Celtic’s friendly summer arrangement with Newcastle United will be the third time both clubs have met in their entire history.
Celtic announced that Newcastle will visit Parkhead in July as both teams prepare for the new season ahead by competing for The Adidas Cup.
The previous two occasions both clubs met Celtic beat the Premier League club 2-1 in 2004 and in 2007 Alan Shearer invited the Bhoys down for his testimonial in which The Magpies beat the Bhoys 4-1.
So the recent announcement reminded 67 Hail Hail of how Shearer once admitted he was close to a Paradise move and why Celtic said it never happened.
Alan Shearer once ‘spoke to Martin O’Neill’ about Celtic move
Shearer is a Newcastle and England legend and his goalscoring prowess made him one of the most prolific strikers of his generation.
Remarkably, he admitted that he once spoke to Celtic about a potential move but it never really happened for the former Premier League winner.
Shearer told the Daily Record in 2015, “I actually spoke to Martin O’Neill twice about moving to Celtic a few years ago when I thought I might be leaving Newcastle.
“What if? Nah, I never look back. I lived my dream, I was a lucky lad.
Shearer was a Newcastle fan and famously knocked back a move to Manchester United to join his boyhood heroes.
So if talks happened, why did the move never materialise?
What Celtic’s chairman said about Alan Shearer ‘driving’ Celtic move
The Celtic chairman at the time was Brian Quinn and when the story first broke, the Parkhead boardroom member explained the real reason Shearer was never christened a Celt.
Quinn told RTE in 2007, “The interest in Alan Shearer was not generated by us in the first place, it was generated by the other side – by the player and his agent.
“It was a question as to whether if Alan Shearer was going to move, whether Celtic would have an interest.
“So we had an interest but it never crystallised into a formal offer. Of course Martin would be interested because he is a quality player.
The enquiry was made by the player’s agent on behalf of the player so they were doing the driving. They remain in the driving seat.
“If that should return, we will look at it. But, with every day that passes, the possibility of that (signing Shearer) recedes.
“I would say to our supporters not to have any expectations in that particular respect.”
Shearer would have been a tremendous addition to O’Neill’s squad but then, Chris Sutton, Henrik Larsson and John Hartson were pretty formidable for Celtic at that time.
