Paddy McCourt has been in the headlines for the past few days after his man-of-the-match performance for Northern Ireland last Wednesday.
While McCourt’s second goal may not have come as a surprise to the Celtic support who have seen him score similar goals in the past, it has certainly generated a lot of interest down in England.
Wolves are reportedly interested in taking McCourt to Molineux while one newspaper claimed that Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is lining up a bid for the “Derry Pele”.
I have to admit I find it difficult to believe that Liverpool are interested in him on the back of one performance against a part-time international side ranked 81st in the world and given the money they have at their disposal I would imagine they are probably setting their sights slightly higher than McCourt.
Wolves’ interest however seems slightly more realistic and could well be a good move for the player and therefore the question must be asked: If Celtic recieve an offer for McCourt should they let him go?Â
He’s a very popular figure amongst the Celtic support and Neil Lennon even said the other day that the fans see him as a ‘cult hero’. He’s one of the most naturally gifted players the club has seen for many years and provides a lot of excitement for the fans when he’s on the ball.
He’s capable of beating three and four men at a time and has scored some exceptional goals in his time at the club and yet he has never been able to hold down a regular starting place in the team.Â
One of McCourt’s problems is consistency. In the few times that he has started games he has had little or no effect on the team and he is much more effective when coming on as a substitite.
There has always been a question mark over his fitness which adds further credence to the argument that he can only influence games when coming off the bench.Â
He doesn’t contribute much to the defensive side of the game either although Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington did say on Wednesday night that he was given his first start because he is becoming more of a team player, hinting that McCourt is improving that part of his game.Â
There is no doubting his individual ability and at times he appears to be unplayable but it seems that there are too many players in front of him who are team players for him to ever hold down a regular spot in the team.
If they do recieve a bid though it will be a difficult decision for the club. With the size of the squad at the moment it would do no harm to try and move a few players on but at the same time McCourt isn’t exactly a high earner at the club so it wouldn’t dramatically reduce the wage expenditure.
I also don’t think he would command a particularly large transfer fee but given the media attention he has been getting for the past week now may be the best time to move him on. However, if they did decide to sell they would risk upsetting a large section of the Celtic support as he is one of the most popular players at the club.
Personally, I think that if an offer does come in the club should certainly consider it. I would be looking for something in the region of £1-1.5m for him and would look to have some sort of sell-on clause in case he does ever fulfil the potential that he clearly has.
It seems unlikely that he will ever become a first team regular at Celtic and will always be a bit-part player so it would be only fair to McCourt to let him go should he be offered the chance to play every week at another club.
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No way……..Legend…We need players of Paddys ability to win the league……Stay at paradise Paddy…..Hail Hail..
dont go paddy, stay and show the ‘sweat blood’ brigade that class matters!
and neil, give the boy more time on the park – last 20 minutes every game and then we’d see paddy turning on the style.
we need rid of the deadwood at celtic…but ffs with all the other talentless players we are carrying as passengers, why on earth would they want to sell paddy? makes no sense at all. if lennon lets paddy go for a measly 1 or 1.5 million i will never, spend another coin on celtic football club. get the finger out your arse lenny, stop playing with yourself and get rid of those who deserve to go, not the best talent at the club
That’s a good point, i actually think for the right price we should let Paddy go, but there are plenty of others who i would like to see go before Paddy. I can’t see him getting anywhere near a 1st team though, decent squad player and a superb player to watch when he is on form.
anything near 1.5m and bye bye paddy.
just dont get the clamour for him to be kept, yes he has unbelieveable ability but when do we see it?? very rare at best!!
samaras has great ability but he never shows it either, wouldnt even consider keeping him!!
mccourt has had plenty of time and not taken advantage of it, sell him and put money to the 1.5m to buy a good quality starting first team player.
What planet are you jebus ? sell Paddy a god given talent , def get rid of some deadwood keep the quailty , but you sayin sell him and bring in a quailty frist team player for 1/1.5 mill?
The players we have on the team now are worth each 5 times that amount in SPL if down south even alot more.
Stated here before about Ki and ppl where on about him the boy only needed time to adjust , the boy gonna be immense for Celtic price we paid few yrs ago not hundered percent sure between 1.5/2m i think you can multiply that by 7 now easily.
If he had to go south or Europe and likes of Ledley -Beram -Brown -Izzy -Forrest – Hooper-Stokes-Wilson -Commons -all these boys worth more than measily 1/1.5
try reading first james i said put money too the 1.5m to buy a first team player.
i have always liked ki, just felt he needed to strengthen up and he has, we will see the results of that this season.
yes the players mentioned are worth way more than 1.5m(never said they werent) but face facts mccourt is not a first team player, he is a squad player so 1.5m is a good price.
mccourt gets that thing that so many celtic fans do, they get better when there not in the team, odea, loovens, are examples of this when in reality they are all not good enough to be in the starting 11!! mcourt has been started many times and been non-existent and thats against the dross in the spl! time to move on paddy, we have too many average players like you draining wages from this club.
Lennon would find a player for 1.5 million alright! You listed some of Lennons Gems yourself, i would think they would average out about 1.5 million.
How can any player who is rarely used be expected to flourish at a club which doesn’t even have a reserve league. McCourt has never been given a proper chance at Celtic, ok he has had his fair share of injuries,all players get injured,one only has to look at the Hoops walking wounded at the minute.
Critics also pinpoint his lack of fitness and consistency, well that may have been the case when McCourt first arrived at Celtic.
We don’t need Nigel Worthington to tell us this part of his game has improved, Lennon and the 3 amigos should have realised that a long time ago.They should have realised it at the Inverness game when our 2 pint sized midfielders (Maloney & Forrest) were being kicked all over the place, Lennon finally throws on McCourt for 11 mins to see if he can chance the game.”Maybe we have to play a certain amount of Scots born players in the side.”
I regettably would have to say club loyality is a two way affair, so Paddy its time to think of your own career,and move on to a manager who will appreciate your qualities.After his outstanding performance for Norn Ireland, one would have thought McCourt would have started against Dundee Utd,but no, Lennon gives him 9 minutes.
I think it’s time for Lennon himself start showing a bit more consistency and maybe he should stop taking advice from the three Amigos,the old saying “Too Many Cooks” springs to mind.Granted being a rookie manager it is great to call on advice when the going gets tough, but the buck stops with you.
If McCourt does go, Celtic plc will make a few bob profit, which will keep them happy,and we will have lost a player who as Celtic minded as anyone in the squad.
Lawell will be drooling over the prospect of £1.5mm for paddy. Maybe then we can afford a keeper?
I love McCourt. He is sheer class and a joy to watch. It is just unfortunate that our midfield is so strong at the moment. Kayal, Brown, Commons, Ledley, Ki and Forrest are ahead of him and you can’t really argue against it. They are all on form at the moment. McCourt will need injuries to happen to get in there.
I think there is another position for him though, as a striker. With Hooper injured now we are short up front. We all know Paddy is a deadly finisher and can skin a man in a heart beat, lets match him up against a slow center back and get the ball to feet. I believe he will excel there.
The Enigma that is Paddy McCourt……..!