Early exit from celtic led to difficult months at Aston Villa- SHAUN MALONEY

Early exit from celtics led to difficult months at Aston Villa- SHAUN MALONEY

Maloney began his career at Parkhead but did not reach his full potential until Gordon Strachan took over as manager in 2005/06. He scored 14 goals to help Celtic win the league and cup double, and was awarded Scotland’s Player and Young Player of the Year. However, just six months later, Maloney was back with his old manager Martin O’Neill at Aston Villa after failing to agree on a contract extension with Celtic.

However, his first season in the Premier League did not go as expected, and he returned to Celtic after only 18 months. Maloney struggled to play consistently during his second stay in Glasgow due to injuries. He chose to depart again since he didn’t want to destroy his reputation at his favorite club. This time, he headed to Wigan, where he won the FA Cup with Roberto Martinez, whom he would subsequently assist in Belgium.

Now back at the Latics as manager, Maloney told FourFourTwo: “I probably wasn’t ready to leave Celtic and found the first six months difficult. I spoke to Gordon and he urged me to give it a proper go – I’m happy I did, as we had a brilliant young side with the likes of Gabby Agbonlahor and Ashley Young. I soon went back to Celtic, but had loads of injury issues and thought I was letting people down. In the end, I needed another fresh start.”

Maloney made his Celtic debut in April 2001, when O’Neill’s side won 3-0 at Ibrox, but he would have to wait his turn to get into the first team. He said, “Scottish football was in a good place in the early 2000s.” I recall Henrik Larsson and John Hartson being injured ahead of the UEFA Cup last 16 first leg against Stuttgart, thus I got my first big start.”

“We won 3-1, and I scored. We then defeated Liverpool to advance to the final, where we lost 3-2 to Jose Mourinho‘s Porto, with me coming on in extra time. I’ve never seen the final again. We also lost the league title four days later, with Rangers beating us on goal differential. It was terrible, but thinking back, what a fantastic season for a child to have.”

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