Stubbs to say Bhoys thank you

Alan Stubbs is looking forward to the opportunity to show his gratitude to Celtic.

Everton defender Alan Stubbs is looking forward to the opportunity to show his gratitude to Celtic.

Stubbs visits Parkhead on Sunday for a pre-season friendly and it marks his first return to the club as a player in five years.

The veteran centre half spent five seasons with The Bhoys, who stood by him as he waged a battle with testicular cancer.

The 34-year-old remains grateful for the support he received from the club and their fans, and wants the chance to say thank you.

"I've been back as a supporter and watched them in Old Firm games and European games," Stubbs told Sky Sports News.

"I've never really had the chance to go back as a player and say thank you.

"Sometimes, no matter what you say in words, it's not really enough to say what you want to get across.

"I'm going to have a chance to say thank you and hopefully show how much the fans were appreciated at the time sending in letters of support.

"The physio at the time, unfortunately he's not there any more, Brian Scott was amazing. Roddy the doctor was fantastic and couldn't have done enough.

"Martin O'Neill, who was what you would expect of Martin, was just different class."

Ahead of the friendly, Stubbs also paid tribute to O'Neill's managerial successor Gordon Strachan for taking Celtic to the SPL title last season.

He added: "To come back from going out of Europe and going on to win the title the way they did speaks volumes for Gordon Strachan really."