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Former Celts

Celtic’s marquee myth

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Freddie Ljungberg

Imagine a team including the likes of Ian Wright, Juninho, Roy Keane, Robbie Keane, and Freddie Ljunberg. Mouth-watering the prospect of such players on the hallowed sod of Celtic Park?

But like your first relationship you expect too much and before you know it, everything is over. Having been a few years since Celtic announced the signing of a ‘super star’ ranked player, the fans ponder did we ever need them? Under Neil Lennon’s reign the fans have seen buying the hidden gem rather than the tainted goods brings success.

The words every Celtic fans wants to hear ‘it’s a privilege to play for them.’ The words of Wright on signing for Celtic, having seen the damage he did for Arsenal, Celtic fans hoped this signing to replace the injured Henrik Larsson would pay off. Sadly though for Celtic and Wright, the signing was during some of the darkest days of Celtic Football Club.

In Wright’s debut a 5-1 thrashing of Kilmarnock he scored but was also caught offside 8 times. Although no transfer fee was involved, Wright’s wages were supposedly astronomical. An aging player, always spoke fondly of Celtic, unfortunately he couldn’t produce what was required.

Was he worth it? In hindsight maybe not but with the injured Larsson the board needed someone they felt would bury in the goals. Sadly for Wright it wasn’t him.

Wright wasn’t the only ‘super star’ to grace Celtic Park and leave a ‘super flop’. To start four out of seven games for Brazil in the 2002 World Cup, you must be something special. It didn’t take long and the Brazilian star Juninho was the chosen man to inherit Henrik Larrson’s number 7 jersey. As ‘Juninho 7’ jerseys flew off the shelves, Juninho fell off the starting XII and onto the bench. Not entirely his fault, the Celtic way and his way didn’t match.

Should Juninho have signed for Celtic? Probably not, should the fans have bought his jersey? Definitely not. You don’t buy a car without testing it, nor do you marry a girl without going on a date (except mail order brides if that’s what you want), Juninho should have done his homework on Celtic and the style of play. Celtic should have done their homework on Juninho (maybe they did in terms of sales, rather than what he can do for the team). Sadly another Super star fell short of the limelight at Celtic.

The philosophy of buying these temporary, aging super stars kept on coming through. Roy Keane and Dion Dublin, the two most notable victims next up on the hit list. Some could excuse both these players as being past their prime, but their determination for the game was heroic. Keane in his displays for Manchester United and Ireland throughout the years showed what a warrior he was, even after tearing his cruciate ligaments.

To break your neck and kept playing as a top professional is nothing short of inspiration and that’s what Dublin did. However as great as these two men were, their time at Celtic was short lived; Roy would retire at the end of the season and Dion would be released by Gordon Strachan. In hindsight neither player was critically needed at Celtic although Dublin was brought in to replace Chris Sutton. But two players more so made an impact in the shops rather than the pitch.

Robbie Keane, was one of the strangest of these ‘super star’ signings. Robbie was brought in during the January of the ill-fated Tony Mowbray era. A proven goalscorer for Ireland and in the English Premier League, Keane had a point to prove after his unfortunate spell at Liverpool. The sense around Keane’s arrival was met with some hesitation. As one fan remarked to me seeing Keane’s face on a Celtic mug, ‘he doesn’t belong on a mug, he is a mug.’

Perhaps Celtic fans weren’t impressed with his habit of saying it’s his dream to play for this club, at every club he signed for. However 16 goals in 17 games for Celtic is not a bad statistic to have, even if he did not score against Rangers. Could he have stayed at Celtic? With a wage decrease possibly, should he have stayed at Celtic? I’ll leave that open for the readers to decide.

Possibly the strangest ‘super star’ signing- Freddie Ljunberg. Arsenal’s ‘Super Swede’ dazzled the English League with his tricks and flicks. Sadly, for Ljunberg the fans were more dazzled by his peculiar arrival and lack of game, even bench time. Hoping to rekindle the magic of the last Swede brought to wear the number 7 Ljunberg failed to find any real form.

Of course only playing in eight games and starting one of those how is any player meant to find form? But as Bertie Auld said ‘We work hard all week, but on a Saturday we get the day off to play football.’ Maybe Ljunberg wasn’t up for the task at hand or maybe he was just brought in as an old head, but again Celtic have squandered large sums of wages on players they should have reconsidered.

In conclusion, hopefully the days of buying these ‘Super-Star’ jersey signings are over. In the past Celtic have shown buying cheap can work out for the best (a ritual they’ve especially enjoyed recently). But Henrik Larsson for £625,000 or  Wright,  Keane,  Dublin, Diomansy Kamara, Edson Braafheid, and Robbie Keane? Easy pick really, but then that is the joys of hindsight.

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