Bitter Scott Allan, the £50million John McGinn Saga and Celtic’s undervalued Stars

YESTERDAY Scott Allan, who has returned to Hibs a very rich young man after quietly seeing out his four year Celtic contract, was bitterly complaining about being caught up in the on-going boardroom feud between Celtic and Hibs – and he blamed Celtic!

Allan’s comments incidentally created more of a reaction on the Rangers forums that the Celtic ones and it is fair to say that he is disliked in the extreme by the hordes.

Allan moaned about sometimes turning up for training and being unclear whether he’d be training with the first team or the Development squad. Frankly, if that’s the extent of his complaints about Celtic’s alleged ‘unprofessionalism’ then we can live with that. He was of course right, Celtic were ‘unprofessional’ but a long time before no-one was prepared on given morning’s to decide what to do with him.

The unprofessionalism was in signing a player from the Championship, giving him a four year deal and having to pay him for a fortune even though it it was clear from early on that he was not going to make it at Celtic.

There was a ‘get it up ye’ aspect to this signing – Allan had been doing well against the Rangers as they journeyed through the divisions and came unstuck in the Championship which was won by Hearts. They did make the play-offs and rather hilariously were thrashed 6-1 over the two legs by Motherwell.

Allan’s Championship pedigree was not enough to justify a four year deal at Parkhead.

He reckoned he was caught up in bad blood caused by last summer’s row over the proposed sale of John McGinn to Celtic from Hibs. We all know that he ended up at Aston Villa, won their player of the year award and helped get them back to the Premiership.

This morning there is a story in one of the papers linking McGinn with a £50million (FIFTY MILLION) move to Manchester Utd and this would give Hibs a huge windfall due to their sell-on clause. It’s a story in the Scottish Sun, rather than the national version, which given it’s about a proposed move between two English clubs, seems a little strange. Unless it’s just a clever wee indirect free kick at Celtic.

Whether there is any substance to this story, which is surely doubtful, it does demonstrate something. Last weekend we carried a story that suggested that Celtic would be looking for £40million for Kieran Tierney – and said that was probably doubtful too. It was an Arsenal ITK (in the know) who was claiming that the was the case.

Charlie Nicholas even got involved during the week in the Kieran Tierney to Arsenal story warning his favourites that they stand to miss out on a top class player of they don’t get the deal done. You can imagine Charlie this morning ‘sitting here thinking’ that if John McGinn is worth £50 million after a couple of Scotland caps and one season in the English Championship, how much is KT worth?

One of McGinn’s ‘issues’ last August was apparently that he could not be guaranteed game time at Celtic, managed at that time by Brendan Rodgers – with the likes of Callum McGregor, Tom Rogic and Olivier Ntcham all likely to be ahead of him on the team sheets.

Rodgers is now the Leicester City boss and there have been sports that he’s lining up a £15million bid for Callum McGregor. Charlie will also be ‘sitting here thinking’ that if McGinn is worth £50million how much would you think that Callum McGregor is worth?”

Or put it another way, if Celtic had to have one of the two would you want Callum McGregor or John McGinn in your team? And during the week Manchester Utd paid £50million for a full back from Crystal Palace. Imagine if you had the chance to swap him for KT, would you do that deal? Few if any Celtic Supporters would.

Hopefully that ITK Arsenal fan is right and Celtic’s minimum asking price for Kieran is £40million and not the widely reported £25million – a price that Arsenal seem reluctant to pay.

And if Rodgers comes calling for Callum McGregor preferably he is told to do one, but IF a price is being set, then offers over £50million does not this morning seem too unreasonable.

Celtic undersold Virgil van Dijk. Some additional money was brought in via the sell-on clause but, the fact remains, we sold a player who went on to become the best defender in the world, to Southampton for around £12million. If Liverpool sold him at the moment they’d be looking at perhaps £250million.

Kieran Tierney and Callum McGregor are prized assets at Celtic and should only be sold if the price is right. That means bringing in revenue of £90million or more. And if Scottish Sun can write John McGinn is worth £50million, we can write this today.

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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