Leicester City and Celtic have had plenty of crossovers throughout the years.
From Neil Lennon to Brendan Rodgers, the Foxes have had plenty of connections to the Scottish giants, all with varying degrees of success. The most popular of all of those, however, is Martin O’Neill.
Appointed as Leicester manager in 1995, the former Republic of Ireland boss spent five glorious years at Filbert Street before O’Neill made the move to Celtic in 2000.
Following the decision to head up north, the Foxes icon then tried to poach several stars, including one Leicester legend.
Matt Elliott reveals how he nearly left Leicester for Celtic in 2000
Matt Elliott was a true Leicester icon. He scored both goals in Leicester’s League Cup Final win in 2000 and is considered to be one of the club’s greatest defenders.
O’Neill naturally wanted to bring him to Celtic and it was a move that appealed to him, although negotiations didn’t go to plan and it led to his former boss hilariously claiming he was dealing with World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane.
Speaking on the Under the Cosh podcast in 2023, he said: “It came to the point where I thought it was going to happen, basically. And I said to my agent: ‘If I’m going to go and relocate and everything, go big.
“(My agent) Jonathan Barnett gets back to me and says ‘Right, Martin will phone you at half past two, don’t miss the call’.
“I pick the phone up, say hello but there’s silence, and it was Martin, who in his voice said: ‘Hello there. Am I speaking to Zinedine ——- Zidane?”
“Martin said ‘Come on Matty, you know I like you – but I don’t like you that much’, I said ‘yeah, agents, you know what they’re like.'”
Matt Elliott and Martin O’Neill fell out over failed Celtic transfer
Following the breakdown in negotiations, Elliott then signed a new contract at Leicester.
It was a move that didn’t sit well with O’Neill who, according to Elliott, fell out with his former captain after accusing him of using the deal to try and leverage a better pay packet with the Foxes.
After signing the new contract, the defender admitted it was “flattering” to be linked with Celtic but claimed he had always wanted to stay with Leicester.
Thankfully though, the two have made up and are now on good terms despite the brief fall out.