The Celtic period of Mark Viduka was one of the most turbulent, as well as one of the most talented, and one of the shortest. The now retired Australian international from Croatia was signed to Celtic Park by the late Dr. Jo Venglos in 1998 at £3.5 million.
Viduka’s Celtic bid to sad start as his debut match was postponed due to disagreement with Dinamo Zagreb over the transfer fee.. However when Viduka began playing on the field it was evident that he was a quality player, which netted him 31 goals in 39 games.
While Viduka, however, was a successful and durable performer at Celtic, his time there was largely colored by controversy. A bitter row over his absence from the second half of a Scottish Cup match in January 2000 following an injury led to his unhappy exodus from the club.
In an interview with Maxportal Viduka spoke about his Celtic days saying they were the best fans in the world. He also recounted his experience about playing in Celtic when he was at Dinamo Zagreb and which he said was terrible in the sense that the environment was hostile for the visitors.
Viduka later benefited from Went’s generous offer to play for Celtic, but his stay was short and the club will always remain dear to him. As much as his exit from Celtic had been surrounded with controversy, Viduka remains one of the best strikers ever to grace the park at Celtic.