Keeping your place in the Celtic team isn’t easy.
Just look at Brendan Rodgers’ current squad – the likes of Hayato Inamura, Jahmai Simpson-Pusey and Shin Yamada feel far from the first-team picture.
It’s a symptom of the number of games in modern football, and the huge squads that must be built for insurance against a potential injury crisis.
The level of competition matters too. If Henrik Larsson is ahead of you in the pecking order, it’s hard to complain.
This was the case for one former Hoops forward, who has revealed a brutal interaction from the season when Celtic stopped the ten.
Ex-Celt reveals brutal Paul Gascoigne phone call
Glasgow can feel like a small city, and footballers tend to mingle in similar places – but off-field interaction between Celtic and Rangers players is still very uncommon.
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Darren Jackson spent one full season at Celtic Park, being brought to Glasgow from Hibs by Wim Jansen.
One of his previous clubs was Newcastle, where his path crossed with Paul Gascoigne – and whilst representing the opposite sides of Glasgow, Gascoigne fired a joke at the Scotland striker.
Jackson was diagnosed with hydrocephalus while at Celtic Park, spending a period on the sidelines as a result. Speaking to the Scottish Sun, he has told the story of his reintroduction.
He said: “When I scored my first goal up at Aberdeen, I jumped into the crowd and all that, and as I’m running away, I turn back to the fans to say, ‘I’m back.’
“So we played Hearts on the Saturday and I was a sub, I was raging. I was devastated that I was subbed. I was gutted.
“So we played and we beat Hearts, and I kind of got changed quickly and stormed out. Switched my phone off, and in the messages was Gazza.
“He said, ‘Yeah, I can see you’re back.. back on the bench.'”
Darren Jackson’s short Celtic career
Jackson enjoyed an impressive career, but didn’t enjoy his best years in Hoops.
Prior to coming to Glasgow, he had broken through at Meadowbank Thistle, where he earned a move to Newcastle.
After nine goals for the Magpies, he spent the next nine years scoring goals in the SPL with Dundee United and Hibs, earning a move to Celtic.
He left the Hoops in 1999 to join boyhood club Hearts, before seeing out his career at Livingston, St Johnstone and Clydebank.
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