Dylan McGeouch has revealed that a plea from Rangers legend Walter Smith was still not enough to stop him returning from Ibrox to his first love Celtic.
McGeouch started his career at Parkhead before moving to Rangers in 2008, but the Hoops fan was persuaded by Celtic boss Neil Lennon to return in the summer.
McGeouch introduced himself to the Celtic fans in style last week with a wonderful solo goal after coming on as a substitute to seal a 5-0 win against St Mirren, and was at Parkhead on Friday morning to publicise the club's Christmas coaching courses.
Asked if former Rangers boss Smith, who stepped down at the end of last season, had tried to keep him at Ibrox, the midfielder was keen to stress it was not a snub, but said: "Yes, I was in a few meetings with Rangers before I came here and there were a lot of things said.
"It is hard to say what without going into details but they wanted to keep me. It wasn't saying no to him (Walter), we didn't really speak about Celtic, it was more about what he could do with me with Rangers.
"I didn't play them (Celtic and Rangers) off each other, it was really about what Rangers could do for me and as a Celtic fan I just thought Celtic was the place for me. I wouldn't move to a club for the financial side, you would need to be happy and obviously Celtic was the team I grew up watching so I thought I would be happy here, which I am.
"Once I made my decision, it was that if you are good enough you are old enough, as you see with James Forrest, so that gives you an incentive. I need to keep doing well in training but it is up to the gaffer.''
