A former Celtic defender has revealed how he felt he was sold a dream by manager Gordon Strachan.
Celtic Park is never an easy place to come and play but given the grand allure of Celtic – it’s a tantalising proposition that is too hard to turn down for some.
Not every player is going to be a hit though, nor are they going to be a regular starter, but for one player told he would be exactly that, he was badly let down.
Adam Virgo hits out at Gordon Strachan for Celtic fiasco
Adam Virgo spent most of his career around the lower levels of the Football League – most notably at Brighton & Hove Albion – but when Celtic came calling, only one decision was going to be made.
Virgo signed for the Hoops in 2005 during a difficult personal period after losing his dead but only made 12 appearances before being loaned to Colchester United, and then released in 2008
On the face of it, the former defender-turned-pundit could be classed as a flop. However, in an appearance on the Under the Cosh podcast, he revealed that Strachan had told him he would be a first-choice starter.
He said: “I remember meeting Gordon in Brighton and I always remember this, he said to me, ‘What’s your main worry?’. I said, ‘I’m not going to play, that’s my main worry. My dad’s only just died and I don’t think I’m quite ready for it at the moment.’
“He went, ‘I promise you this, you’re going to go up as my number one right back. And then when you go from there, you’re going to go into centre half.’ I remember looking him in the eye and I said, ‘You promise me that?’ and he went, ‘Yeah’.
“So I said, ‘Well, I’d be stupid to turn down the move.’ That was then the start of me going up there and it not really materialising as what he promised. And then the way that it ended… I just thought it was pretty wrong, to be honest.
“Just the way that it ended… I felt really let down, not by the club, but by Gordon because I really felt that I just wasn’t given the opportunity there. It was just a really, really difficult time.”
Why Adam Virgo fell out with Roy Keane
It wasn’t just former Celtic manager Strachan that Virgo didn’t see eye-to-eye with during his brief stint in Glasgow.
His Celtic career overlapped with the time that Roy Keane was part of the ranks.
A divisive character at the best of times, Virgo revealed that Keane once fell out with him after offering him a lift, with his wife in the back of the car.
“He texted me saying ‘don’t ever do that again'”.
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