In Both Camps; Celtic

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Leicester and Celtic do have a number of players with a life in both camps. Jim Melrose is one from the early 80’s, who was signed by Leicester moving from Partick Thistle, but later returned to Scotland for a couple of seasons with Celtic, again returning to play in England for several clubs, among them Wolves, Man City and Leeds.

Martin O’Neill made his management switch between the two clubs as also Brendan Rodgers have done, but the two made their moves in a different way to and from the two clubs. Both had tremendous success while at Celtic Park, winning Leauge and Cup trophies as well as taking Celtic into the Champions League group stages.

Jonny Hayes played for Leicester from 2007 to 2009 and later had a spell at Celtic from 2017 to 2020. He added up 45 games for Celtic and scroing 2 goals. Dion Dublin is another that made the switch from Leicester to Celtic, playing short term and half a season up north, only 11 league games, but still ending up with a Leage and League Cup winners medal.

Goalkeeper Ian Andrews joined Celtic from Leicester in a big money move. This happened in 1988 and the fee was £330.000 which was a major fee to be paid for the England U.21 international. Strangely he was not given much trust at Celtic and after just 5 league appearances moving back to England, first on loan to Leeds and later a permanent move to Southampton. Andrews later worked as a physio at Leicester and were also listed as a player, being named on the bench at times, but never recalled in full to first team action for Leicester, not able to add to his 126 league appearances from his first period at the club.

Martin O’Neill made a number of cunning moves when he travelled up north, bringing with him Neil Lennon and Steve Guppy from Leicester. Both players had great impact and made the most of their stay. Lennon later returned to English football for a short spell at Nottingham Forest and Wycombe Wanderers. Steve Guppy made a surprise comeback at Leicester after his time with Celtic.

Packie Bonner became a legend at Celtic, being at the club for 19 seasons, from 1978 to 1997. He played 483 league games while at Celtic Park, and also adding up 80 caps for Republic of Ireland. He represented his country in the 1990 and 1994 World Cup. He was at his time the Republic of Ireland’s most capped goalkeeper. Bonner remains a cultural icon in Ireland for his role in some of the most memorable moments in Irish sporting history, including the win over England at Euro 88, the draws with England and the Netherlands at the 1990 World Cup and the penalty save that sent Ireland to the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first and, to date, only time. His time at Leicester was before moving north and during his youth days, when he came on trials and also played in the FA youth cup.

Rab Douglas was another goalkeeper who joined Leicester from Celtic. He spent his best years in football at Celtic Park, played for Scotland 19 times. He was at Leicester from 2005 to 2008, being overlooked by several managers in that period, only playing 32 league games over those number of seasons.

Mike Galloway played once for Scotland, and moved north in 1987, joining Hearts, after days at Mansfield and Halifax. He was sold to Celtic and had great success at the time, adding up a total of 136 league games and scoring 8 goals. He had a brief loan spell at Leicester during that time, playing 5 league games in 1995, before moving back to Celtic Park.

Former Leicester manager Mark McGhee turned out for Celtic from 1985 to 1989, playing 88 league games and scoring 27 goals. Winning the league twice and the also two Scottish FA Cup trophies to count, during those days. His management time at Leicester was short joining in december 1994 and leaving a year after in the same month.

Carl Muggleton also made a the move up north to Celtic, joining from Leicester in 1994, playing 12 times in league action, before moving south to join Stoke. His tally of league games at Leicester was 46, but most of his life he moved out on loan to several clubs and a nomad man really in between his short first team experience.

A legend of the past Jimmy Walsh, joined Leicester from Celtic in 1957. He was a grand figure at both clubs, winning the league, league cup and FA Cup with Celtic, and later being part of the 1961 Leicester FA Cup final team, ending runners-up. He had a major presence in both camps, scoring 80 goals in 176 league appearances for Leicester, at Celtic he scored 59 goals in 144 league games.

Tony Warner had brief loan spells at Leicester and Celtic, playing 3 league games for Celtic, and 4 for Leicester, it all happened with a space of 11 years in between from 1988 to 2009.

Players in both camps,

Goalkeepers
- Packie Bonner
- Ian Andrews
- Carl Muggleton
- Tony Warner
- Rab Douglas
Defenders
Midfield
- Neil Lennon
- Mike Galloway
- Steve Guppy
- Jonny Hayes
Forwards
- Dion Dublin
- Jim Melrose
- Jimmy Walsh