THE chance to play for Celtic is something which is on many player’s bucket list.
Sixty thousand fans at every home match, the chance to play in the Old Firm match vs Rangers, no shortage of big name players have made the journey late on in their careers.
Huge Premiership stars like Roy and Robbie Keane, Freddie Ljungberg and James McCarthy (whatever happened to him?) have all made the journey to the East End of Glasgow late in their careers.
And now it has emerged that former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Man Utd star Michael Owen would have loved to have done likewise.
The former England striker told AceOdds: “You listen, you hear, you ask questions in your childhood, and as part of my dad’s upbringing was Scottish and all his side of the family were huge Celtic fans.
“Naturally, my dad got me a Celtic shirt when I was a kid and I followed them as my team in Scotland.
“That’s the only connection.
“Of course, I played against Celtic a couple of times but that’s my only connection.
“It’s my dad’s side and my dad’s side of the family were all big Celtic fans.
“I guess it purely comes down to your family, doesn’t it? My dad grew up, spent a lot of time in Scotland, his mum was Scottish.
“My grandparents’ side of the family are Glaswegian, the Donnelly family.
“Yeah, I would have loved to have played for Celtic. I really would. That’s one thing I think. At that point in my career, I thought to myself, there were a lot of players at the time going up there, of similar ilk.
“Top players that maybe were around the 30, 31, 32 type of thing and having two or three years up scoring a few goals.
“And let’s get it right, you’ve got most of the ball all the time. When you’re playing for Celtic, you get most of the ball, you’re going to get more chances.
“It’s actually quite nice, as a player that’s in their 30s to not have to chase around and defend much.
“You always got the ball; you’re always getting chances. It would have been a lovely way I think to end my career.
“I don’t wish, but I would have liked at the time to maybe have gone to Celtic towards the end of my career.”
While Wayne Rooney recently admitted something similar, Owen admitted that the move might have made more sense in the days when the likes of Rooney and Berbatov were keeping him out of the Old Trafford first team.
He said: “We played together, of course, for England for many years and then for Manchester United.
“I think it’s quite an appealing thing for a lot of people. For the true football person, which 99.9 per cent of footballers are, playing in front of a big crowd, playing in front of people that have got loads of passion, playing for a good team that, as I say, is going to dominate most games and you can express yourself, that’s actually quite an appealing thing.
“Let’s be honest. It’s not a very competitive league. It’s not something that you’d probably consider when you’re 23, 25.
“But later on in your career, there are so many positive aspects to it.
“Let’s say me, not able to get into a Manchester United team, for example, if Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov are playing ahead of you, would you prefer to be third or fourth choice at Manchester United or play for Celtic?
“Then it becomes a really good debate to be had. I think at that time of your career when it definitely becomes quite relevant, or it certainly would have for me if I’d had the opportunity.”
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