Tom Boyd (Scottish footballer)

Thomas Boyd MBE (born 24 November 1965) is a Scottish former professional footballer. He played for Motherwell, Chelsea and Celtic, and appeared 72 times for Scotland, which means he is a member of the Scottish FA International Roll of Honour. Boyd now works in the hospitality area at Celtic Park.

For the American football player, see Tom Boyd (American football). For the Australian rulers footballer, see Tom Boyd (Australian footballer).

Tom Boyd
Personal information
Full name Thomas Boyd[1]
Date of birth (1965-11-24) 24 November 1965
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
Gartcosh United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1983–1991 Motherwell 252 (6)
1991–1992 Chelsea 23 (0)
1992–2003 Celtic 304 (2)
Total 579 (8)
National team
1986–1987 Scotland U21[2] 5 (0)
1990[3] Scottish League XI 1 (0)
1990–2001 Scotland 72 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Motherwell

Boyd's professional career began at Motherwell, where he made 252 league appearances. The most notable of his achievements in his time at Fir Park was skippering the Well side that defeated Dundee United 4–3 in the 1991 Scottish Cup Final, considered one of the most exciting in the competition's history.

Chelsea

Boyd's form as an attacking full back saw him win a move to Chelsea that year. However, Boyd struggled to settle and spent only one year at Stamford Bridge.

Celtic

Boyd was transferred to boyhood heroes Celtic in an exchange deal which saw Tony Cascarino going to Chelsea. He played for Celtic for the remainder of his career, serving as club captain from 1997 to 2002. He holds the distinction of having been the captain who lifted Celtic's first league title in 10 years in 1998, preventing rivals Rangers from securing a record-breaking ten championships in a row.

As Boyd's career moved on, he began playing more in the centre of defence, whilst continuing to operate at full back on either side of the pitch when required, making him a versatile defender. Boyd continued to captain the club after the arrival of Martin O'Neill at Celtic Park in 2000. In O'Neill's first season in charge Boyd played a significant part in the securing of a domestic treble, only the third in the club's history; Boyd became only the second Celtic captain (after Billy McNeill) to captain Celtic in a treble-winning season. He also helped them win another Scottish Premier League title in 2001–02.

International career

Boyd is the sixth most capped player for Scotland with 72 caps, meaning that he is a member of the Scotland national football team roll of honour and can be found in the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden Park. His international career saw him garner 72 Scotland caps, playing at UEFA Euro 1992 and UEFA Euro 1996 and also the 1998 World Cup. In the latter tournament, he scored an own goal in a match against Brazil when the ball deflected off him as he ran back facing his goalkeeper, giving the Brazilians a 2–1 win in the tournament's opening match.[4]

Post-playing career

Boyd retired from playing in 2003, but has remained working with Celtic. In 2016, he was named along with Davie Hay as new ambassadors of the club, joining Billy McNeill (who was named an ambassador in 2009) in this role. He has also participated in several charity events such as the Tommy Burns Tribute match and climbing Ben Nevis.

Career statistics

International
Scotland national team[5]
YearAppsGoals
199030
199130
199270
199360
199460
199560
1996100
1997101
1998100
199940
200030
200140
Total721

Honours
Motherwell
Celtic

Individual

See also

References
  1. "Tom Boyd". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  2. "Tom Boyd". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  3. "From the archives: Centenary match". Scottish Professional Football League. 18 August 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  4. "Brazil 2 Scotland 1". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 18 November 2000. Retrieved 19 June 2013.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. Tom Boyd at the Scottish Football Association
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