Rod Stewart wouldn’t bat an eyelid at singing in front of tens of thousands but cutting a ribbon at Celtic Park reduced him to a quivering wreck.
His agent, Bill McMurdo, recalled the day the superstar was asked to officially open the new North Stand in August 1995. He said: “I got a phone call from Fergus McCann asking if I could get Rod to do it. At that point Rod was a closet Celtic fan so I asked the question.
"They were willing to lay on a private jet and they would give him a seat in the directors’ box for life. They were playing Newcastle in a pre-season friendly. I took Yogi Hughes in the car to meet Rod coming off the plane at Glasgow Airport. Rod had his two brothers with him and a couple of pals. I didn’t have space for them all and Yogi, so I kicked him out and he had to get a taxi back to the city!
“We were in the boardroom and Fergus said, ‘We want Mr Stewart to sing a song before cutting the ribbon.’ I told him that wouldn’t be happening, he was there to cut a ribbon, not sing a song.
“Fergus agreed to that but then Rod came up to me and said, ‘Bill, I’m s***ing myself – I’ve sung in front of 200,000 but that’s my job. This is different. I want you to come with me.'
“My response was, ‘Are you kidding me? They’d f***ing hang me from that stand’.”
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