Celtic's Super Swede

Tom Boyd’s praise for the striker who played his part in ‘stopping the 10’.

- Joe Sullivan

TOM Boyd was Celtic captain when Henrik Larsson signed for Celtic on July 25, 1997. It was a vital season for the Hoops, who just knew they had to win the league title in order to stop the dreaded 10.

And the Super Swede played his part in that title-winning campaign under Wim Jansen, scoring 19 goals, including one on the day the title was secured in May 1998.

Of course, he would go on to cement his place as a Celtic legend, with 242 goals in 315 appearances, and Tom Boyd, as a team-mate for many of those seasons, was able to appreciate at close-hand, the talents of the Magnificent Seven…

What were your first impressions of Henrik Larsson?

My first impression was, ‘Well, he can’t play in the wide areas!’ In his first game he came in on the wide-left area, and obviously his first pass wasn’t great. I know he still gets ribbed about that to this day, but he’s certainly repaid that many, many times over. Seriously, though, first impressions on the training ground, for not being the tallest player, he was very strong. You knew that when you were marking him and playing against him. He had a presence about him and that shone through.