NEIL LENNON told Talk Sport on Tuesday afternoon he once tried to sign Troy Deeney for Celtic and hinted there would have had been a great chance of landing the striker had that famous playoff game not happened.

It was Leicester vs Watford in the Championship playoff semi-final, in the final minute, Leicester got a penalty to all but wrap up the game. What would happen next would be something that gets played for years and years. The penalty was saved, Watford ran up the park and Troy put the ball into the Leicester net, sending them crashing out of the playoffs. The scenes were incredible at the time.

This was Neil’s first stint in charge of Celtic he would be looking at Troy but finances got in the way.

Speaking to TalkSport with Troy present, Neil Lennon said:

“I was a big fan of Troy in my first spell as Celtic manager, he’s the type of striker I like.

“I went down to watch him in that very famous play-off match where Leicester didn’t quite score a penalty and then 30 seconds later Troy’s put Watford to Wembley.

“Finances dictated things but whether Troy would have wanted to come or not is another thing. We were huge admirers of him… he was in his prime then.”

Deeney responded to Neil’s comments and recalls encounters AFTER he left Celtic the first time.

“Yeah I spoke to Neil a few times. I know that our last encounter was when he was at Bolton, I was on the bench and fuming.

“It was 3-3 or 3-2 to Bolton when I came on. He said as I came on ‘don’t you dare score’ and I ended up scoring the winner to make it 4-3!”

Troy, now 32, has been at Watford for a long time and has played for them in the top flight. Neil Lennon second spell at Celtic came to an end last season, the Irishman is trying to cultivate interest in his services by appearing on UK based football shows like TalkSport.

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