Former Celtic striker Mark Viduka opened up about his time at the club, his partnerships on the field, and the tumultuous events that marked his stint in Glasgow.

Viduka, who watched his former club under fellow Australian Ange Postecoglou, expressed pride in seeing an Australian coach succeed at such a high level and now making waves in the Premier League.

Reflecting on his own career at Celtic, Viduka’s tenure brings back a mix of memories among the fans. Despite winning a Player of the Year award and showing evident quality on the pitch, Viduka’s attitude was occasionally a point of contention among supporters.

One of the highlights of his time at Celtic was his partnership with legend Henrik Larsson. Viduka praised Larsson not only for his talent but also for his unselfish play and camaraderie both on and off the pitch.

“I loved playing with Henrik”, the Aussie told CeltsAreHere’s Aaron Haire in an interview for BestOnlinePokerSites

“One of the things with him was he was a really, really good strike partner. Not just because he knew how to score goals, he wasn’t a selfish player. Usually, strikers are really selfish and as soon as they get a sniff they have a shot, it doesn’t matter if someone else was in a better position or not.

“Henrik was one of those ones that if he saw you in a better position, he’d always pass you the ball.

“He was a true gentleman. I loved playing upfront with him and I liked his company off the field as well. I was very lucky to have a strike partner like him.”

However, Viduka’s time at Celtic was not without controversy. He revisited the infamous Scottish Cup match against Inverness, which turned out to be manager John Barnes’ last game.

At halftime, with Celtic trailing and the team underperforming, Viduka had a disagreement with the assistant coach that led to him not playing the second half.

“My side of the story is, we were losing 2-1 at halftime, and to be honest, we had been conceding goals regularly before that, not just that game.

“At the time I was the top scorer in the league and a lot of times in games us strikers would be having to score three or four goals just to win the game because we were conceding a lot of goals. That was my point of view.

“We’ve come in from that cup match and we’ve conceded two stupid goals and the assistant coach had a go at me at halftime. He was questioning my commitment to the team, whereas I thought I was, for the whole season and that game, 100% committed.

“I’m a pretty stubborn guy, you don’t get to that level if you’re not. I was a little hot-headed, you know? What I said to him was ‘If I’m not good enough to play, put somebody else on who is.’ That’s what I said to him.”

Viduka also touched on the managerial instability during his tenure, noting the frequent changes in the coaching staff and the unsettling effect it had on the team dynamics.

“My time at Celtic was full of change. When I got there Joe Venglos was the coach, then John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish. We had three or four coaches in a year and a half. The situation wasn’t a good one in terms of the dressing room, there were a lot of unhappy players and a lot of them were unhappy that John Barnes had brought in some of these players.”

Ultimately, despite an offer from Martin O’Neill trying to persuade him to stay at Celtic, Viduka decided to move to Leeds United, drawn by the opportunity to play in the Premier League and leave behind the unstable situation at Celtic.

“It wasn’t a happy camp before Martin O’Neill came and then I got an offer to go to Leeds and Martin called me, I was in Australia, and I didn’t know what was going to happen.

“I didn’t know much about Martin O’Neill to be honest. I said to Martin ‘Look, I’ve got this offer to go and play in the Premier League and the situation at Celtic isn’t a good one’ so that was that.”