Celtic in for John McGinn? If you know the history, the move would make sense

Anyone who reads this irregularly-published blog more than twice a year can tell you that I never shy away from saying, "I told you so".

I make no apology for doing so as I simply have a near-perfect memory for those occasions on which I have been proved right.

A cynic might suggest that's because they are so few in number but that's not true.

In fact, they are too many to count on the free fingers of my hands while I type this.

One of those times was my enthusiastic support for Scott Brown, from the outset. Scott's critics are a lot quieter these days but I still have their names in a sealed envelope in my desk.

But the memories some hold of the days when Scott signed (for ten times the price of Kenny Dalglish) seem to have dimmed.

It went like this. Neil Lennon, the most-targeted player in Scotland - by opponents, fans and media alike - was coming to the end of his historic captaincy of Celtic and Gordon Strachan was openly musing that he would leave a gap that would be extremely difficult to fill and perhaps impossible for one man to replace.

What Gordon meant was that he wanted the talented, battling young engine-room of Hibs - Scott and Kevin Thomson - to provide the foundation for the future of Celtic.

We now know that Celtic's Peter Lawwell allowed himself to be beaten to the punch by Walter Smith, seeing Thomson head off to Ibrox, by his own admission, taking the first offer to get away from John Collins.

Many - not least Derek Johnstone - expected Scott to follow his close pal and team-mate but the player had other ideas. Massimo Donatti - a good servant to Celtic - was recruited by Celtic's clever scouting operation deeming him a player who could do what Thomson did.

Apparently, this cleverness had omitted to account for the impact on both players and Celtic's ability to replace Neil with what might have been to Celtic and Scotland a midfield partnership to be spoken of with the same relish as the centre-backs, Miller-and-McLeish, was to Aberdeen and Scotland fans in the 1980s and 90s.

Personally, I had always quietly admired Thomson, though I much preferred Scott. (I recall an English friend spluttering that Thomson must be a player if I was complimenting a guy who had played for Rangers.)

While I may have digressed, Celtic are coming to another watershed moment, though planning for it with rather more foresight than when Scott was thrust into one of the most unforgiving positions Scottish football could offer and basically told: "Perform!"

Referees and a minuscule sense of fair play permitting, Scott's legs have a few seasons left to run but the void that he will leave will be no smaller than when Neil hung  up his boots for Celtic.

He is Celtic's captain, unquestioned leader, icon and, in this blogger's opinion, still our best player.

So, we do need to plan for that sad day when Scott finally takes his last bow for Celtic.

And it would be utter folly to try to find a replacement at the time. A comparable player would be far beyond the means of Celtic and, even then, by no means guaranteed to make that step  successfully, never mind immediately.

So, we absolutely must plan for a slow transition. And that's where John McGinn comes in.

Forget false comparisons between McGinn and Stuart Armstrong, which many have made. Armstrong has all the technical tools to be a top footballer but had never shown the stomach to be a Celtic captain or midfielder ready to take responsibility for all the good and bad that may happen to the club.

And, aside from that fact, they are players of very different styles.

The more direct comparison with Armstrong would be the vastly-superior Olivier Ntcham, who is a footballer of the highest quality. So much so that I believe that next summer's clamour will be for the signature of Olivier.

To turn a metaphor on its head, Olivier could be described as a velvet fist in an iron glove. He has such a good touch with both feet, as well as superb balance and reading of the game, yet his powerful physique enables him to show these skills when under intense physical pressure.

He shares many of these attributes with Moussa Dembele and these are highly-prized at the top levels of the modern international game.

So, appreciate Olivier while he is here, as I expect Europe's top clubs to be using a battering-ram on Celtic's front door, rather than knocking.

That leaves Eboue Kouassi, for whom I still retain hope. Eboue has made two massive cultural changes in just a few years, going to Russian and then to Scotland before he was twenty.

So, it shouldn't be a great surprise that he hasn't made a major impact in a year-and-a-half.

Eboue is another obvious contender to assume the mantle of Scott but, as with Neil Lennon, replacing our captain may be too big a job for one man (even, if for some different reasons).

So, we come to Hibernians' John McGinn.

Is he as good as Scott? Let me join in with those wailing, "No!", as if any player in Scotland could be, with Scott having swept all awards last season.

Could McGinn be as good as Scott? With similar dedication and excellent coaching, I think it's possible.

I do think that Scott had a bit more than McGinn when he came to Celtic. Then again, I had rarely seen a player with that unstoppable dynamism that Scott possessed, coupled with his instinct to create an attack when, in those days, he invariably rose first from a crumple of bodies and immediately looked to play the ball forward.

But I do see huge potential in McGinn and, given great coaching and top-level experience, I think that he has what it takes to develop into a future Celtic captain.

It's easy to forget that the coaching of Gordon Strachan and Brendan Rodgers, in particular, coupled with Scott's own maturing and intelligence have combined to produce a player who I wouldn't swap for anyone else in the world.

The criticism of McGinn saddens me, not least because of its merciless negativity.

As the great Tommy Burns once said, you should always focus on what a player CAN do for you, instead of what they can't.

John McGinn - the best player in Scotland last season, outside Celtic - can already do plenty of things in midfield.

Learning from Scott and coached by Brendan, I would like to see what else his game has to offer in green  and white.

The Hooped kind, of course.
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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.--