He joined Celtic at the same time as Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and for a while looked like the solution to the long running problem position of left-back.
It wasn’t long before Lee Naylor was being talked about as a possible England internationalist but almost as quickly he fell from favour as the left-back problem resurfaced.
Season 2006/07 could hardly have gone better as Celtic reached the knock out phase of the Champions League and won the domestic double of SPL title and Scottish Cup.
Within weeks of leaving Wolves, a move which saw Charlie Mulgrew leave in the other direction, Naylor had played home and away against Manchester United in the Champions League and barely put a foot wrong.
The following season brought another SPL title and visit to the last 16 of the Champions League with Naylor a fixture in the side making 47 appearances in total.
It’s been a great day for @mikeyjohnston10. First a @celticfc debut and now a new 3 year contract. Congrats! ???????? https://t.co/gxg2ZC4HdM pic.twitter.com/PftA4HnB9M
— Base Soccer Agency (@BaseSoccer) May 6, 2017
Like many at the club things tailed off in season 2008/09 as the SPL title was lost with Naylor missing out on the League Cup Final win over Rangers (IL) where his replacement Darren O’Dea was on the scoresheet.
Celtic activated a 12 month option on Naylor’s contract but one of Tony Mowbray’s first jobs was to bring in Danny Fox at left-back with no one arguing that it was a position that needed strengthening.
By January Fox had been sold to Burnley, after being capped by Scotland, with Mowbray following soon after.
Caretaker boss Neil Lennon restored Naylor to favour, ahead of World Cup Finalist Edson Braafheid, at the tail end of the season and he signed off with a memorable goal in a 2-1 win over Rangers (IL).
With his contract up he moved on to Cardiff where he managed just 27 Championship appearances in two seasons.
After a year out of the game he signed a short term deal with Accrington Stanley before joining Derby County on an 18 month contract which expired in July 2015.
These days he is working for the Base Soccer Agency where he was involved in the three year contract signed by Mikey Johnston towards the end of last season.
