Adam Virgo was at his most vulnerable when he signed for Celtic. Just months after his dad was attacked and killed by a burglar at his home, the versatile defender needed a safe space to play his football. Virgo had a support network at Brighton, as his teammates rallied behind him to get him through the most awful tragedy of his life. So it's understandable why the stopper would have reservations about moving north of the border after five successful years with the Seagulls. Virgo knew the size of the opportunity that awaited him after Gordon Strachan pulled out all of the stops to convince him to make the £1.5million switch to Parkhead. Looking back, Virgo believes he was sold a false dream. A debut season on the fringes in Glasgow followed by two years out on loan at Coventry City and Colchester United was not what he had signed up for. In a candid interview with the Under The Cosh podcast, Virgo said: "I remember meeting Gordon in Brighton and I always remember this, he said to me, 'What's your main worry?'. I said, 'I'm not going to play, that's my main worry. My dad's only just died and I don't think I'm quite ready for it at the moment.' "He went, 'I promise you this, you're going to go up as my number one right back. And then when you go from there, you're going to go into centre half.' I remember looking him in the eye and I said, 'You promise me that?' and he went, 'Yeah'. "So I said, 'Well, I'd be stupid to turn down the move.' That was then the start of me going up there and it not really materialising as what he promised. And then the way that it ended... I just thought it was pretty wrong, to be honest. "Considering what I had just been through and he said the club would look after me. Celtic's an amazing club, and there are some really, really good people there. Maybe today you might be looked after more. "But at that stage, when I went from Brighton to Celtic, you go from 6,000 to 60,000 [fans]. You go from not being recognised to being recognised everywhere that you go. "You go from jumping into a cab with a driver that's a Rangers fan and being told to get out, to then getting into a cab that is driven by a Celtic fan and they don't charge you. But no one ever sits you down and goes, 'This is what it's like, this is what you need to be prepared for.' "Just the way that it ended... I felt really let down, not by the club, but by Gordon because I really felt that I just wasn't given the opportunity there. It was just a really, really difficult time. "Then you go on loan to Coventry and you're a nomad again. From that security of Brighton to being promised this and then going everywhere. From there, I lost a lot of confidence, and I just think my career went the other way after that because of those incidents." Virgo wasn't given a fair crack of the whip and felt unfairly treated by Strachan. It soon became clear that they would never see eye-to-eye. He recalled: "There was an incident in America at the end where we went pre-season training and we had a game against DC United. Freddy Adu scored a hat trick against us that night. I didn't play that night and we lost 4-1. "We were training at Harvard University the next morning and we like properly ran. He killed us that day and he called us in at the end. I always remember this, he went, 'When Celtic lose, it goes around the world. It's not like a team like Brighton when they lose and no one cares.' "I didn't even play, I'm just stood there and Stilian Petrov is looking at me thinking 'What's he said that for?'. I went up to Gordon afterwards and I said, 'You're bang out of order for saying that. Funny enough, when Brighton do lose, it makes a massive difference because a win bonus [back in those days] could contribute towards your mortgage'. "Then I train with the reserves and come in on my own. I just thought from that meeting and what you promised me to where it ended up, I felt massively shafted. I would rather at the end of the first season for him to say, 'Listen, it's not worked out. We'll pay up your contract and then you can go.' But that last season, I'm with the reserves." Predominantly a central defender, Virgo was deployed all over the pitch at Celtic after struggling to shrug off his 'utility man' tag. After being promised he would be the first-choice right-back, with a view to moving into the heart of the defence, Virgo felt like he was thrown to the wolves at times. He said: "I only played 12 games. I started right back, then I went to centre half, then I went centre-midfield, then I played up front. I played in every position. And then I got man of the match at Motherwell. This is where I knew my time was up. "Back then, January was the African Cup of Nations. I'd been speaking to Gordon and a guy called Stephen McManus came into the team from nowhere, and I wasn't really getting much of a chance. "I thought in that January period with Bobo being away, that would be the time that I'd get my run of games. I played against Motherwell, I get man of the match, play the next game and then just get bombed. I just didn't really get a run of games. "But when you're playing for different positions, it's hard to get settled in. When I talk about the levels, when you're a utility player... I am for a game. "But when you go to Celtic, when you go to that level... we played Manchester United pre-season and I played the second-half up front and you're playing against Vidic and Ferdinand... I'm not a centre forward, you know what I mean? He called me out after that game and I said, 'I'm not a centre forward.' It was just a bit of a mess really from start to finish." There was a clear breakdown in relationship that was beyond repair. But Virgo wasn't the only player who clashed personalities with Strachan. He added: "I think the one thing that Gordon didn't like was confrontation and intelligent confrontation. And that's what he didn't like. I could argue with him and that's why he fell out with Aiden McGeady, because Aiden was quite switched on upstairs. "When he had a conversation with Aiden, Aiden could come back with something quite quickly and he'd have to think about it. He would rather you call him X, Y and Z and get really angry rather than be calm and and say, 'Okay, fine. But you said this, you've done that, and he didn't like that. "Manager-wise, in terms of tactics and coaching, different class. But man-management skills, very, very difficult."