The prospect of re-signing Charlie Mulgrew seems to bring out the worst in some Celtic fans.
In 2010 he was the first signing made by Neil Lennon, decidedly low key but went on to play a lead role as Celtic wrestled the title back from Rangers (IL) forcing the Ibrox club into the abyss.
Over four seasons Mulgrew made as big a contribution as anyone as Lennon established Celtic as the dominant force- the two seasons that followed under Ronny Deila seem to have left him in the bad books of many fans.
The walking off incident against Ajax didn’t do him any favours, there was little comment from within the club but if I know anything about Mulgrew he wasn’t injured through choice. Inside the final year of a contract player’s are extra keen to play and prove their worth- to their current club or a new admirer.
@videocelts thinks it’s more to do with the need for fresh faces and it get treated like a new signing. Had zero pre season.
— Ross Cassidy (@rosscassidy85) July 22, 2016
@videocelts agree but the anger will stem from people saying “thats why we never brought a CB in” when IMO thats not the case
— ? paul ? (@snidey_bhoy) July 22, 2016
@videocelts I agree can play a lot of positions reasonably ok. Never left us down. Just a pity he has no games under his belt recently.
— Joehoops7. (@joehooops7) July 22, 2016
@videocelts It generates anger,because we’re expecting better. There is better out there.
— william (@Green20William) July 22, 2016
Â
@videocelts he should have been chased after Legia Warsaw away, worst individual Euro performance I can recall from a Celt. Not good enough
— Tito Funkhouser (@titofunkhouser) July 22, 2016
Â
@Celticnewsnow @videocelts Decent player. But we’ve too many decent players. Need a smaller squad with better quality.
— Ian Ness (@irnessy) July 22, 2016
Over the last 20 years it seems that home-grown players don’t seem to be considered Celtic class by a large section of the support. It’s a strange phenomenon when the Lisbon Lions and Quality Street Gang are such an important aspect of the clubs history.
Mulgrew may be 30 years old and not swamped by offers from La Liga- he also knows Celtic better than most and has an understanding of the demands and expectations involved.
Rather than take a risk on a new signing playing the wild card to bring Mulgrew back on board makes perfect sense.
As a central defender he is as good as Celtic are likely to find- imagine being able to bring in a Bosman that has played his part in five title successes, can excel in central defence, is a regular internationalist with a left peg that spells danger at set pieces.
While the English market goes ballistic Brendan Rodgers would do himself a favour by completing the phone call to Mulgrew, getting him involved tomorrow against Leicester and on the plane to face Astana.
CLICK HERE to follow the debate on twitter.