Ross County striker Michael Gardyne may well have begun his career at Celtic however, he put together a scrapbook of the press cuttings when his Dingwall side defeated the Glasgow giants in April, 2010 to reach the Scottish Cup Final and he would love to be looking out his Pritt Stick again after Wednesday night’s live television tie between the same clubs.
Gardyne said: “I signed for Celtic when I was 12 and playing for Dundee West Boys Club. Celtic’s scout, Shaun Smith, spotted me along with Ross Wallace and Mark Fotheringham. We would all train together on a Tuesday night in Dundee and then head down to Glasgow for the weekend.”
The 25-year-old had to work hard in the east end of Glasgow as he explained: “I was a ball boy on a Saturday at Parkhead and then played for the youth team on a Sunday. I was at the side of a pitch when Henrik Larsson was playing for Martin O’Neill’s team so it was not too bad a place to be.”
The man that recruited Gardyne for Celtic has gone on to become a familiar figure in his career as he explained: “Ironically, it was George Adams, who is now the Director of Football at Ross County, that signed me for the club when I turned 14. I earned a three year professional contract when I turned 16 and then signed another three year deal after that one ended.”
First team opportunities were scarce for Gardyne however, who said: “I never quite made the first team but I was involved in a lot of pre-season friendlies when Gordon Strachan took over and I did travel abroad for a European tie.”
It was a European experience that Gardyne is unlikely to ever forget as he explained: “Gordon Strachan included me in his first ever squad for a competitive match which was taking place in July 2005 before the League started.
“It was, of course, against Artmedia Bratislava in a UEFA Champions League qualifying tie and Celtic got beat 5-0 in a horrible, horrible night. For an 18-year-old boy, it was bad enough but for some of the more experienced professionals, they were devastated after it.”
A year later and without any headway being made into a starting place at Parkhead, Gardyne headed north to County on a season long loan.
“It was a strange season under Scott Leitch,” said Gardyne before explaining, “We won the Challenge Cup but were relegated from the First Division. I enjoyed the Challenge Cup Final of course and took one of the kicks in the penalty shoot-out when we beat Clyde but I did not enjoy being part of the side that was relegated. It was a horrible feeling.
“I went back to Celtic and Gordon Strachan told me that I would not be in his plans but he left the choice up to me about whether I stayed and played reserve football or moved out. County tried for me again but I did not fancy dropping to the Second Division and I chose a loan move to Morton which, on reflection, was the wrong choice to make.”
Jim McInally, who had worked with Gardyne in Celtic's youth system, took Gardyne to Cappielow and the striker said: “I knew Jim and got on well with him but Morton were playing under a lot of pressure at that time and they did not fancy playing with a small jinky forward to try and help them get out of it.”
Gardyne was soon heading north again saying: “When it came to the January Transfer Window, County came back in for me and by this time, Derek Adams was in charge and I was pleased to go back. They were half way through their Second Division season but I played in enough games to get a League winners' medal.”
The following season was all about consolidation in the First Division however, 12 months later, Ross County were spoken about worldwide as they defeated Celtic in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final 2-0 and on to the Cup Final against Dundee United.
Gardyne ensured that the time would be remembered saying: “The Scottish Cup run produced so many memories that I am delighted I kept all the clippings to have a permanent reminder. I have my shirt from the Cup Final and I also have Aiden McGeady’s shirt from the Semi-Final as we were quite close as we grew up together at Celtic.”
Looking back at the 2-0 success, Gardyne believes that the game was firstly won in the minds of his team as he said: “We just went to the Semi-Final in a relaxed frame of mind because if we had thought about it too much, we would have realised that we were meant to be getting a doing. Derek Adams drilled a belief into us that we could do well and that became all that we thought about.
“At half-time, we were on top of the game and Derek let rip a bit and told us again to believe that we could win. He told us to step things up in a couple of areas and if we did that, we would grab a goal. That is what happened and Steven Craig gave us the lead but of course, we could not relax.
Gardyne continued: “We were coping okay but then Paddy McCourt came on and that meant we had to keep our concentration levels high as he is a real bag of tricks. We kept concentrating and Martin 'Jimmy' Scott scored just before the end and when he did that, we were sure then that we would win.”
There was no hiding place for Celtic players and management however, Gardyne was impressed by the way his old club reacted to their defeat saying: “Celtic were very generous in their praise after the game and Neil Lennon came out and said we deserved it. It was good of him to say that as he must have been hurting at the time.”
That hurt could be felt by County on Wednesday with Gardyne saying: “Celtic will come here extra motivated for the game. It is another chance for Ross County to show what they can do but it is a totally different occasion this time. For example, this is Neil Lennon’s team we are up against this time and that was not the case the last time we played as he had just taken over from Tony Mowbray.
“We are a pretty changed side as well as we brought in seven new faces during the summer. People are looking for us to be up there challenging for the First Division already but it is early days and we are still gelling. We are getting there but this will be a real challenge.”
Gardyne broke his scoring duck in the last round of The Scottish Communities League Cup at Hamilton Academical's New Douglas Park and he was pleased with his strike saying: “It was my first of the new season and not a bad way to get off the mark. We were one down from the first minute of the game and with 25 minutes left, Steven Craig put the ball into my path and I put in a good volley.”
Craig scored the winner which set up the cup cracker against Celtic however, he looks set to miss out on Wednesday after being sent off against Livingston on Saturday.
County will be backed by over 3,000 fans at their Victoria Park ground and the players have been able to fully concentrate on the game after getting ticket demands sorted out early.
“We have all been sorted with tickets for the game as the club are hoping that it will be sold out. My family and my fiancé will be there as will be my granddad. He is in the Ross County end this time after being in the Celtic end at Hampden for the Scottish Cup Semi-Final.”
Having more cuttings for his scrapbook could be down to winning the mind games again with Gardyne saying: “We will take confidence from our League games where we have been hard to beat but we need to believe that we can win the game again. We are at home and we will definitely go out and try and win the game.”
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