So last night, as we got more details of the John Kennedy press conferences, we had something confirmed which this blog predicted earlier in the day; Celtic has absolutely no intention of selling Odsonne Edouard for the paltry £15 million which was allegedly coming our way in the summer from, of all people, Brendan Rodgers.
The media accepted that story as if it were gospel, when it seemed about as likely as Kris Boyd being tapped up by The Guardian sports department. Celtic can easily command a higher fee than that.
If Leicester were the only club interested then we might have a decision to make, but even in those circumstances we’d have shot for a better price.
But Leicester are not the only interested club; teams from around England, Germany, France and Italy like Edouard and are willing to pay big money for him.
Leicester’s might be the opening offer, but in an auction it’s a rare thing indeed that an in-demand item goes on the opening bid.
We know that he will go.
In all likelihood there is nothing we can do to convince him to extend his stay.
But Edouard has given us three good years and he earned his move.
All that remains is for us to get the best possible price for him … and as Kennedy said at the weekend, we will do that. We will act in our own best interests, first and foremost.
Somebody leaked that ridiculous story to the press.
I understand the journalists who got it swallowing it hook line and sinker, and running with it.
But our media saw it as a chance to play games, because there’s not a single hack who read this up here who would have believed it even remotely likely. They know it’s a false trail … and they ran with it anyway.
What the bloggers do is not magic. We know our club.
We have a realistic sense about where we are, but we also know that amidst the limitations we still take ourselves seriously.
We know our own worth and that of the players we have under contract. That’s why so many of us were able to dismiss this story before the club itself did so. Only fools would have believed that we would accept such a modest fee … the press aren’t fools, they are just people who don’t mean us well.