More than 25 million reasons why Celtic want Kieran Tierney to leave

You're already fed up hearing about Kieran Tierney leaving Celtic and so am I – but some issues need to be addressed.

Many, in recent days have recalled the time when Kenny Dalglish – King Kenny, as he was known by then – was sold to Liverpool on the eve of the 1977-78 season and the disastrous impact that had on morale.

Mike Maher conveys much of the atmosphere at the time, in the excellent Celtic Star Mag:

The estimable David Potter, writing for the same site, makes references to the issue in two articles, which are somewhat odd as the first reads to me as a crudely sarcastic attack on fans who are upset at the prospect of selling Kieran (I struggle to believe that Mr Potter believes that the double treble would be rendered meaningless or that The Rangers would be likely to win the Scottish Premier League). A second piece seems to demand that Kieran be kept with sincerity. (Perhaps a rethink by Mr Potter.)

Kieran, already the Prince of Celtic Park, has no less potential than Kenny to assume the status of an all-time icon, though the circumstances of Kenny's departure were somewhat different.

As Mike Maher points out, losing Kenny was very clearly a sign that Celtic could no longer keep the best players and there have been few exceptions since then – Henrik Larsson and Scott Brown being two of a small number.

But this is the reality we have lived with since that summer's day in 1977 when Jock Stein was reported to have said, “Kenny, is there anything I can say to change your mind?”, before Kenny uttered a simple, “No,” and signed the contract.

Well aware of the coup in replacing Kevin Keegan with an even better player and the blow to Celtic – albeit for a British record transfer fee of £440,000 – Bob Paisley famously said: “We'd better get out of here before these people realise what we've done.”

(Accounting for inflation, that fee would be approximately £1.9m today.)

But the conditions at Celtic are very different today.

One fact almost lost in the annals of time is that, just prior to 1977-78, Celtic were the bookies' favourites to win the European Cup. Today, we are by no means certain of qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League.

Losing Kieran would make that extremely difficult task, a whole lot harder, particularly as he is the only defender in whom we can all be confident in the most vital games against quality opposition.

On the other hand, the rumoured £25m fee, would go a very long way towards compensating the club for any failure to reach the group stages of Europe's top tournament so it is likely that Peter Lawwell would consider a sale to be a “no-brainer”.

We all know what that money could do for Celtic – buy several more sets of fancy floodlights, for example.

But, seriously, huge money is tempting for Celtic as we operate on a very different financial level from clubs in England.

There would also be the potential added bonus (not the one that goes into Peter's bank account – that one is guaranteed) that players like Moussa Dembele would see the move as encouraging and tempt them to sign on, confident of being released for a big-money move in the future.

That's all very well and, in some regards, positive but what does it really say about Celtic as a football club?

To my mind, it says that nothing has really changed. That the prevailing ethos is to keep just ahead of the domestic competition and see Europe as an occasional windfall.

But what then of Brendan's stated aim of making Celtic a side that can compete in the Champions League? Though we did make it into third place last season for one Europa League round, it is clear that there was little, if any, progress on the European stage.

In fact, you can make a very strong case for saying that Celtic finished last season a weaker side than 12 months previously as the league tables showed.

So, does Brendan want to sell Kieran (and the sincerity of his comments that a club has a moral duty to young players is a given, and his track bears that out)?

There are, as usual at Celtic, more questions than answers.

If the rumoured discussions are true, that can only be because:

a. A release clause has been activated, allowing Kieran to talk to other clubs

or

b. Because Celtic gave other clubs permission to talk to Kieran.

By the rules, there are no other circumstances under which direct contact could be made between the player, who is under contract, and any other club.

If the answer is “a”, we can forget any fanciful talk of the fee going any higher as every club will know that to be the maximum they have to pay. It will also, though, be the figure agreed by Celtic when Kieran extended his contract, signing a six-year deal while just 12 months into an existing five-year contract.

If the answer is “b”, then Celtic are actively trying to sell a player who has only ever indicated his joy at being a Celtic player and his desire to remain.

So let the insinuations against Kieran, leaking from supposedly “in the know” Celtic people and apparently emanating from the club, end now.

Kieran has been an exemplary Celtic player in his years at the club. No amount of accusations of “greed” or claims that Brendan is “disgusted” change that and some of those issuing them should hang their heads in shame.

As a stupid football fan, I want Kieran to stay but I will wish him well if he leaves and hope that he collects the biggest gongs that football has to offer. He deserves everything good that the game can give.

This is not some Islam-Feruz-type of situation and nor has he, for example, signed a one-year deal before promptly opting for a hernia op to ready himself for a move elsewhere, while Celtic paid his salary.

This is a young man who has dedicated himself to his sport and to Celtic but, to some cynics, that counts for nothing when the aim is to protect certain executives by directing fans' ire at the player.

If we do get £25m to add to the £7m for Armstrong and the tens of millions from two Champions League campaigns, we can be fairly sure that a small chunk of that cash will go towards more diamond-mining, hoping to uncover the next mega-profit player as we struggle for respectability in Europe.

Some of those will flop, as several signings have done, and the few gems will be polished up to realise their full market value.

Celtic will continue to tread water in Europe while, hopefully (but not certainly), dominating in Scotland, prompting ironic questions of, “What more do you want?” and continued derisive remarks about our Scottish pub league.

As Hiram Johnson once said, “The first casualty, when war comes, is truth.” The same can be said of transfer speculation.--

Philosophy - and irrefutable proof that fans make football

"Thou great star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shinest!"
 - Thus Spake Zarathustra

It is now so ingrained in the ethos of Celtic fans that anyone who couldn't quote Jock Stein declaring that the two greatest teams in the world, without fans, are nothing would be viewed with deep suspicion.

The smart knew him to be right; the wise wouldn't have needed him to tell them.

But if any doubted the great man, they need only have witnessed Celtic playing Atletico Madrid behind closed doors, in 1985, to understand how surreal and lacking in entertainment value football without fans is.

Contrast the two occasions and results.

In one, in a hostile atmosphere, Celtic produced an excellent result. In the surreal return leg, the absence of Celtic fans was Atletico's edge.

This was, of course, a hangover from one of the worst experiences of my life supporting Celtic - the shameful Rapid Vienna affair.

Celtic were treated unjustly by UEFA but some fans were suckered, too. And how ironic that the actions of a few fans should have had such a history-defining effect on Celtic's future.

It would not be until the reign of Martin O'Neill that European football would be a positive experience for the club.

It is the presence of tens of thousands of fans, packing stadiums, that makes football and a few can undermine the experience for everyone. We have seen much of this over thelast week.

I was looking forward to the match on Saturday and, of course, very keen that Celtic should win. I explained as much on this blog.

But, however hard some try to say otherwise, I didn't have the butterflies, the anxiety or the adrenal excitement that preceded matches with the real Rangers.

None of that - the stupid superstitions, the rituals, the trying to find reassurance from other Celtic fans that we had enough to win - was there.

Yet, we witnessed a fantastic occasion.

And why? Because the ground was full and bouncing.

Tuesday was as cringe-inducing a night of football as you could ever witness. In fact, it was the sort of score against Celtic that I have always hoped never to witness.

But while the anticipation, rapidly metamorphosed into shock and then a worrying, helpless sense of inevitability, the sounds of the crowd made a no-contest into an event.

Because fans, without football, can watch Bake-Off but football, without fans, is nothing.

I have a friend who once played bass with a successful band. (He's not personally famous but  he had his moment in the sun.) He told me that the clichés about performance were true:

"The crowd gives you energy; you give it back to the crowd and then they give it back to you - amplified!"

And this was what we witnessed on Saturday – and on Tuesday (though Tuesday's recipients were not in green and white).

Yes, the game with The Rangers was a grudge match - it had added "local derby" spice and the premature rhetoric had cranked that up.

But it was neither our most difficult nor important match of the season so far. It wasn't even the most serious SPFL test, but Celtic fans spent the rest of Saturday smiling, laughing, celebrating - energised.

But that's not the whole story. All of us who have followed football know there is a joyful difference between witnessing players who can revel in such an atmosphere and those who wilt.

We've all seen them - the talented players who either get intimidated by aggressive fans in away matches or collapse under the weight of expectation, best articulated by Tony Cascarino in his hilarious autobiography. (Tony, you were so funny that I forgave you for the way you performed for us.)

Tuesday saw some do just that. The younger players, we can excuse completely. One or two more established professionals should enjoy no such indulgence.

None of the players at the Camp Nou would gain pass marks. But this was an occasion on which we saw the real “men and boys” in our own team.

Saturday was particularly enjoyable because, when the volume was cranked up to 11, we saw a team with belief in themselves, confidence in their coaches and trust in each other. On such occasions, stars rise.

And it will come as no surprise that the brightest of them all on Saturday was Moussa Dembele.

When we signed a young striker with a solid English championship season behind him, I was encouraged and pleasantly surprised. It was the sort of signing many of us had been asking for in the "on plan" years.

When he stepped up to take that penalty against Astana, many of us who had been around for a while sensed a defining moment.

Saturday was another great test, passed with flying colours and, despite being “psyched out” by the Barca keeper Ter Stegen and placing a mid-level penalty, I have no criticism of him.
Moussa has strength, close control and the ability to combine both to hold the ball in the six-yard box under intense pressure from defenders.

It is exactly the sort of skill that one former Celtic striker, now sadly reduced to being a SkySports pundit, once said he had tried to copy from Kenny Dalglish, believing that the tight confines of the playground had been an ideal training ground. (Not, not you, Andy Walker, nobody is interested in your playing style - I'm talking about Charlie Nicholas.)

People quite rightly talked about the variety of goals from Saturday but another indication of Dembele's quality was his ability to bring difficult long passes under control with his chest.

That doesn't just demonstrate learned technique but the ability to remain calm while 60,000 people are screaming at you.

And I saw no indication that he was dealing with the Camp Nou atmosphere any less well than anyone else. Playing a lone striker role against the world's best team – which is hamering your teammates behind you – is a tough task and Moussa was not the worst player on display.

Tuesday could have crushed the spirit of the team but there are still positive signs.

We have, in varying measures, skill, speed, solidity, creativity and versatility, but not enough of any of them yet. We are a long way from being a top team, as Barcelona showed – but then they have done something similar to genuinely top teams (like Valencia).

But the general direction is positive.

We faced a monumentally difficult task in Barcelona on Tuesday – and we failed.

Let's be clear - anything professional and competitive against Barca would have been a success. None of our players left with their reputations enhanced but while the occasion was too early for some, a few at least fought until the end – as always, Scott Brown – and a few let us down both in terms of performance level and courage (also known as commitment).

I expect that their names have been duly noted by the coaching staff and that they will follow some of their “team hangover” colleagues out the door when an opportunity arises.

You can make mistakes, you can play badly – not acceptable but understandable. If you play for Celtic, you better have the pride and moral courage to conspicuously give everything when things are going against you – for your teammates, your coaches and the fans.

If your hamstring has once troubled you so badly that you signalled to the bench when struggling with your lower-division rivals – and then recovered when you realised your team had used all three subs – you had better make the most of the privilege of representing Celtic against the world's finest footballers.

If an easy win makes you so cocky that you want to run around with a beachball on your head, then don't try to be the invisible clown three days later, when real footballers are running your team ragged – and real men are doing their best to try to combat it.

We have seen two mismatches over the last five days, bringing joy and discomfort to us, in equal measure.

Yet, they have both been great football occasions in their own way, because, despite the malicious jibes of those small-minded officials of a small-time club, overwhelmingly the fans made them so.

Those same fans make football – and footballers – something.

It is encouraging that almost all of our players over the two games recognised that.

Brendan Rodgers poignantly quoted Jock Stein on Saturday on the 31st anniversary of Jock's death (and the fifth anniversary of Brendan's own father).

Brendan and his coaching team – so strong on detail and so demanding of intensity – will surely be reinforcing some of Jock's simple values over the coming months.

--

Video: That's why it matters

Jock Stein’s secret revealed

Virtute et silentio

As Celtic prepare to face Rangers, The Celts Are Here can exclusively reveal that the man causing so much agitation amongst Rangers fans, the late, great Jock Stein, did indeed have access to certain secrets that can only fuel conspiracy theories in Scottish football.

It has long been suspected by many Celtic supporters that Rangers, the Scottish Football Association and friends in the media share a fraternal bond that is rarely openly discussed.

However, it can now be revealed that the power of this association has extended to Celtic – contributing ten league titles and a European Cup. However, many of those seeking to attack Mr Stein for what he supposedly knew were presumably unaware that Scottish football’s greatest ever manager was in fact a Freemason.

The fact is confirmed by the Grand Masonic Lodge of Scotland on its official website.

The revelation will not perturb Celtic fans unduly – a truly inclusive club which has never implemented discriminatory policies, several Freemasons have donned the hoops to great effect.

Why the Scottish media have to this point largely failed to defend the reputation of their celebrated late brother remains a mystery.

Celtic stand up for Mr Stein

Celtic today announced that the club will tackle head on slurs against Scottish football’s greatest ever manager, Jock Stein:

“As the club stated at the recent AGM, this is a poisonous, repugnant, despicable and cowardly campaign. Jock Stein was a great of Scottish football and this campaign is absolutely disgraceful.

“The club did not want to dignify the issue with a detailed response and, having discussed this fully with the Stein family, they have been content to let us deal with it.

“However, it is necessary for Celtic Football Club to respond publicly and assure our supporters that this is something we take extremely seriously.”

This has been going on long enough - I have even seen printed stickers in various locations in the city and it has been noted that the Ibrox band pipes up the tune that prompts the swarming hordes.

For years, Celtic have taken the dignified approach and unfortunately that only works where there is some sort of reciprocal respect. Sadly, that atmosphere doesn't exist in Scotland, especially with regard to the media.

With the vile attacks on Mr Stein’s memory, originating with and largely perpetuated by Rangers fans, we have tried everything: ignoring it, turning it around, considered calls for action and reason, gentle pressure on the club to act. What do we get? DJs using the insult as a cheap gag and now one of Scotland's top selling newspapers using it to sneer at a very dignified type of protest – a wholly positive image of the great man.

For years I have watched Celtic take this sort of behaviour crying out for them to stand up for the club and the people who support it. Far too often, it has resulted in insult being piled upon indignity.

Well, this time enough is enough. Jock Stein gave his life to Celtic and for Scottish football. The least we can do for him and his family is to defend his memory. The club has vowed to do that, notably through talks with the Daily Record management who have promised action:

“Clearly, we abhor this poisonous campaign which is merely a sickening attempt to tarnish the name of one of the greatest figures in Scottish football history. Celtic Football Club will continue to tackle this issue whenever it arises.

“With regard to the newspaper involved, the club has discussed this issue with their senior management, who have assured us that they are regretful as to what has happened and that they will be taking action.”

If that action is not swift and meaningful, the club should use every influence at its disposal: no sponsorship - no advertising - no commercial partnerships of any kind. And direct and public challenges to any behaviour of this sort wherever it comes from.