STEVEN FLETCHER has revealed how close he came to becoming a Celtic player – and how much he wanted the move.
The Wrexham promotion winner’s performances over five years at Easter Road gained the attention of Gordon Strachan who wanted to bring the hit man to Glasgow in 2009.
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But after a breakdown in negotiations he eventually moved south of the border to team up with Owen Coyle at Burnley.
He told the Warm-Up: “I’ll openly admit when I was at Hibs I wanted to sign for Celtic. 100%.
“It was in the January, Strachan tried to sign me in the January and they wouldn’t let me go.
“And then I wanted to go in the summer.
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“Rangers won the league that year.”
Fletcher, who went on to grace the likes of Wolves, Sheffield Wednesday and Dundee Utd, previously told Open Goal: “When I was at Hibs and Strachan tried to sign me in the January, that was when I really, really wanted to go.
“Toys were out the pram and everything. I thought my football career was over when I never got to go.
“I think they were just negotiating over a couple of hundred grand at the time, that was the difference.
“And nothing materialised.
“And then Coyley came in in the summer, you can’t turn down Owen Coyle.”
The punchline was left to Hoops hero Chris Sutton, who was also part of the conversation, and was bringing his time at Celtic to a rather unhappy end at the time.
He deadpanned: “You did well to avoid that.”
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