Cup Final hero
Who was the last player to score the winning goal for Celtic in the final of the Scottish Cup?
It’s not a question that can be quickly answered but after a moment or two who could forget the contribution of Jean-Joel Perrier Doumbe?
The 2007 Scottish Cup final will go down as one of the least memorable in Celtic’s history but it certainly wasn’t without it’s drama.
Neil Lennon’s playing career was ended prematurely when he was replaced by Gary Caldwell, Steven Pressley picked up a winners medal for the second successive year, Thomas Gravesen failed to make the bench whilst Michael McGovern and Teddy Bjarnasson both walked off with winners medals.
The unlikeliest of unlikely heroes however was Doumbe who disappeared almost as quickly as he had arrived at Celtic.
In total he made eight appearances for Celtic and was last season in first team action being stretchered off during the 2-1 win over AC Milan in October 2007 with a serious achilles injury.
After virtually a full year out of football following a very low key departure from Celtic Super Joe has revived his career with Toulouse who sitting in fourth place in Ligue1 well clear of Monaco and Olympique Marseilles.
Doumbe, who recently turned 32, has been a regular substitute for Toulose this season and started the recent League Cup defeat away to Boulogne.
With Toulose doing well in Ligue 1 it’s unlikely that Doumbe is going to force his way into the team which mirrors his Celtic career.
A recent article on the Toulose website sums things up saying ‘Pierre-Doumbe- the forgotton man of the stadium’.
Doumbe arrived at Celtic on trial in January 2007 and was expected to provide competition to Mark Wilson and Lee Naylor in the full-back positions and was given a deal until the end of the season.
Despite scoring the winning goal in the cup final no new contract was agreed but after failing to earn a deal with Sheffield United where Bryan Robson was in charge the full-back returned to Celtic and was given a two year contract.
Doumbe’s last Celtic appearance was in the 2-1 win over AC Milan with goals from Stephen McManus beating the then Champions League holders.
After returning from injury the Cameroon internationalist seemed to fall foul of Gordon Strachan, perhaps Bobo Balde style, and spent the remainder of his contract playing for the reserves.
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I thought he was a decent player for us was surprised when he left.
Even though I seen very little of him, I actually liked Doumbe as a player when he was given a chance to play… just a shame he got injured when he did.