Scott McDonald convinced Rangers move forced Celtic's hand as he lifts lid on Walter Smith chat

He grew up in a Celtic-mad family on the other side of the world but that wouldn’t have stopped Scott McDonald signing for Rangers when Walter Smith made his move in January 2007.

But Motherwell refused to allow the £400,000 deal to go through and within six months, McDonald was a Celtic player. It might have worked out well for the striker in the end, but he is honest enough to admit that had ‘Well sanctioned the Ibrox deal, he’d have had no qualms about becoming a Ranger - and he is convinced Celtic wouldn’t have made a move if Rangers hadn’t in the first place.

McDonald said: “Walter asked the question and at that point I’m thinking I’m not going to get the call from Celtic. Rangers did come calling and I was at Motherwell and I needed to grow as a player and had a wonderful opportunity to play in European football, with a chance to win trophies, so it was something that was of interest to me, absolutely.

“But they say everything happens for a reason and it wasn’t meant to be. Motherwell didn’t want it to happen. At that point there were many signings which were neck and neck between the clubs trying to make sure they didn’t miss out on the local talent that was in Scottish football at that time. Scott Brown, Kevin Thomson, Chris Killen, Derek Riordan and Scott McDonald.

“So that was definitely something that made Celtic turn their heads and think: ’are we going to let that happen?’ It wasn’t just that reason, my performances against Celtic when Gordon (Strachan) was there had been very good.”

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