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The weekend that ended Tony Watt’s Celtic career

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WattThis morning Tony Watt flies out to join Standard Liege after the strangest weekend of his turbulent Celtic career.

The highs and lows of his time have been well documented with social media providing a regular source of rumours about his life and attitude, on and off the park.

Even in today’s fast moving times the speed of his move to Liege- and a five year contract- is breathtaking with all seeming to be well over the last week.

On the eve of last week’s Champions League qualifier Ronny Deila spoke of looking forward to giving the 20-year-old time on the park- tellingly Watt didn’t even appear as a substitute against KR even with Celtic home and dry after half an hour gone.

If Watt had played he would have been cup-tied- on Wednesday night he could be on the bench for Standard in their clash with Panathinaikos.

Saturday’s performance against St Pauli was a typical one from Watt, lots of promise, a few mistakes and a show of petulance/passion- depending on how you view the striker.

Could it be that when Paul McMullan was sent crashing in the penalty box Watt’s Celtic career came to an end?

The former Airdrie man made a bee-line for the ball to take the penalty but was shouted down from the bench in favour of Bahridin Atajic taking the spot-kick.

Atajic’s hesitant run up and missed penalty frustrated and annoyed Watt- 24 hours later he was well on his way out of Celtic.

Speaking after the match there was no hint of a farewell, he said: “I think it’s harsh when people talk about ‘the rise and fall’ and things like that.

“That goal (against Barcelona) happened in my career. It’s one of the best moments of my life but it’s not what I want to be remembered for.

“I want to play for Celtic. Maybe the happiest moment of my life was making my debut for this club. I am a Celtic fan and I had achieved a goal in my life. This is the club for me.

“If the club don’t want me, then I’ll need to look — but I’m not interested in going anywhere just now.”

Discussing his relationship with Deila he added: “The manager has spoken to me and said he is impressed. He said I’m a good player. He has been brilliant with me and I am happy with what he has done for me.

“He gives you confidence and tells you what’s good and bad. It’s great to have someone like that to help. At times in my career I felt confident, at other times I didn’t.

“That’s maybe down to not playing games, not being fit or wee stupid things. I have been confident at times in my career, but I feel good now.”

At some point on Sunday the circumstances came together that saw Watt flying out to Belgium with everything in place to make him a Standard Liege player.

With Kris Commons in the final year of his contract and question marks over Anthony Stokes and Leigh Griffiths selling Watt at this stage of the season seems questionable.

Deila’s next moves will be watched closely by supporters growing anxious over the lack of in-coming transfers and the club’s policy towards Champions League qualification.

Signing Griffiths and Stefan Johansen in January made plenty of sense, selling Watt loads the odds against Champions League qualification while Standard Liege pick up the sort of striker that has been Celtic’s trade mark signing in recent years- young and capable of picking up a healthy profit in the transfer market.

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