WALKING via Parkhead as a brand new Celtic signing is the dream for any Hoops supporter rising up.
But for one boyhood Celtic fan, the actuality didn’t fairly dwell as much as the fairytale he’d spent a lifetime imagining.
Instead of a grand unveiling, he was snuck via the BACK DOOR of the stadium and denied the enduring second of holding the headscarf excessive above his head till weeks after he had really put pen to paper.
Charlie Mulgrew was Neil Lennon‘s first signing as Celtic supervisor in the summer time of 2010.
But in line with the club, he was solely their SECOND arrival beneath the previous Hoops captain.
It ought to have been a monumental homecoming for the versatile defender, who had been launched by his boyhood club 4 years earlier.
After spells at Wolves and Aberdeen — plus a stint on mortgage at Southend United — Mulgrew lastly secured a free switch return to Parkhead to fulfil his lifelong ambition of enjoying for the first crew.
However, he wasn’t given a hero’s welcome.
Instead, he was saved beneath wraps in a secret deal and wasn’t formally introduced till AFTER Joe Ledley had additionally joined the ranks.
In a candid chat with the Welshman, Mulgrew opened up on the unusual circumstances of his return and why Celtic saved him in the shadows.
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Speaking on his Pitch to Par YouTube channel, Mulgrew revealed: “When I signed for Celtic, I was the first signing beneath Neil Lennon but they didn’t need to announce me first as a result of it was like an underwhelming signing.
“So they introduced Joe (Ledley). I’d signed a month or so earlier than Joe.
“They announced Joe and fans were buzzing and I got snuck in the back door at Celtic Park.”
Ledley added: “I couldn’t signal as a result of I noticed my contract out so it was July 1 (that I signed).
“Lenny told me you were signed two weeks before but they didn’t want to announce it.”
The retired Scotland star admits he holds no grudges over the club’s resolution.
He continued: “I would have been probably the most underwhelming signing ever, although. I perceive it.
“Sol Campbell, Jimmy Bullard, yourself and other big names were linked, so if they announced me then the fans wouldn’t have been having that.”
Mulgrew, in fact, proved to be something but underwhelming.
He turned a talismanic determine throughout a six-year keep, profitable a clear sweep of Player of the Year awards throughout a sensational second season.
Whether deployed at centre-back, left-back, or in midfield, he was a key participant for the crew — netting 9 objectives and offering 9 assists in 44 video games that 12 months.
By the time he finally moved on in 2016, the person who was snuck in the back door left with a trophy cupboard boasting 5 league titles and two Scottish Cups.
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