The defender passed up the chance to reunite with McLeish at Rangers despite an impressive spell together at Hibernian.
When Alex McLeish swapped Hibernian for Rangers in December 2001, it seemed for all the world that one of his trusted on-field lieutenants would follow him from Edinburgh to Glasgow.
Ulrik Laursen had thrived in Scottish football at the heart of the Hibs defence, signed on a free transfer by McLeish in the summer of 2000. Two years later however, he earned the club a cool £1.3 million profit by swapping the capital for the second city, as reported by The Telegraph.
Though few expected Laursen to choose Martin O’Neill’s Celtic over his former manager’s new employers across the city at Ibrox.
“I knew there was interest because Hibs renewed my contract, but I wasn’t really interested in going anywhere because we had a nice life in Edinburgh, and we’d bought a beautiful house and had our friends close by,” the five-time Denmark international told the Glasgow is Green podcast.
“Then I heard that McLeish was wanting me to sign for Rangers, and an agent told me that O’Neill wanted me to sign for Celtic. It’s not everyday that both Old Firm clubs want to sign you.
“I thought Celtic was the better club for me at that time. I thought the team was better, I thought the players were better. So that’s why I chose Celtic. And also I’d enjoyed playing against Celtic more than playing against Rangers, so that’s why I chose the club.”
Laursen started the 2003 UEFA Cup final defeat to FC Porto and also played a major role in a Scottish Premiership title and two cup successes.
However, after rapidly falling out of favour, the defender returned to Denmark with Odense. Rangers, meanwhile, lifted the league title in two of Laursen’s three seasons at Parkhead with his former manager McLeish wrestling a degree of domestic domination from a Celtic side that appeared to have far more quality interspersed throughout the squad.
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