Could the Scottish Sun have been right?
THERE’S not many things that still make me laugh out loud about Scottish football these days. As I was saying to the auld jaikey that uses the entrance to our office car park as his bedsit, t’is a sad state of affairs, right enough.
Thankfully when the news gets slow and the summer long, you can always depend on the Scottish Sun to keep alive the slings and arrows of scandalous unfounded gossip. And this week proved to be no exception, as the popular tabloid got our laughing gear back in working order with their claims that Celtic where about to make a bid for Kris Boyd.
I laughed too when I first read it, but on reflection, I think there may well be more to this story then I first thought.
As the Scottish Sun reported it on Tuesday, Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell was busy preparing an audacious bid for the out-of-contract striker, which included a £1million signing-on fee as well as the £30k-per-week salary offered by Alex McLeish’s Birmingham City. It would certainly be an improvement £20,000 offered by Rangers, who could only double his existing salary.
The media, not to mention the fans, where quick to denounce the story as hogwash. Forums on both halves of the great divide where glowing red hot in disbelief, ridicule and amazement. The thought alone that Kris Boyd, from all accounts a Rangers fan, man and boy, would jump sides to join Celtic seems so out of left-field that it simply couldn’t be true. Could it?
Celtic FC where pretty quick on the ball with their official denial. “Welcome to the silly season” is how it started. You can guess the rest.
Rangers never even bothered with an official reply, instead relying on former player Jorg Albertz to comment via the club website. He said “… how can you go from Glasgow Rangers to Celtic? It’s impossible”.
Ehm, it’s certainly not pleasant, but also not impossible, Jorg. Even though he didn’t move directly from Ibrox to Parkhead, perhaps he should have a word with Kenny Miller, who flip-flopped between Rangers, then Celtic, then back again to Rangers albeit in-between spells at Wolves and Derby.
Sometimes players do switch sides, as demonstrated rather famously by Mo Johnston. Who could forget the images of a beaming Mo holding up a Rangers top at his unveiling back in 1989, with manager Souness next to him smiling like a cat that’s got a particularly large saucer of cream. Mo, who once said that “Celtic are the only club that I want to play for” had a relatively successful career at Ibrox, scoring 46 goals in a 100 games, but his life was never quite the same. In the ensuing weeks, Johnston’s house was petrol-bombed and his father attacked, all of which was part of the simmering cauldron of football in Glasgow at that time.
“… how can you go from Glasgow Rangers to Celtic? It’s impossible” – Jorg Albertz
Aside from irritating the tits off of your correspondent, the Graeme Souness era certainly changed attitudes in Scottish football. Souness, a driven and passionate man, saw sectarianism as a hindrance to his teams success, an obstacle that needed to be overcome if Rangers where to be the major force in Scottish football that Souness, the fans and the club demanded. Souness wondered why he would limit his transfer targets, just because the name sounds “cafflick”, an attitude incidentally, that stopped scouts from recommending die-hard Rangers fan Danny McGrain to the mandarins at Ibrox. Instead, he joined Celtic and became a club legend.
Souness signed plenty of Catholics during his time at Ibrox, during which he won the league three times and the Scottish League Cup four times, sticking up two fingers at the boo-boys and unreconstructed die-hards along the way. The vocal minority lost their voice as the team won – irrespective of religious affiliations – and the fans who lost their ticket-books and scarves in the demonstrations on the pavement outside Ibrox soon returned; those who didn’t where soon replaced.
Since 1989, partly thanks to initiatives such Sense Over Sectarianism, Follow With Pride and Bhoys against Bigotry times may have changed, as demonstrated by the relatively calm response to Kenny Miller’s Celtic and Rangers transfer shenanigans in 2006 and 2008. There was certainly none of the season ticket burning, scarf-hurling and cries of ‘Judas’ of the type we saw with Mo Johnston when Miller returned to Ibrox.
Looking back now on why Johnston signed for Rangers, and why Miller flip-flopped the way he did, the simply truth of the matter is that both players signed for the club that offered them the most money and the chance of most success. The days of the principled footballer, the one who plays for the love of the club and the traditions and values it upholds are long gone. Instead, say ” hello” to the modern mercenary footballer.
So here’s the scoop: I actually believe the Scottish Sun’s story. I think it’s got legs. I think this has got something to it. I think it may well have been true.
The logic is quite simple. Celtic, having failed to persuade Robbie Keane to stay, need a striker. Boyd, with the exception of 2007/08, has been Scotland’s top striker since the heady days of Hartson and Larsson. He’s available on a free transfer over the summer and with Rangers’ financial situation they may not be able to improve on his current contract sufficiently enough for Boyd to stay. Add to that the Smith-to-McCoist succession next year, and there may be too much instability being added to an already unstable club. Boyd’s heart and mind started wandering ..
See, I suspect an approach was made, or was about to be made. Whether it came from Lawwell and Celtic, or Boyd and his management team remains to be seen, but the deal fell through when fan reaction and bemused media editorials scuppered the credibility of any such move.
Those same pundits in the paper write about how much of a shame it is that players can’t move from one team to another without all this fuss. That’s certainly true, and it is a real shame, but it also a reflection of the fact that times have clearly not changed enough yet to allow Boyd to move to a rival team, no matter how much he wants the money or the prospect of success on offer.
The hassle is simply not worth it. Just ask Mo Johnston.
And so one of the most prolific strikers in recent times (I was going to say talented, but the jury is still out on that one) will leave Scotland, another player making his dream move to the lower echelons of our European leagues. Birmingham, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle, as well as Turkish outfits Kayserispor and Trabzonspor are all possible destinations for Boyd. The world, as they say, is his oyster.
Like the Washington Post, who during the height of the Watergate scandal stood by their story no matter how much ridicule and criticism the paper was receiving, the Scottish Sun is steadfastly sticking by its story.
“When the truth of behind-the-scenes manoeuvres this summer emerges – possibly when Boyd signs for a new club and is free to talk – there will be major embarrassment for some. Not for us” .
Though it pains me to admit it, something tells me that like the Post, the Sun may well be proved right. Someday.