CELTIC fans didn’t know quite what to expect when Georgios Samaras arrived at the club on loan from Manchester City in January 2008.
The Greek striker hadn’t exactly set the heather on fire in his two years in English football after costing City £6million from Dutch club Heerenveen.
Samaras had scored only 12 goals in 63 appearances, admittedly most of them from the substitutes’ bench.
Manager Gordon Strachan gave him his first-team opportunity at the Hoops only six days after completing his temporary transfer.
He sent him on in the second-half of a Scottish Cup-tie against Kilmarnock and the long-striding forward made an immediate impact with the final goal in a 5-1 romp.
LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE BHOY…Georgios Samaras proudly holds aloft the League Cup.
Samaras went on to collect five more goals, three of them crucial winners in league games against Inverness Caley Thistle, Aberdeen and Motherwell. He inspired Celtic to overtake Rangers at the top of the league and Strachan’s men won the title on the last day of the season, May 22, by beating Dundee United 1–0.
The towering hitman came on as a late substitute against the Tannadice outfit and collected his first winners’ medal in football.
Samaras signed a permanent deal at the champions in July 2008 at the cost of £3million. He claimed 17 goals in his first full campaign. Unfortunately, the Hoops failed to retain the championship, but the forward played his part in the club beating Rangers 2-0 to lift the League Cup with Republic of Ireland international duo Aiden McGeady and Darren O’Dea scoring the goals.
Strachan left Parkhead at the end of the term and Tony Mowbray quit West Brom to return to the club where he had been a player under Liam Brady.
It was a turbulent campaign and Mowbray was sacked in March after an inexplicable 4-0 defeat from St Mirren in Paisley. Neil Lennon took over in a caretaker capacity and there was further humiliation as Ross County beat the Glasgow giants 2-0 in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
CRUNCH…Georgios Samaras is on the receiving end of a full-blooded challenge from Rangers defender Davie Weir.
In the following season, Samaras, who could be a mixture of the exhilarating and exasperating, fired in his first Celtic hat-trick in a 6-0 win over Caley Thistle in the League Cup in September 2010 – and didn’t score another goal that year.
However, he produced a Man of the Match performance in the derby at Ibrox on January 2 2011 and collected a double in a 2-0 triumph for the visitors.
The men from Govan were beginning to dread meeting the Greek hitman and Samaras was influential in the 3-0 triumph the following month. On March 16, he captained the team for the first time in a 2–1 Scottish Cup win over Caley Thistle in Inverness.
Two days later, he signed a new deal to keep him at Parkhead until the summer of 2014. Unfortunately, Samaras saw his penalty-kick saved by Allan McGregor in a goalless draw at Ibrox that kept Walter Smith’s side a point ahead at the top of the table and they took the title by the same margin.
Samaras completed the campaign with a Scottish Cup medal after Lennon’s side’s 3-0 victory over Motherwell at Hampden.
The title returned to the east end of Glasgow the following year and Samaras lifted another league medal at the end of the 2012/13 crusade. He came on as a late replacement for Kris Commons as the Hoops thumped Hibs 3-0 to win the Scottish Cup.
And the enigmatic attack-leader completed a championship hat-trick in 2013/14. True to form, he hit a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on September 28 – and collected just another three for the rest of the season.
Samaras made his final appearance for Celtic in a 3-1 success over Dundee United at Parkhead on May 11 2014.
He bade an emotional farewell to the fans who had taken the unpredictable performer to their hearts.
HAIR WE GO…Georgios Samaras demonstrates his prowess in the air.
As a free agent, he joined West Brom on a two-year contract in the summer, but the move to the Midlands club didn’t work out and in February 2015 he was loaned to Saudi side Al-Hilal for the rest of the season.
A hip injury kept Samaras out of action for three months. before his contract with the Hawthorns outfit was terminated by mutual consent in July 2015.
Samaras moved to the North American Soccer League to join expansion side Rayo OKC in March 2016, but he was a free agent early in the following year when the club shut down after just one season.
He was linked with a return to Europe with Real Zaragoza, but switched instead to Turkish outfit Samsunspor in August 2017.
Fourteen months later, the charismatic Samaras announced his retirement at the age of 33.
