Believe it or not, once upon a time, new Dundee boss Mark McGhee was in the running to become Celtic manager.
Back in 2009 when Celtic were searching for a way forward after the Gordon Strachan reign, McGhee was one of the names in the frame to take the hot seat.
That didn’t pan out and the Bhoys eventually opted for Tony Mowbray, but that didn’t stop McGhee from providing very candid comments on it all – in the press conference he was announced as Aberdeen boss.
Yes, the former Celtic player ended up at Pittodrie and gave hilarious, box-office comments about his link to the Parkhead dugout.
As quoted by The Daily Record, he said at his unveiling: “Aberdeen fans know that in Scottish football on a scale of one to three you have Rangers and Celtic and then Aberdeen comes in third. I think that any player or manager has the right to want to play or manage at the best club possible.
“I have looked at that opportunity, I didn’t get that job but I then moved on to come to Aberdeen quickly with a total positive feeling and a total commitment.
“The Celtic thing should not in any way undermine things – quite the opposite actually. Maybe Aberdeen fans should be thinking that they have a manager that was considered by Celtic.
“I sent Willie Miller a text last Friday to say that I was at a stage where I was prepared to speak seriously about coming to Aberdeen at the exclusion of anything that was happening at Celtic.
“I had not received any unofficial word from Celtic, it was just at that point I was worried about losing the opportunity of coming to Aberdeen so I sent Willie a text. I hope that reassures a few of the fans.”
In fairness to McGhee, he’s not actually wrong with anything he said, but producing this outburst at your unveiling at a new club isn’t the wisest idea. It’s fair to say Aberdeen supporters were not reassured.
It set the tone for a fairly disastrous reign in the northeast. Could you imagine this press conference in the true social media age of the last few years? It would be a viral sensation.
McGhee doesn’t have a filter on matters like these and that’s what could make his comeback in the Scottish Premiership very entertaining.
He returns to Celtic Park tomorrow for the first time since his reign as Motherwell boss, albeit not on the touchline due to his Scottish FA ban.
That was dished out after post-match comments regarding a fourth official, following an infamous encounter with an Aberdeen supporter in a 7-2 defeat with the Steelmen.
You may remember he also had a run-in with Celtic coach Chris Davies during his last managerial spell.
Dundee chief John Nelms feels there are “ways around” his ban, so it’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out not just tomorrow but also moving forward. McGhee’s re-emergence in Scottish football is unlikely to be boring.
In other news, Yosuke Ideguchi set for Celtic return vs Dundee but 4 still missing; squad latest.
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