SCOTT ALLAN revealed it was Scott Brown who helped make the first move in his ill-fated transfer to Celtic back under Ronny Deila.
At the time of Celtic signing Allan, there was a lot of speculation Rangers* were in the driver’s seat to sign the player from Hibs as he was a fan of the Ibrox club.
However, a call from Scott Brown and a lengthy chat paved the way for a Celtic bid and the subsequent signing of the player.
Speaking to OpenGoal, Allan who is now back at Hibernian after his unsuccessful Celtic stint made the admission:
“Broony had phoned me and I had a long conversation with him on the phone.
“So that must have been about a week before it actually happened.
“It was the question, ‘Would you come here?’.”
“See that whole time, it was kind of blurry for me. I was getting abused everywhere I went.
“That first year, even still to this day I get a lot of abuse from Rangers fans obviously because I went.
“The first month, even when I left the house to get petrol and that…
“I just got abuse. I had my wee boy by that point.
“There was guys rolling the window down while I’m holding the baby, shouting things out the window.”
On the bids coming from Ibrox, asked if he outright rejected a move to Rangers* for Celtic, Allan said:
He said: “It never came down to that because Rangers had made a few low bids with instalments and I think that’s what angered Hibs to begin with.
“By the time that had happened, they obviously didn’t have the money to pay for the transfer fee that Celtic were willing to pay.
“Celtic had gave them Dylan McGeouch and Liam Henderson as well. It was just Celtic who were in for me at that point.”
Allan didn’t get much of a chance with any of his managers at Celtic, Deila or Rodgers. The irony being Neil Lennon and Hibs that signed him on a pre-contract from Celtic in January only for Neil Lennon to become the Celtic manager by February.
Allan is now playing regular first-team football and has played well this season for Hibernian under Jack Ross. It just wasn’t to be at Celtic.
