Pat Nevin has claimed that he had five chances to join Celtic but they all fell through for one reason or another.
As a kid in Easterhouse the young Nevin was a prolific goalscorer for Celtic Boys Club and seemed certain to take the well-trodden path of signing professional terms.
That never worked out with Clyde offering him a deal to play part-time at Shawfield while he studied, later on Nevin was linked with Celtic while playing for Chelsea and Everton but no deal was ever completed.
During his playing days the former Scotland winger never hid his affection for the hoops but when his playing days ended and a career in the media opened up Nevin became a Hibs supporter.
After a stint at Tranmere Nevin returned to Scotland to play for Kilmarnock and Motherwell, bizarrely at Fir Park he steered the club into administration in tandem with his close friend John Boyle.
After explaining why his background ruled out a career with Rangers Nevin told The Sun:
Celtic though, were different. I’d five opportunities to join them and, for one reason or another, it never happened. I trained with them as a kid and won the Player of the Year award after scoring 160 goals in a season — but wasn’t offered a contract because I was viewed as too small.
That suited me fine, because if I’d been offered an apprenticeship at the club I’d definitely have turned it down. I didn’t like the odds of going to Celtic and making it to the first team. I was an awfully earnest kid and I worried it would spoil my love of playing football for the sake of it.
Also, my two older brothers had chucked football to study and I anticipated doing the same but most of all, the training at Celtic was pretty useless.
The Boys’ Club training and coaching was great but once you were an apprentice it seemed to consist of five-a-sides behind the goals and sweeping up rubbish after the European nights.
I can remember playing in a bounce game against a young goalkeeper who had such a stinker that people were literally laughing at him. His name was Pat Bonner — and he went on to do not bad for himself.
Nevin is on a round of media appearances to sell his book, these days he is mostly heard on BBC 5 Live and Chelsea TV.
#Celtic CEO in his twenties? There is a hint of the Brendan Rodgers about this claim.https://t.co/ITx4mQOIUl
— Joe McHugh (@videocelts) May 22, 2021