Scotland is notorious for its miserable and wet weather, but Glasgow’s rainy reputation caused one star to turn down a move to Celtic Park.
Scotland might not be the first place that comes to mind when considering sunny days, and Celtic was prevented from winning an England international match by that perception.
Steve Bull, the legendary striker for Wolverhampton Wanderers and a 13-time England international, said he turned down Celtic’s offer because it was “too wet for him.” Bull led Wolves up the Football League and scored 306 goals in 561 games for the Old Gold between 1986 and 1999.
Bull made his debut for England in 1989, joining an elite group of players from the third division. Top clubs in the UK and Europe were drawn to Bull’s goal-scoring ability. However, Bull was never persuaded to abandon Molineux..
Only to Ladbrokes Fanzone, Bull stated, “I am aware of four clubs I could have attended during my career.” Growing up, I was a huge fan of Liverpool because they were always one of the best teams to watch, they wore red, and I always believed that I might have gone to play for them if I had the opportunity. Only because they were my boyhood club can I say that. I’m all black and gold, but since they’re my boyhood group, I believe it would have been a very difficult choice.
However, of the four teams the manager has told me about over the years, Torino was the first. Torino made a bid for me in 1990, following the World Cup, for roughly £1.75 million. For almost six weeks, I had been playing with England in Italy, traveling back and forth and indulging in a variety of foods. Furthermore, to be completely honest, I just enjoyed the comforts of home, English cuisine, and my own English people. Besides, they would never have understood me!
The other team was Newcastle. This was Newcastle; I knew I could have gone up there even before Andy Cole signed with them. I was hesitant to make the move because it would have caused a disruption to my family’s lifestyle, especially since I had just given birth to my first boy.
“Big Ron Atkinson and Coventry City came in as the third club that I was interested in.” They approached me with a five-year offer, but at that point, it was obvious to me to stay with the team because I was making three times as much at Wolves as he was offering me over five. It was easy.
“After that, Celtic was the last team I am aware of to bid on me. It was a huge club, but I just assumed that the constant rain would make it too wet for me to go up there! Certainly, those are the four that I am aware of. I had no knowledge of any other theories or anything else you had ever read.
“Any remorse? Not at all, at all. I don’t have any desire to have played for any of those teams. From the first time I kicked a ball at Tipton Town to West Brom to Wolves to finishing my career, I have no regrets about my career. I never had an agent, and perhaps he would have pushed for me to go to another agency if I had. But I can assure you that I would have dug in!
Bull recalled the time he asked Graham Turner for a wage increase off the back of a successful season, he continued: “When I first went to Wolves, I think my contract was something like £125-a-week. I think I scored something like 17 or 19 goals that season. I was that sheepish, though, I can remember knocking the manager’s door to ask him for more money. I was just shaking.
Alright, gaffer, how you doing? Alright, Steve? He answered. He avoided making eye contact with you. And his eyebrows were the biggest. “May I get a raise? I recently scored 19 goals for our team.” In response, Turner said, I’ll have to ask Jack Harris; I’ll get back to you.
He contacts me again after five days and says, I’ll give you an extra fifty pounds a week. Is everything okay? I exclaimed, Oh my word. It would be an additional five or ten grand nowadays. For background, I would have assumed that the highest paid people at the time would have made a few thousand dollars per week.
