Town loan star Daryl Murphy has sacrificed the possibility of playing Champions League football — parent club Celtic have been grouped with Spanish giants Barcelona — for a season in the Championship.
But he has no regrets and is relishing the prospect of a campaign in England’s second tier for the simple reason that it is the most competitive league he has ever encountered.
Murphy admitted his time north of the border had not worked out as planned, stating: "Obviously I wanted to go there and play.
"But I can’t complain too much because when I was out injured two lads came in and they’ve been scoring ever since. You have to hold your hands up and say it’s just a bit unfortunate I didn’t get a chance.
"But there are some good players there, they’ve got a great squad and they’re doing really well, so while it’s been a bit frustrating I wish them all the best.
"I’ve always said that the Championship is so competitive from top to bottom. First could play last and you know it’s not an easy game.
"Every game is hard and I think it’s the most competitive league I’ve ever played in — over the last few years definitely — because every game is tough and you’ve got two games most weeks.
"In Scotland it’s totally different. Now that Rangers have dropped out, I wouldn’t say they are easy games that Celtic are playing, but they are games they are expected to win every week.”
Murphy was not entirely out of the first team picture at Parkhead but realised he would have to leave if he was going to play on a regular basis.
He added: "I played quite a lot of games in pre-season. In the last one I came off with a hamstring injury. I played in the Helsinki game in the Champions League and I was on the bench against Helsingborg the other night so I’ve played a bit.
"I went to the manager [Neil Lennon] and told him I wanted to go and play. He said ‘If that’s what you want we’ll see what’s happening’ and in in fairness to him he was brilliant with me. He understood that I wanted to play, I need to play and there was no point in me staying there and sitting on the bench.”