Former Celtic striker John Hartson has used social media to salute one of his former Hoops strike partners who might have been slightly forgotten about – Maciej Zurawski.
The duo played together for the Hoops in season 2005-06, Gordon Strachan’s first in charge. Zurawski arrived from Wisla Krakow. His first season was a success. He helped the Hoops to a league and league cup double.
Hartson left Celtic at the end of that season. However, he still has good memories of Zurawski.
“Good finisher”
“He had brilliant movement, good finisher, quick and a smashing fella, quiet and humble” Hartson said on Twitter, responding to a fan’s question about Zurawski.
It does seem that when it comes to Celtic strikers of the last 20 years, Zurawski seems to have been slightly forgotten about.
He did score 22 league goals in 55 league appearances for the club, a one in three record, which is decent enough. It should also be remembered that he once scored the winning goal for Celtic at Ibrox, in a 1-0 win in February 2006.
Not as prolific as other strikers
Perhaps Zurawski isn’t as remembered as some other Celtic strikers as he wasn’t a prolific goalscorer. He was nowhere near as prolific as Gary Hooper for example. However, he still did a good job for the Hoops.
It should be remembered that Zurawski came into a Celtic squad reeling from throwing away the league title at Motherwell. The club also had to deal with the departure of Martin O’Neill.
That couldn’t have been easy circumstances to join a new side in. However, after a slowish start Zurawski got used to life in Scotland. He thrived and ended his first season as a title winner.
Sadly, 2005-06 was the only season where Zurawski was really first choice striker for the Hoops. The next season, both Kenny Miller and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink joined the club. That limited Zurawski’s game time, and he left in January 2008 to join Larissa.
Still, it is good to see that John Hartson has fond memories of a player who did well in his time at the club.
In other news, Jeremie Frimpong is an ideal replacement for the injured James Forrest.
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