Celtic a home from home but Gordon Strachan’s accent left me asking team-mate ‘What the f***!’

Former Celtic hero Georgios Samaras admitted Parkhead became like a home from home when he joined from Manchester City – but admitted he had no idea what boss Gordon Strachan was saying at first!

The Greek played a huge part in Hoops success during six years in the east end of Glasgow, lifting eight major honours. And Samaras said it is where he felt most settled during his career. But the 39-year-old took time to get to grips with the Scottish accent and had to ask team-mate Gary Caldwell what Strachan was telling him to do in the early days of his Celtic career.

Samaras, now 39, shared the hilarious tale, in an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes Fanzone, as he said: “Understanding the accent was the biggest challenge at Celtic... I had no idea what Gordon Strachan was saying to me! I never felt like it was difficult for me to settle into life in Scotland, to be honest, because like usual, I just tried to keep myself to myself. My focus was always on developing as a player and enjoying the peace when I wasn't playing. The hardest thing for me, at first, was just understanding the accent!

“To be honest, in my first two weeks, I couldn't understand a lot at all! The gaffer was Gordon Strachan, so it doesn't get much more difficult than that in terms of the accent! I remember in the first couple of days, he kept giving me this instruction, which just sounded like 'Sammy, bull-oot, bull-oot!'. I had no idea what this 'bull-oot' meant so I just couldn't understand what he was trying to say to me. Anyway, in my second or third game, we get into the dressing room and, again, he said to me, 'Sammy, take the ball, hold the ball, bull-oot, let's start from there'.

"So once the meeting had finished, I went to Gary Caldwell and