MARK Fotheringham was once the most sought-after young talent in Britain.

In fact, he was at the centre of an old-fashioned football tug-of-war between Manchester United, Chelsea and Celtic.

So keen were the Red Devils to land Fotheringham that none other than Alex Ferguson phoned the family home to get the deal over the line.

They were fighting a losing battle though. Fotheringham, who hails from Lochee in Dundee, had already made up his mind to join his beloved Hoops.

Despite travelling to Old Trafford and meeting Ferguson - as well as fellow Scot Darren Fletcher - Fotheringham stuck to his guns and signed for Celtic.

"I was scouted for Celtic since I was 10 years old," he told The Celtic Way. "I had a lot of clubs chasing me. There was even a newspaper article written when I was 14 stating that I was the most wanted kid in Britain. At one point I had a straight choice between Manchester Utd, Chelsea and Celtic.

"Alex Ferguson even phoned my dad at one point. It was funny, he called the house one Sunday afternoon and my brother answered. The voice at the other end said 'Hi, it's Mr Ferguson, I'd like to speak to your dad, please'. 

"My brother just said 'Dad, it's Alex Ferguson on the phone'.

"My dad replied 'Alex Ferguson? Don't be so fucking stupid, son!'

"We couldn't believe it. It was surreal.

"I was still in at Celtic training most days - Willie McStay was my coach - but on the school holidays I went down to train with United. I met Ferguson and also the likes of Darren Fletcher."

As well as fellow English top-flight side Chelsea, a team much closer to home were sniffing about too: Rangers.

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Fotheringham chose to dangle them on a string a bit by training with the Light Blues every Thursday night - but safe in the knowledge he was to remain Paradise-bound.

"I trained with Rangers for a period and their head of youth development joked with me about me wasting his time training with them because that was never going to happen," Fotheringham, now 38, recalls.

"I was always going to sign for Celtic. It was my club, I've supported them all my life. My family are fanatical about it. I come from Lochee, which is a huge Celtic area in Dundee. As soon as they came in for me that was it, my mind was made up.

"Once you put that Celtic shirt on, electricity goes through your body. You feel superior. That's the way I've always felt about it.

"It was just a great grounding with Willie, Tommy Burns, Danny McGrain and Kenny McDowall. I enjoyed some wonderful times with the club."

Although he became the youngest Celtic first-team player ever when he made his debut aged 16 in May 2000, Fotheringham made just two more appearances for the Parkhead side despite being highly rated by the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Burns and Martin O'Neill.

The timing of his senior breakthrough just happened to coincide with the summer of O'Neill's arrival and his subsequent spending policy meant there was less emphasis on giving homegrown talent their chance in the first team.

Fotheringham is not bitter, though. He still rejoices that it happened at all.

"It was really unfortunate because when I tried to break through into the first team Martin O'Neill arrived and he was embarking on a big spending spree," he said.

"Not many of that [youth] side broke through back then, to be fair. But it was a great education to be even training with his Celtic team.

"It was like the World Cup final every day in training... I loved it."

Read the full Big Interview with Mark Fotheringham here