Stephen Welsh’s best contribution for Celtic may have come in a Motherwell shirt.
That is, of course, not disregarding his 70 appearances for the Hoops, across which he has picked up nine medals.
But when Martin O’Neill finally gave him the green light to return to Motherwell, the Celtic boss didn’t realise the favour that he would receive in return just weeks later.
In a title race with plenty of twists and turns ahead, the Hoops need all the help they can get from the rest of the league as they chase Rangers and league leaders Hearts.
And when Welsh snatched the win away from the Ibrox side at Fir Park, loud cheers were heard in Glasgow’s East End.
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Stephen Welsh on his years at Celtic
The goal is obviously an important one in the context of Motherwell’s season, too.
Under Jens Berthel Askou, Welsh and many other Well players have played the best football of their careers.
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Speaking about his Celtic situation after grabbing the headlines this week, Welsh painted the picture of how tough it has been breaking through at Parkhead.
He said: “As a footballer that’s all you want, to play and have moments like that.
“It’s no secret it’s hard to come through at a club like Celtic. To play the amount of games I have there, I’m very proud of that.
“But I’m a realist as well. A lot of different players came in. So I took it upon myself to go out on loan abroad last year.
“When I came back, I made the decision to come here because I could see the manager’s vision. To actually come back a second time is even sweeter.
“After how well we’d done before New Year, it was a big disappointment that I had to go away. To come back, have my first game and experience such a good moment is great.
“There’s a lot of good players at Celtic, they’ve spent a lot of money on defenders.
“So I won’t make excuses. I just wanted to play football and I made that very clear to the club and thankfully they let me do that again.
“As a footballer you’re always trying to prove a point. It doesn’t matter who you are, even if you’re the best in the world.
“You still want to prove a point to someone. I feel like that’s what I’ve done.”
Reflecting on his return to Fir Park, Welsh said: “It was an odd couple of weeks, I didn’t know what was going to happen.
“The communication between the clubs was good, but you truly never know.
“It went down to the last few minutes before coming here. I’m thankful that it did and I’m just glad to be back.
“It was a difficult couple of weeks. People don’t see what goes on behind the scenes. But I’m delighted to be back. I just want to play and hopefully that continues.”
Has Stephen Welsh proven a point to Celtic with his Motherwell form?
Other Celtic players out on loan
Celtic have a number of young players out on loan, but there are a few senior players playing elsewhere, including Maik Nawrocki, who has hit form for Hannover.
Luis Palma is also earning praise with his performances for Lech Poznan. The Polish side hold an option to buy on the Honduran, but they’d need to break their record transfer fee to trigger it.
In January, Shin Yamada joined Nawrocki in Germany, playing for Preussen Munster in the 2. Bundesliga, the same division as Hannover.
Johnny Kenny is yet to appear for Bolton Wanderers, whom he joined on Deadline Day.
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