10 Hardest Men Who Ever Played For Celtic

Centre-half Paul Elliott only spent two years on the books of Celtic and, which is more, they came during a rare barren spell which saw the club struggling to compete against their big-spending cross-city rivals. Yet Parkhead fans still fondly remember the Englishman as a tough-tackling, no-nonsense defender in an otherwise nondescript team.

Elliott was a commanding presence inside both penalty boxes, but he also had a streak of class to his game that took him to Italy in 1987, two years before he rocked up at Celtic. You had to be tough to be a footballer in the rough-and-tumble of the 1980s, but the mental fortitude needed to withstand racist chanting from its hooligan-heavy stands is something most of us will never understand. The ex-Hoop had steel - and lots of it.