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Lennon responds to Ledley claims

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Celtic newsNeil Lennon has responded to claims from Joe Ledley that he was forced out of Celtic.

The midfielder moved to Crystal Palace on the final day of the January transfer window and told BBC Radio Wales that he was ready to sign a new contract when Celtic accepted the offer from the London side.

Celtic and Ledley had been in talks for a number of months over a new deal but faced with the prospect of losing the player in the summer for nothing decided that it was best to accept an offer from Palace which has been reported as anything between £250,000 and £800,000

Answering Ledley’s claims Lennon said: “The contract was on the table for quite a period of time. It was not  as if it was a last minute thing. It was there on the table for at least two to three months.

“I think there was a big part of him that wanted to stay and part of him that wanted to go play in the Premier League as well.

“It was unfortunately a scenario where we lost out and lost a very good player.”

Ledley joined Celtic on a Bosman deal from Cardiff City in the summer of 2010 as one of Neil Lennon’s first signings.

His move to Crystal Palace sees him become the third Celtic player to move to the Premiership in less than a year with Ledley joining Gary Hooper and Victor Wanyama who brought in £17m when they joined Norwich City and Southampton last summer.

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  • BigPappaPump says:

    NFL gracious, eloquent as always. The man carries himself like a true gentleman. Respect paid to Joe who in my opinion was a great member of our side and gave everything for the jersey. A man that fully understood what playing for Celtic means. I wish him all the best for the future and I firmly believe he will move to better places than palace. Remember he turned down Roma for us….

  • Monti says:

    Joe Ledley should shut up!
    He stalled until the last minute of the transfer window hoping a decent English club would come in for him, crystal palace relegation Diddy fodder is his level!
    Was going to sign an extension my arse!

  • jock says:

    how dare ledley cast aspersions on celtic fc, trying to imply that he was “sold”.. he had the chance to sign on for a further term .. truth is , he was holding out for epl money.. it nearly didn’t happen eh joe , the “only” offer yi got was from a relegation fighting club at the last minute…I can understand the quest for “cash” but don’t try to lay blame on the club that “MADE” you… enjoy n bye !!!

  • jock says:

    PS.. ledley….hooper.. maggots !!!

  • Des says:

    Reality I’m afraid , money talks .. Not got a problem with Ledley or Hooper .. Our league’s competiveness lets us down & ensures we are swimming up hill regarding holding onto our better players ..

  • Jason the Tim says:

    He is gone now and to be fair not to a better club, yes a better league but i am pretty sure they will get relegated anyway and he will never play in the champions league again so his loss…

  • Althetim says:

    Monti, Jock – Joe Ledley won’t be greatly missed at Celtic but he gave us three years good service and does not deserve to be vilified for exercising his right to maximise his earning capacity. Hooper is the same. I say thanks to both for their contribution to the Celtic cause and best of luck for the future.

    • Monti says:

      Althetim,
      Joe Ledley gave Celtic a few good years service, absolutely & I thank him for that!
      He is being criticized because he is taking the piss, he is lying when he said he was going to sign an extension, he should have just came out & said, thanks for the support during my time at Celtic, but I want to play for Crystal palace in the champions league 🙂
      Bye Ledley, you won’t be missed by me!

  • jock says:

    althetim… no argument with your statement…. ” my ” problem lies with the 2 facedness of hooper n ledley in particular…I listened to n watched their statements n body language
    n they were feedin the fans wot the fans wanted to hear all the time lookin for the epl bucks… they even duped lenny ffs… he was stating he was hopeful o keepin them.. they didnae hae the baws tae tell oor manager the score.. = maggots

  • Joe mc c says:

    I was really disappointed with Joe. He could easily have signed a new deal with Celtic. He choose to go to Palace for the money. Fancy swapping Celtic for Palace. Lost all my respect.

  • drew says:

    Joes not the only person to put a spin on things.lawwell and particularly lenny (when talking about our breathtakin football)do it regularly.its all a bit of srlf promotion really.cheers joe.never forget your winner against huns

  • jack mcgovern says:

    Give the guy a break ……. He was paid by the club to play, im sure he enjoyed his time and was loyal and committed, but people need to not be negative but supportive of a fellow celt, you all seem bitter ? :/

  • Sean67 says:

    They llost a very good player that would cost a few million to replace, surely Celtic could be more convincing to get such players to stay at a club with great tradions as Celtic.

  • Andybhoy says:

    We should know better than most about comments being taken out of context and the negative press spin attached to them to manufacture an ‘exclusive’. Is it not possible that Ledley’s comments have been twisted and portrayed in a way that bears no resemblance to what he actually said?

    Just last week various rags ran the headline ‘Lennon tells Shilts (Peter Shilton) to Shut It’ only problem with that headline was when you read on at no time during Lenny’s interview did he say anything of the sort, the hacks once again deliberately twisted his comments to create a controversial headline which bore no resemblance to what he actually said.

    I would hazard a guess that the Ledley comments have been deliberately taken out of context and are just another example of lazy hacks trying to create controversy where there is none. Celtic have moved on and so has Joe Ledley so let’s leave the sniping to the poisoned pen journos and remember to treat their so called ‘exclusives’ with the contempt they deserve.

    Hail Hail.

    • Eebee says:

      As an outsider I concur with your sentiments, having read a lot of fellow Celtic supporters views I realise that they react or proact thanks to the MSM( thanks Peter) .All these so called sports journalists/hacks are interested in accomplishing is having real Celtic supporters fighting against one another,this takes away from their own demise, don’t fall for the trolls or some so called CELTIC SUPPORTER (UNAMED) having their opinion there is a lot of baiting going on , keep the faith and have belief in NFL. HH

  • mickelmac says:

    Good player for us and never said anything negative about Glasgow Celtic. That’s good enough for me.

    • peter says:

      I agree mickelmac.

      Joe was a model pro for us.
      Yes,him and his agent were looking at all
      options,and the best pay day.
      But at least we got money for him,he could have did a Samaras,and stayed put
      until the summer.

      He says,” Celtic will always have a place in
      his heart ”

      I believe him.
      Thanks for the memories,Joe.

  • gerrym says:

    some people read the rags andybhoy and believe the rubbish they spout rather than wish guys like joe good luck and thanks sometimes i cringe at them

  • simcard says:

    Lennons right he pissed about for months waiting to c if a decent club made him a better offer and ended up at shit palace lol shud have shut his gob twat

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