John Hartson on joining Celtic fc  #football #celticfc #celticpark

after Coventry because it was just a brief spell there you went off to Celtic 6 million pound deal did you know what you were walking into and the expectations of what you were walking into and you mentioned the ad adulation that that that you sort of missed when you weren't getting it at West Ham did you get it straight away as soon as you put on those green and white Hoops well I I knew what what a big Club it was and they also knew how big Rangers were um you know two massively supported clubs of around the world with with unbelievable fan base all over the world so I knew uh the volume of the size of the club but nobody can ever prepare you for that there was 2 or 3,000 fans turned up on the day that I signed you know when it was just like I was going in I was partnering Chris Sutton Henrik lass and Chris Sutton you know Premier League winner Golden Boot winner so I'm at celic we got a great team you know we' got a fantastic manager and I and I did very ever so well in under the circumstances cuz the year before I arrived there they they'd won the treble in the year 2000 Martin O'Neal's first year and Henrik and Chris had scored 66 goals between them early ball in there goes Chris Satan a third Celtic goal a crashing header from Sutton so I've got all of a sudden try and break this partnership up and luckily for me Chris's professionalism and the respect that he had for myself i' played against him many of times against Blackburn uh for you know Norwich early on youngsters and everything else and Chris respected my game and I think the general consensus of it was I think Martin obviously always realized that if he could get the three of us in the one team then we'd be a lot stronger so lucky for me you know otherwise that could have caused a enough a lot of problems if Chris had gone in and said no no no last year we won the treble I want to stay up top with Henrik he might have had to get rid of myself or or change it around a little bit I don't know so it was partly down to Chris's um ableness in in in allowing me to come into the team really but I had to score goals to stay in the team play in for Chris Sutton knocks it down for Johns 12 minutes into the second half John hson fire conf front you did score goals as well didn't you and you scored a winning goal at I Brooks very shortly after joining what was going through your mind when you registered that goal in that famous old firm game well I scored nine against Rangers Sam and I also scored the winning goal in four consecutive games against Rangers in the in in the derbies I had a wonderful time the first one is just unbelievable it's you know it's every child's dream in in Scotland you grow up as a kid and you're a Celtic fan your mom and dad buy you that Celtic shirt and you want to score for Celtic you want to play for Celtic and then you want to score against their biggest rivals in an old film Derby and I did it in four consecutive games the winning goal so I had the keys to to one half of the city at one stage you know you you make yourself quite popular with the fans if you scored in the big games that's what you do and I went on did you like that did you like being that guy who could walk around the city and be Mr Celtic well I was doing what I what I was doing I was scoring goals I was scoring goals and that's what I always did and I I'm I happen to scored in this particular game and the biggest games some people would say he the biggest Derby in the world you know ask sunas and gascoin and M and lson know this game is not for the fainthearted hson he scored right at the STS Celtic have the leads in 2006 you also scored the goal that settled the title it was against Hearts talk me through it it was on my birthday it was April the 5th it was golden sten's um first season in charge I'm playing with magic zavi the great polish Striker and we beat hearts One n and that clinched the title obviously we'd won another 30 Games prior to that but that was the actual game that got us to three points where nobody else could catch us and we lifted the title after the game great celebrations the fans stayed on for about an hour Celtic Park was just rocking the fans are throwing scarves and everything to you he's at Wimbledon and when I came when I went to Celtics am I became a winner were you always confident in your own going to work out for you that you weren't you might be going through a small drought in front of goal CU it is always perfect is it being a center forward well not not when I not when I played Sam I always felt I was in a very privileged position and uh I was enjoying the moment I was enjoying the training I was enjoying the games I was enjoying just being in and around football the crowds and going out on a Saturday to these great stadiums and you know trying to make an impact trying to help my team and my managers and things like this listen when I finished playing football then you know i' I'd carried this sort of gambling addiction around with me and um you know I I got I got testicular cancer that spread to my lungs and onto my brain I spent six weeks in hospital at toal emergency brain operations and I had a divorce which is absolutely you feel as if your heart got ripped out of my my chest and stamped all over you know that's how much a divorce takes out with you I'm not somebody who's had this fantastic life I've had problems I I've made mistakes I I've had issues happen to me you know with things like that and towards you know sometimes at I never went and got treatment I never went to a doctor I never seek help really but there's no doubt that I've had depression and I've had a bit of mental health you know issues and there's no doubt about it because of what I've been through you know it's impossible not to uh you know not not to feel you know quite uh down and things like that and at times you know but I I've always just tried to pick myself up really I've always tried to uh and listen that's not the way when you got mental health you got to talk and you got to seek help and get the right treatment and therapy and and everything else and so that's the way to deal with mental health but myself the most important thing in my life now is is my children and my health and that's the most important thing you I had a wonderful career but if I don't do another gig in football I'll be all right you know what I mean I've got a house that's paid for and I'm all right I've got food quid around me I'm not a multi- multi-millionaire I'll get work I'll get something and that's the way I am so I'm a very normal humble guy from Swansea that's what I am who happen to have this unbelievable career I actually get a bit embarrassed when people want the picture and I want an autograph and cuz I'm thinking well I'm I'm just I'm just very very normal but I can't take away the fact that I did have this incredible career broke records played for some of the biggest clubs you know in in Britain can we talk a little bit about the cancer because in July 2009 shortly after your career you you picked up testing cancer it spread to your lungs and your brain and it was it was severe let's not make any bones about it I know from talking to you about it before in the past that you don't really like talking about it to be honest with you it's not something that you want to concentrate on in fact I remember having a conversation with you um in which you turn around and you said to me oh not cancer we're not talking about that again cuz I was fighting them I cry that's why and I'm going to try and answer this and be as strong as I can because it it can make you very emotional you know when you talk about going back on cancer and you know this already cuz we've spoke about it privately but arguably you saved my life because I would never never have ardently and forthrightly challenged my doctors to keep checking me as much as they did eventually and I eventually was diagnosed with testicular cancer three months after you but if it hadn't been for your highly publicized illness I wouldn't have known about it and I a lot of people would have been in that situation thing a lot of people I'm not brushing your ego here are genuinely thanking you for the awareness that you drew I know that it was tough for you and I know it was horrific for your family and and and people close to you but if you can take any good out of it it was that people spoke about it yeah well any diagnosis of of any illness is um there's a there's a lot quicker recovery period the time when you when you can get it early you know you go in you feel anything you feel any lumps you go straight away you don't leave it four years like I did so you allow it to grow you allow it to spread and it's imperative that you go to your GP and you demand to get um an x-ray or a scan um that's where my mistake was uh but to be honest with you I was fathering kids I was scoring goals I was training every day I was I was just unaware that a lump on your testicles could be a Telltale sign of testicular cancer I wasn't aware of that I'm certainly aware now um I know everything about cancer now over the years you know I've raised over a million pounds for the John harson Foundation um so you know the the lads in the charity do exceptionally well uh with the work that they're doing so my message to people is do as I say and not as I did you know copy what I say go straight away cuz it could save your life it could save your life and the amount of people that Sam lovely words that you've just said to me there by thanking me but you don't have to thank me I was only doing what came natural to me I was only putting it out there and and and and bringing a book out a cancer story to help others you know to help moms and dads and brothers and sisters deal with the loss of of of somebody in your family through cancer through testicular cancer in particular um and amount of people that come up to me now and say to me exactly what you've just said John I listen to your story John I read your book John I watched your documentary it was incredible um it was hard-hitting it was emotional it was real it was honest and people go do you know what John you saved my life if I had a listen to that radio piece that morning I had a lump and I didn't go but listening to your story I went you know so that makes me feel very humble and and and obviously you know the fact that I was able to help people in in any type of way so but it was a terrible moment in anybody's life you know um and and the problem that I had Sam I didn't just have testic cancer it had spread onto my lungs and into my brain so immediately I'm I'm you know two emergency brain operations where they they've dug two big holes in my head and everything else and but my wife she don't mind a few scars you know she you know she calls me a hero my wife for the scars and all that stuff so you know it was it was very close at one stage you know I need lost my life

Channel: CELT 88

Views: 8,611

Keywords: celtic fc, rangers fc, old firm, mustang, fyp, trending, viral, food review, youtube shorts, the bhoycie bus, a celtic state of mind, celtic supporters podcast, celtic fan tv, the celtic way, thug life, sky sports, bbc sports, bt sports, ufc, epl, katt williams, clyde 1 superscoreboard, glasgow Derby, muckbang, mukbang, joe rogan

Id: Le3krHlqS8k

Length: 10min 53sec (653 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 08 2024