I’m an ex-Celtic star who played with John Hartson – we had to sweep up his pubic hair when he trimmed his privates
JOHN HARTSON is regarded as a hero at Celtic – but the academy players had to sweep up his pubic hair.
Paul Caddis was in the Hoops’ youth set-up when Hartson was banging in the goals for the first team.
The Welsh striker scored 109 times for the club in 201 appearances between 2001 and 2006.
But Caddis, who made his Celtic debut in January 2008, has less fond memories of Hartson.
That is because part of the role as a youth player at Celtic Park meant cleaning up after the senior stars – including when Hartson trimmed his privates.
Caddis, 35, told the Undr The Cosh podcast, Caddis revealed: “John Hartson used to trim his balls and we used to have to move balls out the way to sweep them.
“He’d trim up and there’d be all these ginger pubes.”
Caddis was talking to host John Parkin about the jobs scholars used to do as part of their apprenticeship – with Parkin revealing he would force teenagers to shave his hairy back at York City.
Caddis, now Hereford manager, added: “I would love it to go back to that way. I worked with Fleetwood academy. I know the 18s do jobs and that but they’re doing nothing compared to what they used to do.
“It was better the old way, that’s why they’re such little a***holes now. They’re all chirpy, too much too young and all the rest of it.
BETTING SPECIAL – BEST SPORTS BETTING APPS IN THE UK
“Nowadays, academies are almost built alongside first teams so you lose that nervousness.
“You used to idolise a lot of the boys in the first team. You don’t see that now because you’ve probably grown up with them over the last three or four years.
“We would never go in for lunch until after every first-team player had left the building. It would be half two, three o’clock sometimes because one of the first-team players was still in the gym.
“I think that’s the way it should be. It’s the first team’s building, that’s the way I see it, but nowadays it’s becoming too snowflakey.”
One-cap Scotland international Caddis played 24 times for Celtic, including against Barcelona in the Champions League on his home debut, before a journeyman career in the EFL.
Hartson, meanwhile, is still regarded as a hero at Celtic, where he won three league titles.
The forward turned pro at Luton and then had stints with Arsenal, West Ham, Wimbledon and Coventry before moving north of the border and returning to finish his career at West Brom.
He also represented Wales 51 times, scoring 14.