Celtic have completed the signing of 20-year-old Nigerian, Rabiu Ibrahim subject to a medical, after he was released by PSV Eindhoven earlier this month. Rabiu is known as a creative-central midfielder, a role that Celtic have played possibly as few as a dozen times in the last decade.
After leaving Nigeria full of promise as a 17-year-old the player failed to make the desired impact in Portugal and the Netherlands, but will still be regarded as a development project by the Celtic technical staff. His short history in Europe, with tales of agents and representation investors already has enough material for a short novel, which will not have aided development.
The job for Celtic is to get Rabiu plugged back into his potential. It remains to be seen what role he is deployed in when he gets the chance.
Welcome to Celtic, Rabiu.
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Welcome to Celtic Rabiu
Good evening!
a big Parkhead welcome wee man – looking forward to seeing you get stuck in.
Possibly thought he lacked the size to add real value to our team – hopefully will be proved wrong.
Will he qualify for a work permit?
And if he does will he need to play in a lot of games to keep it – or does that rule not apply any more?
Keep them coming Neil, Hailhail
Paul
Ki out?
HH
Welcome to the Celtic Family Rabbi you will never find a better place to re launch your carreer.H.H.
Don’t want to sound negative because we have made some good signings but surely this means there is players leaving. Our squad is huge! An incredible amount of midfielders at the club now.
Busy newsweek this…
Welcome Rabiu (or wee Rab as he’ll be known no doubt!)
Hope you fullfil all your potential at Paradise.
HH
/Bishop B
Welcome to Celtic ‘Big Rab’………
Len,
…you’re probably right….Just seen him.
Did he play in any bounce games prior to signing? If so can ye ask him what he thinks of Mo?
bankiebhoy1 says:
18 January, 2012 at 18:19
Report vary on his height from 5’5″ to 5’7″ but height isn’t everything.
Just ask Messi, Xaxi and Inesta. Or even look at the great Jinky!
Low centre of gravity is sometimes a good thing. Just hope he can get use to being kicked!
HH
/Bishop B
“Totey Rab” doesn’t have much of a ring to it tho’….
…..right, Len, got it – He’s the NEW Mighty Atom…
:)
James Forest @14.59
Superbly written piece.
Permission to copy and circulate to a few close friends…Merci.
Sunburst
Welcome Rabiu Ibrahim, look forward to seeing you in the Hoops…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Tell you what bhoys, if the paisley huns dont change their indefensible position, we should definitely bhoycott next game there!
no fan of bhoycotts but enuf is enuf fc
Has Weary Dave been inducted into the Shortbread home for bewildered Teddies yet?
merseycelt
That’s what I though regarding Ki’s position at the club. One in, one oot!
Fáilte Rabiu.
Árd Macha
James Forrest 14.59
NO BAD.
Serge says:
18 January, 2012 at 18:15
I think it was a given that players would leave if we can offload them, which is the problem I think, in that it is proving hard.
I don’t think we will sign a striker unless we sell one of the current ones. If we do not sell the best I believe we can hope for will be a loanee…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
clyde tonight astonishing. Lets sell Hooper. Ridiculous reporting on salary offer.
Mccoll not a Rangers supporter? minimal talk of tax case.
What has happened to the Jellyfish sale? Not a mention or a bidder in sight.
Blantyre Tim
BT did you ever hear say of a visit to Celtic Park in 1965 by the great Muhammed Ali? He wouldn’t have been a
trialist would he?
Can’t see the Club being stupid enough to replace Ki, our number 1 playmaker (when used) and Korea’s best player (so surely valuable from a marketing perspective) with some wee guy from nigeria who has managed 1 game for PSV eindhoven.
Seriously…. i know the board treat the fans with contempt, but does anyone really think they could be that stupid??
hamiltontim says:
18 January, 2012 at 18:30
Not having him as first pick for home games must surely be the beginning of the end or, possibly, almost the end!
HH
Very warm welcome, Rabiu, to the best football club on the planet.
I am all for a “creative midfielder” but we let Crosas go and nobody has filled my hero Lubo’s boots.
Hail Hail
KINGLuBO
Has our 3 signings ramped up the pressure on the huns. Psychologically this is likely to damage morale amongst the playing staff over at Poundland.
Good.
Sign a Centre-forward and win the league.
Sin é.
Árd Macha
Lennybhoy
Yes alot easier said than done. I can’t see us spending anything on transfer fees this window. HH
I would normally be completely obsessed by what was happening to our corrupt rivals.
This week I have had it reduced to its proper place.
2 days ago, I attended the funeral of a young family member, the father of 4 lovely offspring, who at 42 years old died playing football.
My shock at this tragic event leaves me numb in a way that no football event ever did.
God Bless Collette & the lovely young family of BARRY JOHN McGINLEY, a classic example of what the Irish diaspora has brought to our sometimes troubled land.
Rest in Peace, Barry.
James Forrest @14:59
That is a fine piece of writing and an even finer speech.
Make no mistake the end of the tax case — whenever that may be— is merely the beginning of the real proceedings, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.
This is not about the insolvency of Rangers PLC. Nor is it about sums due to HMRC as a result of the EBT that was under investigation.
This is about to be about what the tribunal finds in fact. About what a properly constitued court ( for want of a better word ), recognised as a judicial body with the power to hear evidence under oath, will find and determine has been proven by way of reliable and credible evidence.
Of course where you have two juxtaposed positions in relation to either what went on by way of fact, or in terms of the law of the land, you will find that any tribunal or enquiry will determine that one side is credible and reliable and that the other is not.
And it is there that the danger lies for certain players in this pantomime. Forget whether the tax is due or not– it almost certainly is— the key issue will be whether or not the board of Rangers PLC deliberately and willfully entered into an arrangement and a series of contracts which were designed to negate the need to pay taxes which were otherwise legally due.
The likely answer to that question is yes they did.
The next question is a difficult one and it is this:
In so acting did they (the directors) knowingly break the law. As I understand it they will have argued “No they didn’t because they took legal advice on what they were doing and that they relied on that advice”.
However, that is an argument that is frought with danger, because if that detailed legal advice was laid before the tribunal, and it was then shown that the advice concerned is to the effect that the course of action concerned is only legal if you do A,B, C and D– but that the Directors did not follow that clear advice to the letter, then it follows that the course of action must therefore be not only illegal but knowingly illegal.
Remember too, that whilst some may moan about the sums paid to the Chief executive of Celtic PLC, that it was not only the players who were paid by the EBT– others at Rangers Director level were paid by this possibly unlawful method as well.
In other words, The Directors gained by the very same system that has short changed the taxman.
The way that the tribunal decision is handed down is by way of a written judgement which sets out what facts have been established and what the consequences are in law arising out of those facts.
The next question will be whether or not those same Directors sought to hide and keep those contracts from the footballing authorities in breach of the league rules.
If the facts established are as I expect them to be then there may well be no end of further proceedings- instigated by various bodies– as a result.
However, there are those who I believe are completely oblivious as to what is about to happen. Some of those are completely unimportant in the scheme of things. An example of such a group is the Mainstream media who have consistently shown that they have not grasped the ramifications of what has happened here!
Of great importance, however, are those who have sat on various SFA and SPL boards over the period.
It is clear within the rules of the footballing authorities that Football clubs must act in good faith towards one another and towards the footballing authorities and their rules. Those rules state clearly that each and every year the football clubs must tender all relevant contract documentation between the club and the players registered with the club. The same applies to the contracts of key personnel such as managers, trainers and Chief Executives and key financial officers.
If it turns out– and I suspect it will— that Rangers PLC have repeatedly failed to tender and properly disclose all necessary contracts for players and executives- so breaching the football rules- then that is when the real enquiry will start.
Because at that stage the very people who are deemed to safeguard the performance of those rules are in the firing line and unless they show that they have behaved with propriety then they must accept a degree of culpability.
The rules of the league constitute a contract between the clubs. If one club has, by way of deliberate deception of league and football association officials, gained an unlawful financial advantage then that club and its official may well be liable both civilly and criminally.
Worse still, if anyone within the football authorities were either party to this behaviour or were privy to second contracts or hidden letters of indemnity, and did not blow the whistle– then they too are in the firing line. If say, someone held a position of authority and was in a position to blow the whistle but chose not to– and instead simply resigned for non specific reasons– then they would not be clear of the legal flak.
Further if the current incumbants of any executive position have it brought to their attention that there has been a prolonged course of misinformation and failure to disclose material and legally due information, then they are duty bound to launch a far reaching enquiry if they are to be seen to be fulfilling their own duties.
Any such enquiry in terms of the League rules, can lead to the citing and the examination under oath of any persons who were involved in any of this at any time. Just think about that- ANYONE AT ALL. Former chairmen, former players, former managers, former executives– the list is endless.
Who comes to mind? Well let me throw a few names at you. Murray D, Findlay D, Advocaat, Smith W, Smith G, Johnstone, Bain, McIntyre, Greig, Lewis J, King D, Murray P, McLeish A, Le Guen P, Whyte C, – all former Directors, all former players, Former Directors of Rangers PLC and subsidiaries, advisers Legal and accountancy, Bankers past and present, all members of the SFA and SPL boards throughout the years concerned together with all and any officers of the league who were in charge of compliance.
Will any of these people be happy to be examined under oath and state what occurred as a matter of record?
Were the league officials told the truth about contacts throughout– and that is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
While there is talk of what may or may not happen to a stricken Rangers or any Phoenix club, The hacks ignore the fact there are salient precedents which have been long established. Today Neuchatel Xamax have become the latest club to find themselves severely disciplined by a EUFA afilited Football Association.
As Blantyre Kev has pointed out the circumstances of their demise are not unsimilar to the current Rangers position.
However, whilst not on all fours, great regard should be had to the fate of one Bernard Tapie and Marseille,
There that once great club were stripped of a Chamions league title on the basis that it had been earned through “illicit” means, The club were placed in receivership, relegated, banned from Europe, forced to sell players, banned from buying new ones and criminal amd civil proceedings resulted in damages and jail sentences.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the allegations there related to match fixing- which is not suggested here- but strange payments to former players after they had ceased playing and other matters of lrregular financial deals were prevalent.
According to FFF president Jean Fournet-Fayard: “We had to take sanctions in this affair, which has seriously harmed the morality of our sport.”
That lack of morality brought down a once great club and destroyed the reputation of a once lauded and respected national Tycoon and businessman.
It is not the tax case that is the pinacle of this affair but the steps taken by those to instigate and then cover up the tax practice itself.
As a wee boy there was a childhood game called Consequences. Anyone who is a devotee of the much talked of Breaking Bad will know that each and every act has consequences for those who choose not to abide by the straight and narrow by even so much as a whisker.
Anyone who thinks the end of the tax case is the conclusion of this particular game of consequences is mistaken. The end of the tax case could be the beginning of the game of consequences and exactly where those consequences come to rest is, at this moment, anyone’s guess!
The end of the tax case will simply lead to many more questions– with potentially uncomfortable answers.
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RADIO CLYDE!!!-PLEASE STOP REFERRING TO CELTIC AND RANGERS AS IF CELTIC DEPEND ON THAT_
YOU ARE SOOO WILLING TO CHAT ABOUT SELLING CELTIC PLAYERS WHEN THE MANAGER CLEARLY STATES
HE ISNT SELLING!!!TALK ABOUT ALLY AND HIS GHOST TRANSFERS IF YOU LIKE BUT YOU ACTIVELY SET OUT TO
UNDERMINE CELTIC_LIFECHANGING MONEY etc-TALK ABOUT RANGERS CHEATING SCOTTISH FOOTBALL-THATS
THE MOST RELEVANT TOPIC YOUVE GOT-HAVE SOME GUTS -I SEE YOU ALLOWED A GERS FAN TO HAVE A DIG
DISGUSTING
BRTH – Marseille were not stripped of their CL title, only banned from defending it.
Excellent post otherwise.
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 says:
18 January, 2012 at 18:42
Stop clogging up the blog by re-posting your over-long opinions.
Only kidding, of course!
You, James Forrest, auldheid and the battered bunnet et al do great favours to us ordinary celts with your educative, informative, balanced and critical posts (well, james does rant a little but he’s clearly a leader who I’d follow).
Keep up the good work!
HH
It astonishes me how little many fans are willing to trust Neil Lennon over his signings. If Neil wants to sign someone, it’s good enough for me.
CelticMac
no nothing about it, nothing in my Celtic Companion …..
googles it and it was in the recoed online so it must be true…