Sky sport force to cut broadcast immediately after shocking incident two pundits involved on a fight over unwanted statement after Celtic vs Heart 2-2 draw
Chris Sutton has Steven Naismith and Kris Boyd on strings over revisited Celtic interest
It seems unthinkable now, but Steven Naismith could’ve played for Celtic.
Gordon Strachan was interested in him during his Kilmarnock days, bidding for him in 2007.
Naismith then handed in a transfer request at Rugby Park before eventually moving on to Ibrox. That summer, Celtic signed Scott McDonald and Scott Brown, going on to win the title.
Naismith spent five years on the other side of Glasgow before leaving in objection to joining the ‘newco’ in 2012, along with many of his teammates at the time.
Revisiting his interest from Celtic, Chris Sutton was at the wind-up.
Chris Sutton on Steven Naismith not joining Celtic
Both McDonald and Brown also had interest from Ibrox when they moved to the Hoops, in an era when Strachan had plenty of joy in shopping in the SPL market.
Paul Hartley, Barry Robson and Gary Caldwell were all also signed by Strachan from fellow Scottish clubs.
Given that Celtic were the best team in Glasgow at the time, Naismith was asked how close he was to a Parkhead move on The Warm Up.
He said: “Not close to signing at all, but there was interest. Gordon Strachan was the manager at the time.
“I hadn’t spoken to them or anything. It was just that they were interested as much as Rangers were.”
Sutton interjected: “You must’ve, come on. Let’s be serious. Because Celtic were the dominant team then. You must’ve thought, ‘I want to win something.’”
Naismith insisted: “Never crossed my mind about joining Celtic. I understand that they were the better team…”
Sutton then bickered with Kris Boyd before telling Naismith: “It doesn’t matter [if you’re a Rangers fan]. As a player, you want to go and win something.
That’s your dream as a little boy, when you first go down to the recreation ground. You want to go to the better team.”
Naismith said: “There wasn’t that big a gap. From when Walter Smith took over in the January, to the summer, he’d started to build a bit of momentum, won the Old Firm at Celtic Park…
“Walter Smith being the manager, I knew Ian Durrant…”
Sutton replied: “To say it never crossed your mind… I don’t want to say… it’s your mind, and I’ve often thought… ‘I don’t know what’s going on in Steven’s mind.
But there must have been a part of your mind thinking: ‘The excitement… playing in front of 60,000 every week, not 44,000…”
Boyd thought he’d got Sutton when he interrupted, saying: “So what about you when you came up? Did you not think, ‘I wish Rangers came for me?’ Because they were the dominant team.”
Sutton simply replied: “They’d never won the European Cup. Never won five trophies in a season.”
Martin O’Neill is open to Scottish Premiership signings this January… so who would Celtic be most likely to buy?
O’Neill and Mark Fotheringham watched Tawanda Maswanhise for Motherwell last weekend, but his boss Jens Askou has seemingly ruled out any potential winter exit.
Kieron Bowie is also of interest, with Hibs reportedly valuing him at north of £6 million. He reportedly has interest on the continent, too.
Celtic have also been credited with an interest in Hibs midfielders Josh Mulligan and Miguel Chaiwa, as well as Kilmarnock’s David Watson.
