“I WAS GOING TO TURN CELTIC DOWN TO STUDY FOR A DEGREE - I TRIED MY BEST NOT TO BECOME A FOOTBALLER”

The culture vulture on being branded a ‘weirdo’ by his Chelsea team-mates and why the obsession with data will be the death of the beautiful game

- Interview Matt Nash

Being someone who preferred ballet to the boozer, was your love of culture ever held against you as a player?

I'd say so, but not as often as you'd think. Nobody really cared. They tried to take the rip at Chelsea but I'd give it back. Perfect example: my nickname quickly became Weirdo. I just said to them, “I'm normal, you're a bunch of weirdos.” They respect you for it when you take on a whole group. Football is as near to a meritocracy as there is.

You were released by Celtic as a junior for being too small. Did it feel like the dream was over before it even began?

Quite the opposite, actually! Celtic told me I was too small and was never going to make it and I slightly surprised them by agreeing - there was a complete lack of tears. They said, “What? You’re meant to be annoyed!” What they didn’t know was, I was going to turn them down anyway because I wanted to study for a degree, which I did. I then spent the next two years trying really hard not to be a footballer and failing. I didn’t tell my friends or my girlfriend at the time I was a footballer. All the stuff that goes with football - the fame, the fortune - I found uninteresting. I still do. But put a game of football on and I’m hooked.

Any regrets about never getting to represent Celtic during your career?

Not even a hint. They came back in for me four times in my career, which is kind of nice when someone's rejected you, but it sort of meant nothing in the end. They were the team I supported and it would have been nice, but I can walk down the street in Glasgow without any of that extreme stuff that comes with being Celtic or Rangers and I'm cool with that. It wasn’t to be.

You joined Chelsea in 1983 and won the 1986 Full Members’ Cup. What’s your relationship like with that Chelsea team now?