Andy Ritchie has revealed how Paul Lambert turned down a last minute move to Rangers (IL) to join Celtic in 1997.
At that stage David Murray liked nothing better than snapping up players linked to Celtic with Alan McLaren and Gordon Petric two of many examples.
Walter Smith had been given a fortune to secure 10-in-a-row with Lorenzo Amoruso, Marco Negri, Jonas Thern and Sergio Porrino brought in to back up the 9-in-a-row heroes including Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup.
As the season kicked off Lambert was basking in the glory of winning the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund with the Bosman signing from Motherwell 12 months earlier a key factor in their triumph over Juventus.
Ritchie knew Lambert from their time together at St Mirren and got wind of the news that his family were looking to return to Scotland.
“Paul was playing at the top of the game, I was working on a deal to bring him back to Scotland months before he won the Champions League with Dortmund,” the former Celtic scout told the Daily Record.
“I had known Paul since my days at St Mirren. So prior to Tommy being sacked he had asked me to speak to Paul. We needed a holding midfield player as we kept losing goals to Rangers through the middle. So I contacted him and spoke to his wife Monica as well. They wanted to come home.
“Tommy and me were in the sauna on a Friday night and I told him Paul had been on the phone and wanted to come to Celtic. Tommy turned to me and said, ‘You’re going to have to do it with someone else, Andy, because I’ll not be here’. Two weeks later, he was sacked. But Tommy’s replacement Wim wanted Paul as well.
“I knew the player had a clause in his contract that he could go for five million deutsche marks, or around £1.2m. The deal was on, but then came a problem.
“Jock had told Wim he had to see a player himself three times if he cost more than £1m. But Wim said, ‘Why do we have Andy here?’ Right in that Celtic turmoil, Rangers made a better offer but Paul had shaken hands with me. That’s the mark of the man.”
Lambert made his Celtic debut in a defeat at Ibrox but was on the score-sheet in January as Celtic marked their intent to win the title with a 2-0 win over Smith’s side.