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Alan Stubbs arrived at Celtic Park in the summer of 1996 in a £4.5 million move from Bolton which made him the Hoops record buy.

The capture of the highly rated centre-half was a significant coup for Celtic and manager Tommy Burns who moved quickly to secure the services of Stubbs from under the noses of several English sides including Arsenal.
The Merseyside-born defender had been a standout performer in the English First Division for a Bolton side that also included future Celtic favourite Alan Thompson.

Comfortable in possession and a fine passer of the ball Stubbs was regarded as an elegant centre-half who could also play the holding role in midfield. Hopes were high that his arrival would greatly improve the notoriously shaky Bhoys defence.

It took Stubbs some time to find his feet in Glasgow and inconsistency and niggling injuries meant his trophy-less debut season was far from the success many had hoped.

However the following season (97/98) Wim Jansen, who had replaced the axed Burns, brought in Marc Rieper from West Ham and the Danish international defender brought out the best in Stubbs.

The pair immediately formed an impressive partnership and the duo played a significant role as Celtic took the League Cup and then - on the last day of the season - claimed the championship to stop Rangers from making it a record breaking 10 league titles in a row.

Stubbs even scored a last-gasp headed equaliser to claim a 1-1 draw and a well deserved point against Rangers in a rearranged game at Parkhead on November 19th - the original game having been postponed in the wake of Princess Diana's death.

A career ending foot injury struck Rieper early into the next campaign and both Stubbs and Celtic suffered as a result.

Despite defensive partners - and indeed managers – changing regularly Stubbs’ remained a solid and mostly impressive performer in the Hoops although Rangers had by now regained the upped hand.

Rumours that Stubbs was ready to return to England seemed to circulate regularly, with the whisper being that his wife could not settle away from her family on Merseyside.

In truth the rumours and Stubbs’ apparent angling for a move did not go down well with the support who believed that Stubbs had not yet fully lived up to his lavish price tag.

All that seemed insignificant though when in the summer of 1999 a routine drug test after the Scottish Cup final defeat to Rangers revealed Stubbs was suffering from testicular cancer.


With the full support of everyone connected with Celtic the big defender fought back not once, but twice from the illness.

His battle against cancer meant that naturally his appearances for Celtic were limited in his last couple of seasons with the club and he played little more than a cameo role in the treble winning 2000/2001 campaign.



With his contract up in the summer of 2001 Everton moved in and Stubbs moved to Goodison to join the club he supported as a boy. Stubbs was undoubtedly a quality defender and he put in many impressive performances. His battle against testicular cancer meant the player was probably robbed of the opportunity to really stamp his mark on history of the club and in the hearts of fans.



As it was many supporters believe that for a variety of reasons Celtic, apart from that one season alongside Rieper, never saw the best of Alan Stubbs. In total Stubbs played 138 times for the Hoops in five seasons.

APPEARANCES	LEAGUE	SCOTTISH CUP	LEAGUE CUP	EUROPE	TOTAL