A tale of two January signings…
Matt O’Riley’s first goal for Celtic was up at Pittodrie. Photo Jane Barlow
In the January transfer window of 2022 two new faces arrived in opposite sides of the city of Glasgow. One was greeted with euphoria and the other not so much. The Rangers signed Welsh international superstar Aaron Ramsey and his arrival was greeted like the second coming of Christ, or Rangers in that neck of the woods.
It is fair to say that Ramsey had been a decent player, but the frenzy that followed his loan signing was over the top to say the least. Maybe if it was Kylian Mbappe or Lionel Messi then I could get the hype, but this was an injury prone player whose best days were well behind him.
The SMSM and theRangers supporters wetted themselves with excitement. Kris Boyd and Ally McCoist declared it as “the best signing Scottish football had seen in years”. Former Rangers player Kevin Thompson said that “one side of the city is excited, the other not so much”…
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In the same window Celtic went quietly about our business and signed the likes of Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate, but the one player who seemed to fly under the radar was a certain Matthew Sean O’Riley.
Signed for the lowly sum of £1.5 million from MK Dons the former Fulham player was something of an unknown quantity even to the Celtic supporters and his arrival was very low key in contrast to the Welsh superstar who arrived at Ibrox.
The next few months would be telling. Matt played almost every game as Celtic won the title, while Ramsey who’s loan fee was more than Matt’s permanent one, struggled for game time through injury and ended the season being vilified as he missed what turned out to be the crucial spot kick in the Europa league final loss to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Aaron Ramsey of theRangers looks dejected as they walk past the UEFA Europa League trophy following their sides defeat in the UEFA Europa League final match between Eintracht Frankfurt and theRangers at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on May 18, 2022. (Photos by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Matt would of course go on to play over 100 games for the club wining six honours while impressing in the champions league and is about to become the record transfer in terms of outgoing in the Scottish game. Celtic PLC will bank £30m from the sale while theRangers appear to have run out of transfer funds.
Funny how things turn out eh?
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
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