PO Box 306, Glasgow, G21 2AE, Scotland
Dear NTV,
The article in NTV 132 about whether the signing of Craig Bellamy is a test of the board's ambition raised some interesting issues but may have asked the wrong question.
Consider the following. At the time of writing, Lambert Douglas and Valgaeren are all out of contract at the end of the season and are not being offered new deals. This, together with the departure of Juninho, will free up room on the wages bill but will not generate any transfer fees for Celtic. Lennon and McNamara are also out of contract. They are in discussions with Celtic about new deals but reports in the English press suggest that both could receive offers from the Premiership for next year, at Bolton and /or Sunderland (if Mick McCarthy's team win promotion). Again there would be no transfer fees payable if either moved on.
Celtic signalled in the last transfer window that they were willing to listen to offers for Hedman, Sylla and Fernandez. Even if we could offload all three, there would be little transfer income from these sales (Well, how much would you pay for them? Probably a lot less than Martin O'Neill did, but we'll come to that.) There are a number of young players who have broken into the first team squad but failed to establish themselves, often because of injury. These include Maloney, Beattie, McManus, Wallace and Pearson. Even when fit they find themselves on the bench at best: either O'Neill's judgement is that they are not good enough to establish themselves as first team regulars or they will become frustrated at the lack of opportunity and seek to move on. In either case none of these would command serious money in the transfer market if sold.
Varga, Agathe and Laursen are out of contract in June 2006. This makes a total of 17 players who have some sort of question over their Celtic futures. I have not considered that the club would entertain offers for those few players who could command big money in the market, because there are so few of them and they are hopefully going to be the heart of the team for the next few years (Petrov, Balde, Sutton).
I suggest that the questions to be asked are: 1. Given that Celtic are not going to raise much in transfer fees under current assumptions, how much money will the Board make available to rebuild the squad over the next 2-3 years?
2. If the answer for this year is 'around £6 million', does it make sense to spend all of it on one player ?
3. However much money there is, does Martin O'Neill's recent record in the transfer market lead you to believe that it will be used wisely?
These questions need to be answered: we are not just short of money, we are also running out of time.
Yours
JOHN McGRATH
Worthing
Unsung Hero
Dear NTV,
After the home defeats to our most bitter of rivals, the name Didier Agathe sprung instantly to my mind. Why was this so? Because - even as the most barracked player during his appearances - Didier is in my opinion one of the best right-sided players in Europe and his absence (especially against the Hunnite forces) was hugely missed.
In attack, but especially in defence, Didier has proved himself time and time again. The way he is treated is simply out of order. The sight of his piercing runs has to be one of the memories that will last from this generation of Celtic players. He should be held in the same high esteem as O'Neill's 'elite' of players. His return to the side could have a huge say in where the title ends up. For the love of God, get well soon!
LORD LUCAN
Greenock
lack of inconsistency
Dear NTV,
In an interview in the Daily Ranger following the recent Motherwell v Rangers match Rangers manager Alex McLeish says he felt Motherwell's Richie Foran should have been sent off in the incident that led to Barry Ferguson being red-carded. Foran's tackle from behind prompted an angry reaction from the Rangers player. McLeish told the Rangers News: 'Barry was given a second yellow for raising his hands. Yet Foran was guilty of the initial tackle, that he was booked for, and then raising his hands but did not get a second yellow.'
McLeish insisted he did not want to make a major issue of it, but added: 'We are not going to make a song and dance about it, even though a few decisions went against us because we know on another day they can go for you. In saying that, we were troubled by the inconsistency of that situation.'- So wee Eck is troubled with the inconsistency of that situation? Understandably so, as it is in stark contrast to the consistency in which it's always the other teams who get players sent off against Rangers or where it's always Rangers who get the outrageous penalty decision. So the way he goes about not making a song and dance about it is to go bleating to the press about Foran and demanding the SFA use video evidence to ban Paul Quinn of Motherwell. Doesn't really add up does it?
McLeish must be assuming that the SFA have officially recognised the red card offence of breathing too heavily on Peter Lovencrap after the trick he pulled on Thompson last November. I for one wouldn't be surprised.
SON OF
HACKWATCHER
by e-mail
laptop loyal
Dear NTV,
Following on from your interesting article on the Laptop Loyal (NTV 132) I thought of some more irritating members of this group whom I have had the dubious pleasure of reading/ hearing over the years. I sometimes wonder how they have the gall to claim allegiance to particular clubs and I'm sure the instances below are just the tip of the iceberg, but I think that the way the Hearts 'penalty' incident was portrayed by this lot is relevant to what I've written.
James Traynor, for example, says he supports Airdrie. While accepting that this is possibly true, I can't help noticing how his views have changed over the years from his once excellent column in the Herald to his almost weekly diatribe about Celtic. He sure knows his readership.
Andy McInnes is apparently an Airdrie fan as well. Any more of them in the press just won't do! Hugh Keevins claims to have supported Celtic and is the author of three books about the club. I'm not expecting a fourth. Apart from anything else, he's continually guilty of lumping us in with the Huns.
Gerry McNee, of course, also wrote a few books about Celtic but he seems to support anybody who's winning. We'll see what he makes of Chelsea now that man United are hitting the buffers.
But why are so few of them willing to admit they support Rangers? Iain King outed himself when he talked about being at a Rangers v Dundee United League Cup final in 1984. He might have been supporting the tangerines but I think it's more likely this particular Lon Chaney lookalike prefers oranges. Chick Young obviously supports St. Mirren - as he never tires of telling us - which explains why he devoted himself to writing his masterwork 'Rebirth of the Blues'. Gordon Waddell apparently supports Falkirk. I remember looking to his column on the Sundays following Celtic's midweek run to the UEFA Cup final. He covered just about every other subject under the sun but not a mention of our progress. I also recall that he failed to mention the number of union flags on display at the Celtic v Falkirk cup semi-final played at Ibrox some years ago. At the first game, especially, I thought I'd turned up at a Celtic v Rangers game by mistake.
I could go on, but I'll leave it at this less than magnificent seven. Oh, alright, one more. Graham Clark referred to Celtic as 'squatters' during our Hampden year. I'm willing to bet Inverness weren't called this when they occupied Pittodrie.
Yours etc.
LORD BEAVERBROOK
Glasgow
minority report
Dear NTV,
Find enclosed a cutting from The Herald of Tuesday 12th April 2005.
Could it be that this was an attempt by the Huns to deflect attention from their right wing element and racist FTP bigots?
Apparently the Hungarian parliament knocked back the application, although I'm not sure if it was because of their ridiculous claims to be 'peaceful and gentle' or because they were led by a high priest that failed to convince the committee.
Yours in
Celtic,
JAMIE McCARDLE
Glasgow
get it on ebay
Dear NTV,
I thought I'd like to share the following story with you, which all came to pass when some Rangers memorabilia fell into the hands of a good Celtic Supporting friend of mine. A few years ago this friend of mine - who goes to Celtic Park with me - met a lovely girl from the Lanarkshire area and through time a good relationship developed between them. Her previous relationship he discovered was with an Affiliated Rangers Supporter (from now on referred to as ARS) and they often joked about how contrasting her two relationships past and present were.
To cut a long story short her situation changed after splitting with ARS and a house move was in the offing. As of two weeks ago my mate proceeded to empty the house and much to his amusement, while emptying the garage he came across a load of Rangers memorabilia. He duly set about finding a hammer with which to set about said memorabilia when he had what can only be described as a mid hammer blow moment of clarity. Why cut his nose off to spite his face?
Subsequently he arranged photos of the memorabilia - which included signed Albertz photos, Ibrox paintings pre reconstruction, a signed aerial photo of Ibrox and, from my memory, a Signed 1972 Euro Cup Winners winning Peter McCloy original jersey no less.
I know for the ordinary individual you wouldn't swap your old ZX spectrum 48k for these items but he did think there would be some saddo out their to fleece. He posted these items on ebay and steadily made a tidy sum in anyone's money which will go towards the 2005/06 season ticket.
The last transaction was completed with a huge smile. In packing the photos in particular he decided to thank the good lord for intervening in his plan to trash and bin the goods and thought a fitting tribute would be to slip discreetly a nice photo of King Henrik himself in full technicolour as well as one of the Pope - no mean player in his day either - in behind the Rangers picture. Not only has he made a tidy sum of money but he can smile to himself smile gleefully knowing they two admirable footballers are nestled nicely up on a dedicated adoring Rangers fan's wall.
I'd like to thank all the dafties who bid on the items during the auctions which I - however hard it was - upped the ante by throwing in a few bids myself. Thank god I wasn't the highest bidder right enough because I couldn't have afforded those true blue authentic items as I've been saving to get my ZX spectrum upgraded. But I do have action shots of the printed photos being inserted in behind the true blue photos. Suppose I can put them up on my wall.
To the winning bidders thanks for your contribution to Celtic Football Club for next season and I hope the items add to your collection. Remember when you change the frames not to lose the rag and batter the wife!
JOE FINDLAY
Coatbridge