THE EXPRESS – yes The Express, has the ‘news’ that Celtic have ‘slapped’ a £4million price tag on the head of Stuart Armstrong because his contract talks have ‘stalled’ and there is now set to be a ‘bidding war’ from Premier League clubs.
If any of that were true – let’s take the ‘slap’. why would Celtic reveal their hand regarding a price that they would accept in the anticipation of a ‘bidding war’?
If Armstrong is looking for a move his agent will be busy alerting Premier League sides of the fact that a) the player is keen on a move and b) Celtic will not be likely to let his contract run out by letting him play out his final season.
Brendan Rodgers has already told us to accept that it is NOT personal, for the players it is a business and their playing careers are short. Armstrong has always had an ambition to play in England’s Premier League – it was strange thing he said when interviewed on the open top bus last month – he said he didn’t realise that Celtic were such a massive club.
Had this been one of the foreign players or indeed one from down south, that remark wouldn’t have stuck in my mind. However for a Scottish boy to think that then it really does say something – Celtic have always been a stepping stone to the Premier League for Armstrong, much in the same way that it was for instance for Victor Wanyama or Virgil van Dijk.
But we should listen to Brendan, it’s only business.
Talking of business can you see Peter Lawwell selling Armstrong for £4million then meeting the £5million price tag that Neil Lennon ‘slapped’ on John McGinn? No? Me neither.
And then what happens after the Armstrong story appears in the Express – a source that is continually unreliable and uninformed from what I have observed in relation to their coverage of Celtic?
The click bait sites jump on this and you have 5 or 6 stories out there, all based on the little snippets that were in the Express. What is strange is that folk click on them.
As far as Armstrong is concerned he is a player who would be suited to playing in the the type of sides that have been quoted as being interested in him – it’s Crystal Palace this summer leading he chase, last summer it was West Brom and Stoke City (both of whom sacked their managers and were related). More suited than Tom Rogic for example, who is really made to play for a team like Celtic.
Yet running about scrapping for survival with managers changing regularly – some fancy you, others don’t – might not be all that it is cracked up to be.
But the money will be better.
Celtic signed the player from Dundee United and obviously this involved a huge increase in his take home pay. That though was still modest and last summer Brendan addressed this to keep the player at the club for another 12 months – to postpone the dispute if you like. In that period Armstrong has been in and out the team, in and out of form and in and out of an operating theatre in Germany. His contribution last season was much less than the season before – but that’s football.
It means though that his star in a little less bright 12 months on for anyone trying to rustle up interest from the most competitive league in the world as far as those clubs anxious about staying in it are concerned.
Celtic can offer Armstrong the following:
1. A new long term contract on even better terms that will take him up to among the top earners at the club.
2. The chance to continue to work with the only manager who has really developed his game, got him into the Celtic side, the Scotland team and allowed him to play at the highest level in the Champions League.
3. The chance to win trophies and be part of the historic Ten in a Row side before we move on to set out sights of 13 in a row when we will be “Going for 55!!” (We really must start pointing this out to the Zombies).
4. The chance to play for the Celtic support – 60,000 every other week, signing his song even as they did last season, when it was hardly deserved.
If that isn’t enough Peter Lawwell should do what Peter Lawwell does, and that isn’t speak to some random reporter at the Express to slap down some modest asking price for one of our Invincibles.
Anyway rant over…talking of rants, here’s another chance to listen to Tommy Sheridan on The Celtic Star Podcast, which last month won the Podcast of the Year 2018 Award at the Football Blogging Awards…
Listen to “A Celtic State of Mind (EP29) with Tommy Sheridan” on Spreaker.
