SCOTT Allan has claimed that ill-feeling between the Celtic and Hibernian hierarchies scuppered his hopes of a loan move to Easter Road last season and accused the Parkhead club of treating him unprofessionally during his time there.

Allan has signed a three year deal with Hibs, where he enjoyed great success during two previous spells, and is hoping to resurrect his career in the coming months after going the entire 2018/19 campaign without playing a competitive match.

The 27-year-old midfielder admitted that he had expected to return to the capital during the January transfer window and revealed he had been left bitterly disappointed when the temporary switch had failed to materialise.

There is a history of player deals between the Edinburgh and Glasgow rivals falling through – most recently last summer when they failed to reach an agreement over John McGinn and the Scotland internationalist ended up joining Aston Villa.

Asked if he thought that poor relations between senior officials at Celtic and Hibs had been the stumbling block in the move, Allan said: “I think that is the issue, definitely.

“I just assumed it would happen because I was surplus to requirements. I did not understand why I was not allowed to go. I was just assuming I was coming back, but I wasn’t allowed. I don’t know what the script was.

“On deadline night I was battering my phone – but nothing happened. I don’t know why. There were other factors, obviously between the two clubs, and I was in the middle of it. It just wasn’t to be.

“When I was being lined up to come here in January, the fact that it didn’t happen was nothing to do with me. I wanted to leave. But it was between the two clubs, the fact that I wasn’t allowed to leave. It wasn’t like there were higher forces working against me or anything. I was just the guy caught in the middle, caught between the clubs.”

The former Dundee United and West Bromwich Albion player was also scathing about the lack of game time that he received during his three seasons at Celtic - and also how he and other team mates who weren’t featuring in the first team were treated.

“If I got a run of three or four games, which I never got even in the Ronny Deila era, and didn’t do it then you can hold up your hands and say you did not take your chance but it was never there for me,” he said.

“Ronny left after the first season, but I don’t think it was him who signed me in the first place. It was just one of those things.

“I just never got the chance so I never got the answer as to whether I would have done well or not. Every other player in that squad got at least two games to show what they could do. I never I got that. It was strange to me.

“Did I ask why? I did, but when teams are doing trebles. You have to take your hat off to them, but I thought there were still chances where I could at least get a wee sniff.

“Latterly, everyone knew I was looking to leave and come back here. There were young lads coming through that they would rather give the opportunity to look to break into the team.”

Allan continued: “Ten minutes before training started, you’d find out who you were training with. There were five or six of us in that situation, finding out on the morning. We trained with the development squad at times.

“You were finding out when you came in the morning, half the time. There was a period after January where five or six of us would come in and ask: ‘Who are we training with?’ ‘It was luck of the draw.

“We didn’t know. Nobody had told us. So we would need to go and find out who we were to join. We talked about it amongst ourselves, just told each other to stay professional and hopefully you would get a change of scenery soon, get out and get yourself back up and running again.

“You are 27 years old. It should be structured. If they want you to train with one group, you should be told: ‘Right, you’re training with them. Every day’. You could get that through your head. But it changed day to day. So it became a guessing game, where you were going to train half the time.

“It ended up me and Gamboa just being told: ‘You guys are in the gym’. I’m not angry. It just became that I was expecting it. It became an easy decision to make about players who weren’t playing. They can train there, they can train over there …

“I felt I dealt with it really well, kept my head, didn’t chuck my toys out of the pram. I felt players like Gamboa and Marvin Compper did the same. We could hold our heads high because we were utmost professionals, regardless of what happened.”

Allan insisted he had got on well with Brendan Rodgers despite not playing a game under the Northern Irishman, who loaned him out to Dundee and Hibernian.

He also recalled how Neil Lennon, his former Hibernian manager who had replaced Rodgers on a temporary basis back in February, had sympathised with him when he took over.

“The relationship with Brendan was fine, respectful,” he said. “It was hard for me to argue about not playing because the boys there had done such a good job over the previous three years. It was more about wanting a clear program for what you were doing for the season; that was the frustrating thing. But you can’t complain too much when the team has won nine trophies in three years.

“Do I think I was treated professionally? Not 100 per cent of the time, no. Definitely not. In football, when you are playing, you are part of the squad. When you aren’t part of that, it is easy to be cast aside and forgotten about. That’s just how it is.

“When he (Lennon) arrived, he said he would get me game time. He did feel sorry for me. Me and a few others, like Christian Gamboa, a great professional who never got a sniff after December. But it wasn’t to be.

“Celtic have young players coming through and would obviously rather give game time to them than someone guaranteed to leave. I think that was the case there.”

Allan admitted he is determined to perform well for Paul Heckingbottom’s side in the season ahead after the ordeal he has been through even though he hasn’t worked with the Englishman previously.

“I just wanted to come somewhere where I am appreciated by the fans and have a good relationship with the people and the hierachy here and I believed in myself that I could make an impact whatever manager was here,” he said.

“It was hard not to get the deal through in January and that has just given me more fire going into this season. I’m happy that chapter is closed and I can move away from that portion of my career.”