Ethics and manipulating a move

I have known players from Europe to fly into Scotland during a transfer window for a medical with a local club without their current employer’s knowledge.  This tactic explains the vast majority of overnight stays in a different country by a footballer in these circumstances.  Our errant employee may or may not have been on such a trip.

This is now an HR matter and due process will be followed.  His contract will be worth a significant sum and no one will want to pay that because an employee was not given the right to respond to allegations before action was taken.

Even then, there are reasons not to act immediately.  If the player has a club in Spain lined up, it puts money in his pocket if he becomes a free agent.  Of more concern is the precedent.  There are many players at Celtic who could earn several times their salary by moving this summer, contracts would be worth millions more if they were free agents.

It would be highly unethical behaviour to break lockdown rules in order to try force a move, as a free agent or not, but this is football and a fortune is at stake for both player and agent.  How sure are you another issue will not crop up during the European qualifying campaign?  Celtic’s business model depends on retaining contracted players who want out of their contracts or selling them for a fee.  Players cannot be incentivised to break rules, Covid or other.

The club have lots to consider before acting.  My guess is that their best interests are served by scheduling the appropriate HR meetings soon after the transfer window closes.  At least the left back question has become a little clearer this week, so every cloud……