WHENEVER he was feeling playful, Thomas Gravesen had a habit of standing still in a corridor or doorway at Everton and fixing anyone who walked past with a fearsome, unflinching stare. Fellow players or club staff would stop in their tracks, desperately running through a mental checklist in an attempt to think of what they might have done to offend him. They were all innocent.

He was just doing it out of devilment.

Now Parkhead will have to get used to Gravesen's ways.

Another of his habits around a stadium or training ground was to wrestle people or grab them in strong bear hugs, just for the hell of it. The Celtic huddle might have been made for him. "You might say he's pretty physical, " said a former "victim" who, after almost two years without Gravesen's robust attention, was bold enough to recall that the bald midfielder was nicknamed "The Pig Farmer" because of the area of Denmark he came from.

A week of unrelenting newspaper coverage has fleshed out what Scotland knows about Gravesen: that his more familiar nickname is "Mad Dog", that Mike Tyson admired him so much he wore his international shirt in Denmark, that six years ago former Danish coach Bo Johansson questioned whether he was sufficiently "psychologically stable" to play for the national team.

By Friday we had a front page introduction to "Gravesen's Porn Star Lover", Danish model Kira Eggers. More coverage will follow when he is unveiled at his first Parkhead press conference later this week.

Those who know him describe Gravesen as a hugely likeable but strange and changeable character; one who seems to enjoy giving an impression of mild eccentricity despite being quiet and unspectacular in his private life (Eggers aside). One way or another he will be a big personality on the Scottish scene.

Celtic have revelled in his signing, understandably so given that it came a fortnight after he had said he wanted to return to the Premiership and a week after sources in England and Denmark indicated that his wage demands would push him beyond the reach of the Parkhead club.

During the hitch over his transfer, Sky Sports News images of him swatting away a supporter who placed a Celtic scarf around his neck had not given given the impresson of someone desperate to wear the hoops.

Perhaps an advisor had a word: a day later he was filling Scottish reporters' notebooks with reassuring anecdotes about how he and his dad could hardly get to sleep at night for worrying about events on Kerrydale Street.

The eagerness to embrace Gravesen as another Roy Keane, a formidable enforcer who will terrify all opponents and especially Rangers in the season's first Old Firm game in 20 days, meant no-one has been inclined to consider whether Celtic may actually be a little weaker with Graveson than they were before he signed. The issue is redundant in the sense that Celtic were resigned to losing Stilian Petrov and required a substantial new presence in midfield. Gravesen emphatically fits the bill.

But in terms of quality and contribution there is not much to choose between Gravesen and Petrov, and the latter is younger, scores more goals and has appeared in many more Champions League matches. Petrov has also proved his ability to settle in Scotland and to the pressures and demands of life with the Old Firm, tests which await Gravesen. The Dane has intimated an awareness of the Glasgow goldfish bowl by telling friends he will be more guarded with the Scottish press than he was with the media in Madrid.

As recently as January last year there were incredulous gasps when it emerged that what had seemed to be fanciful rumours linking Gravesen with Real Madrid were actually true. For the first half of his Everton career Gravesen was not an outstanding player or even one who was especially well regarded by supporters. Only when David Moyes changed his side's formation to 4-5-1, relieving Gravesen of the holding role, did he blossom into such an exceptional and consistent performer that he rocketed Everton towards a place in the 2005-6 Champions League (they only just made it, as their form tailed off dramatically when he left midway through the season).

But even then there were puzzled expressions when Real came in for him, all the more so when it became clear they saw him as no more than a water-carrier expected to win the ball for his more celebrated team-mates. A joke swept around Merseyside at the time that the Spaniards had signed the wrong bald midfielder. They should have gone for Lee Carsley, who was playing as Everton's holding player.

Gravesen can tackle alright . . . and his opponents stay tackled . . . but he has an opinion of his worth as a footballer which extends to being the focus for his team's attacks.

He lacks pace but moves well, is intelligent and is adept at reading a game and slowing it down to suit his side. It won't be thundering challenges which endear him to the purists among the Parkhead support, nor goals for that matter, although SPL defences may be more generous than he has encountered in the past during a career which has brought roughly one goal in every 10 appearances. What supporters may come to appreciate most is his ability to put a foot on the ball and direct the play to his liking.

Had Celtic signed Gravesen from Everton a couple of years ago few would have described him as a world class midfielder. Many have been willing to use that phrase in the days since his transfer to Celtic was completed, presumably on the basis that simply being on Real Madrid's books . . . rather than making much of a contribution for them . . . confers the ultimate status.

For Gravesen to realise the expectations Celtic have for him he will have to repeat the form he showed in his final 18 months at Everton, or his international form, rather than his three ordinary first seasons on Merseyside when his contributions were average as a defensive player in a 4-4-2. At least Gordon Strachan is astute enough to know where to play him from the start of his Celtic career.

A number of factors conspired to excite Celtic over Gravesen last week, including his physical appearance, reputation and the fact he was coming from Real Madrid.

Almost as significant was the declaration the Scottish champions made by spending over £2 million, and a huge weekly wage, only a week after another lucrative deal to sign Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. "It's been a while since we spent that type of money and it looks like we're bringing in quality players again, " said Lennon, who for once had to rely on the launch of his autobiography to claim some space in the newspapers last week.

"I thought those days were over, honestly. I thought it would be a long time until we saw those sort of tranfser fees splashed out again.

Whatever the club's financial plan was has obviously come to fruition. It's been a long time coming."

When he returns from his current international duty Gravesen will turn up at a club which is in the right mood to put up with his playful wrestling and hard stares.