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Fullname: Bobby Petta
Born: 6 Aug 1974
Birthplace: Rotterdam, Holland
Signed:1994
Position: Left Winger
Internationals: Holland (no caps)

Biog

Pre-Celtic Career
As a youngster, Petta struggled to break in to the Feyenoord first team, spending time on loan first at Dordrecht, then at RKC Waalwijk. In fact, Petta was loaned to RKC in the same summer that Giovanni van Bronckhorst moved in the opposite direction, prior to his transer to Rangers.

It was at RKC that Petta caught the eye of Ipswich Town, and George Burley signed the Dutchman in 1996. Petta struggled to adapt to football in England, making just a handful of appearances in his first season, but gradually his ability shown through and Burley's faith in the player was vindicated. In the final year of his contract with Ipswich he turned down a move to Barnsaley with the consequence that he was frozen out of the first team.

Celtic Career Review
Petta moved to Celtic in 1999, having seen out his contract at Ipswich. As was the case with his first year at Ipswich, Petta's first season at Celti was a virtual write-off. In 17 games in all competitions, Petta managed only a solitary goal, against Ayr in a Scottish Cup tie.

Petta gained a new lease of life under Martin O'Neill, and scored in the first game of the new season, away to Jeunesse D'Esch in the UEFA Cup. The undoubted pinnacle of Petta's Celtic career came on August the 28th, 2000, when he played a central role in Celtic's 6-2 hammering of Dick Advocaat's expensively-assembled Rangers side. So outstanding was Petta's performance that new signing Fernando Ricksen was substituted after just 25 minutes of his Old Firm debut. Beyond generally ridiculing Ricksen, Petta was instrumental in three of the goals, and received widespread praise for the style and quality of his wing play.

Sadly for Petta, this rich vein of form was not to last. That season he was twice denied a cap for Holland through injury, and was literally kicked off the park in the CIS Cup final against Kilmarnock, which saw him injured and replaced by Stephen Crainey after just 10 minutes.

Petta's place was put under further threat by the maturing Alan Thompson, but an opportunity arose in Celtic's Champions League group debut in Turin;Thompson had a torrid night against the Juventus defence, lacking the pace or guile to out-fox Lilian Thuram and Cristian Zenoni. With Juventus playing a back three, and a man light following Davids' red card, Martin O'Neill threw on Petta in an attempt to open the Juve defence up. Three minutes after Petta's introduction, Celtic equalised through Petrov, and Petta's thrusts down the left were a constant thorn in Juventus' side before the controversial late penalty that gave the home side the win (UEFA match & tactics report).

Another call-up to the Dutch national squad was quickly followed by another injury denying him a cap again, and this marked a quick descent from the heights of the 6-2 game for Petta. He played just 5 games in the 2003/04 season, and was sent out on loan to Fulham, where he failed to set the heather alight.

Petta is now playing for Australian A-League side Adelaide United.

Playing Career

Club	From	To	Fee	League		FA Cup		League cup		Other
Bradford	23/06/2005	08/05/2006	Free	23 (4)	4	0 (0)	0	2 (0)	0	2 (0)	0
Darlington	04/02/2005	23/06/2005	Signed	12 (0)	1	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Fulham	31/12/2003	16/05/2004	Loan	3 (5)	0	2 (3)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Celtic	10/07/1999	31/12/2004	Free	36 (16)	0	3 (1)	1	3 (4)	1	14 (4)	2
Ipswich	29/05/1996	10/07/1999	Free	55 (15)	9	5 (1)	0	8 (2)	0	1 (0)	0
Feyenoord	01/08/1995	29/05/1996		No appearance data available
Totals			£0	129 (40)	14	10 (5)	1	13 (6)	1	17 (4)	2
			goals / game	0.08		0.06		0.05		0.09
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

Honours

Indicate any known awards (player of the year, etc)

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