Shaun Maloney has disclosed that his departure from Celtic was premature, which resulted in a challenging initial half-year at Aston Villa.
Maloney started his career at Parkhead, but it wasn’t until Gordon Strachan took over as manager in 2005–06 that he truly began to shine. He was crowned Scotland’s Player and Young Player of the Year after contributing 14 goals to Celtic’s league and cup victories. However, after failing to reach an agreement with Celtic for a contract extension, Maloney found himself back at Aston Villa, this time under his old manager Martin O’Neill, just six months later.
But things didn’t go as planned for his Premier League debut, and after just eighteen months, he was back at Celtic. Maloney struggled with injuries during his second spell in Glasgow, which limited his ability to play regularly. He made the decision to depart again, not wanting to ruin his name at the club he loved. On this occasion, he traveled to Wigan and defeated Roberto Martinez to win the FA Cup; Martinez would subsequently be his assistant at Belgium.
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Maloney, who is back at the Latics as manager, said to FourFourTwo: “I think the first six months were tough for me because I wasn’t prepared to leave Celtic.” Gordon encouraged me to give it a serious try when we met, and I’m glad I did because we had a fantastic young team with players like Gabby Agbonlahor and Ashley Young. I returned to Celtic shortly after, but I was plagued by injuries and felt like I was disappointing everyone. Ultimately, I required a new beginning.”
Maloney made his Celtic debut in April 2001 during a 3-0 victory over O’Neill’s squad at Ibrox, but he would have to wait to get into the starting lineup. “In the early 2000s, Scottish football was in a great place,” he recalled. I recall that John Hartson and Henrik Larsson were both hurt prior to the UEFA Cup first leg against Stuttgart, and I was given my first significant start.”
“I scored and we won 3-1. I entered the game in extra time as we lost 3-2 to Jose Mourinho’s Porto after defeating Liverpool en route to the final. I haven’t watched that championship game ever since. Four days later, we lost the league title as well, to Rangers, who beat us on goal differential. Though tragic in retrospect, what a wonderful season it was for a child to go through.”
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