Celtic made mistake letting McNAmara go - Gazza
Former Rangers star Paul Gascoigne insists Celtic have blundered by allowing Jackie McNamara to leave for Wolves on a Bosman free transfer.
The Hoops captain, who was awarded a testimonial last month against Ireland after 10 seasons with the club, made a shock departure from Parkhead after rejecting a one-year deal offered last week.
The Scottish international signed a two-year contract for the midlands club despite a last-ditch attempt by Celtic to retain his services.
Gascoigne, signing copies of his autobiography at the Rangers shop at the Braehead Centre in Glasgow, insists his old rivals should have made the 31-year-old a priority signing.
He said: “Of course Celtic have made a mistake letting him go. Jackie McNamara was a great player, I played against him many times and he was a tough opponent. He was fit and had a good knowledge of the game.
“I don’t know what’s happened there but I thought that if anyone was going to stay with Celtic for the rest of his career, it was going to be Jackie.
“Jackie said on the radio that he didn’t feel he was wanted and it’s a shame after you’ve shown that much loyalty to a football club. Who are Celtic going to replace Jackie McNamara with?
“When we won the seventh, eighth and ninth championships at Rangers, we won it with mostly Scottish players.
“We had Brian Laudrup and myself and a few other foreigners but the backbone was Scottish because you need to know who you are playing for. You need to know the passion of the club and the supporters.
“I was the highest paid player when I came to Rangers and I strutted around the pitch for the first 10 minutes and one of my team-mates shouted, ‘hey Gascoigne, you’re not on holiday here’.
“And at half-time when you’re cruising 2-0 and the manager comes in and says, ‘listen this isn’t good enough, you should be winning 4-0’.
“I thought to myself, ‘wow this is what it’s like to play for Rangers’. That’s what players need to know and when they come to play for a team like Rangers or Celtic.”
Gascoigne, however, admits McNamara will take some time to settle away from Parkhead.
He said: “Jackie is away down the motorway the way I was when I left Rangers. And I tell you what, I had made the wrong move.
“I was crying going down to Middlesbrough even though I loved the manager Bryan Robson.
“I hope it works out for Jackie but he’s left a massive club behind. He’ll be thinking about it for a while.
“You don’t spend 10 years at Celtic or Rangers and just forget about it.
“It’s a shame that he didn’t feel wanted and it does hurt your heart but I hope he gets over it quickly.”
