Aiden McGeady and Gary Hooper announced in Celtic’s Tennent’s Sixes squad

Scottish football is going back to the future with the return of the official SPFL Tennent’s Sixes. It was an iconic six-a-side tournament in the 1980s and ‘90s – with Celtic winning the tournament in 1992 – and it’s returning to the Braehead Arena on the weekend of October 3 and 4 – with the official backing of the SPFL. All 12 Premiership teams have signed up to take part in a legends version of the small-sided tournament, with heroes of the recent past wearing the official club kits of this season and among the former Celts joining up the Hoops’ squad are Aiden McGeady and Gary Hooper. 46. AIDEN McGEADY Celtic 2004-10, 251 games, 37 goals Aiden McGeady broke through from Celtic’s Youth Academy, and it was Martin O’Neill who gave him his first-team debut in April 2004 against Hearts at Tynecastle, and it only took the then 18-year-old winger 17 minutes to score the first of his 37 goals for the club. Over the next six years he would make 251 appearances for Celtic, and he won four league titles, two Scottish Cups and the League Cup in the 2008/09 season, when he and Darren O’Dea scored the goals in extra-time to give Celtic a 2-0 victory over Rangers in the final at Hampden. Aiden McGeady also committed his international career to Ireland, and he played 93 times for the Republic of Ireland, scoring five goals. He left Celtic in 2010, moving to Spartak Moscow where he stayed for four years before returning to the UK and joining Everton. He had subsequent spells with Sunderland, Hibernian and, latterly, Ayr United before hanging up his boots in 2024.88. GARY HOOPER Celtic 2010 – 13, 138 games, 82 goals Famed for his scoring exploits in the green and white Hoops of Celtic, at the age of 38 the lethal striker has much more recently been donning hoops of the blue and white variety with Maldon & Tiptree in the Isthmian League. He was actually at an earlier incarnation of the club, Maldon Town, as a youth player, but Hooperman is back in the more familiar green and white Hoops for the SPFL Tennent’s Sixes. Southend United and Scunthorpe United were his main clubs before coming north, and it was his 50 goals in 95 games with Scunthorpe that caught the eye of Celtic. He arrived at Neil Lennon’s Hoops at the age of 22 in 2010 and netted 22 goals in 26 games that first term and upped that to 29 in 50 the following season. His final season, 2012/13 was his most prolific with 31 goals in the 51 games he played that term. Hooper left for Norwich City at the start of the 2013/14 term having won the Scottish Cup with Celtic in 2010/11, the league in 2011/12, and the league and cup double in 2012/13, scoring twice in the 3-0 Scottish Cup final against Hibernian. One of his many teams after leaving the Hoops was Celtic’s upcoming UEFA Europa League opponents, Omonia, where he teamed up with Neil Lennon once more.The original Tennent’s Sixes captured the imagination of a generation of Scottish football fans during its nine-year stretch from 1984 until 1993, with Partick Thistle the last winners of the cult trophy. And the joint organisers – the SPFL and Braehead Arena – have worked quietly for months to give fans of all ages a family experience blending nostalgia with a modern twist. Saturday group stages will start with three regionalised groups of four, with each group winner and runner-up progressing to the knockout stages, along with the two best third-placed teams. To keep fans on the edge of their seats, every game will have a winner, with a bonus point for a penalty shoot-out win in the event of a draw. The sin bin will also be making a comeback, and organisers hope it will capture the imagination of football fans and families alike. Celtic are in Group C, alongside Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Rangers. More details and tickets are available via Braehead Arena: www.spfltennentssixes.co.uk