Steven Fletcher has his own place in Celtic folklore. We bid for him in January 2009, the player made a public plea to Hibs to allow the deal to happen, but Rod Petrie rejected the approach. Fletcher would go to Burnley at the end of that season for a deal worth around £4m, which seemed eye-watering at the time for a striker who scored 11 goals the previous 12 months.
As Celtic ran out of steam in the spring of 2009 attention turned to what might have been had Fletcher signed. He was the one that got away. The whats, whys and maybes of that time are irrelevant now, but in short, Celtic didn’t value Fletcher at £4m and Petrie reckoned he could get that kind of money in England if he waited.
Before selling to Burnley he didn’t even put the customary call out to Celtic to entice a higher bid. Petrie wanted Hibs to be known as a team who could produce players for the English Premier League – a Hamilton Accies-Lite, if you like. It’s a legitimate strategy.
The player is 28-years-old and now free of the ankle injury which plagued him for over a year. He’s on an astronomical basic wage at Sunderland, who paid north of £10m for his services. Few Scottish footballers will have higher career earnings than him, but that contract ends in June. This season has brought 4 goals from 11 starts for a Sunderland team who sit in a relegation position.
The injury profile makes him a possibility for Celtic. Without it, as a free agent, he would remain in the English Premier League next season (whether Sunderland do or not). His agent will no doubt be shopping him around right now, as will Sunderland, who at the moment will be asking for a consideration to be paid to release him this month.
We must have signed 20 strikers since January 2009, very few as good as Steven Fletcher. I’d take him in a heartbeat.
I’m pleased Anthony Stokes (16 months younger than Fletcher) has a choice of clubs wanting to loan him this month. All three: Dundee United, Inverness and Hibs, would be good places for him. United are a better team than their abysmal points tally indicates, but they are desperately short of strikers. Stokes could transform them. Hibs and Inverness are both clubs looking purposefully towards the second half of the season.
Charity Q&A Night, Carfin
I’m on the (otherwise excellent) Q&A panel at the Xavier Centre, Carfin, on Saturday 30 January alongside two Libson Lions – John Clark and Bertie Auld, Celtic author and sports academic – Dr Joe Bradley, and Fifa referee – Willie Collum.
The purpose of the night is to raise funds for Lanarkshire Cancer Care Trust and the Young Adult Ministry. Tickets will be scarce, so if you’d like to attend, call Mick on 07827 975271 soon.
You know when you look at a line-up and just know it’s going to be a great night…..
516 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 14
- »
Martyn Waghorn and @Leighgriff09 are both 25, one has 57 career goals and the other has 160 career goals #SuperLeigh
Steven Fletcher Scenario.
We are signing him.
We are signing him
We couldnt get him:)
Too late.
Paperwork.
Wages.
You know the rest.
More chance of getting Norman Stanley Fletcher.
HH
official line…. ‘we are trying to sign Fletcher’ = Willo Flood on his way back.
My favourite Alan Rickman performance was in Dogma. A great actor.
AN TEARMANN on 14TH JANUARY 2016 1:12 PM
‘Ernie
no Ernie i stated and repeat it here,Sectarianism is owned by westminster,you know that too.’
###
No disrespect, but simply repeating an assertion as a mantra does not make it true.
You might find it comforting, as it helps you avoid having to face a reality that is not to your liking, but that’s just not good enough,
The idea that you can blame everything that’s bad about Scotland on Westminster, or the Union, or the English is childish.
Time you grew up.
RD gives update on Broony
http://readceltic.com/2016/01/14/deila-gives-positive-update-skipper-brown/
Cultsbhoy
Steven Fletcher:)
Steven Fletcher:)
Steven Fletcher:)
Amido Balde:(
HH
Paul67
I’m astounded at your assessment of Fletcher.
He may be free of the ankle injury ,but it is only a matter of time before some other part of his body ruptures.
In short he is yet another injury prone ,low scoring centre forward.
If they ain’t fit,they ain’t no use.
I wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole.
From Gary Gillespie to Derk Boerighter ,Carlton Cole ,I could list dozens.
We never seem to learn.
TT
Wish we were chasing Darren Fletcher. Would fancy our chances in Europe with him and Broony anchoring.
I also wish I won £33 million on Saturday.
Hey ho.
Forget Fletcher – we should be looking at:
Faissal El Bakhtaoui
Just turned 23 and has scored 28 in 56 games past 2 seasons for the Pars.
French Moroccan from a Fussball background – could be the next Sami!!
H!H!
TINYTIM
What a forward line…Two up Front.
Carlton Cole and Steven Fletcher.
RD can Leave Leigh Griff on the bench:)
Nothing would surprise me with PL.
Probably looking at that top striker from Sevco……Wagtail:)
HH
In the space of 20mins you’ve gone from criticising PL for not signing Fletcher to criticising him for signing him. Can you make your mind ;0)
Sectarianism in Scotland began before the reformation with catholics burning protestants and continued on in tit for tat hangings and persecution such as fundamentalists do. The religious sects of christianity have a six hundred year history of sectarianism in Scotland, well before Westminster and nationalism.
Meansong
Nobody will get near Steven Fletcher.
He will be in his Lambo and 25 miles away before PL can get his debit card out:)
HH
I cannot believe how unfit Carlton Cole is.
He has been with us for months now.
TT
I suspect that we are close to signing Fletcher .
Otherwise Paul would not be giving such a glowing appraisal of the serially injured low scoring centre.
TT
Buddy Morrisey
Calvin
John Knox
The Covenanters
The Protestant and Hanoverian Succession.
And on the subs bench: The Church of Scotland, The Speculative Society, and the Orange Order.
HH
Cifti back to Dundee Utd – Stokes to Hibernian – Scepovic & Ambrose sold – Derk and Blackett chased.
Sign Wasilewski (out of contact in June) from Leicester City – just the kind of experienced no nonsense centre back we need to bring on Simonovic and Boyata. Probably get him for around £1 million.
Sign new striker.
That would for me.
Modern serially injured beardy low scoring strikers are rubbish.
Tiny Tim
you’re falling for it…
PL has told P67 to give a glowing report to create the impression we are trying to sign SF….
Remember we don’t comment on players until the deal is done…or immediately after transfer window closes by way of excusing apparent failure..
HH
CB
You Da man Efe babyyyyyyyy
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/efe-ambrose-says-he-s-discovered-new-beginning-at-celtic-1-4001024
What about a punt on the boy Boyce From Ross County ?
Looks good in the box…
Steven Fletcher would be a great signing for us,if he takes the wages on offer.A Tim,who wanted to play for us in the past.He is now a millionaire so has done well for himself.At 28,he is far from finished.He would be a hundred times better than the vast array of duffers we have signed as strikers in the past.The thought of him and Griff together is mouthwatering.I take it RD would be switching to two strikers up front.
Hard to fathom what some people on here want.
Dont know if it is on or not,but I would love it to happen.
I would sooner have Fletcher than Ciftci, Balde, Pukki, Lassad, Miku, Rasmussen,Fridjonssen, Murphy,Bangura et al
put together.
First striker we’ve been linked with for a long time that I’ve actually been a wee bit excited about.
Mind you, an 80% cut in the wages he’s used to might be a problem:-))
GLENDALYSTONSILS
Cant see SF taking a 80% cut in wages.
How will he fill his Lambo on 12-15 grand a week:)…He probably spends that on kebabs alone:)
HH
The spine of our team is weak, particularly for Europe. We need three experienced player through the middle, center half, midfielder and forward, who will help get the best out of the talented young players we have, particularly from middle to front.
Fletcher would be a good start in filling these positions with experience.
I liked Rasmussen!
Don’t know why we don’t give players a run in the team before we let them rot on the bench or leave them out of the squad.
Now if we could get Big Derk fit for 6 or 7 games……………………
Ach am talking p*sh as usual.
(And at least I admit it)
Is it to soon to give up on Cifti ? I’ve not seen enough of him to do so yet
TINYTIM on 14TH JANUARY 2016 1:44 PM
Absolutely….!!!!
Ask Collum what he thinks of Dallas’ email?
Chinese teams after Fletcher too,mad money on offer,more than EPL in a lot of cases
whitedoghunch on 14th January 2016 2:45 pm
Is it to soon to give up on Cifti ? I’ve not seen enough of him to do so yet
====
Average finisher, poor football brain, slow. Against Quarabag away I watched him try an elaborate turn and give the ball away cheaply when holding the ball up would have been the sensible option. I knew then who got the best deal when we bought him from Dundee Utd.
Adam Rooney would have been a better bet by a long shot.
HH
whitedoghunch on 14th January 2016 2:45 pm Is it to soon to give up on Cifti ? I’ve not seen enough of him to do so yet.
———-
Far too early. Think if he had a run of games he would do alright.
Seems to be the current owner of CQN posters “worst player to wear a Celtic shirt” title. I think the last one was Berget. Remember – the guy who knocked us out of the Champions League…..
Wonder whether Fletcher would drive to Parkhead in his Lamborghini? Or the Bentley, maybe?
Maybe Celtic should pay the living wage to its employees before hiring yet another overpaid striker?
Turkeybhoy on 14th January 2016 2:30 pm
Hard to fathom what some people on here want.
a good old fashioned moan
GlassTwoThirdsFull on 14th January 2016 3:00 pm
whitedoghunch on 14th January 2016 2:45 pm Is it to soon to give up on Cifti ? I’ve not seen enough of him to do so yet.
———-
Far too early. Think if he had a run of games he would do alright.
====
When you expectations have been lowered to your forwards ‘doing alright’, theres problem number 1.
At least Griffiths is bucking the trend, otherwise we’d be struggling.
If he hadn’t score vs Thistle in the last minute, that’d have meant no home wins since October v Aberdeen!
HH
Still not signed anyone? Peter too busy looking at his heated driveway. Get Yir finger out Peter. I want Gareth Bale
Glasstwothirdsfull
Berget knocking us out of the champions league says far more about us than it does about him.
A very limited one dimensional player whose stock in trade is to flit on the periphery of a game, occasionally loitering hopefully at the far post so he can smash any loose ball as hard as he can towards the goal.
That’s all there is to him.
A very limited player who could only ever profit playing against really poor or injured defenders.