Today, a new rumour; Jordan Rhodes has been offered to Celtic on a season long loan. There was a time when I’d have jumped at taking Jordan Rhodes. Time has moved on from there. Now he’s a maybe, and if this report is true then he goes from a maybe to a definite no, because he allegedly wants a very big string attached; that he’ll be a guaranteed starter in the big Champions League matches against Barcelona, City and Monchengladbach.
Not going to happen, is it? When Brendan has dropped our first choice keeper, when he’s left Saidy Janko out for one bad performance, when he’s even proposed changing the position on the pitch of Leigh Griffiths to get more out of the team as a whole … this isn’t a guy who’s going to accept those kind of conditions, no matter who the player is.
I like Jordan Rhodes.
As I said, there was a time when signing him would have been a no-brainer and the team would have been greatly enhanced by his presence. I still think he could do a fantastic job in the Hoops and if he really is being offered to us there’s absolutely no argument anyone could make for turning him down.
But not if it comes with conditions like those.
I am always leery in the first place of any player who’s offered to Celtic and is looking the club to sweeten the deal somehow.
Beyond salary and bonuses, what’s there to think about? The very act of playing for this club, in front of the best fans in the world, is a privilege in itself and shouldn’t need enhancements. Jordan Rhodes is a Celtic fan, furthermore, and pulling on the Hoops for a competitive game should be as close to perfection as anything he does in football ever will be. He is talented too, and Brendan is loyal to that. If he performed he’d be in the team every week, guarantees or not.
I hope this isn’t just a rumour.
I hope it’s a fact and that he comes up and meets Brendan, and he leaves feeling that even without such outlandish assurances that the move would be worth his while.
Celtic is a special club and he doesn’t need that idea sold to him.
He would be coming here at a special time, when we’re on the cusp of a great adventure.
But one man runs the show, and it’s for him, and only him, to decide who gets in the team and when. Everyone at Celtic Park who isn’t behind that is going to find it a cold place, and anyone who wants to come has to reconcile himself to that before he does.
You know why?
Cause In Brendan We Trust.
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