It was a transfer that seemed inevitable when Mark Warburton was Rangers manager, Scott Allan from Hibernian to add the finishing touches to his midfield.
The long-time friend was set to be reunited with Andy Halliday, however, things never quite worked out as planned.
Hibs dug their heels in, helped by their former Celtic captain manager Alan Stubbs, and Rangers missed out on Scott Allan, who chose instead to go to the other side of Glasgow.
One person who was shocked was Halliday.
Rangers move for Scott Allan sees surprise for Andy Halliday
Speaking on the Open Goal podcast, the former Rangers midfielder was convinced that fellow Bluenose Scott Allan was heading to Ibrox and even discussed the move during an early season fixture against Hibs.
He was kept in the dark about the transfer to Celtic though.
“Scotty Allan when it was Rangers v Hibs and I’m thinking that he’s signing for Rangers in 3-4 days and we’re talking about it on the pitch.
“The week later he’s got the Celtic scarf above his head.”
Asked by Simon Ferry if he knew anything about the move to Celtic, he said:
“No, I thought he was going to Rangers, next thing you know the scarf is above his head.”
Allan’s career never really reached the heights that many expected it to.
A talented playmaker he might have been but fitness issues always plagued his career and, at 31-years old, he shouldn’t be playing in the League of Ireland.
A diagnoses of type 1 diabetes has made life as a professional athlete a hard one to balance and he has spoken in the past about the struggles this brings.
Celtic might have been the right choice at the time in terms of finances but he was never given a chance and it reeked of a signing made purely so that Rangers didn’t get him.
If he could have his time again, I think pushing for a move to Rangers would have been a better fit for Scott Allan and his old pal Andy Halliday.
