Kieran Tierney is a professional footballer.
Both words in that designation have equal importance to working out what he actually does for a living.
If reports are accurate then Celtic have sold an academy graduate for £25m. As I have written here before one of the main differences between the SPFL champions and Sevco is that the Parkhead club has genuine equity in the squad.
That is players who other clubs want and will pay a lot of money for.
Indeed, the sort of sum that the Sevco High Command have been praying for as a life saving windfall.
The kind of transfer fee big enough to pay Ashley his likely damages and clear off the debt to Close Brothers.
Of course, that is still in the realms of fantasy whereas as the interest by Arsenal in Tierney was very real indeed.
The London club had wanted to pay for the left-back in Sevco instalments.
It was no PR squirrel to say that Celtic held firm.
Some time ago I was told that the figure of £25m was a release clause in Tierney’s contract.
Therefore, reaching that sum through unlikely add ons wasn’t going to cut it for Celtic.
The young left-back now joins the elite group that includes players like Moussa Dembélé, Virgil van Dijk and Victor Wanyama.
The financial realities is that had Celtic held onto that trio then they would not have and the money to sustain a football operation that dwarfs all of Scottish football.
However “KT” is different.
He’s the Bhoy with the megaphone.
The supporter on the field of play.
Therefore, the first word in his designation was not meant to be really serious.
Well, children, I’m afraid it is.
He’s a professional footballer and both words have equal weight.
Across the Clyde, the Sevco High Command continues to hope that the planted stories about interest in Alfredo José Morelos Aviléz will generate a genuine bid.
Sorry, the idea of the Sevco High Command refusing £10m for any of their players at the moment does seem rather far fetched.
They certainly could do with such a windfall as I learned yesterday that those nice folk at Hummel would really like their advance back.
The court ruling effectively kills the third year of the deal they signed with Sevco.
It is only the good grace of Big Mike that the basket of assets can use Hummel gear this year.
That undoubtedly earned General Ashley some generosity points with the judge.
As in “despite being the injured party here I’m willing to be reasonable m’lud!”
However next year, the third year of the deal is another matter entirely.
If the chaps in the Blue Room cannot scrape together that Dane Geld then it is heading for court and yet another expensive litigation which Sevco will undoubtedly lose.
Of course, that isn’t the only potential Scandinavian trouble on the horizon for the basket of assets.
Tonight Mr Let’s Go and his galacticos will face a stiff test against FC Midtjylland.
I’m sure that ex-Celt Erik Sviatchenko will be relishing the opportunity to re-acquaint himself with the seven-year-old club.
By comparing Tierney and Morelos in the transfer market it highlights the very different worlds that Celtic and Sevco currently inhabit.
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Sorry anyone who insists on a 25 million exit clause in their contract is savvy enough to making sure he was leaving on his terms. But to say this 22 year old a club legend is being disrespectful to real club men like Dalglish who left in his mid twenties after 7 years forget VVD others they were always going to move on asap they were project players bought to make a profit. My problem with KT is that he could have stayed until he was 25yrs.and still made a fortune with a top 6 English club. We have been very good to him during his 4years in 1st team he has had two long term injuries. I am sure he appreciates this.McGrain ,McStay , Burns, Larsson etc are time served legends
The generosity of Ashley? Every penny made by Hummel and/or Elite this season will be added to his final bill to be presented to sevco. MA does NOT do generosity.
Does anyone remember the scene at the end of The Godfather, when Kay is looking through a partially open door as each man addresses Michael as Don Corleone. Someone steps forward and slowly closes the door. The Sevco board must have been a bit like Kay yesterday, staring on in horror with the realisation that NO ONE rated their prize assets, as the minute hand approached 5:00pm and the English transfer window closed.
Theoretically they could still sell them abroad, but any team in a European league with serious money will think long and hard about taking a chance on a loose cannon like More-or-Less. An early season red card would kill any prospective move stone dead.
Sent an email to West Brom yesterday morning to ask them to confirm if there was any truth in the rumour that they had offered sevco £10 million for Morelos.
Got a lovely email back 5 minutes later from a guy called Drew Williams: Hi James, I hope you are well. I can confirm that there is absolutely no truth in that rumour whatsoever.
Have a nice day.
Many thanks
Drew.
Now if I can confirm this rumour with one email then why can’t the so called journalist’s at the daily ranger do the same??
Now that sums the SMM up pretty succinctly.
Just wanted to make a comment about our game last night…decent result…not a great performance.
As for individual players…
Our new RB looks the part….our new LB doesn’t.
John Kennedy ….or whichever Coach is responsible…needs to get to grips with Boli and sort him out….he is all over the place….and please tell me that we didn’t really spend £3 million on him….please !!
French Eddie needs to cut the string now and again….bring his team-mates into it more often….and stop trying to be Roy of the Rovers.
Kris Ajer is an outstanding young player….and could go on to be something really special.
Finally….I was a left winger….and this is for Scott Bain.
Don’t chip high floaty balls to wingers…we don’t know what to do with them.
Looking forward to return game at Celtic Park….hope we dominate and win comfortably.
I saw my first game at Celtic Park in 1959…I was 12.
I have witnessed huge changes in the game over the following 60 years…but I never thought I’d see a Celtic player leave for £25 million.
I have known for several weeks that KT was definitely leaving…but it still has come as a bit of a shock to see him in an Arsenal shirt.
I had always, wrongly, assumed that he would do a Paul McStay….and remain a Celt for life.
It’s not to be ,however,
All that’s left for me then is to wish him a healthy, happy and successful football career….and to thank him for the love he clearly expressed for our Club.
And who knows…??
Maybe 10 years down the line …he’ll be back.
Good luck wee man.
thanks KT for the memories! but as a Celtic man I don’t give a proverbial monkeys about Arsenal or any of their players!!
I’ve been told that the disabled section of a certain Scottish club required monies from the 2014 Commonwealth Games budget to bring it up to spec. Interesting eh?
Someone touched on this earlier. Whats the point of losing your top asset, for say £10m, then Ashley immediately ring fencing the bank account to protect his interests?
Anyhow the same problem exists now as it did before the window closed.
Even leaving Sports Direct damages, legal costs and Close Bros secured loan to one side, the ST monies will be gone by Xmas and the running costs still need paying.
The board has made it clear that the days of exchanging hard cash, for equity with little or no value, are over
Thats why getting to Europa Group Stage is crucial. 5 sell out ties in the prelims and Group stage will provide hard cash from the gate receipts plus add in the appropriate prize money from UEFA.
Not to be sniffed at.
We now have north of 50 million in the bank from transfers and add ons since MD left, we have spent a fraction of that.
Time the board stepped up and shelled out some of that and got another LB, CB and maybe midfielder and another number 9
3 out of those 4 would be a statement of intent, problem being now clubs know we have dough and may try and strangle us but to be perfectly frank I’d rather be in Paradise than Ibrokes.
KT, thank you, from the bottom of my heart thanks. I wish you all the success your talent deserves.
Oh and if I see that wanker CN visiting his wee maw in Maryhill any time soon……I’ll probably wave
I wish the bhoy all the very best for the future, he is without doubt a celtic great and more importantly, A Treble winning player. 👍🍀🍀🍀👍 HH.
He’s one of the INVINCITREBLES. Will never be forgotten for that alone.
KT leaving the Celts but making sure we have a bumper £25m cheque to bank is bitter-sweet but I wish the lad nothing but the best. Those who are calling him traitor and a fake fan are just being petty and idiotic. Managers and players come and go and which of us wouldn’t move jobs for a sky-high wage especially when there’s a limited career involved. Reality bites so suck it up and wish Keiran well. HH
Very disappointed that Kieran has gone now. Good luck to him.
Lawwell and Desmond must now expect that we will expect a blue chip signing before the window closes in Scotland.
Greg Taylor and Bolingolli just won’t cut it.
We are all watching this space to see what the custodians of our club will do with the cash windfall.
And I don’t mean the financing of a fancy hotel!
Luckily for West Brom they were able to get a proven EPL striker in Charlie Austin for 4M so Sevco did them a real favour there lol. How stupid are Traynor et al? Who does he think believes them?
Gullibillies methinks, Harry. HH
Re: the bogus bids.
One from a country where the social media forums we use are not in operation. They have their own. I know ‘cos I’m prep’ing to move to China. Relevance? So there will be no visible follow up discussion of the fantasy SMSM allegations. No quotes or reports from any agents/fans/reporters/club officials. In fact much alike the Daily i-rager ‘exclusive’ on the Green Brigade behaviour at the ladies’ Glasgow derby. One notoriously dubious source for the ‘story’ with no verification procedure in place. File under made up sh*t – to be used in the event of severe cabin pressure on Jabba air meaning a diversion is needed.
Second one is a cracker anaw. Um, where to find someone who will be compliant in not refuting a horse-sh*t story about Fat Freddy on English transfer deadline day? Whit aboot that guy @ WBA who seems to hate Them? Is it viable do you think? Who cares about that now. Get it out there. Stenography Core are Go! Mind tell thum tae get that bit in aboot Dembélé anaw, that’s a peach ay a line, ‘n will someone get that fenían bas, er the manager, to play along this time instead of telling the truth. None ay that : “nah, no bids” sh*te ffs. Sooner he gets his proper coaching badges the better
Mon the Midtjies
Best wishes KT63 & SoWonderful11 come what may : – ((
❤
As we know nothing printed in the Scottish football media can be taken at face value.
The Motherwell billionaire, the various alleged Chinese bids for the Colombian, Rangers win race with Celtic for Barker and so on.
A £10m plus offer from West Brom, plus what, a penny?
If this is a genuine offer lets see who blinks first.
At this late stage both Morelos and Tavernier must start against the Danes tonight.
Can’t see Stevie G meekly accepting the fact a couple of hours before kick off time that he has to omit one or both from the line up before one of the biggest games of the season.
KT has been a tremendous service to the club he loves, he would not have signed the contract with the 25 million clause in it if he was someone that was looking over his shoulder for pastures new. He gave his all for the club he loves and it was always going to happen that another club would want his talented services. For the folk calling him a rat a traitor ect I will ask them one question: how many millions have you gave to Celtic? The boy loves Celtic I believe if would have been worse if he point blank refused to go. We are in a league that has no money, the only money coming in is from every other revenue associated with the club. Champions league season tickets sponsorship and transfers. There is no doubt he got a patt on the back from Lawwell and told this is the best thing for the club.
Good luck to the boy.
Yes, and as a professionally run business, CFC was happy to do the deal and get the cash.
If you are – or believe you are – one of the best, at anything, then you would naturally want to test yourself amongst the best.
And more importantly, you would want the opportunity to learn from the best players / managers / coaches.
KT is certainly leaving his comfort zone: from fans’ local hero to a relatively unknown in the EPL – and having to prove himself all over again to disprove the many Scottish football detractors down south.
All the best KT…
and would expect that he will bring all his accumulated experience back to Parkhead at some point in the future.
Good luck to him,cannot bear him a grudge when he is merely trying to better his career and the lives of his loved ones.
Thanks KT for all you’ve done for CFC🍀
Gone but never forgotten,a true Fenian🇮🇪 n TREBLE TREBLE winner⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️…..
Do you actually know what a Fenian is?
Sorry to see Tierney go , but the strength of the team remains the middle-front where we have tremendous talent . And some judicious spending on a few back-ups to the squad will be enough to see 9iar achieved without too much sweat .
However it is apparent after last night’s game that Boli is not up to the task as a replacement for KT – whether it is nerves or whatever , he was appalling . Need to seek a replacement – and please , why are we being linked with players from down south where the transfer fee + exorbitant wages should be a clear signpost to shop elsewhere .
Strangely, The Rangers are now reported to have said that there have been no bids.
Perhaps with all the litigation coming their way, to admit to the reality of let’s say a real life £2-3m bid being rejected then they expose themselves to further litigation, when they claim ‘no money here’ when they could have sold that asset to meet a bill due for payment……..Or maybe just maybe there were no bids for their prized man-child but the media will have us believe it’s a coup keeping him amidst all the interest!!
and yet they are on the verge of another signing