Jerome Rothen is a name that will be vaguely familiar to most football fans, as the French winger looked set to be one of the finest talents in European football during AS Monaco's incredible run to the Champions League final in 2004.
Things didn't quite work out that way, and when he hung up his boots in 2013 the only times he played outside of France were two loan moves while he was a PSG player, one to Ankaragücü in Turkey, and the other to Glasgow Rangers.
In 2009 Rangers offered Rothen another crack at Champions League football as he was deemed surplus to requirements, but he would only play four times during his spell in Scotland. Still, this was enough for French TV to invite him, along with Daniel Cousin who had a more successful spell at Rangers, on to talk about their time in Scottish football recently.
After laughing off Cousin's suggestion that Glasgow was like 'little London', Rothen told of a time when a club official came to his apartment and wouldn't let him look at the view of Celtic Park in the distance.
I had a beautiful apartment in Glasgow. But I had a view from the window, far away of Celtic Park. But very far away! I had been there three weeks, one day a guy from the club came round.
He drew the curtains. I told him I needed to have some light in the apartment, but he said 'no, it's Celtic Park.' It was like the stadium had some sort of power.
Daniel Cousin et Jérôme Rothen n'ont pas les mêmes souvenirs de la ville de Glasgow : "Le mini Londres ? Tu rigoles !?" ?? #LeVestiaire pic.twitter.com/2PBp22P44I
— SFR Sport (@SFR_Sport) December 16, 2016
He also told of a time, soon after he first arrived in Scotland, where an interview with a French reporter was quickly halted as they picked an ill-advised location for a chat.
After training we went to a bar. I'd only been there fifteen days. Everybody was looking at us, and I couldn't understand the accents very well. The guy behind the bar pointed at us both and told us we had to leave. I asked him what I had done, but it was a Celtic bar, and they told us Rangers men weren't welcome.
Not being allowed in Celtic bars? Understandable.
Not being allowed to look at a stadium far off in the distance? Yeah, that's a bit much.
Still, himself and Cousin agreed that football in Scotland holds more significance than elsewhere, it just takes a bit of getting used to.
[H/T: TalkingBaws via SBNation]
