An Ode To Alan Stubbs & A Big Laugh At The Sevco Press

By Broadsword

If I could pick one picture to encapsulate the last week or so, from my point of view at least, it would have to be the one above.

I can clearly remember the pre-internet days of Stubbs signing. In 1996 we paid £3.5million for one of the most promising and highly thought of English central defenders. A relevant comparison nowadays could be John Stones at Everton; younger readers may now appreciate why this transfer came as a bit of a shock at the time. In my estimation, if it were not for the much improved second season Stubbs had, as well as pairing up with Marc Rieper, then Rangers (May eternal light shine upon them) would have achieved 10-in-a-row. His Celtic career, overall, was cruelly affected by cancer (twice) which he thankfully overcame. We probably never saw the kind of consistency we would have hoped for over his time at the club but, all things considered, he was a goodie.

So, why pay tribute now to a guy who left Celtic 14 years ago? Well, the answer is simple.

The last few days have been magic. Since last Thursday we have been treated to some of the funniest shit I can remember since Derek Johnstone purred about the imminent arrival of Scott Brown at Ibrox. Before I continue I’ll let you know where I stand with regards to the acquisition of Scott Allan. I think this a good piece of business, the boy has something – he can run with the ball, pick a pass, willing to test a keeper and can put in a tackle. There are also justifiable questions to be asked: why did he not cut it at West Brom? Why has he been playing in the Championship? At 23 years of age, why has he not played more first team football? Why did he think wearing that jumper was in any way, shape or form acceptable?

Allan is a bit of punt but a very worthwhile one at that. £275,000 plus Liam Henderson getting a year of first team football under a manager who encourages good football, is something that Celtic should be applauded for. Some people in the media claimed to be ‘shocked’ and ‘stunned’ by this deal. ‘But, where will he fit into the team?’ ‘This doesn’t make sense!’ ‘He’s a RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJJJJJUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSS  MAAAAAANNNNNN!’ I was not surprised by this deal, nor was I stunned, nor did I care if he ‘had his heart set on a move to Ibrox’. There have been plenty of rumours over the last couple of months to suggest that we were interested in this player – I think one of the Sunday papers even ran with the story during the summer, and certain ‘knowledgeable’ users of the internet were of the opinion, for some time, that Scott Allan was very much warming to the idea of being a sailor man from Glasgow town whose roamed this world round and round. Yes, there were bids from Rangers and yes, he was/is a Rangers supporter. Which is where this statement from Hibernian, after Allan handed in a transfer request, becomes required reading.

“In the face of continued media interest, Hibernian Football Club can confirm that Scott Allan has today handed in a written transfer request.

This comes on the back of two unwelcome and uninvited approaches from Rangers FC regarding Scott, the first for £175,000 and the second for £225,000.

Hibernian FC has refused both bids because the Club has no wish to transfer a valuable player to strengthen a major rival in the battle to win the Championship and gain promotion to the Premiership.

Hibernian’s position has not changed. The player will not be sold to Rangers.”

I, and others who know far better, did something which no journalist seemed to do – we read the statement. It did not say that the transfer request was refused; it did not say that bids were not welcome; it did not say that Hibernian will do everything they can to keep the player at the club. It was a rather eloquent way of telling Rangers to bolt. Hibs are desperate to win promotion this season and they knew that if they sold Allan to Rangers then it would probably guarantee another tilt at the Petrofac Cup. In a league where two teams are seen as potential champions it is highly unusual for direct transfers to be conducted between the clubs. Would Man City sell Aguero to Chelsea? Are Barcelona likely to ask Real Madrid if they would like to bid for Messi? When Rangers (old mob) and ourselves were fighting for the title did we do much business? Of course we didn’t. Why? It’s perfectly simple (always like using that one) – you don’t strengthen your direct competition. Not only would Hibs have practically gifted the Championship title away they would have seen their gates drop – the transfer fee would have been quickly deemed irrelevant. Yet, these obvious thoughts did not seem so obvious to certain sections of the media. My particular favourite piece of commentary being this from July 28 when, in the public domain at least, there was only one bidder:

“An unhappy Allan wont win Hibs the Championship. Should take what they can get, use £ to strengthen & move on. Fighting a losing battle here”

Everyone is perfectly entitled to an opinion. Even when they are spectacularly off the mark and naked whilst they use Twitter.

It got to the stage when Rangers, in the era of ‘over-investment’, slapped in a bid of £280,000 with the possibility of a sell-on clause. How could Hibs possibility resist? They had to let the boy go. He must have been allowed to go to Rangers. How dare they, the Edinburger diet-Fenian DREAM CRUSHERS!

As we all know Hibs politely declined the opportunity to toe themselves in the baws even though the reporting of the matter was now starting to resemble a campaign. Then came the curveball, as it were, Celtic were ‘seriously interested’ and had reached a deal with Hibs on Thursday.

I thoroughly enjoyed the calls to Radio Clyde where some Rangers fans were adamant, by virtue of their past and present postal codes, that ‘there’s nae chance ae that bhoy signing fur Sellick – hunner pur sent’. The auditory hurt was in full majestic flow and I was gutting myself cheerily to the splashing of a thousand Hun tears. Then, over the course of the weekend there were theories abound that Celtic were involved in acts of devilment and one-upmanship, letting know Rangers that we are the almighty and that we shall do our The simple fact of the matter is that it is a pile of pish. Celtic identified a player that they felt could add something to the squad, as well as further develop his talents. He was not an expensive purchase and that’s pretty much it. Far too many people are failing to realise that Celtic do not operate in the same manner as David Murray. Petric, Adamczuk, Le Petit Merde, Cannigia – all players Celtic were openly interested in (and had paraded in one instance), the attempted signings of John Collins, Van Hooijdonk, Hartson (under Paul Le Guen) and there were rumours regarding a move for Paul McStay indicate that Murray ran Rangers not just to be successful but to get it right up Celtic. Worked out beautifully I’d say. David, if you are reading then I would like to inform you that Glen Daly is still getting belted out at Celtic Park.

Celtic do not, in my humble estimation, regard Rangers to be a serious rival. They may do in the future but there is no justifiable reason for Celtic to act in a manner which is to the detriment of Rangers. That just happens to be a delicious consequence in this affair.

Finally, it would be remiss not to consider one small aspect of Friday evening’s radio coverage. Specifically when Derek Johnstone suggested the mere possibility that there may be an issue with Scott Allan’s medical. I am not saying that the ex-Rangers player was being wishful or hopeful for a potential as that would be grossly unfair. I do believe that medicals are an important part of a transfer deal and that it would be tremendously childish and uncouth to use them for point-scoring purposes.

Good luck to Scott Allan, every Celtic supporter I know wishes for him to enjoy a trophy-laden time of happiness at the club.

P.S. Thank you once more Alan Stubbs!