John ‘Bomber’ Brown has sensationally explained how he almost signed for Celtic just weeks before moving to Rangers from Dundee.
Brown was a major element of the famous 9IAR run as Rangers dominated the Scottish football scene across the late 1980s and 1990s.
He became an Ibrox hero and won a total of 14 domestic major trophies during his time at the Govan giants.
So it seems unthinkable that if circumstances were different, Brown could actually have went on to represent Old Firm rivals Celtic instead of the Light Blues.
Brown has now told the Let Me Be Frank Podcast that Billy McNeill’s silence after chatting with Brown over a move to Celtic from Dundee was a huge factor in him eventually signing for Gers.
John Brown on Celtic transfer talks
John Brown told former Celtic striker Frank McAvennie: “Jim Duffy got a bad injury and there was a Premier League Select team put together (for his benefit game). You’re talking the end of 1987.
“You had Willie Miller, big Alex (McLeish), Jim Leighton, Tommy Burns, Roy Aitken, Davie Cooper and Billy (McNeill) was the manager of the team.
“We went down to the hotel called the Earl Gray down at the casino near the waterfront (in Dundee) after it for a buffet and Roy Aitken comes over and says, ‘big Billy wants a word’.
“So I go over and he said, ‘I like what I see in you, would you be keen to sign for Celtic?’ And I just said, ‘are you keen to sign me?’
“He said, ‘listen don’t do anything and I’ll be in touch, just give me your landline.’ So done that and the next day I just decided to – I never had a great relationship with Jocky Scott (Dundee manager) at the time – and I just handed in a transfer request.
“Never heard from Billy again and two weeks later down at Morton, Billy is in the stand with Graeme Souness and Walter Smith. And eventually Souness phoned me and signed for Rangers.
“And then after signing for Rangers, I come across Tommy Burns and I said, ‘you were there that day when Billy was talking to me, you were there with big Roy’.
“Burns says he’s (McNeill) probably tapped up a dozen players and never went through with the majority of them. And that was it and that’s where I had to thank Billy after that for the eight titles that I managed to get!
“Do you know what it did? If Billy never approached me, I would never have put in a transfer request and I would probably have never signed for Rangers.
“So I’ve got so much to thank him for doing that. I thought if someone like Billy is looking at me, who else might be interested?”
John Brown’s Rangers stats and record vs Celtic
Thankfully, the stars aligned and Brown was soon turning out for Rangers under Souness and then Walter Smith across much of the 1990s.
As per Fitbastats data, Brown played 278 games for Rangers in total, with 248 of those starts. Brown was primarily a defender but offered his versatility for the side when needed.
He actually had a keen eye for goal and netted 18 times for Rangers over nine years and lost just five times in 26 games against rivals Celtic, showcasing how dominant Gers were in the Old Firm.
