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Celtic signing Scott Allan underlines chaos at Parkhead...


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...why exactly DID they buy him?.

 

David McCarthy

 

OUR man David McCarthy ponders the logic behind the Hoops adding players such as the ex-Hibs ace only for him to be ignored.

 

WHERE’S Scott Allan?

 

Back in August, the Hibs midfielder was never off the back pages with Rangers pursuing him as relentlessly as Alan Stubbs was rejecting their offers.

 

Allan, the diehard Rangers fan who was desperate to join his boyhood heroes, was being touted as one of the brightest talents Scottish football had produced in years.

 

He was the talk of the town.

 

Then, in the blink of an eye, he became a Celtic player. Hibs wouldn’t sell him to their Championship rivals, which was understandable, but Celtic’s move for him smacked of one-upmanship at the time and still does.

 

Because from the minute Allan arrived at Lennoxtown, he has been treated like someone who is surplus to requirements. If Celtic didn’t sign him just to flex their financial muscles at Rangers at that particular time, then why did they sign him? Certainly not to play him, it seems.

 

This season Scott Allan has worn a Celtic first team jersey for a grand total of 437 minutes - fewer than the equivalent of five full games. He has started just two and was subbed in both of them.

 

This is not a kid for the future. He was the main man in that Hibs team and had experience with Dundee United and in England under his belt, and had put a career that had threatened to go off the rails back on track.

 

His displays at Easter Road had been top drawer. An energetic midfield player who could thread the ball through the eye of a needle and could nutmeg a mermaid.

 

Rangers wanted him, there is no question of that, but when Celtic came calling Allan decided not to wait until his contract expired at the end of the season. He went and how the Celtic support enjoyed that one.

 

I’m not so sure the player will be thinking it was the ideal career move now. Not the way it has panned out for him.

 

Allan was last used by Ronny Deila against Hamilton on February 26. Since then, he hasn’t had a sniff.

 

Well, apart from turning out for the club’s Development squad against Kilmarnock on April 7. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t in the brochure when he considering his options as the transfer deadline loomed in the summer.

 

The whole Allan affair underlines the chaos that seemingly exists within Celtic at the moment. Deila..John Park.. Peter Lawwell..someone is signing players who either aren’t fit for purpose or when they ARE good enough, they don’t get used.

 

Look at their midfield. Scott Brown, Nir Bitton and Charlie Mulgrew - any two of the three of them are the sitting midfielders, so that’s okay. Even if Brown looks miles off it at the moment and Bitton looked like he’d rather have been anywhere else but Hampden on Sunday as he chased shadows until his legs gave his out.

 

But further forward, Deila has Gary Mackay-Steven, James Forrest, Callum McGregor, Kris Commons, Tom Rogic, Stefan Johansen, Ryan Christie, Stuart Armstrong, Patrick Roberts and...Scott Allan to choose from.

 

Thirteen midfielders in total - a ridiculous number - and given that Allan and Christie didn’t even make the bench against Rangers for the Scottish Cup semi final, it can only be assumed that in the Norwegian’s eyes, they are the furthest down the pecking order.

 

Ryan Christie was Scotland’s young player of the year last season, for heaven’s sake. Like Allan, a geniune talent, who needs games to continue his development.

 

Not Development games to continue his stagnation.

 

But Allan’s situation is the really interesting one. Was this another vanity project aimed at getting their supporters onside because they’d gazumped Rangers?

 

If so, the only losers are the player and anyone who loves to watch someone with skill being given the chance to flourish.

 

Rangers haven’t missed him one iota. Celtic don’t seem to need or want him. So Allan sits in the stand and wonders what’s next?

 

Perhaps a change of manager will help and that’s coming. Because the one in the place clearly doesn’t fancy him much and that is a damning indictment on Deila. Then again, if he can’t see that Commons should have been the go-to guy on Sunday - particularly when legs were starting to go - then maybe it’s not such a surprise after all.

 

But something has to change for the sake of Scott Allan’s career. He’s too good to be sitting watching football with the rest of us.

 

Read more at http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/opinion/sport/david-mccarthy-celtic-signing-scott-7789842#ljBVIV3Tx4LglMMl.99

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" But something has to change for the sake of Scott Allan’s career. He’s too good to be sitting watching football with the rest of us. "

 

Why's that ? He made his choice and will be on a handsome wage. Hell mend him.

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Allan, the diehard Rangers fan who was desperate to join his boyhood heroes

 

Why would anyone describe him as a diehard Rangers fan?

 

His priority was obviously money. That's fair enough. There is no reason for him, or journalists, to grumble if that is all he gets.

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It was perfectly clear why Stubbs and Hibs didn't want to sell him to us ... and fair enough. (It did not stop them plundering their fellow Championship clubs, of course ... see where the Doonhamers ended up this season.)

 

Why Allan then decided to switch to the Scum and essentially within days of Stubbs turning us down is something he himself has to explain. Perhaps his ego told him that he was good enough to challenge the already filled ranks of the Yahoo's first team squad? Perhaps he was not bright enough to see that this was set up by ex-Yahoo Stubbs to thwart us? Perhaps it was indeed set up by him (being his home club) and the Yahoos to help the Wee Scum out with some money? We'll probably never know. we most likely don't care either.

 

As one Nacho Novo once said about one Scott Brown (mind you) ...

We have no interest in players who have no interest in coming to play for this club. If he wants to go and play for another club it is his loss, not our loss.
Edited by der Berliner
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Allan needs to leave them and soon, get a regular appearance for some smaller Spfl club. Work hard and hope for some bigger team rescuing him again.

 

no other SPFL could afford his wages though.

 

He had a choice: stay with hibz and sign a pre-contract with Rangers in january(assuming MW actually wanted him) or sign for the yahoos. He made the wrong choice

Edited by RANGERRAB
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no other SPFL could afford his wages though.

 

He had a choice: stay with hibz and sign a pre-contract with Rangers in january(assuming MW actually wanted him) or sign for the yahoos. He made the wrong choice

 

I'm sure his swollen bank account will ease the pain some what!

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As much as the whole saga annoyed me, still to this day I believe he would have been a perfect fit right into our side. I rate the clown very highly (as a player ofcourse).

 

But I'm glad he is suffering.

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