When players leave the club you usually look back on their time with a mixture of fondness, regret, humour and bemusement.
For Cha it’s a heady cocktail of bemusement, incredulity with a dismal cherry cherry on top.
He was signed in June 2010 after a season ending injury to competent German Andreas Hinkel. It turned out to be a hard act to follow though maybe passable level of ability on a consistent basis would have helped.
Cha arrived with nearly 60 international caps and years of bottom end Bundesliga experience. It was quickly established that like Lee Naylor he had all the excitement of wide eyed fat kid in a sweet shop and a work-rate David Cameron wishes on the jobless in Britain. Like Naylor the description erratic is apt.
First impression was of a player with a imposing build and a turn of pace more in-keeping with a sprinter. He seemed to possess all the surface qualifications that a footballer – and a damn good one at that – should have. Problem was that he was as comfortable on a football pitch as an elephant on a bike.
He seemed to be struck by the failings that embraced the first generation of Asian players that burst on the European scene unlike his countryman team-mate (who will soon by blessed with a So Farewell blog) Ki, who is more European and skillful and didn’t treat the ball like Superman trying to get Kryptonite as far away from him as possible.
Off course he seemed a likeable happy bloke but I need my footballers to be more than guys I would like to go on a night out with as I knew he would end up with his pants on his head at one point.
He will be remembered for his goal against St Johnstone but more for his own goal against Rennes, getting mistakenly booked for Scott Brown and a sending off against R*ngers 1872, which while being harsh highlighted his tendency to caught hopelessly out of position. Plus we always have this video.
His parting shot on the Scottish game was not in keeping with his persona. It was a bit low for a player that struggled to shine in a league he called dismal and has made a career playing for mostly mediocre teams or a player that a limited Mark Wilson who matched his work-rate was deemed as a better option for most of his time at Celtic.
I do wish him well but he won’t be remembered fondly.
His stats are played 43 games, W35 D8 L3. An impressive win rate of 0.81%. He scored two goals (St Johnstone and Motherwell) was booked 3 times and sent off once.
His pace helped cover up alot of cracks and got him out of jail on many many occasion. Would be good if a few followed him in effort though. One thing, if the only thing, he can hold his head high with in his time in the hoops.
His work rate and effort is so Korean/Japanese. That’s a given with players from that part of the world. He lacked the refinement needed to be a top player, something Ki has.
Ki!?!
Do you watch Celtic????
You aim a low blow at Cha then exhalt Ki!
Mad, suppose you’ll reverse roles when Ki leaves shortly!
Terrible post!
Cha was not an agathe but he put in a shift, not classy
Cha was an athlete, with average “tekkers” his pace/stamina did save him from time to time
Eh? He said the situation in scotland is dismal not the football and it was taken out of context! If you had read his goodbye tweet you would know he really vauled his time here and said he loved celtic and they were now his team.
In a general comment you also sound like a dumped teenage boy slagging off his ex! Leave the bitterness to the newco fans!
could not agree more very poorly written I find it difficult to ex Celtic players and indeed current Celtic players being critisised by supposed Celtic supporters let levave that to Newco after all WE ARE CELTIC
I don´´t think he called the league dismal,he said some of the grounds were dismal and he may have a point ,just paper talk. Don´t belive everything you read in the papers….
Harsh. A limited footballer, but I’ll remember him more fondly than others… a Mr C Burley for example. A better footballer but a total gobshite.
Well done in being played like a violin by the Scottish media. The headline was “dismal” but in fact the only thing Cha described as “dismal” was the atmosphere at away grounds. Can you disagree with him? He just gave an honest account of his experience playing in the SPL compared to Germany. Was anything he said untrue? It was in no way a “parting shot.” Get a grip and stop being so weak minded.
Bit harsh matey. He was defo not to blame for the og in Rennes. He will be fondly remembered by a lot of the Celtic fans. Good luck Cha and your comments on Scottish football was spot on from a professional point of view.
On one hand we claim to be the great Celtic family and on another we produce tawdry articles hammering players who gave their all.
This falls into the latter category. It is gratuitous and serves no purpose other than to denigrate a guy who gave all he could for the cause. It wasn’t his fault he was asked to play for Celtic or wasn’t the most able player.
Give Cha a break for goodness sake!!
The test of society is how it treats the weak and in the basis of this article I wouldn’t trust the lordofthewing with my pet hamster when I go on holiday!
Shameful!
Cha was frankly an embaresment of a player, of all my Years watching Celtic he was the worst fullback ever to pull on the hoops.
Maybe not nice saying that , but so true
I don’t share this assessment of Cha and I will remember his contribution to our league title with more fondness than venom.
I do not rate him as a good enough right back for Celtic but he is a good enough right winger and footballer.
Include me out of this kind of view
,poor article ,Cha will live long in my memory for not just the goal v st johnston but the best slide towards a dugout ever ,remembering how crucial the goal was at the time {}late late} thought it summed up a guy who although not a Celtic fan before arriving certainly got it when he got here. Wish I could manage to get the celebration clip up ,hope sumdy can
Not poor tbh its opinionated yes, personified yes, statistical yes with the quips of reds, own goals and win ratios, in struggling to see why it is poor? Unless you are a blogging zeitgeist, I’m pretty sure your aware that blog = opinions, and the individualism of the writer reciprocates his points throughout, I think its a judgemental written piece, I don’t agree with all the points LOTW makes but its not poor.
Leave Cha alone.
Like the other posts above have pointed out he was not slagging off Celtic, and you seem to have fallen for the anti Celtic media interpretation/propaganda.
Cha was ok, nothing special, but he wasn’t disaml.
Have to say I think the OP is a bit harsh, he was not a bad player, fast and he did get some very good crosses in. Liked his big smile actually.
Cmon bhoys. Cha was n honest jobbing pro that fell in love with the tic and the greatest support on earth.Lets not put the boot into one of our own.Leave that to the Rankers!Good luck Cha and welcome home to paradise whenever.
Rankers? Who are they haha
Joel perrier doumbe of the same mould, not the best Celt ever but he scored a cup final winner and etched his name into our history