Former Celtic flop Eyal Berkovic reckons Scottish football had the 'worst league in the world' and branded it 'terrible' when he recalled his nightmare spell at the Hoops.
And he revealed he still can't believe he had to leave West Ham after future Celtic hero John Hartson booted him in the face.
Celtic splashed out a huge sum of £5.75 million back in 1999 under John Barnes, but the move turned into a nightmare for Berkovic when Barnes was sacked following an infamous Scottish Cup loss to Caley Thistle and he was frozen out by Martin O'Neill before eventually signing for Manchester City.
And Berkovic - now a top TV pundit in his Israeli homeland - certainly doesn't have any fond memories of his time at Parkhead.
He said: "I received an offer for big money from Celtic. I didn't receive an offer from the big clubs in England so I was pushed into a corner.
"It was more than double what I earned in England. I couldn't refuse.
"It was a mistake. Scotland had the worst league in the world... terrible. Celtic and Rangers were great, but the league was suffering because of that and you constantly play against teams that are much inferior to you.
"We were kicked out of the cup by a small team and they fired the manager who bought me.
"There were 60,000 fans booing my every touch in the next game.
"In a game, I received a pass and jumped over the keeper when challenging. There was more booing and I reacted back at them. That was the end at Celtic for me."
And Berkovic revealed what happened in the infamous training ground incident at West Ham when Hartson kicked him in the head after a bust-up which was caught on camera. Berkovic recalled: "It's a crazy story. Photographers are not usually allowed into training, but they had come that day to an interview with me.
"John was actually my best friend in the team. His kick was to the shoulder and went round to my face and that's it. If he had really kicked me in the face, he would have broken my head.
"He was very strong. It was embarrassing, I didn't realise it was filmed.
"One day I saw the Sky trucks next to my house and wondered what was going on. It became public and there was a big mess.
"But West Ham didn't handle it properly. I felt they were on his side.
"After that, I couldn't stay at the club anymore."
