THERE was a fanfare of trumpets in the east end of Glasgow late on the evening of January 31 2010 as Robbie Keane was welcomed to Celtic.
In the midst of a hulabaloo of excitement, the Republic of Ireland’s legendary striker signed a short-term loan deal from Spurs.
The Hoops, with new manager Tony Mowbray struggling after his summer arrival to replace Gordon Strachan, urgently required a boost and Keane was seen as the man to provide solutions to the problems.
Celtic had already been dismissed from Europe by Arsenal at the qualifying stages and had been knocked out of the League Cup in the quarter-finals at Parkhead by Hearts with Michael Stewart scoring the only goal of the game via the penalty spot.
OH, JOY…Robbie Keane celebrates a Celtic goal at Parkhead.
No-one could blame the fans for their state of euphoria with the recruitment of the 29-year-old former Liverpool and Inter Milan hitman with a proven track record when it came to tucking the ball into the opposition’s net.
Keane stirred the already sky-high emotions of the support when he addressed them on his first day with the stirring words: “I am a Celtic fan and did not have to ask much about this move. I always wanted to play for Celtic.”
There was much rejoicing, but, alas, the talking stopped on his quickfire debut 48 hours later at Kilmarnock where the hosts won 1-0.
The Hoops continued on a downward spiral and the crunch arrived in Paisley on a bitterly cold evening in March where the home side cavorted to a 4-0 victory, a humiliating loss for the Parkhead men that had severe consequences.
Mowbray was sacked the following day and Neil Lennon was handed the job on a caretaker capacity as the team. already 10 points adrift of Rangers, limped towards the finishing line in a season to forget.
Keane played in the embarrassment against St Mirren and he also featured in the disastrous 2-0 Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to Ross County at Hampden on April 10.
OH, MISERY…Robbie Keane hides his face as he comes off the pitch after the 4-0 loss to St Mirren.
The finger of blame cannot be pointed at the frontman. He claimed 16 goals in 19 appearances which was not a bad return for someone feeding off scraps in a team toiling while the mundane, unispired performances stacked up.
Despite the x-certificate display against the Highlanders at the national stadium, Lennon won all eight of his league games in charge.
The Northern Irishman was appointed full-time boss in the summer and there was no grand farewell as Keane returned to London.
Some you win in the January transfer window – and some, unfortunately, you lose.
You can be sure Brendan Rodgers will not be sucked into buying someone just for the sheer sake of introducing a player with a big reputation.
Celtic cannot afford a misfire in this window. Lessons will surely have been learned from January 14 years ago.
