Ex-Celtic striker and Republic of Ireland international Anthony Stokes makes shock football comeback
The 37-year-old left Celtic nine years ago to join Blackburn Rovers
A former Celtic centre forward has made a shock return to football after retiring from the sport nearly five years ago.
Anthony Stokes, who racked up 192 appearances for the Hoops between 2010 and 2016, has confirmed that he’ll be returning to the play with pub team Black Forge FC, as reported by Daily Record.
Black Forge FC are a Sunday League team based in Dublin that are currently owned by former UFC fighter Conor McGregor - who has even played for the team on occasion. Stokes, a nine-time Republic of Ireland international confirmed the news in a post on social media, which reads: "Better get the dust knocked off the boots."
Anthony Stokes’ Celtic career
Anthony Stokes came through the academy at Arsenal during the club’s Invincible era but only ever made one appearance for the North London club; coming on as a substitute for the final two minutes of a routined 3-0 League Cup win over Sunderland in 2006. He learned his trade at Falkirk, scoring 14 times in 16 appearances on loan before joining Roy Keane’s Sunderland in 2007 for around £2m. He was given the iconic number 9 shirt during his time with the club after Jon Stead’s exit but never hit the heights expected of him as he scored three in 36 games.
Stokes played Championship football with Sheffield United and Crystal Palace before enjoying a prolific spell with Hibs in 2009/10 which ultimately earned him a move to Celtic. The Republic of Ireland forward scored a total of 76 goals in 192 appearances across all competitions for Celtic. He won seven major honours in total, including four league titles, with his best season coming in 2013/14 when he scored 20 league goals.
Anthony Stokes’ career after Celtic
Anthony Stokes has played for the likes of Blackburn Rovers and Hibs as well as sides such as Greek side Apollon Smyrnis , Iranian side Tractor, Adana Demirspor based in Turkey, and Persepolis, also in Iran.
He’s had a series of off-the-field issues and legal battles affecting his progress during this period, and last played professionally with Livingston. His time with the club lasted less than a month without him ever making an appearance as he decided to terminate his contract due to a dislike of astroturf pitches.
"It's not quite worked out in terms of the intense training schedule we had put in place," said head of football operations David Martindale at the time.
"Of course, Anthony knew the surface we had in place but each player adapts to that differently and you can't know how your body will feel until you've played or trained on it frequently. We know it isn't for everyone and sadly, that's been the case for Anthony.
It's been extremely frustrating for all of us, staff and player alike, that we can't seem to get the intense training needed into the player," Martindale added. To be fair to Anthony, he has noticed this himself and he approached us with the option to terminate."