'Crazy Celtic fan' James Grady eyes cup upset

IT IS almost seven years since the Scottish Cup provided the stage for James Grady to be labelled "a crazy Celtic fan".

As he prepares for the biggest test yet of his fledgling managerial career, Grady insists nothing would please him more than to be responsible for a shock Scottish Cup elimination of the Parkhead club.

It was in February 2003 that Grady's allegiance to Celtic was controversially used as a charge against him. Playing for Ayr United in a Scottish Cup fourth round tie against Rangers at Somerset Park, Grady was incensed when Lorenzo Amoruso spat at him.

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The Italian defender insisted he had merely been clearing his throat because of a broken nose suffered in an earlier match and accused Grady of making an issue of it simply because he was a Celtic supporter. The SFA, however, found in Grady's favour and subsequently handed Amoruso a two-match suspension.

Unfortunately for Grady, it was not the end of the matter. Now player-manager of Morton, the 38-year-old has revealed for the first time that he was subjected to hate mail in the aftermath of a furore for which he has clearly still not forgiven Amoruso.

"I wasn't laughing after that incident, because a few naughty things came through the post to me," he said. "Let's just say I was a wee bit displeased. I haven't spoken about what it was and I won't start now. I haven't spoken to Amoruso since that day, although I was in a radio studio once when he was called about a Rangers game. But we didn't exchange words. I was unhappy with him that day at Ayr, but apparently he was only clearing his nose.

"He said I was a bitter wee Celtic fan, but as he doesn't know me. I don't know where he was getting his feedback from."

Grady has always resented the suggestion he would try any harder against Rangers than any other opposition – Celtic included – and could certainly not be more highly motivated than he is for Saturday's scheduled Active Nation Scottish Cup fourth round tie against Tony Mowbray's men at Cappielow.

"It is the same as when I was a player," he said. "Yes, I was brought up as a Celtic fan, but I was deemed not good enough to play for them. So any time I played against them, I wanted to do my best, score against them and try to beat them. It will be no different for this game. Until Celtic deem me worthy of managing them, I want to beat them just as much as a Rangers supporter would."

Grady, as it happens, attended Sunday's Old Firm match at Celtic Park in the company of a boyhood Rangers fan. His assistant at Morton, the former Hearts and St Johnstone defender Allan McManus, was a fervent follower of the Ibrox club.

"It must be the first time a club has phoned up Celtic for tickets to come spying and asked for one in each end," laughed Grady.

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But this is serious business for Grady and McManus. Initially handed the reins at Cappielow on a caretaker basis by chairman Douglas Rae following the dismissal of Davie Irons in September, they have since been placed in charge until at least the end of the season. Monday night's 1-0 defeat against Partick Thistle at Firhill left Morton uncomfortably close to the First Division relegation zone.

"Allan and I have had discussions with the chairman and know exactly what we have to do," said Grady. "The chairman is first and foremost a Morton fan and he has got a glint back in his eye watching the kind of football he wants to see. If we can marry that with results, we won't be too far away. We want to get Morton into a mid-table position and be able to make plans for next season. I am loving this job, making the decisions and being in charge. I think we are on the right road, but we all know football is all about results."

With Cappielow currently under a thick blanket of snow, a postponement of Saturday's tie appears inevitable. Whenever the tie does go ahead, Grady will approach it in the firm belief anything is possible in the cup.

"I played for Gretna when they reached the final in 2006," he recalls. "We were a Second Division side at the time, albeit with a lot of guys who had experience of Premier League football. We pushed Hearts, who finished second in the SPL that year, all the way in the final. I still believe we should have won the cup that day.

"It was the hardest defeat I've ever had to get over in my career. We were the stronger team in extra-time and, when it went to penalties, I really thought it was there for us, especially as Hearts' regular penalty-taker, Paul Hartley, had been sent off.

"But there is always hope in football that you can do it. Look at Clyde knocking out Celtic four years ago and then Leeds winning at Manchester United at the weekend. I have a belief we can cause Celtic problems."

McManus, who was one of the shell-shocked defenders in the Hearts side crushed 5-1 by Rangers in the 1996 Scottish Cup final, has his own recent memory of an upset to inspire him.

"I was in the St Johnstone team who beat Rangers 2-0 at Ibrox in the League Cup when Paul le Guen was their manager," recalled the 35-year-old. "It shows what can happen occasionally. If Celtic have an off day and we play to our maximum, then maybe we can do something."

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