{"id":616690,"date":"2025-12-06T21:27:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T21:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/616690\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T21:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T21:27:16","slug":"ex-celtic-man-tells-awkward-story-of-when-his-dad-didnt-know-who-henrik-larsson-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/616690\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Celtic man tells awkward story of when his Dad didn’t know who Henrik Larsson was"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It isn\u2019t hyperbolic to say that Henrik Larsson is one of the most famous names in Glasgow.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among a certain generation of Celtic<\/a> fans, he is worshipped like a God. You might have even heard of Scottish babies being named after him.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s little wonder why. We are unlikely to see a player of Larsson\u2019s<\/a> calibre spend seven of his prime years at Celtic Park<\/a> again any time soon.<\/p>\n

You may have been lucky enough to meet him at some point \u2013 but when ex-Celtic<\/a> man Michael McGovern\u2019s Dad was introduced to him, he didn\u2019t have a clue.<\/p>\n

Talk about first impressions\u2026<\/p>\n

Ex-Celtic goalkeeper Michael McGovern on meeting Henrik Larsson<\/p>\n

McGovern spent seven years on the books at Celtic after being signed from Enniskillen Town United aged 17, but he never made a first-team appearance.<\/p>\n

He went on to play for Ross County, where he defeated the Hoops in an infamous Scottish Cup<\/a> semi-final, as well as Norwich City and Hearts.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Celtic starlet \u2018agrees terms with Liverpool\u2019 and misses matches ahead of move<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Henrik18 Mar 2001: Henrik Larsson of Celtic celebrates another goal in an amazing season during the Scottish CIS Insurance Cup Final match against Kilmarnock played at Hampden Park, in Glasgow, Scotland. Celtic won the match 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Jamie McDonald \/Allsport<\/p>\n

But he still vividly remembers the time he first met the King of Kings\u2026 and his Dad had to ask who he was.<\/p>\n

He told the Scottish Sun\u2019s one-on-one: \u201cWhen I signed for Celtic, they brought my Mum and Dad over alongside me, while I was still in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it was the year when Henrik scored 53 goals. So one of the scouts picked us up from Glasgow Airport, and he drove us to the Bothwell Bridge Hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the whole way, he was talking about how Henrik was doing well. Henrik went into our hotel room, and my Dad said, \u2018who\u2019s this Henrik guy that they\u2019re talking about?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t know anything about football. He maybe got a little bit better as the years gone on, but he\u2019s a builder. He loves building houses and restoring houses and things like that, so that\u2019s his passion.<\/p>\n

\u201c[One of the few people who didn\u2019t know who Henrik Larsson was]? That\u2019s my Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael McGovern\u2019s Dad didn\u2019t know who Henrik Larsson was <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc47 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say <\/p>\n

Henrik Larsson\u2019s 53-goal Celtic season<\/p>\n

McGovern mentions Larsson\u2019s 53-goal season, so it would be rude not to look back on it.<\/p>\n

Martin O\u2019Neill<\/a> had just arrived, and there were worries over Larsson\u2019s recovery from his horrific leg break suffered in the season prior. But he very quickly set about alleviating those concerns.<\/p>\n

Establishing a formidable partnership with Chris Sutton,<\/a> he scored his iconic chip in the first derby of the season against Rangers, a hat-trick in the League Cup final against Kilmarnock and his 50th of the season with an effortless finish against Rangers at Ibrox.<\/p>\n

As Celtic won just a third treble in their history, Larsson won the European Golden Shoe with his outrageous total. <\/p>\n

Even then-Rangers manager Dick Advocaat admitted that Larsson was probably the best striker in the world.<\/p>\n

But not good enough for Mr. McGovern to know who he was.<\/p>\n

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Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It isn\u2019t hyperbolic to say that Henrik Larsson is one of the most famous names in Glasgow. Among…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[2353,94,40125,192124,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-616690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-celtic","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-henrik-larsson","11":"tag-michael-mcgovern","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115674746664693384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}