Celestine had a good career in football, starting his career at Anderlecht before moving to Chelsea in 1997 for £2.25m. During his time in London he won the clean sweep in England with one each of the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup. In 2005 he joined the Magpies and had an indifferent two years at the club, which included a 3 match ban for slapping Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt. Eventually, plagued by injury problems, the club and player parted ways following a settlement that allowed him to become a free agent, before moving to LA Galaxy. His time in the States was cut short however, as although he'd signed a 3 year deal he only ever played 45 minutes of a pre-season game, getting the hook after conceding a penalty and getting a yellow in the process. Rumours of a bust up over the lack of first class travel and standard of facilities he'd become accustomed to seemed to lead to his rather hasty departure. Despite training with Portsmouth for a period he wouldn't play professional football again. He was capped 27 times for Nigeria during his career plus a further 7 times for the countries Olympic squad