Steven Pressley has always considered himself to be one of the most unpopular players in all of Scottish football but was still shocked on the day he signed for Celtic when Neil Lennon refused to shake his hand.
And, speaking in the latest episode of our hit new podcast Off the Record, the man who is now in a key development role with English Premier League high-fliers Brentford, also reveals how he’s never been forgiven by Rangers supporting friends for choosing to sign for Celtic.
On the Lennon snub, Pressley said: “On my first day, I got on the bus and was shaking hands with everyone. Neil Lennon refused to shake my hand. He was quite serious - it’s not as if he was playing around with me. I think Neil was one who liked to test you a little bit but we became good team-mates and I really like him.
“I saw a lot of things in Neil that I could see in myself, but he did that and I accepted it. We’d had some real battles, some words on the field of play. On one occasion, there had been a spitting incident involving Rudi Skacel and Neil and I think I defended Rudi to the hilt on that. And Neil wasn’t particularly happy with it!
“They had some big personalities. Chris Sutton used to tell me all the time that I’d be working until I was 70. He used to talk about his money a lot and how I’d still be working til I was 70 - he was actually quite right! When I look back at some of my behaviour on the pitch, some of the things I said to people, I really don’t like it.
“But it’s what I did on a Saturday. It’s like turning up at the theatre - you become a different character. That’s what I became. I actually gave myself the nickname of ‘The Daddy’ on the pitch. I used to tell the opposition: ‘I’m The Daddy’. I look back at that and think: 'Come on, Steven!'. But I did it to try to play with people’s minds and intimidate them. But I do cringe at some of the things I did.
“I was quite unpopular in football. I never pandered to supporters of clubs I’d played for previously. Dundee United fans hated me because I’d go up there and play the villain. I wouldn’t go looking for their adulation. I remember going back to Ibrox and they put the ball out for an injury. We gave them it back in the corner but I told our team to get up and press them in. It was only to get a reaction from my team, who I thought had been flat.
“But people just judge you on what you’re doing and it didn’t go down well at the time. I accept that people probably saw a different Steven Pressley, but I was different for that hour and a half. Most players at the end of their career, if they go into coaching there are always openings within their former clubs.
“Well, when I went back to Dundee United with Hearts, the Dundee United fans resented me. The Hearts fans resent me and when you’ve been to Rangers and Celtic, they don’t particularly like you, so my ‘ins’ to football clubs aren’t particularly good! It’s probably another reason I stayed in England!”
Pressley started his career at Rangers and became one of a handful of players to have crossed the great divide when he left Hearts for Parkhead in December 2006 - following in the footsteps of Alfie Conn, Mo Johnston and Kenny Miller.
And he said: “I used to travel with Scott Brown because I moved to Edinburgh in that period to get away from it a little bit more. There were certain people I had met during my time at Rangers that always kept in touch with me. Sending Christmas cards, birthdays and speaking occasionally. They never spoke to me again when I went to Celtic.
“I lost complete contact with them and there were a number of them that went missing during that period. But I was an Aberdeen supporter growing up. I wasn’t a Rangers or a Celtic supporter. It was football to me, but for others I understand it runs deeper. Not for me. It’s football.”
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