Celtic veteran and Greek international, Georgios Samaras capped what was already a historic day and spread the joy by plucking young fan Jay Beatty from the stands.
The 11-year-old who suffers from down syndrome was at Celtic’s last game of the season, seeing the club win a third consecutive Scottish Championship title, this time beating Dundee United 3-1.
Samaras took young Jay on a journey around the pitch in front of 60,000 fans after Celtic manager Neil Lennon first rushed to Jay to give him his Championship medal.
“I first met Jay in Ireland,” Samaras told the Scottish Daily Record.
“He is a very special little boy, a massive Celtic fan and a huge inspiration. The whole team were very proud to have him with us today.”
Jay isn’t a stranger to the first team. He regularly attends matches, joins in the huddle and has been known to give the team talk at half-time.
The match was bittersweet for Samaras, who has confirmed he will not be staying at the club next season.
“I have been seven years at the club and I would have loved to stay,” he told BBC Scotland.
“I have not spoken to any other club. I was waiting to the end to see if they (Celtic) offered me anything, but that is the end.”
Maybe a stint in the A-League might be next for the international. Samara’s father is Melbourne born, and his grandfather was one of the co-founders of NPL team South Melbourne. With the A-League season over, we could be seeing a number of coaches approaching Samaras for marquee spot.
In the meantime, he will join Greece in Brazil after he was chosen by coach Fernando Santos in the World Cup preliminary squad.
