FRANK McAVENNIE once battled back from a fractured skull to play for St Mirren against Celtic in a Hampden showpiece.
Now with his two old clubs set for a cup final showdown next month, Macca reckons the Hoops are in for a real fight of their own.
The Buddies haven’t faced Celts in a final since winning the 1925/26 Scottish Cup but they’ll go toe to toe in the Premier Sports Cup final on December 14.
And it sent McAvennie’s mind spinning back to his injury battle to face his boyhood heroes in the 1984 Scottish Cup semi.
He told SunSport: “I’d fractured my skull but managed to get back just in time to face Celtic in the semi-final at Hampden.
“It happened against Dundee United and I didn’t know where I was.
“I went to a party that night but suddenly I realised that I needed to go to hospital.
“There was clearly something wrong with me and I got to the hospital about 2am.
“The guy at the door said ‘I was just waiting for you coming in. I watched what happened to you on TV’!
“I had a MRI scan and they found a hairline fracture of the skull.
“I couldn’t do any training with the boys for three weeks. I couldn’t run and had to train on the bike.
“I always had in my mind that I wanted back for the semi-final. I wasn’t missing that one.
“I made it but, unfortunately, we got beaten late on.
“St Mirren had a good team and we went for it but it was also a very good Celtic team.”
Macca’s strike partner, Frank McDougall, cancelled out Brian McClair’s semi-final opener for the Hoops.
But Paul McStay struck nine minutes from time to send Celts into a final they would lose to Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen.
Now Macca believes it will be just as close when they meet again at Hampden next month.
He said: “I’m absolutely delighted they are meeting in the final. They are my two teams.
“Everyone knows I’m a big Celtic supporter but I loved my time at St Mirren.
“I also love the way things are going there right now.
“St Mirren are actually a team I’d love to play for. They get the ball up to the strikers and get guys around them.
“They will cause a problem for Celtic in the final. They’ll do what they do and won’t change their style.
“It’s going to be interesting to see if Celtic’s defenders can handle them.”
Celts reached the final with a 3-1 extra-time win over Rangers on Sunday.
Rookie strikers Johnny Kenny and Callum Osmand were both on target – and McAvennie reckons Celts fans should be excited by their emergence.
He added: “I don’t think Kenny is quite ready yet but he’ll be a damn good player when he is ready.
“When Celtic signed Osmand, I got a call from my old West Ham team-mate Tony Gale – who had seen him as a kid at Fulham – and he was raving about him. He said he’d do great up here.
“He didn’t seem to get a chance but suddenly he’s in the team and I thought he did well when he came on against Rangers.
“You know what I like about the pair of them? They were screaming at their team-mates when they didn’t get the ball.
“When was the last time you saw that in the Celtic team? Nobody talks to each other, nobody tells each other off.
“Now you’ve got two lads who were screaming for the ball and I’m sure Martin O’Neill will find a way to keep them both involved.
“The Celtic players were smiling again at the weekend. I’m delighted they won to reach the final.
“And I was also happy that it was a good game for Scottish football because that last derby at Ibrox was just awful.”
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