Oft-triangulated Georgios

It’s good to be back.  A power outage at our datacentre on Saturday caused servers to crash and subsequent database problems.  Our thanks to Andrew in Belfast for his invaluable help, again…

Trying hard to ignore speculation of various players coming our way, plenty of time for that later in the month, although I will add a note of caution.  The fact that a journalist gets confirmation from Neil Lennon that he is able to sign a £6m player does not constitute a promise to do so.  It’s little more than bait, for those who still read such sources.

I’ve heard nothing but good things over the years about Georgios Samaras.  He is a player who flourishes on confidence, and support, and does so most often at the highest level.  In Europe he is Celtic’s out-ball, a player capable of bringing others into the game, turning defence into attack.  It is at this rarefied atmosphere that his goal-scoring has also been most effective.  Ironically his style is less effective in the SPFL, where Celtic spend far less time 80 yards from goal.

A considerable reason for the low return in the Champions League this season was that everyone knew how reliant we’d become on Georgios.  He was heavily marked; by the time the ball got to his feet, three opponents triangulated around him.

It’s no surprise he has offers from Spain, and no doubt elsewhere, to consider. If he leaves I hope his lasting memories will be cheers of support, not his harsher experiences.

Definition of poor IT planning: datacentres who host their Status page at their own datacentre. “We’re down, but you can’t read this, because we’re down.”
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