Boyhood Glasgow Rangers fan Scott Allan claims he has been subject to as much banter as belligerence since signing for Celtic.
Hibernian rejected several bids from the Ibrox club for the midfielder during the transfer window – not wanting to see him move to a rival Championship club – and the transfer saga ended with a controversial twist when he signed a four-year deal with the Scottish Premiership champions, with the fee reported to be around £275,000 (Dh1.5m).
Speaking at Celtic Park where he was publicising the upcoming Europa League games against Ajax, Molde and Fenerbahce, the 23-year-old spoke about his first few weeks at the Parkhead club.
“It has not been too bad,” said Allan. “I thought it might have been a bit worse, but it has been fine.
“I have kept my head down and got on with my football.
“There have been a couple of things said but nothing too bad, there hasn’t been any malice.
“There has been a lot of humour to be fair, with friends of friends and all that but I knew it was coming so it has not affected me at all to be honest.
“It is just good to be at a big club.”
Ronny Deila’s side dropped out of the Champions League after a 4-3 aggregate defeat in their play-off to Malmo.
However, former Dundee United and West Bromwich Albion player Allan believes there is more than enough in the Europa League to keep the players and fans engaged.
He said: “The Champions League was a bit of a disappointment as we didn’t go through but obviously Fenerbahce and Ajax are big European clubs so there are some big fixtures there and there are still teams to drop out the Champions League so potentially there are some really good games there for the fans.
“We just have to get through the group. Fenerbahce has a really strong team, Ajax have been doing well so hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves and pick up some points.”
Allan has only had a couple of substitute appearances since joining Celtic and is waiting patiently to take his chance.
He said: “There a lot of games coming up so I think everybody will get a chance and it is up to me to take my chance when given it.
“When I signed I said I needed to be patient and I will wait for my chance to come.”
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