Lee Tomlin has enjoyed a good career playing in the Premier League with AFC Bournemouth and the Championship with Middlesbrough and Cardiff City. He began life in football at Rushden & Diamonds and then signed for Peterborough United in League One. Whilst at the Posh, he helped the London club to earn promotion to the Championship, where he also performed well.
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Things could have turned out very differently for the player. Indeed, during his team at Peterborough, as a League One player, he was offered the chance to sign for Celtic. Tomlin was keen for the move to go ahead and told the Chairman that he wanted to leave. Much to his chagrin, the Chairman refused for three very good reasons: 1 – Celtic’s offer was below valuation, 2- Peterborough were pushing for promotion and needed their best players to succeed, 3 – the offer came on the final day and the Posh had no time to find a suitable replacement.
Despite these three very good reasons, Tomlin had planned to undergo a medical that afternoon and was furious at being denied the chance to sign for the massive Scottish club. He allegedly remarked “I could be playing Champions League with Celtic, I want to play Barcelona next week, not Crawley!”
The humourous tale was told by Peterborough Chairman, Darragh MacAnthony, in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live. You can listen to the clip below:
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