Last night, the story broke which I am determined will not define the rest of my day or my week. It broke late, when most people had already mentally switched off for the evening.
It contains not one word that can independently verified. It could smoke and mirrors, or it could be something real and substantial. It is the second such story in a matter of months.
The story is that Giorgios Giakoumakis has turned down Celtic’s latest contract offer and is “set for a move in January.”
The same rumours stalk Juranovic.
Either the media is making up stories or they are getting good information. It is widely accepted that Juranovic’s replacement has already been sourced and is on the brink of signing.
Does that mean that the contract story about him is true?
It suggests that it might be. Strongly.
Does this mean that the Giakoumakis story is also true?
I am leery of saying that just because there seems to be substance in one story that there is automatically substance in the other.
Yet it is difficult to ignore that both of them have come out nearly on top of one another and that both essentially say the exact same thing, about two different players.
There are a number of factors to consider here, and we need to consider them one at a time.
But to me, by far the most important one is that both of these stories have highly sensitive information at their heart.
If contract talks have broken down then only a handful of people can be aware of that fact, and that the news of two different sets of negotiations have made it into the press is clearly not down to agents stirring the soup and has to be a disclosure made closer to home.
It cannot be dismissed as a coincidence either.
Players come and go. Successful players on salaries which they could better elsewhere come and then go, sometimes faster than you can say “loyalty clause”. Celtic will not pay EPL salaries simply because we can’t. That doesn’t mean that those inside the club should treat any player who the manager values with disrespect.
That two separate negotiations have broken down isn’t a good look, and any more of it and I can see the manager being a decidedly unhappy guy.
Far more damaging though than the prospect of any individual player leaving – Celtic will replace anybody given the right parameters – is the possibility that someone is leaking stories which have the potential to damage us.
Someone inside our club thinks that their own interests and their own relationship with the hacks, or perhaps just their own complaints and grievances, are more important than the interests and wellbeing of the club itself.
That person, if such a person exists, would be a snake. Would be a fraud. Would be a disruptor and destabiliser.
That person would need hunted down and ripped out of their role, whatever role that was, whatever function they perform inside our club. Because things at Celtic have not been this calm or peaceful or smoothly ticking along for a long time and that individual should not be allowed to disrupt our momentum for even one minute longer.
That person, if such a person exists, is damaging Celtic for their own ends.
Of course, it might be that all of this is what I said at the start; smoke and mirrors.
The truth will be known inside Parkhead one way or the other.
If these stories are true, then the place has a leak, and that leak needs to be identified and fired.
If the stories aren’t true then The Daily Record is making up lies, and I trust that the paper and its “reporters” will never see the inside of the stadium again unless they are paying dues, because someone has an agenda here and that agenda is to destabilise us and anyone who does that should pay a high price for doing so.
All of us will be watching to see what happens next.
If they aren’t happy with the contracts they happily signed, dump them,and they can regret leaving just like plenty before them.
Could be his agent or the player
Could be family or a friend
But most likely his agent…
I could be misremembering here but hasn’t John Kennedy long been suspected of being a major leaker?
I don’t know if I believe the GG story, if it was widely known that we’d need to re-evaluate his deal after KPIs were met it could be nothing but desperate destabilising pish from the usual hun media…
Wouldn’t lose any sleep over both of them leaving , the big man misses too many chances + juranovic is ok but nowhere near as good as his agent seems to think! memo to ange – 2 strikers required in January please ….
Saved me typing exact same.
If its true, Celtic will do nothing. We have lots of form for doing nothing.
I agree completely. Celtic should not tolerate any of this, and the same goes for the v a r nonsense. Somebody at the club needs to step forward and call it out. If you don’t defend your corner, people will walk all over you. But is there such a strong person?
Could be usual media negativity regardin our club, especially when the hype’s in full flow at ibrox. Although, if this is someone on the inside leakin potentially destabilisin info tae the media, it definitely needs sorted right away and the source dealt with severely.
He’s under contract. If he wants to leave, someone pays for him. That’s football. Most likely this is agent talk to try and get him more money, or test the waters. These things happen at every club, but the media love a bad news story about Celtic so we will see a trend towards reporting this way.
More billy bollocks being responded to here.
Ignoring bad behaviour is basic behaviour management. You say if true they should not be allowed into Paradise. The board are accused of doing nothing, yet the same people and their agenda are rewarded with airtime and discussion on here. Another basic – you can’t trust a liar so best not give liars the airtime
It’s the only way the bloggers or support can respond tae the continual bias, speculation and utter shite these clowns, especially from the DR, churn out constantly. Nae other Scottish tabloid challenges their ridiculous opinions. That’s why they dae it, nae other media outlet will call them out up here.
3 and a half years left on his contract and they’re putting this out
Kent can sign a pre in a few weeks and it’s ” Beale tipped to unleash new Kent ”
F*ck that hun rag lol
You hit the nail on the head there,Harold.
We could win the Champions League and the World Club Cup and the SMSM would still post it as a lesser achievement than Sevco winning 3 games in a row.
Any Celtic supporter who would even consider buying a Scottish newspaper of any description needs to have a good word with himself.
They’re all Hun rags.
I don’t mean to be pernickety here ,but couldn’t someone from Celtic media just ask big GG , are you in or out ? A direct question to him with a direct answer back …..Rather than imponderables …. I’m just saying ….
Maybe they already have asked both of them the question and the answer was they want to leave. In JJ case it looks like that. Otherwise why are we signing the Canadian?
Discussing their untruths and lies on here is not a response, it’s a discussion. It changes nothing discussing their lies on a blog they pay no interest to. It will always be the same until we stop talking and grow a pair.
I don’t think this is nefarious or destabilizing in the least. Seems to me this is the club putting a ‘for sale’ sign on GG without explicitly saying so, perhaps trying to generate offers that wouldn’t otherwise come. And there’s also a giant assumption that, like JJ, the player isn’t well aware of what’s going on any why. It’s very possible that the agent has been given the go-ahead to try and find GG (and JJ) a new club for one last pay day. At their respective ages, the clock is ticking on their careers, and there’s time left for maybe one more big money move.
As for the club… GG has been a good servant for Celtic, but I don’t think anyone will miss him for what he brings on the pitch. For what he does, he’s very replaceable IMO, and I strongly suspect the whole reason these rumours are out there is because Ange wants to us grade the quality at the position without increasing the size of the squad and the associated increase in wages.
These two players are talented but replaceable. In my opinion this is an exaggerated anti Celtic story by the Scottish Media to try and disrupt our season. We shouldn’t fall for it, I’m sure we won’t.