Going through the Celtic pages on the One Football app I come across a piece from The 4th Official.
For those who dont use the One Football app ( which is a good wee app btw) The 4th Official is an online fitba magazine, and One Football ( the app) gathers up articles from online fitba magazines and bundles them under yours and all teams and divisions in the world.
So the Celtic Star is on One Football.
The 4th Official when writing about Celtic has a track record of either sourcing its content directly from the SMSM or they have deluded tributeers , likely both is true and they work for both.
Therefore whenever The 4th Official focusses upon Celtic some kind of fantasy bashing article or the usual attempts to seed uncertainty ensue.
With a name like The 4th Official you know instantly this site has no leanings towards Celtic of any kind.
Yesterdays article was about loaned out keeper Vasilas Barkas ,
What Should The Club Do?
The 4th Official looks at the situation with an objective eye overall but it's the language that's used to assess and describe the situation with player and club that is the tell tale sign of a LURKER.
it reads how we've strengthened across the pitch , BUT, we need to find a long term successor for veteran Joe Hart in goals , while the likes of Benjamin Seigrist and Scott Bain have failed to gain first team status,
we must work on what our valuation of Barkas will be on his return from loan spell with Utrecht at the end of the season,
- (what an absolute nightmare, not. Complete fabrication of a story that just isnt there ).
It continues " The Greek custodian was 'roped In' from AEK Athens for a fee of around £4.5 million" , - roped in?
Is he not the most expensive goalkeeper import into Scottish football?
Barkas was £5 million I think and you don't rope in multi million pound international signings it was a marquee signing at the time , meant to be.
" Expectations were sky high given his reputation but a dreadful run of form cost him his place under Lennon.
Ange couldnt rely on him either and the arrival of Joe Hart saw him slip further down the order. "
Goes on to mention his 8 clean sheets from 24 appearances , how Utrecht would love to keep him but it's not possible financially,
" Utrecht are a club who cannot afford huge transfer amounts and must be creative , by loaning players first we buy time and Barkas will be returning to Celtic at the end of the season, he is too expensive for FC Utrecht. " said club technical director Jordy Zuidam.
What Should Celtic Do?
It goes on Celtic will prefer a summer exit rather than lose him for nothing next year, ( which is fantastic insight , nobody thought of that luckily we loaned him out).
But we must not expect an astronomical figure considering his unsuccessful stint in Celtic colours.
Time is ticking and the Glasgow giants could only recoup some of the chunk we invested way back in summer 2020 ( that's waay back just over 2 years ago).
The tone of this article smacks of desperation and its laughable because this tone highlights the LURKERS helplessness, the only option to the writer is to make up nonsense about our forgotten expensive flop goalie.
Mustve taken some time to dive so deep to find a ' story' that isnt fantastic for Celtic and even then it's actually working out this Barkas loan, he's put himself in the shop window and regained his international place.
It continues " Barkas form for Utrecht would allow Celtic some scope for negotiation but we must not get over-ambitious, (obviously these " negotiations" dont include Utrecht as they said they were skjnt, ) thats unless we decide to renew his contract instead." - wait what?
Seriously?
After all that we might for all you know renew his contract?
Geis Piece!
" Nevertheless the champions of Scotland must find a younger name who would secure the no 1 spot for the long run, as 35 year old 88 appearances Joe Hart is past his prime despite conceding the least number of goals in the premiership "
- hmmm ok , naw talking pish again 4th Official.
" Hart's unsteadiness while claiming crosses and long balls often leads to chaos and instability inside the box , therefore the Bhoys should ' rope in' someone who would help them overcome defensive frailty and improve European form after years of disappointment and humiliation" .
Yip, that last paragraph, that's something I'd expect to hear from monster munch boyd it's where the article finally let's go of the pathetically thinly veiled tale and it's true colours are revealed and they arent green and white.
This started with the question what should we do about Barkas who's playing really well for Utrecht but finishes with hes probably better than the keepers weve got , the one with the fewest goals conceded in the league , Joe Hart who's 35 and not old at all for a keeper.
Hart has fell in love with the game again, fell in love with Celtic and is displaying his best form since his Man City and England days.
We should get rid of Hart though, aye sure.
Strangely enough Ange is looking to extend his contract and Barkas' form may well bring in a couple of million though I'm sure off the books will suffice if need be going into a new season.
Find it hilarious the lengths these magazine will go to hope to try and sew some discontent where there is none
Thoroughly enjoyed tearing it apart
- rant over HH
On-Loan Celtic Star Would Likely Return Before Next Season: What Should The Club Do? via @OneFootball.
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