Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Ex-Dundee and Terrors ace Allan lived in fear during spell with Celtic
FORMER Dundee United and Dundee ace Scott Allan has revealed that he was afraid to leave his home in Glasgow in the year following his contentious move from Hibs to Celtic.
Allan, a boyhood Rangers fan, was the subject of three rejected bids from the Ibrox giants in the summer of 2015 following a blistering campaign with the Hibees.
However, the Hoops swept in at the eleventh hour to gazump their fiercest foes, snapping up the mercurial playmaker on a four-year deal.
The move proved to be an ill-fated one for Allan, who went on to play just 17 games for at Celtic – but the consequences for his daily life were even more challenging.
And Allan, now back at Hibs, told BBC Scotland that ‘people haven’t forgotten’ about the saga and says he still endures barbs on the streets.
He said: “The choice was taken out of my hands after the third (Rangers) bid.
“I didn’t have the choice to pick one of the teams – that was definitely not the case.
“People haven’t forgotten. Rangers fans will still say certain things in the street and Celtic fans will have their view.
“People say ‘Peter Lawwell only signed you to rub Rangers’ faces in it’.
“When you are the person at the heart of that, it’s hard to deal with, especially being from Glasgow.
“I hardly left the house that year, especially on my own, because you didn’t know who was looking at you – thinking ‘is that a Rangers or Celtic fan?’”
Having joined the Hoops, Allan has recalled how he was presented with an eye-opening diet and bizarre routines under former manager Ronny Deila.
The Norwegian - a ‘nice guy’, according to Allan – was seeking to implement a ‘high fat’ menu designed to burn more calories during training, with fry-ups the norm at Celtic’s Lennoxtown base.
He recalled: “The diet was something else. I came from working with Flanny [Craig Flannigan], who was at Hibs and is now at Rangers, who had us eating nice, simple, healthy stuff.
“I went from that to Celtic and we had fry-ups out for breakfast. There was haggis, bacon, scrambled egg – Ronny’s favourite was strawberries and cream.
“It was a high-fat diet and was supposed to make you burn more fat for energy. But we were all blowing after 80 minutes, every game!
“We were doing all sorts. We used to dance in front of mirrors before training. You’d hold your hips and left your knees, and I’ve never seen it anywhere since.
“It must be a Norwegian thing!”