Steven Pressley’s Celtic move was unique for obvious reasons.
Having established himself as a central figure at Hearts over an eight-year spell, he was a man in demand when he became available on a free transfer in 2006.
After spending his early years at Rangers, the Ibrox side were interested in bringing Pressley back, and there was interest from the Premier League too.
But Gordon Strachan ultimately convinced Pressley to join the Hoops, where he would win back-to-back SPL titles.
Reflecting on the move almost two decades on, Pressley gave the brutally honest reason why he chose Celtic.
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Steven Pressley on joining Celtic
Pressley’s move to Celtic was especially a surprise given the lack of game time he would receive over his two years at Parkhead.
He may well have played more if he had opted to join Charlton Athletic.
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Speaking on the Scottish Sun’s one-on-one, Pressley told the honest story of his move to Glasgow.
He said: “I was meant to meet with David Murray on the Wednesday, and on the Tuesday, something happened and it got cancelled.
“It never got reignited, and then I went down with the intention of signing for Charlton. I met them, I went through the medical. We agreed everything in principle.
“I knew of Celtic’s interest, and Gordon [Strachan] had spoken to me already. He phoned me at the airport on the way up the road, and I told him: ‘Gordon, they’ve made me this offer and I’m pretty committed to doing it.’
“He said: ‘give me a couple of hours’, then he phoned me back and said, ‘we’ll match that.’ Then I spoke to my wife.
“I really wanted to go back to down to England, but my wife was just in the process of having her second child, and she wanted to be close with her mother.
“So we decided that that would be best for the family; for me to take that [Celtic] opportunity.
“[The Rangers background] was a big consideration.
“I knew that it was never going to be easy, and I knew that I might not be accepted too readily – not just the fact that I was an ex-Rangers player, I wasn’t popular with the Celtic support because of my behaviour in a Hearts jersey!
“So I wasn’t the most popular of figures. I was aware of that. But I also knew it was important for my wife to be around her mother.
“That was the most important thing for me, so I decided to go there. And from a football perspective and an experience perspective, I had no regrets about the decision at all.”
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Gordon Strachan’s ex-Rangers signings at Celtic
Pressley was one of a number of ex-Rangers players to sign for Celtic in a short space of time under Strachan.
Notoriously, Kenny Miller was another – the pair were teammates at Celtic and used to drive to training together. The less said about him, the better.
Mark Brown was signed shortly after Pressley, having made a handful of appearances at Ibrox as a youngster. He wasn’t a particularly influential player at either of the two clubs.
Barry Robson had been a young player at Ibrox, but never played a senior game though. He was a crucial signing for Strachan in January 2008, and would eventually follow him to Middlesbrough.
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