Exclusive: Interview with former West Brom and Celtic striker Marc-Antoine Fortune

Marc-Antoine Fortune is a player that needs no introduction on a football website. The Frenchman played for a handful of different teams such as Celtic and West Brom, in an impressive career that spanned 21 years.

The French striker played for a handful of different teams in his career, which included spells in France, Holland, Scotland and England, with the likes of Lille, Celtic and West Bromwich Albion.

I was fortunate enough to conduct an interview with Marc Antoine recently, as he spoke openly about a wide range of topics, such as his time at Celtic, and his spell in the Conference with Chesterfield.

1.) After an impressive start to your career in France you had your first spell abroad in the Netherlands signing for FC Utrecht how did that move come about?

I needed to progress and step up in my career. The Eredivisie is a good league for that as you are playing against some top European teams.

2.) After a return to France with Nancy you made your first move to the UK in 2009 joining West Brom on loan, did you always want to play in England?

When I started my career I made a plan, and the Prenier League was part of that plan. When you’re young you dream of playing against the best, and the best play in the Premier League.

3.) You then moved to Celtic in the summer of 2009, how many teams were interested in you? What persuaded you to choose Celtic?

After my loan at WBA I had a lot of interest from premier league teams Fulham and Hull City for example, that offered me great contracts. But once Celtic came in it didn’t take long for me to make my decision, even if I could earn more by staying in the Premier League. I decided to follow my gut and passion for football, how could I miss to play for a legendary club like Celtic.

4.) You then returned to West Brom in 2010, was it an easy decision to return to the Hawthorns?

After a year in Scotland my passion for football told me that in was missing playing each week against big teams like Manchester United  Manchester City and Chelsea for example and that I wanted to go back to the Premier League.

I was enjoying my time in Glasgow. Playing in front of 60,000 fans, scoring in the Old firm, playing in the Champions League are all great memories. But 1 week out of 2 you would play away in the league in front of 5000 people or even less which was hard. But I still love Celtic, and cherished my time there.

5.) After leaving West Brom you joined Wigan, how do you look back on your time with Wigan?

Wigan was the continuity of my time in UK, they were going down and playing for promotion back to the Premier League so it was a good challenge for me. I moved after WBA didn’t offer me a new contract which was a surprise because I was one of the main players under Steve Clark.

I had 2 great years at Wigan even if we went down in the second year. Thee people in the club are fantastic and hearing of their recent financial struggles made me sad.

I also good memories with Wigan, one community shield and an FA Cup semi-final so I can look back fondly at my time their.

6.) After spells with Coventry and Southend you joined Chesterfield in the Conference, after playing in the Premier League and Ligue 1 how strange was it playing in the Conference, did it bring any challenges?

I was 38 and looking for a last challenge. Despite Chesterfield being in the Conference they were a professional team with Championship facilities so it wasn’t hard for me to go there and help them to push for promotion. Unfortunately we didn’t achieve this but that’s football.

I’m a humble person ever since I started to play football. I have played in the lower leagues in France, and when I was at WBA in the Premier League I went on loan to Doncaster who was in the relegation zone in the Championship so I could play football, as I wasn’t playing a lot at that time for West Brom. So for me it doesn’t matter, the most important thing is to play football and share my experience with the younger generation.

7.) You put in some excellent performances in your career what would you say was the best match of your career?

There is a lot! (lol) But I would say the Old Firm game in 2010 as I scored and we won the game. It was magical.

8.) What have you been doing since leaving Chesterfield in 2019?

For 20 years I woke up everyday happy to be able to do something that I love and to get paid for it, and today I’m lucky enough to be able to wake up again happy everyday and live from my other passion, Art.

I’m a collector for 10 years now and I use my experience and knowledge as well as my professional network to introduce footballers into Art.

You could say I’m the bridge between football world and art world.

It was a real privilege to conduct this interview with Marc-Antoine. I’d like to thank him for his time to answer my questions. It’s clear to see he still holds a big place in his heart for football, and his former teams respectively.

A top player on his day, Fortune’s goal scoring record speaks for itself, with the 39 year old never looking out of place, wherever he has played.

A tall and powerful striker, Fortune proved to be a real attacking focal point for all the teams he played for, and found arguably the best form of his career in the UK with Celtic and West Bromwich Albion respectively.

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