Alan Thompson has revealed that Martin O’Neill branded him a coward after being sent off in a 5-1 defeat against Rangers (IL).
In the week following the 6-2 match O’Neill paid Aston Villa £3m for the midfielder while at Ibrox Ronald de Boer was signed from Barcelona with Tore Andre Flo making his debut against Celtic in November.
Both players were given token salaries with the bulk of their payments made through the illegal Discount Option Scheme which resulted in a £2.8m tax bill arriving at Ibrox almost a decade later. Neither the SFA or SPL were given full details of the players payments but no questions were asked about star names moving to Ibrox on average salaries.
Celtic had build up a 15 point lead over Dick Advocaat’s side by the time they travelled to Ibrox but by the final whistle the joy of winning 6-2 earlier in the season had been numbed a little.
“They were 1-0 up, we then made it 1-1 with Henrik scoring with a header from one of my corners,” Thompson recalled yesterday in an event hosted by William Hill. “They scored straight after that to go 2-1 in front and then I was sent off.
“I just remember sitting in the dressing room hearing the Rangers fans in the main stand above me cheering. Then again, and again, and again.
“I then got double-barrelled off the manager in the dressing room when he came in after the game.
“I remember he called me a coward which I disagreed with. That’s one thing I wasn’t, one thing I’m not but it was heat of the moment stuff and that’s what happens on days like that.
“In his eyes I was a coward because of the red card. He thought I’d bottled it and didn’t want to be out there but that wasn’t the case.”
Thompson added: “After that I remember going home and having a Chinese meal with my family and thinking ‘my Celtic career could be over before it’s even started.’ but I got back in the team and the next one was at Celtic Park.
“We won 1-0 and I scored the goal, so I kind of redeemed myself a little bit.”
