Gravesen joined Celtic in a blaze of glory in August 2006 after a long and protracted transfer saga. I can remember the glee in that was to be heard in the voice of Erroneous of Keevins as he announced that Gravesen had boarded a plane and left Glasgow for good after failing to agree personal terms with Celtic.
Tommy made his debut for Celtic in a one nil victory against Aberdeen at Pittodrie and looked every bit the multi million pound player, capable of bossing the midfield, running at defenders and capable of finding any blade of grass on the park with a pass, long or short, right foot or left. He almost looked like a cult player that could actually play football. Add to that a porn star for a girlfriend and you had the makings of a fan favourite and a legend. Was this the dynamic midfielder we had been craving?
Then the visit of Rangers to Celtic Park came in a game in which Aiden McGeady was to shine and Tommy managed to grab a goal, albeit it looked as though it was going in anyway.
However there were worrying signs. After a great hat-trick was scored at Love Street against St Mirren we were to face Manchester United at Old Trafford in the first competitive meeting of these two great clubs. Celtic went a goal up through a great Jan Venneegoor goal and things looked to be going well apart from one aspect - Tommy.
This was the venue where we saw just why Tommy had been released by Real Madrid - his off the ball play. Gravesen was incapable of standing still let alone holding his position and resembled a world champion pig-in-the-middle player on speed! Always in perpetual motion and never covering area that his position dictated. It was quite obvious that Tommy G would only be able to play in a midfield that offered him the luxury of not having to hold his position.
Gravesen, and to a lesser extent Aiden McGeady were the reasons why we were to lose to silly goals in the first half of this match. One poor pass from Aiden left Tommy exposed and he passed straight to Paul Scoles who slipped in Saha to equalise. And then a poor passage of play again by Tommy allowed Scoles to release a player again and we were a goal down.
Tommy's Celtic career never really recovered from this and with the exception of a man-of-the-match performance in the 5 goal drubbing of St Mirren Tommy never made any further impact in a Celtic jersey.
Tommy only made fleeting appearances at this point and it was clear that the manager had lost patience with the Danes inability to follow instruction and not constantly chase down the ball in any area of the pitch. Strachan had made comment to this effect in Jan of 2007 stating that he would not allocate any extra time to coach a player who was not following instructions. Although Gordon never revealed which player he was referring too it was quite obvious that it was Tommy G whom the manager had given up on.
So all the best Tommy, you were an expensive failure but a failure that no-one could have foretold. You were obviously a talented footballer in your day whose game looked to die once old age cost you that extra yard of pace. I can remember watching you boss a game against England in the past when you obviously still had enough pace to ensure that those headless chicken runs would result in you winning possession, not getting caught out of position.
Yours in Celtic
Clydebuilt