Hibs striker Marc McNulty has revealed the Celtic connection that lead to him signing for the Edinburgh side. The Reading striker joined Hibs in January 2019 and discussed the reasons behind deciding to join the club to a podcast hosted by Graham Falk.
The 27-year-old striker spent his youth career between Celtic and Hibs before starting out in the professional game at Livingston. However, McNulty moved down south and has been based in England ever since. In January 2019, Neil Lennon identified the need to reinforce Hibs’ strike force and signed the Reading striker.
“I spoke to Neil Lennon on the phone. He rang me and, being a Celtic fan, I’m obviously a big admirer of him.
“It was great to have a chat, he was brilliant on the phone.
“He was like: ‘right, we’ll let the agents and clubs sort it now, hopefully I’ll see you in the next couple of days’.”
Lennon left Easter Road after everything was all but agreed meaning McNulty was in limbo until Hibs got in touch to say they still wanted him.
“I think it was the next day my mate said: ‘Neil Lennon’s not at Hibs anymore’.
“I saw it on Sky Sports News that Neil Lennon had left Hibs and I thought: ‘typical, this has just been my luck!’.
“But the club’s recruitment staff rang me straight away and said: ‘we still want you at the club regardless of the manager situation’. I had my heart set on coming to Hibs and getting into the Scotland setup so I did that.”
Despite not being able to play for Lennon, McNulty paid tribute to the Celtic manager for his personality and character.
“When you speak to him he’s got that character and the sort of personality where you want to hear more and work with him.
“That was the case for me, I knew straight away when I spoke to him. You get that feeling when you speak to managers, you just know.
“I got that feeling from him and from then I was dying to work with him but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
“He’s been through a lot testing stuff, but it just shows you the strength of his character.”
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