Keane and Bellamy were great signings, but were a classic case of right club wrong time.

Robbie Keane and Craig Bellamy were two of the best ever loan signings made by the club. Two high profile EPL stars who were sheer class on their day.

Both had done it in the so called best league in the world, and both were proven internationals and certainly weren’t project signings. They were the real deal.

Welsh international Bellamy was hailed as a sensational capture when Martin O’Neill managed to persuade him up north on loan from Newcastle United in early 2005.

Bellamy was an arrogant so and so, but it made him the player he was and he endeared himself to the Celtic supporters by scoring 9 goals in 15 games. Including a spectacular hat trick against Dundee United at Tannadice as well as famous goal in a 2-1 win over Rangers at Ibrox.

However we lost the league in unfortunate circumstances that year on the last day of the season and although he did help us win the Scottish cup, this was the end of an era as Martin O’Neill was departing the club and we were a side well past it’s peak.

If Craig had joined a couple of seasons before then things would have been different, much much different, but despite his good efforts perhaps it was a case of being at the right club at the wrong time.

The same could be said of Robbie Keane who scored an impressive 16 goals in just 19 appearances in the disastrous Tony Mowbray era after signing on loan from Spurs in early 2010.

Keane whose huge salary was being entirely funded by Dermot Desmond was greeted like a superstar as he was unveiled at Celtic park.

Despite the Republic of Ireland internationals great form we ended the season with nothing to show for his efforts and Tony Mowbray was ultimately sacked before the end of the season after a disastrous 4-0 thumping by St Mirren at love street.

Like Bellamy it was a case of right club wrong time. As good as it was to see these two players in the hoops, we weren’t as successful as we should have been for one reason or another. Still it was good to see players of that calibre donning the hoops, albeit for a short period.