Celtic once had the 'best striker' after Larsson, now he's in the 8th tier

Celtic are down but not yet out of this season’s Champions League.

On Wednesday night, in the first leg of their knockout phase tie against Bayern Munich, the Hoops were beaten 2-1, leaving them with a mountain to climb in Bavaria next Tuesday.

Daizen Maeda‘s header 11 minutes from time did spark a late onslaught, but the Bundesliga leaders held on for victory.

That goal, while it may ultimately not be enough to see Brendan Rodgers‘ reach the round of 16, did set some Celtic history, but it’s a star from the last time Celtic reached the Champions League knockout stages 12 years ago who’s been in the news since.

Daizen Maeda’s record-breaking tally

Maeda’s late goal in mid-week was his fourth in this season’s Champions League, having previously netted against Slovan Bratislava, Borussia Dortmund and Club Brugge during the league phase.

This makes the Japanese forward the first Celtic player since Joe Craig in 1977/78 to score four or more goals in a single European Cup campaign; three of Craig’s four goals came against Luxembourgish outfit Jeunesse Esch, the other when then Austrian champions Wacker Innsbruck visited Glasgow.

Some seriously talented strikers have reached three goals in the intervening years, as the table below documents.

Of course, Adam Idah could join his teammate on four goals, albeit next Tuesday’s trip to the Allianz Arena appears likely to be his last chance to do so.

However, another former Celtic centre-forward, who played a starring role in the historic Champions League campaign of 2012/13, has been in the news this week, after making a rather unusual career choice.

On Thursday evening, Isthmian League North Division club Maldon & Tiptree announced the signing of Gary Hooper.

Nicknamed the Jammers, they ply their trade in England’s eighth tier, but have just been the subject of a ‘multi-million pound’ takeover by Barrie and Scott Drewitt-Barlow.

Former Manchester City and West Ham midfielder Kevin Horlock, who’s just been appointed manager, says the club’s aim is to get into the Football League, a feat they would require four promotions to achieve.

Well, the new owners are certainly spending big to achieve this objective, first signing goalkeeper Elliot Justham from National League side Dagenham & Redbridge on Wednesday, but Hooper is certainly the biggest name addition they’ve made so far.

Maldon & Tiptree, who are currently 15th in the table, visit Cambridge City at their brand-new stadium in Sawston on Saturday, so it’ll be interesting to see if Hooper debuts.

During his time at Celtic, Hooper was, as Phil Gordon of the Times puts it, absolutely ‘clinical’, described by then manager Neil Lennon as the club’s “best striker [here] since Henrik Larsson”, and his numbers are certainly comparable to the very best.

As the table shows, Hooper’s numbers at Celtic are on par with all the best strikers who’ve come since, boasting a better minutes-per-goal ratio than both Odsonne Édouard and Maeda, scoring only three fewer goals than Kyōgo Furuhashi in 27 fewer games.

The Englishman’s contribution to the 2012 Champions League campaign, scoring home and away during victories over Spartak Moskva, as the Hoops reached the round of 16, will never be forgotten.

This form earned Hooper a move to Norwich for £5m, but he didn’t live up to expectations in Norfolk, and his career has never really recovered.

He was then moved to Sheffield Wednesday, and since departing the Owls in 2019, he has represented Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand, Kerala Blasters in India, Omonia in Cyprus and Gulf United of the UAE, before returning to England, first with Barnet, then at Kettering Town and now Maldon & Tiptree, who he previously played for as a teenager.

Just a few weeks on from his 37th birthday, will Hooper still have his goal-scoring instincts at Isthmian League North Division level?

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