Celtic have always been linked to signing some of the best players in Europe over the decades.
There have been numerous stories about how players like Rivaldo were once linked to joining Celtic back in the Martin O’Neill era.
David Ginola was another who Tommy Burns tried to sign for Celtic before the Frenchman decided to join Newcastle United instead.
The point is, that some of the world’s best players have been tempted with a move to Paradise and former England international, Steve Bull, is another who now admits he had the opportunity to pull on the famous green and white Hoops.
Steve Bull’s bizarre reason for not joining Celtic
Famous for his exploits at Watford, at the height of his career, Steve Bull was an England international who represented his country at the Italia 90 World Cup.
The powerful striker was asked if he knew of any clubs who wanted to sign him during his career and Bull listed four clubs, including Celtic, as ones that were interested in securing his services.
Bull told the Undr the Cosh, “Yeah, I knew of four clubs who I could have gone to. Torino in Italy, after I came back from the World Cup, they wanted me and I just thought, ‘Well, I like my own English food, English beer. It’s not me’, and me being a local lad as well, you know what I mean?
“The second one that came in, you wouldn’t believe, was Newcastle. Newcastle before Andy Cole went from Man U. Dwight York and Cole, he was the second choice. The agent came around and said, do you want to come up there?
I just had my first boy and I thought, I don’t want to disrupt it now. The third one that came in was Big Ron [Atkinson]. Big Ron came in from Coventry, but he offered me a five-year deal.
“And the last one I could have gone to was Celtic. Could have gone to Celtic and I’d said to Graham Turner [Wolves manager], ‘It’s too wet up there for me. No chance. I ain’t going up there, no way’. And that’s the four clubs I knew.
“The rest are just rumours and whatever.”
Celtic and Steve Bull
Bull played for Wolves between 1986 and 1999 and was prolific for the club scoring 306 goals in 561 appearances for the club.
His no-nonsense style earned Bull international recognition and he became one of only a few players in England’s history to be capped outside of the top-flight division.
Bull earned 13 caps for his country despite never playing in the top tier of English football.
Could the Wolves legend have been a success at Celtic? Well, if the weather is the reason that put Bull off from joining a club with such high demands and pressure then you would have to assume no.
You would have to assume that the opportunity to join Celtic would have been towards the end of Bull’s career and there is no doubt he was an excellent striker, but would he have got in ahead of Henrik Larsson, Mark Viduka or even Shaun Maloney at that time?
Larsson? No chance. But as for the rest, I guess we will never know.
