Kris Commons has revealed that his move to Celtic in 2011 was forced through by Derby County.
As the January transfer window was coming to a close the midfielder was hoping to agree a new deal with the Championship.
Having switched from Nottingham Forest three years earlier Commons was settled at Derby when he was called into a meeting with the chairman.
Last week Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Sanchez both discovered the power of a club to hold on to a player but in the case of Commons it was the opposite experience.
“I’ve had first-hand experience of this situation,” he explained in the Daily Mail. “My transfer from Derby County to Celtic back in 2011 was far from normal. On the day of the transfer I had no idea what was in store. I trained in the morning as normal and once completed was called into the chairman’s office.
“I sat down hoping a new contract was about to be offered but he came straight out and told me that they had accepted a bid from Celtic and I was ‘free to go’.
“To say that was unexpected would be an understatement. I went back into the changing room to clear out my locker. My head was all over the place, we had a young family and my partner Lisa was heavily pregnant. All our family and friends lived near us and we had a very happy and settled life.”
Commons is currently training at Lennoxtown as he attempts to resume full fitness after missing out on almost the whole of last season through a back injury.
While he is enjoying a varied schedule of media commitments at the moment he is hoping to prove his fitness to rejoin Neil Lennon at Hibs after enjoying a loan spell with the Edinburgh side last season.