New Blues signing Stephen Hunt was happier than anyone with Town’s 3-2 win at Blackpool, feeling that he was treated “unfairly” by the Seasiders when he came close to joining them earlier in the season.
Debutant sub Hunt celebrated Daryl Murphy’s late, late winner in style and, speaking in an interview with Irish radio station Newstalk 106 (26mins, 25secs), he explained why: "I was excited going to Blackpool where I was unfairly treated, I wasn’t treated nice by them. That gave me a bigger incentive.
"If anyone has seen the goal celebrations, I was like a raving lunatic when we scored the third goal. I jumped about four or five foot in the air and it was directly pointed at the chairman [Karl Oyston] because he was the main one who didn’t treat me well. I was delighted to get the three points.”
On reflection, the 32-year-old says it was probably a good thing that Tangerines defender Gary MacKenzie headed his goalbound injury time shot over the bar moments before Murphy's winner.
"If that had gone in I would probably have been sent off,” he added. "I’d been booked on the halfway line and my goal celebration would have been something else!”
Having impressed in a trial, Hunt looked set to join Blackpool in September but the deal broke down with manager Paul Ince citing the Ireland international’s wage requirements: "The demands he wanted were just ridiculous for someone who had only played the last 10 games at Wolves.
"Myself and the chairman said we weren't prepared to pay that amount of money for someone who's been injured for quite a while and was coming here to show me his fitness.
"Don't get me wrong, he's a lovely lad and a good kid, but if those demands had been a little bit lower, we'd have done the deal four or five weeks ago."
Hunt, who previously played for boss Mick McCarthy at Molineux, joined Town on a two-month play-to-be-paid deal on Friday.
Photo: ITFC