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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Am such a dummy sometimes…plausible deniability…
Deniabhoy wasn’t hurt in this making of this production ;-))
H.H.
THELURKINTIM – excellent, that made me laugh.
timmy7_noted on 14th January 2022 10:44 am
scullybhoy on 14th January 2022 10:35 am
That must be fake news because Catholics are safer in the union, aren’t they?
Everyone knows ethnic cleansing and the closure of Catholic schools are first on the agenda in an independent Scotland.
Rule Britannia.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
HH
TIMMY7_NOTED on 14TH JANUARY 2022 10:44 AM
scullybhoy on 14th January 2022 10:35 am
‘That must be fake news because Catholics are safer in the union, aren’t they?’
###
And if you traced the ancestry of those responsible for the atrocities what part of the British Isles would most of them lead back to?
Even the SNP are now conceding that independence would entail fiscal austerity.
That’s less money to spend on schools.
Any idea how to achieve that? How about a process of rationalisation? What about one that represents a break from the past?
ERNIE LYNCH on 14TH JANUARY 2022 9:23 AM
AN TEARMANN on 14TH JANUARY 2022 8:51 AM
Your political views are based on delusional fantasy rather than material reality.
More Haze of Dope than Days of Hope
=============
Your good at the self analysis Ernie
Or lack of it
In keirs little ethnically cleansed anti semitic party maybe! Not in real world.
How’s petie mandelson doing? Epsteins rancid little helper
ernie lynch on 14th January 2022 11:14 am
Maintain the status quo at all costs eh Ernie?
Never mind the people protect the broken system at all costs.
The people of Scotland will decide what happens in an independent Scotland rather than the voters in Surrey.
TIMMY7_NOTED on 14TH JANUARY 2022 11:24 AM
So what size will the fiscal deficit be?
What will happen to interest rates?
Will taxes rise?
Will public expenditure be cut?
When will we join the EU, and what will the conditions of entry be?
dearie dearie dearie dearie dearie me
ERNIE LYNCH on 14TH JANUARY 2022 11:31 AM
TIMMY7_NOTED on 14TH JANUARY 2022 11:24 AM
So what size will the fiscal deficit be?
A wee baw-bee
What will happen to interest rates?
Sometimes they will go up, sometimes they will go down
Will taxes rise?
Yes, for corporations who pay nothing at all just now.
Will public expenditure be cut?
No.
When will we join the EU, and what will the conditions of entry be?
Yes, on condtion we bring irn bru and teacakes.
Hurrah
SAINT STIVS on 14TH JANUARY 2022 11:36 AM
You’re a snake oil salesman.
And for what?
A flag.
Pathetic.
lol.
aw diddums.
Ernie Lynch @11.09
And if you traced the ancestry of those responsible for the atrocities what part of the British Isles would most of them lead back to?
…………………………………………………………………
Is it the Romans…no wait…the Saxons…Vikings..no, wait the Normans…all of the previous…what a nonsense statement
may the seagulls rise ………………
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDq0ngIO10Y
new article posted.
I find the claim of Austerity to be a nonsense arguement for not splitting…we’ve been in austerity since forever it feels like…so why would a Scottish government austerity feel any different
THELURKINTIM on 14TH JANUARY 2022 11:59 AM
Would it be England?
Would it be Scotland?
Here’s a wee clue to help you.
‘Northern Ireland and Scotland are the closest of neighbours, economically and culturally. You are the blood of our blood and the bone of our bone.’
Alex. Salmond 2016 (when he was still regarded as our darling hero and saviour of our nation rather than a sleazy windbag)
THELURKINTIM on 14TH JANUARY 2022 12:07 PM
Fine.
But tell people that on the doorstep.
But be clear and be specific. Tell them exactly how much expenditure would need to be cut, and what that would mean for public services, state benefits and pensions. Tell them what would happen to interest rates. Tell them what a separate currency would mean for existing mortgage payments and private pensions.
You won’t though. You’ll bullshit. And there’s a reason why.