Jimmy Bullard opens up on failed Celtic move that saw Hoops director 'fall off his chair'

Former Fulham and Ipswich Town star Jimmy Bullard has revealed his father scuppered a deal that would have seen him join Celtic on loan. The former midfielder enjoyed a successful career, largely playing in the Premier League across spells with Wigan Athletic, Fulham and Hull City, and it was during his spell with the latter that he almost made a temporary switch to Parkhead.

Bullard made just 23 league appearances for the Tigers between 2009 and 2011, and he says it was during that time that he was one step away from joining Celtic, with Neil Lennon in charge at the time. But his father, who was his agent at the time, made a mess of the move by demanding more money despite the fact it was a loan deal, meaning he was only entitled to earn the salary on his Hull contract.

"Were you both there when I had that chance?" Bullard questioned Si Ferry and Paul Slane on their YouTube channel, Open Goal. "That deal came, they wanted to do a loan deal and my dad came on board to help me out and he pretty much f***ed the deal up, to be honest.

"He's murder the old man. We went up there and, in a loan deal, we didn't really know that Hull had paid half and Celtic would pay half. But we went up there and the old man went, 'Woah, woah, woah,' because they sold a dream to us, Lenny sold a dream. Talked about the keeper who was on this and that. They were gonna give me the 10 jersey, they put it on me heavy and my dad says, 'If you're paying the keeper that, why is Jim getting this? You don't give him the number 10 to get less than the keeper.'

"'Let me do a deal with you and I'll go back to Hull and do a deal with them'. Lenny was like, 'I don't think it works like that Mr Bullard'. Anyway, the old man asked for like and the director fell off his chair. I asked for big chunks, it didn't happen but I should've gone. I never played for a huge club. I played for some good football clubs but never for that huge club we always wanted to play for. It would've been... I should've done it. The missus was pregnant at the time, there's a few things. I always like to use the money story but it wasn't the crux of it, there were a few things."

Bullard’s arrival could have helped Celtic during the 2010/11 season, with Lennon’s men coming up short to Rangers by just one point despite finishing on as many as 92 points. Back then, Celtic had the likes of Freddie Ljungberg, Scott Brown, Niall McGinn, Kris Commons, Joe Ledley, Ki sung-Yeung and others in their midfield. Podcast host Paul Slane was indeed there at the club, but he did not feature that season, only ever making one league appearances for the Hoops, whole Ferry left in 2010 without managing a senior league outing.