free [BBC]
2006-09 Celtic Free [BBC]

Pictures

• Player Pictures

Songs

• The Gary Caldwell "Heid" Song

Links

• International Appearances: Scottish FA Website