Twelve years ago today the Hollywood actor Gerard Butler had what he would later joyfully describe as "probably the highlight of my career".
Butler flew in from Los Angeles to take part in a charity match at his beloved Celtic Park on Tuesday, August 9, 2011. The game - Celtic Legends v Manchester United Legends - raised funds for the Oxfam East Africa appeal after former Celtic defender John Kennedy pledged his share of the gate receipts to the charity.
Larsson and friends return give fans taste of paradise
The star-studded match was watched by an estimated 55,000 fans and raised £300,000 for the Oxfam appeal. Celtic won 5-2, with Henrik Larsson returning to Paradise to score a hat-trick for his old team.
Martin O’Neill managed Celtic, while Gordon Strachan took charge of a Manchester United side that included Roy Keane, Dion Dublin, Dwight Yorke and Brian McClair. The Herald reported: "The celebrities taking part ranged from the sheer footballing ineptitude of the actor Gerard Butler, to the clever, energetic play of fellow thespian Ralf Little".
Afterwards, Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell said: "No other club could have 55,000 supporters here, putting their hands in their pocket for a fantastic cause.
"We have said so much about the Celtic support but it is a unique club, it is very special and tonight shows what the club is all about and I am very proud to be part of it. It was a fantastic night for the club and for people who need the money most".
Butler, whose films up to that point included PS I Love You, 300, The Ugly Truth and The Bounty Hunter, has often spoken of his love for Celtic - and of the difficulties of being able to follow their matches when he lives on the other side of the Atlantic.
Interviewed in 2009 by TalkSPORT, as he promoted his then-latest film, Law Abiding Citizen, he said: "I'm a Celtic fan but yeah, it has [been difficult], because it's been years now, and what happens is, it used to be when I was abroad, every week I'd be on the phone, because you don't really see it over there, especially in L.A.
"Once you get to New York, you'll walk past a bar, they'll be showing the game. In L.A. you have to be up at six in the morning. It's never just on the TV, so over the years it gets less and less, and now I come back and I'm reminded and I'm like - oh yeah, they're playing ... So that's one of my saddest things about living in L.A.".
Asked in the same interview when he had last seen Celtic, Butler said he had seen the team play a European match a year or so earlier.
Football fans help Africa famine fund
"I had a kind of crazy experience because I took my suitcase and I ended up I couldn't leave it in my uncle's car, and I had to drag it through thousands of fans all the way into Celtic Park and then take it back out again, because we were worried that the car might get broken into.
"So I was literally walking down the street towards Parkhead, taking a suitcase. It was the most ridiculous experience ..."
Speaking to the Herald in January 2012, when he was promoting his new film, Coriolanus, the directorial debut of Ralph Fiennes, Butler said of the Legends game: "It was probably the highlight of my career. Back home at Christmas, talking about it with my mum, even she said that. She's been to Hollywood premieres with me and she said it doesn't get better than that moment. 'Just to see you walk on at Parkhead.'
Butler has dreams of football glory
"My stepfather is a Rangers fan so it's been an infinite source of entertainment for him to have to deal with that."
Asked whether he would rather win an Academy Award or score against Rangers, he said: "Scoring a winning goal against Rangers".
His interviewer, Phil Miller, observed in his article: "To say Butler looked pleased to be sharing a pitch with the likes of Henrik Larsson and Neil Lennon would be like saying the sun can be a tad warm.
He asked Butler whether he had enjoyed the Legends game. "Totally", Butler responded with a grin. He glanced across at the Coriolanus poster and remembered he was supposed to be talking about the film rather than football. "So funny," he laughs. "You can take the boy out of Glasgow ..."
In December that same year he discussed his film Playing for Keeps, in which he portrayed a former footballer who ended up coaching his son's soccer team in the States.
In an interviewed with the Daily Record, he was asked to what extent it was a film of a boyhood fantasy, and getting to play a fictional Celtic player.
Butler responded: "I was amazed how much I got caught up in it, watching the movie thinking, 'That was me, I played for Celtic, I played for Liverpool', even though it just involved a day in the studio.
"In fact, I played a charity game for Celtic against Man United, so that was really a dream come true".
Butler's most recent roles include an airline pilot in the action thriller, Plane, and an undercover C.I.A. agent in another thriller, Kandahar.
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