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THE CELTIC WAY
July 6th 2009 For as long as I can remember Celtic FC has had this habit of being in dispute with their employees over money. From Pat Crerand to the Lisbon Lions, from George Connelly to Paul Elliott, from the Three Amigos to Bobo Balde with many more in between. The current state of affairs is that big Bobo claims to be £200,000 light in money due to him. Balde is a man who stands up for what he believes is right and he would be chasing that money whether it was £200k or £20 and he is quite right to do so. If Celtic's CE Peter Lawwell feels that the player is not entitled to this payment then he is also quite right to dispute it but it's laughable when you think of the cash squandered by the manager and the club over the past four years. For starters, Balde was given a four and a half year contract on £28k a week at a time when it was known to the club that Martin O'Neill would be leaving and that the job of the new manager would be to reduce the wage bill and the average age of the team! Gordon Strachan was also guilty of wasting millions just by falling out with players he had signed. Tommy Gravesen was paid £40k a week not to play, Zurawski, Jarosik, Aliadiere, Riordan and Donati were others who were well paid not to play a lot. A couple of £1m offers from England for Riordan were knocked back by Celtic yet he hardly played at all after that and went back to Hibs for practically nothing. It's ironic that Celtic have wasted all that dough yet were too tight back in January when it came to forking out for a striker who could have won the SPL title for them and the £10m Champions League jackpot that goes with it. The Club has now splashed out £2m on Tony Mowbray who will no doubt have his team playing attractive attacking football but at the same time will be judged only on whether he finishes above or below Rangers in the SPL. He will get away with second place this coming season but his Celtic days will be over if the title is not won in his second season. I hope I am wrong but I think failure to win the SPL last season will have cost Celtic a place in this season's Champions League group stages. I cannot see the Celts getting past qualifying round three with players of the calibre we have been linked with so far.
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