Scott Allan says his final Celtic year was a "long" one

By David Walton

August 4, 2019

Scott Allan’s Celtic career didn’t go exactly to plan, but the midfielder seems delighted to be back playing football once again.

Celtic flop Allan marked his first league game since leaving the Hoops by scoring a winner for Hibernian against St Mirren. It was a clever reverse finish after being played through on goal. But in addition to his strike, he showed tremendous vision to create several opportunities for his team-mates.

It was a fine return to competitive Premiership action for Allan. It was also his first league game since his initial loan spell with the Hibees ended over a year ago.

Scott Allan just couldn’t hack it at Celtic (Vagelis Georgariou/ActionPlus/Corbis via Getty Images)

And as he spoke to the Scottish Sun, Allan stated that he was just delighted to get to the end of a long final year at Parkhead.

“It was a long year last year, but it was worth it. I wasn’t watching Jeff and the boys today! It was the smell when you come into a football stadium that I missed. Funny things. It’s weird. But onwards and upwards now. When the ball fell to me I was just thinking, ‘Goal!’.

“No, I was telling myself I needed to produce something because I’d given a couple of balls away. The kind of player I am, I will never hide away. If something doesn’t work, I will try again.

“My own performance, I felt one thing worked then the next thing didn’t. But it’s about coming up with it when it matters and that’s what I did.”

Allan’s Celtic career was never going to work out

It’s great to see Allan at a club where he’ll be comfortable at and will get his opportunity regularly. He was nowhere good or consistent enough for Celtic, but he has too much quality to sit on a bench anywhere in Scotland.

At Hibs, it seems like the right fit. It’s a club he knows well with a fan-base he’s also well-loved by. He already seems extremely satisfied at his new club. There’s no denying he’ll play consistently, and with that his confidence and love for the game will return.

Allan was nowhere near the first team over the last three years (Peter Fitzpatrick/Action Plus via Getty Images)

But at the same time, he can’t moan about his treatment at Parkhead. Sure, he may have only made 17 appearances for Celtic in his four years contracted to the club. But there were reasons for that.

Allan always had several players ahead of him in the pecking order. He was never first-choice, and when he did get his rare chance to impress, he just didn’t have enough quality to stand out.

Allan’s back where he belongs (Alan Rennie/Action Plus via Getty Images)

These days at Celtic, and particularly over the last few years, midfield has been our strongest area. Chances for Allan were never going to arrive, so you can tell it was a case of both the club and player waiting for last season to end.

Hopefully, Allan finds his drive again at Hibs. In that regard, it looks a highly-positive start. If there’s one man who deserves a bit of luck, it’s certainly the midfield ace.