No Celtic Fan Should Be Shocked That Barkas Is Playing Well For His Current Club.

I read, last night, with some amusement, how Celtic fans are allegedly shocked that Vasilis Barkas has been getting praise from the fans at his current club in Holland.

Why is that even slightly surprising?

The guy didn’t succeed at Celtic, but those like Keevins who have sneered and suggested that he’s a dud simply show how stupid they can be.

Celtic didn’t pluck Barkas name out of a hat.

We signed a guy who was a regular for both his club and his country. We signed a guy with a tip-top pedigree. That has always been a fact, no matter how many people want to decry it and play it down.

That signing turned out to be a disaster, and nobody would ever suggest otherwise.

It failed and it failed utterly, but to suggest that this guy isn’t a player, that suggests that he’s been a wage thief for all of his career and that’s a ridiculous assertion and isn’t supported by the least fact.

It amazes me that so many – and particularly in our media – have so much invested in the idea that this guy is a complete disaster that they can’t even admit that maybe it just didn’t work out at this particular club.

Are they really so sensitive to the suggestion that maybe things aren’t as simple as they’ve made out?

Are they really so resistant to the idea that maybe there are complex reasons why some players just don’t fit in at certain clubs, and that we shouldn’t judge them on one campaign?

You look at a player like Ajeti, who is now on his second high profile failure, and you are entitled to wonder if he was ever as good as the PR that surrounded him.

But Barkas failed at one club, Celtic, under extraordinary conditions, and immense scrutiny and pressure, and is still young enough to go on and have a sterling career elsewhere.

You know what? I hope he has that.

I hope he proves the naysayers totally wrong and makes the doubters eat their words over and over again.

The rush to judgement over this guy is one thing, the continued slandering of his talents is another.

I repeat; we signed a full international and a regular for club and country.

This is football, one of the most watched games in the world. You do not luck your way to that position, you cannot bluff or bullshit your way to it. It doesn’t work that way.

This guy just wasn’t cut out for life at Celtic … I have never doubted that he will do well for himself somewhere else.

I am pleased to hear that it might just be happening for him.