Filip Benkovic collected his 2019 Scottish Cup winner’s medal after yet another solid performance. He was viewed by many of us as the senior partner alongside Kristoffer Ajer, who erred when Hearts took the lead that day. Benkovic returned to Leicester to wither on the vine, while Ajer continued to develop at Celtic.
The failure of Filip to develop is inexplicable. He left us as a 21-year-old first choice talent, a player Brendan Rodgers took on loan to Celtic and played him whenever available. Rodgers’ Leicester should have been a great place to return to. Subsequent loans to Bristol, Cardiff and Leuven earned him a total of five 90-minute performances in two and a half years.
Something was not right. When asked last week, Brendan Rodgers said he had been “unavailable for personal reasons”. That’s one of those phrases that we have no right to query, but it is enough. It sufficiently explains the incongruence between what we saw with our eyes in season 2018-19 and what happened since.
I have no idea what Filip’s personal reasons are and hope they soon lift. The game is full of players who struggle with family, relationships, mental health and various temptations. It always has been. It also has its fair share of absolute rockets, who cannot stick to plan and will not learn. Managers drop this type, usually frustrating fans who, again, trust their eyes, but every team needs to stick to plan and every manager has to be the boss.
If he was available, I would have backed Celtic to spend £10m on Filip in 2019. A stay in Glasgow may have lifted what ailed him, or we may have splurged a lot of money down the drain. That’s how this game works. A proportion of players will simply drop off the radar for no externally apparent reason. Hopefully a stay in Italy will sort the lad out.
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Who’s the head of the church of england?
—
i thinok it is Lady Jane Grey but ive been drunk for a few centuries so things might have moved on 😄
so drunk i cant spell ‘think’
😄
excellente
I found myself in work today and discvoered a magic cupboard that gave me access to the Oran Mor beer garden, so no I wasnt at a party. definately still at work.
loving barry gardiner on skynews – that mi5 story is a desperate attempt at distraction
love this
plc-ism
reminds me of the classic phrase –
a PLC is an organisation where a guy on a million a year tells a guy on a hundred thousand a year to tell folk on 25 grand a year that they cant affoard them
it would never happen at Celtic!!!
Maybe the pervy prince could become a ambassador for the Royal loving huns. They would lap it up I’m sure!
I’m annoyed at this talk of us being snubbed by McCree, He has been courted by Middlesborough for weeks probably months. We appear to have came in late.
If Ange really wanted him I would have thought that this would have been sorted months ago like the Japanese bhoys?
Perhaps our David’s injury was in his thinking.
HH 🍀
did we get “snubbed’?
or lose out in a ‘bidding war’ ?
only the Daily Record can tell us
“the pervy prince ”
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that title must have been copyrighted years ago 😄
The child rapist Prince?
Athletic Madrid v bilbao on virgin 527
Atletico
Reading back, there’s been a lot of auld yins reminiscing about this game. For those with time on their hands…
England 4-5 Scotland
https://youtu.be/Ea_n1ZViGd8
a pure random.
snooker.
Ken Doherty on just now as co-commentator to some lassie.
He is a ringer and a sound-a-likey for the wee obnoxious customs office on the Border documentary.
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/thesportschronicle/tsc/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/05194536/ken-doherty-sports-chronicle-author-image.png
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZGZkMGE2MjUtZjM4MS00NjU0LTg5MWEtOTFmMWU4YTM2Yzc5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjgxODUzOTc@._V1_.jpg
“so your trying to tell me your a snooker player, i didnt get smart with you did ah, so dont you get smart with me”
that fella.
“LIES”.
According to our manager the SMSM tell lies about Celtic.
That can’t possibly be true. Can it?
I don’t think child rape is a suitable subject for humour.
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 13TH JANUARY 2022 7:48 PM
‘I don’t think child rape is a suitable subject for humour.’
###
I’m not sure many 17 year olds would appreciate being described as a child.
SAINT STIVS
“woooft.
The Queen strips Prince Andrew of ALL his military titles and his royal patronages and says he will have to face sexual assault lawsuit as a ‘private citizen’”
A wee bit surprised at the swift and decisive action by Lizzy, especially since an appeal of the latest decision is possible. Wonder who will pay the settlement? ( if that is the denouement ). Probably you and me.
ERNIE LYNCH
Exactly.
I suggest you check the comment at 6:58pm.
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 13TH JANUARY 2022 7:56 PM
I take your point.
Breithlá sona to Favourite Uncle.
🎂🥃🎂
Andrew set for Rangers move so he can keep his titles.
I see someone comparing Peter Grant to Paul McStay .
I’m 58 .
I watched both their careers from start to finish .
Peter the pointer gave his all and more .
The Maestro gave his all and more .
But in my opinion The Maestro was a different class above ,Peter the pointer.
I would be interested in the older generation telling us how The Maestro compared to Bobby Murdoch
TT
Tickets now on sale to St holders for ConfLg tie v Bodo/Glimt.
£30 / £23 concession.
Just bought mine.
TINY TIM hi pal, im 68 having watched bobby murdoch as a teen. you said you would put the maestro a class above peter the pointer, i would put bobby a class above the maestro. OMHO,hail hail,
Polis might have to investigate polis over yon malicious conviction trail
https://twitter.com/thetimesscot/status/1481521483621224449?t=3kNqs3iqslYFfzSkAj12lQ&s=19
HH
From twitter
Andrew to move to Ibrox.so he can keep his titles :-)
HH
TINY TIM,
I think Bobby was the better all-round player but that possibly is in part because he had the support of the other top class team-mates, especially wee Bertie. Paul too often, I think, played a lone hand.
TINYTIM, THAT is a real hard one. As someone who saw Bobby in his pomp and also saw the whole of the Maestro’s career I would find it hard to come down on one side. Bobby had a range of passes I’d never seen before and he kept the team (with the able help of Bertie of course) ticking over. He orchestrated the team and the pace and movement of the team often went through him.
A few years after he finished I was talking to a former Motherwell left back and had suggested to him that it must have been murder playing against wee Jinky. He readily agreed but said the guy he ‘hated’ (in professional suffering sense) was oor Bobby; apparently the ball would come to him and he would cut it inside, slip it in behind, chop it over his head or do three or four other things, all of which ended up with the Motherwell back-kick chasing Jinky, Stevie or Lemon. By half time he was knackered, and in those days there were NO subs!
Now the Maestro. Who will ever forget THAT pass in the Ne’erday game at Celtic Park when he birled full circle in the middle of the park then sent an absolute peach of a ball, perfectly waited, in front of the on-rushing Chris Morris who squared first time and Macca planted it into the net. That pass was hardly out of the ordinary for Paul, but if I was looking for differences between the two I would say that Paul was the more mobile and made use of that mobility and therefore was more involved in what was happening in the middle of the park.
Was one better than the other? Can’t decide, but would have loved to see them play together.
Calm yourself Tom, it wasn’t meant as humour.
It was a response to myself using the pervy prince comment.
She is obviously classed as a child or a minor at least or there would be no case to answer surely?
“BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 13TH JANUARY 2022 7:59 PM
Andrew set for Rangers move so he can keep his titles.”
Is that your own work? If so , brilliant. If not, brilliant that you shared it on CQN.
Tiny Tim
I much prefer that type of topic to some of the non-football stuff that appears on here so well done on that score .
Personally,I think it is impossible to fairly compare players from different times. For me, quite simply, they were both excellent players but I repeat that I like that kind of topic on a FOOTBALL (Celtic) site.Good Mhan.
Maybe Celtic by Numbers could come up with a meaningful comparison :-)))
EMERALDBEE
“A few years after he finished I was talking to a former Motherwell left back..”
Was it Josie Wark by any chance?
PS For those who like it, Higgins V Williams in the Snooker is looking like a fine contest.
Cheerio for now.
INIQUITOUSIV
Joe Wark sprung to my mind too.
FAVOURITE UNCLE
If it’s your birthday, hope you are having a good one!
TINYTIM on 13TH JANUARY 2022 8:04 PM
That’s it in a nutshell. Peter gave his heart and soul to Celtic as did Paul.
But Paul was peerless – a special Celtic player who would have been special in any generation.. It’s a tragedy that in his latter playing career so few of his team-mates could match his quality.
He would have been outstanding in any European league but, it seems, he loved Celtic too much to leave.
ldshdlhds