No regrets no fears .. goodbye
DUNDEE LATEST ALLAN WON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER OVER ENGLISH HITCH
Scott Allan insists he holds no regrets over joining Celtic as he fights to get his career back on track at Dens Park.
The 25-year- old last week joined Dundee on a seasonlong loan deal having fallen out of the Parkhead picture.
Allan hoped to kickstart his career last term after joining English Championship outfit Rotherham on a similar deal.
But the playmaker admits he picked the wrong club and made just five starts on their slide towards relegation .
Allan wanted to impress Hoops gaffer Brendan Rodgers with his displays in England so he could push for a place in the Celtic side on his return.
He has now been forced to look elsewhere for first-team football but the midfielder isn’t in the mood to mull over why things haven’t turned out the way he would have liked since joining Celts.
Instead he’s itching to show the kind of form that convinced West Brom to hand Dundee United £ 300,000 for him five-and-a-half years ago.
Allan said: “I don’t think you can have regrets. It was a big opportunity for me.
“At the time I believed I was good enough to get into the Celtic team.
“It has turned out not to be just now but I can’t regret it. I want to look forward and that means doing well here.
“That also means finishing in the top six and getting a good cup run. I’m hoping to get the fans off their seats watching some good football.
“I don’t think I got a fair crack of the whip in my first year. I was coming off the bench quite a lot.
“When Brendan came in we had a lot of good chats around the pre-season games.
“The chance to go to the English Championship, play every week and come back to Celtic seemed like a good one.
“But the club I picked wasn’t right for me.
“That’s all in the past now. I just want to get on with my football, get happy and get back playing again.”
Allan sees his return to Tayside under Neil McCann as a fresh start having begun his career at Tannadice.
Such is the strength of Rodgers’ Treble-winning squad, he concedes his chances of staking a claim for a first-team slot at Celtic are limited.
He said: “I’d encountered Neil McCann at a few games and chatted about football.
“It’s only over the last week I heard he was interested and had a sit-down with him.
“I like the way he wants to take the club forward and I want to be a part of that. I would love to go back to Celtic and play but I have to be realistic.
“They’ve gone the full season unbeaten and they’re looking to strengthen further.
“All of the players there have had a great season but I didn’t have one last year.
“So it’s a big year for me. I wanted to get my career sorted as soon as possible and that means getting games and hopefully making an impact.”
Allan and his former Hibs boss Alan Stubbs were reunited at Rotherham last August when the newly-appointed Millers boss snapped him up on loan.
Stubbs was sacked barely two months later while Allan was left out in the cold.
The 25-year-old admits things didn’t work out but believes his time on Tayside can bring out the best in him again as he gears up for the new campaign.
He said: “All the other teams were good in the Championship.
“I’d played in it before with Portsmouth so I knew what to expect. But the way the club was set up, it just wasn’t for me at the time.
“What did I learn from it? I learned how to play rugby!
“No, it was just one of those ones – you make a decision but it isn’t meant to be.
“I feel like this is a similar situation to when I joined Hibs.
“At that time the move I made to West Brom hadn’t worked out.
“From there I took a step back, went to Hibs and it turned out to be the best thing for me.
“I’m looking to do the same again here.”