An experienced Scottish Premiership goalkeeper has opened up on the collapse of his proposed move to Celtic.
Dundee keeper Trevor Carson was poised to swap Motherwell for the champions back in January 2018.
Brendan Rodgers was on the lookout for reliable back-up stopper, and the Northern Irishman was his top pick.
Carson insists a deal was on the cusp of being sealed, which would've presented 'life-changing' finances to his family.
🎥⚽️| KEEPING THE BALL ON THE GROUND Trevor Carson tells us how a sliding doors moment saw his move to @CelticFC under Brendan Rodgers fall through at the very last-minute! YouTube 📺 https://t.co/eDRkMzOWUm Podcast 🎧 https://t.co/jqfaG6f0fi pic.twitter.com/RJa00pSPJO
— Open Goal (@opengoalsport) September 17, 2024
However, an injury to Aberdeen's No.1 at the time threw an almighty spanner in the works, as Scott Bain joined Celtic from Hibernian instead.
"At one point everything was agreed, it was done," the 36-year-old told Open Goal. "I think me and the missus played a game of 'let's see what we could have bought' after.
"It would have been life-changing, it was a four-year deal. It was a chance to go and win trophies.
"It starts probably three or four days before the window shuts. I remember Hinchy, the goalie coach at the time because he was pally with Stevie Woods.
"The morning of training he said 'Celtic are going to come in for you with a bid'... 'F*** off, no they're not.'
"But then obviously it happened. My agent had said all along 'they're going to get there with the fee'. It was just playing a bit of hardball with Motherwell for the fee but we knew they would get there.
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"Then when they finally did, Motherwell were signing the boy Freddie Woodman on loan from Newcastle. Freddie was getting ready to come up and Joe Lewis got injured at Aberdeen training that day, this was the day before the window shut.
"Aberdeen come in for him [Woodman] and he picks Aberdeen over Motherwell. I'm in the office with Stephen Robinson and Alan Burrows and Robbo is like 'you can't sell him, I'm resigning if you sell him'.
"Listen, we got to a cup final but in the league, we weren't doing great, we certainly weren't safe from relegation. Robbo's point was 'Trevor is my number one, we can't sell him'. The window was shut that night.
"In my mind, it was all done. We played Hibs that night, I came out and had a few missed calls and I knew something was up. Scott Bain was supposed to be on the bench against us for Hibs but they pulled him out and he signed for Celtic because mine had fallen through.
"Brendan rang me the next day and I spoke to him for about 40 minutes. That felt even worse because it was the first time.
"He was adamant he was coming back in for me in the summer, but obviously circumstances...Scott Bain signed and did really well after making his debut in the Old Firm six weeks later. Look at him now."
