KRIS COMMONS, who will leave Celtic in the summer with his head held high, will get a chance to say his farewells to the Celtic support on trophy day against Hearts a week on Sunday.
And it will be a fond farewell for the 33-year-old midfielder who won five League Championship, one League Cup and two Scottish Cup medals in his career at the Hoops.
Commons, who had an emergency loan spell with former boss Neil Lennon at Hibs in January, hasn’t figured in the first team since the arrival of Brendan Rodgers as Ronny Deila’s successor at the start of the season.
The manager admitted it was nothing personal, but the playmaker’s style simply didn’t fit his dynamic for how he thought the Hoops should be structured.
Commons arrived at Parkhead for a bargain £300,000 from Derby County in January 2011.
The former Scotland international made an impact in his first five months after scoring on his debut against Aberdeen in a League Cup semi-final at Hampden. He went on to claim 14 goals in 21 games.
Commons is just three goals short of the magical 100 for the champions and one of his best must be the spectacular strike against Shakhtar Karagandy at Parkhead that turned the tie around and inspired the Hoops to a 3-0 win, with James Forrest grabbing the last-gasp winner.
That victory – with Georgios Samaras getting the other goal – paved the way for the team to make the Champions League group stages.
He also scored the second ever goal against Sevco Rangers at Hampden in 2015 with a trademark long distance shot that found the back of the net. His celebrations that day were hilarious.
His influence also brought him Player of the Year awards from his fellow-professionals and the Scottish Football Writers following the season when he notched 32 goals, a phenomenal amount for a midfield man.
The player and his family have integrated into the club in a massive way and the supporters have responded.
Boss Rodgers has confirmed stated that there will be the chance for Commons to say his goodbyes to the fans he rates as “the best in the world”.
A cameo appearance against Hearts in the last Premiership game of a memorable season at Parkhead on May 21, is on the cards if Celtic are comfortably ahead.
All Celtic supporters will no doubt agree that would be a fitting farewell to Paradise for the Mansfield-born player who became one of us.
T-SHIRTS BACK IN STOCK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
