Cristiano Ronaldo To Celtic? Let’s Leave The Fantasy Nonsense On The Other Side Of Town.

Of the many, many reasons for Celtic fans to ignore the foaming at the mouth suggestion that our club should be in for Cristiano Ronaldo, the most obvious should be that his appalling behaviour in the last few months shows how disruptive an influence he’d be.

We have a manager here who has gone out of his way to build the right atmosphere at this club. Every signing is vetted to make sure their personality is a good fit with the squad. There are no Billy Big Times at Parkhead. Everyone buys into the ethos of the Team.

Maybe that doesn’t bother you. It would bother Ange Postecoglou.

If you can ignore that he has blasted his club manager, abused its owners and risked sewing division and despair at the very moment Manchester United look to be getting their act together then how about his shameless self-promotion yesterday by hijacking a media event which was supposed to be about the Portuguese national team?

He is a fully fledged narcissistic loon. That should disqualify him right there.

Of course, there are his wages, no small matter in themselves.

He earns hundreds of thousands of pounds per week right now. Per week. An obscenity at a time when many of our fans are facing appalling life choices. Even if we were willing to meet a sixth of that, and make him the most expensive player not only at Celtic but in its history, that would still send the wrong signals to those in the stands.

How could we justify it? On need? We don’t need this guy to complete this season in style. We are going to do that with the current crop of players. What exactly would he introduce that we do not already have, except controversy?

Some people are just obsessed with bling. Some people just want Shiny New Things, or in this guy’s case simply Shiny Things, regardless of how out of date they might be.

Those more cerebral Manchester Utd fans are relieved to see him go. To play him in the team necessitates changing the entire shape of the side because this isn’t a guy who will track back and chase balls or adhere to a formation and system … sides get constructed around his ego. He is not used to circumstances where he must change to accommodate others.

This whole idea is lunacy. It is barely worth serious debate.

It belongs on the other side of the city, where they are prone to fantastical schemes like this without a thought as to what the overall impact on the club will be. The last time a Scottish club attempted a bling signing he spent most of the time on the treatment table, but thankfully got off of it long enough to miss the most important penalty kick in their short history.

It makes no sense, not financially, not for football reasons, not for any kind of commercial uptick, because the furore over it would last five minutes and we’d be stuck with the consequences. The wage ceiling shattered. The club turned into a Cult Of One. The dressing room harmony blown to smithereens and the manager having to re-evaluate the plan.

I don’t mind people drooling over this.

But let’s not pretend that the idea is one worthy of serious debate, because it would not stand up to the least scrutiny. Leave the fantasy stuff for those across the city. We’ll focus on the sort of serious business which got us here.