IT took a long time, probably well over a season, for Alan Stubbs to come good at Celtic, perform at his very best on a consistent basis and justify the record £3.5m transfer fee which it took to land him.
The English centre half was sent off on his debut against Aberdeen at Pittodrie in the opening Premier League game of the 1996/97 season – a match which his new team were held to a 2-2 draw in - and struggled to find form thereafter.
Stubbs, who would recover from that traumatic start and go on to spend five enjoyable and successful years at Parkhead, is confident his fellow centre half Moritz Jenz will not encounter the same difficulties as he did at first in the coming months.
He watched the German defender, who was brought in from Lorient in France on a season-long loan last month, score an important goal on his competitive bow against Ross County in Dingwall on Saturday.
Jenz rose and headed home a Jota cross with just six minutes remaining to put the visitors, who had seen Kyogo Furuhashi’s first-half opener cancelled out by an Alex Iacovitti strike after half-time, 2-1 ahead.
The delighted 23-year-old immediately ran into the crowd to celebrate with the jubilant travelling supporters – and was fortunate not to pick up a second booking from referee Don Robertson and be ordered off as a result.
He was only given the nod to play at the weekend by manager Ange Postecoglou because Stephen Welsh, who had netted in an opening day win over Aberdeen at home six days earlier, had an illness.
But Stubbs feels the new arrival has instantly endeared himself to the Celtic fans and earned the respect of his new team mates with his performance in a hard-fought 3-1 triumph that kept the defending champions at the top of the cinch Premiership table and has a bright future.
“It will certainly give Moritz belief,” he said. “It is always, not matter who you are and how much you have been brought in for, a little amount or a large amount, important to settle as quickly as possible. That is the main thing when you join a new club. So to score such an important goal can only do him a lot of good.
“We have seen players go to all kinds of different clubs and take time to settle in. Strikers always want to score that first goal and build momentum from there. But it is the same with all players.
“They want to start off with good performances and quickly endear themselves to the fans and he has certainly done that. It is a step in the right direction for him at the weekend. I am sure the manager will be hoping he can build on his start.
“Debuts can make you and break you at a club. My debut was very eventful. There is nothing you can do sometimes when decisions go against you. That was a decision that went against me.
“But the most concerning thing is performances. If you can get the right level of performances under your belt you go a long way to settling, feeling comfortable amongst the players and also gaining the respect of the players.
“That is a big thing as well when you sign for a new club. Yes, you want to earn the respect of the fans, but you want to earn the respect of your fellow team mates. Moritz did both at the weekend and he will be a positive frame of mind now going into the Kilmarnock match at Rugby Park this Sunday.
“The players have all started the season off as well as they would have wanted. They got a good win at a difficult place on Saturday. Ross County have made huge strides under Malky Mackay and they made it difficult for large parts of the game. They now need to keep their start going.”
Stubbs, who joined Celtic from Bolton Wanderers for a then club record £3.5m sum back in 1996, was red carded for a last man foul on Duncan Shearer in the second-half of his own Celtic debut against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
His first season in Scotland would prove to be turbulent; he was hampered by niggling injuries, the team would finish the campaign trophyless and manager Tommy Burns would end up being sacked after a Scottish Cup semi-final replay defeat to Falkirk.
He would, though, form a brilliant partnership with Marc Reiper the following term, help Wim Jansen’s team win a League Cup and Premier League double and prevent Rangers from completing 10-In-A-Row.
He also finally scored his first goal – he headed in a Jackie McNamara cross in the final minute of the Old Firm match against Rangers in November to ensure Celtic earned a 1-1 draw and avoided becoming the first team in the history of the world-famous fixture to lose six times in succession.
“It took me a long time to score my first goal,” he said. “When I did it was a pretty important one. But I wasn’t brought to Celtic to score goals, I was there to try and help the team keep goals out and move in a different direction really. But it certainly doesn’t do your cause any harm when you score important goals in big games.”
Stubbs refused to wallow in the afterglow of his dramatic late leveller. He grew in confidence and influence and lifted his first two trophies. He knows that Jenz must strive to improve if he is to remain in Postecoglou’s starting line-up when Carl Starfelt and Welsh are available for selection again.
“There can be a variety of reasons that you do not perform at your best when you join a club,” he said. “It is true to say that Celtic fans didn’t see the best of me for some time. I had injuries and struggled for consistency.
“I would have loved to have hit the ground running, scored a goal on my debut and kept a clean sheet. That is the perfect scenario, but it doesn’t always work out like that.
“But in the end I had five really good, very successful years at Celtic and loved my time there. So it is not necessarily what you do at the beginning that counts, it is what you have done by the end when you look back.”
