Project Celtic continues apace.
Tonight we completed the sign of the young Ipswich midfielder Kundai Benyu. I know very little about this kid except that Ipswich wanted to hold onto him and a number of English teams were hovering, include Premiership sides. He plays in the midfield, the most stacked position at our club, the most crowded area on the field. It will be a battle for him to get into the squad, but all told he’s a talent. We might see something here.
But it’s down the line. He’s not going to play in the first team for a while, although I suspect you’ll see him during the pre-season games. He has come on a four year deal; that gives him plenty of time to establish himself, and we’ll take it from there.
Welcome to the club young man.
In the meantime, Hearts have completed a signing.
And normally I would not mention that, because it’s not our club. But this one is worth a word or two, and not just because I thought if Kyle Lafferty was going to sign for any club in Scotland it would have been the one masquerading as the DeadCo he couldn’t wait to escape the second their fate became clear.
Lafferty and others were the ultimate rats deserting the ultimate sinking ship.
What they did to the Sevco fans was low-order stuff.
I understood why they did it, but it’s a character statement and a half, and one that should not be forgotten, although a lot of those same fans would have put it aside in a second had the club made a move and actually signed him.
Lafferty and those players were happy to take Rangers’ coin all those years, and pledged their loyalty to the fans … but when push came to shove, when the going got tough, when wearing a blue jersey and playing out Ibrox meant playing in the bottom tier they didn’t give a thought to the supporters. If they’d done it to our club their names would be there with Judas Johnstone as utter traitors, who’d never be welcomed near our ground again.
Lafferty was always a guy with a nasty streak.
He was a notorious diver, a cheat who’s elbows would make contact with heads whenever he thought the ref wasn’t looking, and protected by the blue top he would sometimes do it when the ref was. He was a bigot to boot, one of those “Real Rangers Men” who gets the “culture”.
Now he’s at Hearts, which as close to his brethren as he could have got, where, in some parts of the stands, such character flaws are regarded as enhancements. I don’t speak to the mind-set of all their supporters, but there are enough of them.
And as per usual with Lafferty, hate and spite guided his signing conference.
It wasn’t enough to sign for Hearts, he had to make it clear he had spurned Hibs.
He described himself as signing for “the biggest club in Edinburgh”, as if unable simply to join up with his team-mates and get on with it, acting like a professional, instead of trying to score pitiful points by playing to the gallery.
But he also had a little something in mind for the fans he betrayed at Ibrox, by taking a cheap shot at Aberdeen whilst he was there, ludicrously describing the Edinburgh club, who finished fifth last year, and the “third biggest club in Scotland.”
We know exactly who that spikey barb was aimed at, and who it was an attempt to placate. He thinks it’s that easy to get Sevco fans onside with his return to the SPL, and knowing those gullible goons he’s probably right, but this guy lacks any class whatsoever. He is as subtle as a nuclear detonation. He has raised the temperature a notch in his first press conference, and we ought to be expect this attention seeking to continue.
The Hell of it is, he’ll be a very decent signing for Ian Cathro’s team, and it’s a telling one because it says that the young manager has abandoned his early intention to play good football and is resorting to a more physical game.
That may be a good move and it may not; but it’s the end of the idealism at Tynecastle come what may.
What a joke Lafferty is. He is the same clown who departed Scotland in 2012 as if his arse was on fire. Something tells me that he, like others, will be watching Ibrox with the expectation that Pedro Caixinha is a man living on borrowed time.
When the end comes, don’t rule out this halfwit getting his “dream” move to Kenny Miller’s NewCo.