Paolo di Canio has revealed how Joe Jordan diverted him from Ibrox to joining Celtic.
In the mid-nineties Walter Smith had strong contracts in Italy with Brian Laudrup, Marco Negri, Lorenzo Amoruso, Jonas Thern, Rino Gattuso and others switchingfrom Serie A to life in Govan.
Celtic had barely tried to compete in the Italian market but after the successes of signing Pierre van Hoodijdonk and Andreas Thom they got tipped off about a lively forward in and out of the AC Milan side.
Di Canio arrived at Celtic to a fanfare of attention, stayed for a highly dramatic 12 months then slipped away in controversy, ‘traded’ for Regi Blinker and £3.5m from Sheffield Wednesday according to Jock Brown.
Picking up on a podcast, the Daily Record reports Di Canio saying:
It was a typical (situation) where there’s an agent who maybe knows the two clubs, they can help the situation to move on. They sent some messages through Joe Jordan, who used to play for AC Milan – but (to sign) for Rangers!
“But he said: ‘I know someone at Celtic and I know AC Milan, I saw them play. Paolo Di Canio can be a good prospect for this club’.
“Through him and another person – an Italian person that used to have contact with him – they started talking. My fantastic man, who I will never stop thanking and is up to the sky now, is Tommy Burns.
Jordan was a lifelong Celtic fan from Cleland, enjoying a playing career that covered Manchester United, AC Milan and Leeds United.
In June 1991 he joined Liam Brady as his assistant but left the club a day after the Irishman quit as manager.