SENTINELCELTS

He could get you off your seat, he had pace, could score, loved to drive at players, and was voted player of the month after absolutely bursting out of the blocks for Celtic straight after joining. He actually looked the part also.

He had spent two years at Barcelona’s famous academy, and would have rubbed shoulders with men who would go on to have fantastic and successful careers, they don’t always go hand in hand. Having returned to his homeland once released by the Catalan giants, and not getting signed by Everton or AEK Athens which apparently hurt a lot, he found himself doing well domestically but wondering if this was it, somewhat disillusioned with his career path to date. This domestic form had turned him into an International where he once again burst onto the scene becoming a national mainstay and considered a great talent.

Rumour has it that on one of these forays to represent his country, the then Celtic manager was on TV duty commenting on the game, and was sufficiently impressed to begin inquiries into his availability.
Those phone calls ended up being very expensive, you’ll realize why later.

Our protagonist is delighted, there’s recognition of his skills in the wider footballing world which he craved and presumably believed he deserved, plus one the sports giant names had come calling. He eagerly signs on the dotted line, nice and early so as to join the pre-season tour.
He was our standout player.
Not only that he started brightly in our domestic campaign hence becoming that campaigns first Player of the Month.
So brightly infact, just weeks after joining he had his own song! An accolade not easily earned, one that certainly cannot be bought but is only bestowed upon the worthy.

If I stop right there and ask you all what happened next, I’m certain the majority answer would not be the correct answer. What’s makes this tale even more galling, is that unlike most in this situation the full story of the real reasons into what happened next has never fully been revealed or satisfactorily explained. Even during my copious amount of background digging (ahem) for this ultimately sorrowful story (every masterpiece ends that way), I came across the player himself being interviewed regarding his stint, and he seemed flummoxed, and his possible reason for what transpired flummoxed me even more!
In the interview below he speaks very highly indeed of absolutely everyone attached to the Hoops, yet claims he believes he was a player who thrived on repeated gametime, he needed to constantly play to be on form, and thus once he became a bit part player he couldn’t reproduce that initial form.
Which begs the question,,why didn’t he start every game (when available) given that once he got up to speed he was great?
And did the manager ever cotton on to this trait, which is common enough in the game?

To make matters worse, he was loving life and fully up for Scottish football after Celtic getting pumped out of the early European Qualifiers by lesser clubs of course.
The ultimate sour cherry on top of the icing on the cake, is that we lost that league after he joined but only on the last day. If that early form had continued he would have helped secure that title, and would be a fully fledged Celtic cult hero today as I type.

Have you guessed who it is yet?
I’ll keep some of you dangling a wee while longer.

His interview puts to bed the general feeling at the time that he had chucked it, his heart just wasn’t in it, and his playing career might suggest a player who never really settled anywhere outside his country of birth, nothing wrong with that by the way. But the very fact three years ago (long after leaving) he took that time out (on the other side of the globe) to chat with clearly just an ordinary Tim, and the passionate way he spoke about us all, made me very rueful because unlike (the earlier in the week blast from the past) Colin Healy he really coulda made it.
After reading up/watching up I have mixed feelings, was he mismanaged? Yeah.
Jeez if Brendan had that player it would have turned out very different I believe.
And although the club went on to win the title the following season after he joined, they still got knocked out of Europe in the qualifiers, he didn’t play a minute and was not far from heading away on loan.
The manager who signed him had obviously completely made his mind up, and so that initial 6 week bursting upon the scene ended up costing the 2m fee plus wages.
This sad tale does have somewhat of a happy ending when our Bhoy was sanctioned for one final farewell home appearance pre-departure.

A star for 6 weeks only, an unfulfilled destiny, a Latin love affair that still exists,,,aye there’s a song in there somewhere.
Thanks for the memories Efrain, for we hardly knew ye.

By Mahe