How Celtic star first ended up in Scottish football - £800 in pocket, dressing-room negotiation and Joe Hart

Veteran stopper Schmeichel joined Celtic this summer on a free transfer, 17 years on from playing as a youngster on loan at Falkirk for a season. Now 37 years old, Schmeichel will come up against the Bairns when the two teams meet at Celtic Park on Sunday in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals.

John Hughes was the man who brought Schmeichel to the Falkirk Stadium back in 2007, with the then Man City player coming in on loan. He played 15 times for the club and make a strong impression. However, one of the chief players in the loan deal at the time was Hart - who was Celtic’s No 1 before retiring last summer - and Hughes recalled how the deal came about.

“When we were at Falkirk we were never away from Manchester, mostly Manchester United watching all their young players,” said Hughes. “That was part and parcel of the job we’d learned from Jim Jeffries and Billy Brown when we were players at Falkirk. Every Tuesday after training they’d be in the car down south looking at players.

“We were looking for a goalkeeper, we had buttons – about £800 in our pocket and we went down to Manchester City. We’re in among all the scouts and I recognised four or five guys in Manchester City tracksuits. I went over to ask them about the goalkeeper [Kasper] Schmeichel. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was Joe Hart! Joe Hart gave him a glowing reference.

“[Kasper] was a different class, watching the game you could see he was just full of himself. Great confidence. After the game, people are leaving but I saw the manager was Stuart Pearce and Brian Rice [John’s assistant at Falkirk] had played with Stuart at Nottingham Forest. I said to Rice, “you’re going in that dressing room, we’re doing it tonight”. Rice got flung in the dressing room. He said we’ve not got much money , we’re down for the goalkeeper. Stuart Pearce said he needs that, that would suit him. As long as he plays, I’ll put it to him. The next day Kasper was up in Scotland.”

On the impact Schmeichel made in Falkirk, Hughes added in an interview on The Warm Up: “The minute he came in, you could tell he was something different. He had a real belief in himself. He mixed right in but he had a real focus on where he was going. A mad trainer, he loved to roll about covered in mud and even when training was finished he’d be taking free kicks and hitting penalties.”

You can watch the latest episode of The Warm Up by visiting https://www.youtube.com/@TheWarm__Up