IT WAS Celtic legend Davie Hay who inspired the observation: “If he was any more laidback, he would be horizontal.”
Sifting through the cobwebs of my memory bank, I believe it was my former Daily Record colleague Jim Blair who originated the label for the Hoops icon duing his years as Parkhead manager.
It appears Hay, now 76, has a pretender to the throne in £11million record-signing Arne Engels who has eased himself into the champions’ first team with the effortless aplomb with eye-catching performances in his back-to-back starts against Hearts (2-0) and Slovan Bratislava (5-1).
NUMBER ONE…Arne Engels has hit the ground running after his £11million arrival at Celtic.
The 21-year-old Belgian international midfielder took his bow as a 62nd-minute substitute in the 3-0 derby triumph at Parkhead at the begiinning of the month just a couple of days after his deadline-day arrival from Bundesliga outfit Augsburg.
Engels slid two penalty-kicks into the nets of the Edinburgh and Slovak clubs with unerring accuracy – and Hay was in the stand in midweek to applaud his latest display in the technique of taking a spot-kick and his all-round performance that oozed class right from the off.
The club’s astute purchase is already winning praise from an army of new admirers and his Hoops team-mate Liam Scales, scorer of the goal that kick-started the landslide against Slovan to ensure three points from the opening encounter in Europe’s elite competition, is among those lining up to applaud the youngster.
The Republic of Ireland defender said: “What’s that saying? If he was any more laid back, he would be horizontal.
“Honestly, Arne’s brilliant. It takes a lot of guts to come in and play the way he’s playing, straight into these massive fixtures. Playing against Rangers, coming into the Champions League game and doing so well.
“He’s got so much quality. I think everyone can see that.
SPECIAL DELIVERY…Arne Engels looks on as Liam Scales applies the killer touch to his corner-kick to open the scoring in the 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava.
“I think he deserves that record fee. He’s a top, top quality player. He’s just been brilliant. He’s really getting to know the lads as well. He’s just been top class all round.
“I’m looking forward to playing alongside him.”
Engels played his role in Scales’ opening strike with a pinpoint delivery from a left-wing corner-kick in the 17th minute to get the ball rolling on another memorable evening under the lights in the east end of Glasgow.
The centre-back, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “I watched it back and the player a yard in front of me is at full stretch, in the air, and it’s gone over his head and come down just in time to be right on my head.
“I’ve not even really had to jump. You can’t really defend against crosses like that if it’s got so much whip and dip on it.
“Obviously, we’re at an advantage that we know what area he’s going to play it into and I’m going to make my run into there. It was perfect. I didn’t have much to do other than just get good contact on it.”
Engels was clattered twice in the opening five minutes against the Slovaks and former Rangers winger Vladimir Weiss, captain of the visitors, was yellow-carded for taking a sly off-the-ball kick at the Hoops recruit.
LAIDBACK…Davie Hay watches a training session during his four years as Celtic manager.
If it bothered the middle-of-the-park operator it didn’t show. There was no way he was going to be intimidated by the opponents’ bully brigade.
Scales added: “He’s well capable of that other side of the game, as well. Obviously, he’s technically brilliant. You can see that, but I think that sort of goes under the radar of how good he is.
“He’s just a bit of a machine. There are players bouncing off him and he’s really getting into tackles. It’s great to see that.
“You need your midfielders to do that.”
The watching Dave Hay would most certainly have approved. Not for nothing was my long-time friend nicknamed “The Quiet Assassin”.
ALEX GORDON
*NEXT WEEK: Don’t miss a series of EXCLUSIVE stories from Celtic great Davie Hay – only in your champion CQN.
