Ikechi Anya should ditch English Premier League and move to Celtic

Everyone thinks they know Ikechi Anya’s story.

Dumped on the scrapheap by Wycombe Wanderers as a teenager, Anya plummeted into non-league hell.

It seemed his career was over before it had even begun then Glenn Hoddle saved the day.

Moving to Hoddle’s academy in Spain was a desperate last throw of the dice, an all-in gamble that could have left Anya bust.

Instead, he hit the jackpot, and now the Watford and Scotland star is on top of the world and ready to take on England’s best in the Premier League.

And it’s a measure of just how far the wee man has come that the Tartan Army were stunned by his omission from Gordon Strachan’s starting line-up before last Saturday’s vital Euro 2016 qualifier in Dublin.

So it’s a Roy of the Rovers fantasy seemingly come true.

Only it isn’t the whole truth because John Gorman is never mentioned.

That’s something Gorman, Hoddle’s long-time friend and assistant, is philosophical about.

But his justified pride in Anya’s stunning rise is clear and credit is long overdue.

“You can’t not give Glenn plaudits because it was his academy,” said Gorman.

“He deserves it. It was his big idea to start the academy and he wanted me to help him because one of my strong points was helping players improve.

“But if I hadn’t pushed for Kechi at the very start, no-one would even have thought about him.

“Because of that, I do take a bit of pride when I see him pulling on a Scotland shirt and playing so well.

“I’d had Kechi along with Russell Martin at Wycombe as a teenager and I never forgot him. I always thought he had something very special.

“When I got the sack and Paul Lambert took over, for whatever reason, Kechi was released.

“That’s not a criticism of Paul because I really like him and I rate him as a manager, but I couldn’t believe where Kechi ended up.

“A year later, he’s playing non-league and Glenn and I are talking about the academy and I’m saying: ‘Listen, this is a player I really rate’, so we took him to trials.

“I really pushed for him and he got in. But I used to get a wee bit embarrassed because, if anything, I would be pushing him too much.

“In the end, Jim Magilton wanted me to assist him at Ipswich so I left the academy to move back to England. That was probably best for both me and Kechi.

“Whenever I would speak to Glenn after that, he would always tell me how well Kechi was doing, how he was coming on both on and off the pitch.

“It wasn’t just that he was improving as a player, it was that he was learning Spanish and really making an effort to make a life for himself. He always had that about him.

“When you look at him now you can see his hard work has paid off. It’s a fantastic story.”

Watford’s promotion to the Premier League has made it all the more fantastic and Anya will be desperate to prove himself at that level.

But with Celtic reportedly interested, Gorman admits there’s a chance his former pupil will be tempted to jump ship.

“I keep telling him to go to Celtic. He’s the kind of old-fashioned type of winger the fans in Scotland love,” said the former Swindon boss.

“He’ll always have the odd quiet game, that’s to be expected from a winger. But the Celtic fans would love him anyway.

“If you look at the history of wingers in Scotland, the very best ones become legends.

“The likes of Willie Henderson, Jimmy Johnstone, John Hughes they’re all heroes. Any player who plays out wide with pace and takes defenders on, Scottish fans love them.

“That’s never going to change and Kechi fits that mould.

“When he puts the Scotland shirt on you can see he’s playing out of his skin. He loves it and the fans can see it too.

“That makes him very special and he’s got the ability to back it up. I think he’d be a perfect fit for Celtic.

“But now he’s made it to the Premier League with Watford, he’ll be keen to try his luck there. That’s just the kind of guy he is.”

Anya’s chances of establishing himself in the Premier League are far from certain, however.

With a new manager in place and a healthy budget at his disposal Watford may look to revamp their squad in an effort to secure their top-league status.

Any such efforts could see Anya marginalised but Gorman believes the winger is capable of stepping up.

Gorman said: “The problem with the Premier League, especially now with the money that’s flying about, is that teams can just go out and buy whoever they like.

“Even Watford, they can easily discard the players who have got them to the Premier League if they feel that’s the way to go.

“It would be nice to see Kechi do well with Watford. But they might be thinking about building a team to stay up rather than having a flair player who goes at people.

“I might be wrong I hope I’m wrong but we’ve all seen players from promoted teams being overlooked. Too many times, to be honest.

“They should be given a chance. We’ve seen with guys like Wayne Routledge at QPR and Nathan Dyer at Swansea that if you give these players a chance, they can flourish.

“I hope that happens with Kechi because he definitely deserves it.”