Tom Boyd (Scottish footballer)

This article is about the Scottish international footballer. For other people with similar names, see Thomas Boyd.

Tom Boyd
MBE
Personal information
Full name Thomas Boyd[1]
Date of birth (1965-11-24) 24 November 1965 (age 59)
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 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)
International career
1986–1987 Scotland U21[2] 5 (0)
1990[3] Scottish League XI 1 (0)
1990–2001 Scotland 72 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.

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 ten 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

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Scotland[5] 1990 3 0
1991 3 0
1992 7 0
1993 6 0
1994 6 0
1995 6 0
1996 10 0
1997 10 1
1998 10 0
1999 4 0
2000 3 0
2001 4 0
Total 72 1

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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ Tom Boyd at the Scottish Football Association
  6. ^ "Motherwell FC Player of the Year List". Motherwell Mad. 10 April 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  7. ^ "He's a free wheeler". The Press and Journal. 16 May 1984. Retrieved 9 May 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive.
Sporting positions
Preceded by Celtic F.C captain
1997–2002 		Succeeded by