Billy Dodds in a Celtic shirt? It’s not a thought that would immediately warm the hearts of Bhoys supporters but the former striker claims it was once a possibility.
Dodds is well known as a former Rangers player and a typically pro-Ibrox pundit in the media, so the reveal that he would have jumped at the chance of playing in green and white is something of a surprise.
The former Scotland international netted 27 goals in two years at Dundee United in the late 1990s, putting him on the radar of bigger clubs as he entered his 30s.
It’s at this point he says Celtic showed interest in him to fill in for a then-injured Henrik Larsson, only for the club to move on to another option.
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Celtic signed Ian Wright instead of Billy Dodds
Dodds explains [Scottish Mail on Sunday, 15/09 print edition]: “As a wee boy, your dream is to play at a big club and play for Scotland. My boyhood heroes were Rangers but I nearly signed for Celtic, twice. They had Larsson out injured, it came down to either me or Ian Wright — and they plumped for him!
“There was another time too when Celtic were showing an interest in signing me. If they’d gone through with it, I’d have jumped at the chance. But as soon as Michael Mols got injured, Rangers made their move. It came out of the blue and it was weird how it worked out.
“It was obviously later on in my career, it was my last chance to get financial security and my last chance to play for a huge club, so I was desperate for it to happen, as you can imagine.”
Resurgent Henrik Larsson became the king of Scotland
Wright only made ten appearances for Celtic and Larsson ended up returning from a leg injury to produce the best form of his career and some of the best football ever witnessed in the country.
Dodds did find initial success at Ibrox but the arrival of Martin O’Neill would usher in a new-look Celtic that overshadowed the subsequent two full seasons of the striker’s time at Rangers.
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In the 2000/01 season alone Larsson netted a sensational 53 goals, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest to ever pull on the hoops.
With a striking line-up that eventually included Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson, it’s fair to say we didn’t miss Dodds’ presence in the squad. Although, fair play to him for admitting he would have loved to play for the Bhoys.
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