Former Celtic defender Jozo Simunovic has issued a heartfelt message about how much the club means to him. Simunovic left the club in the summer of 2020 after his contract expired and is now back playing with Gorica in Croatia. The central defender told a podcast in his homeland about how much Celtic meant to him as well as to the supporters on a whole.
“In the Old Firm games, there is no communication with teammates during the warm-up and at the beginning of the game because it is not worth it, you cannot hear anything from the noise and shouting. After 20 minutes, you can’t say another word because your throat hurts.
“I was reborn at Celtic and they will always stay in my heart. Those people, those fans. It was a completely different culture, a different attitude of people towards the club and football in general.
“Celtic is there as a religion to the fans and the players of that club are above everything.
“After games, we had to wait for two hours and you would think everyone would be gone by then, but the fans were still waiting for autographs.
“There were days when I wasn’t feeling too good and went for a walk in the town and Celtic fans would cheer me up. When I went to restaurants, people paid for my drinks.”
The Croatian defender joined from Dinamo Zagreb in 2015 following Virgil Van Dijk’s departure for Southampton.
The 26-year-old signed a contract extension back in 2017 for four-years and it was expected that the club would exercise the option of the fourth year after his impressive domestic displays; however, Celtic opted to let the player go to make space in the squad for the arrival of Shane Duffy.
Šimunović will be remembered for that tackle on Kenny Miller in the 5-1 win at Ibrox in April 2017 and he left the club having won five Premiership titles and a number of trophies as well. Hopefully, Simunovic can get back to enjoying his football in his homeland.
Once a tim always a tim