Petrov

[steamboatsam]

Portsmouth have denied that they have opened talks with Celtic over Stilian Petrov.

Pompey were reported to be lining up a £5 million bid for the want-away Bulgarian international.

However, the South Coast outfit's chief executive Peter Storrie has denied the club have or are set to make an offer.

"We have not, nor are we about to, make bids for any players," said Storrie.

"The manager and officials are still in discussions and we've not decided which players we will be looking to sign. We're still in that process."

Storrie, though, did refuse to rule out that Portsmouth may make a bid in the future.

"He is obviously a top class player but I repeat that no decisions have been made in terms of potential signings," he said.

"We will strengthen our squad as and when we feel it is the right time."


Surely he's not going to forego champions league football for a relegaion battle with those fooks.

[eamo]

If he does then it is a damning indictment of the Scottish League...

[therock67]

eamo said:

If he does then it is a damning indictment of the Scottish League...

No, it's a damning indictment of Petrov and his agent. Larsson is proof that if you excel in the SPL and are truly world class then the rewards will come. Petrov didn't show up in the European Championships last time around. Don't get me wrong he's an extremely talented player but he should be looking to stamp his authority all over to Scotland and look for a big move then if he wants it. Running away to Portsmouth for a big pay day would indicate a lack of ambition.

[therock67]

eamo said:

If he does then it is a damning indictment of the Scottish League...

I don't see you defending the EPL on the Andy Johnson thread. Happy enough to keep chipping away at the SPL though.

[thepiedpiper]

eamo said:

If he does then it is a damning indictment of the Scottish League...

quite a petty comment imo. was tore andre flo not a daming indictment of the epl when he had such a terrible time in the spl? if petrov wants to swap celtic for portsmouth it only reflects poorly on him. this idea that it reflects poorly on the spl is the usual evening herald sort of comment that doesn't add anything to a debate.

[bandage]

thepiedpiper said:

eamo said:

If he does then it is a damning indictment of the Scottish League...

quite a petty comment imo. was tore andre flo not a daming indictment of the epl when he had such a terrible time in the spl? if petrov wants to swap celtic for portsmouth it only reflects poorly on him. this idea that it reflects poorly on the spl is the usual evening herald sort of comment that doesn't add anything to a debate.

For that you shall receive an exaltation.

[eamo]

thepiedpiper said:

eamo said:

If he does then it is a damning indictment of the Scottish League...

quite a petty comment imo. was tore andre flo not a daming indictment of the epl when he had such a terrible time in the spl? if petrov wants to swap celtic for portsmouth it only reflects poorly on him. this idea that it reflects poorly on the spl is the usual evening herald sort of comment that doesn't add anything to a debate.

This thread is running in parallel with the Larsson/Fowler thread.

The above is a load of shite by the way. You slag me for being an evening herald journalist and adding nothing to the debate. You pick out Tore Andre Flo, who is Norwegian and was never good in the first place. So a poor player went from England to Scotland and didnt do well in either league. That is only one example and it doesnt make a debate. What about Brian Laudrup? A legend in Scotland. Did nothing in England. Boumsong was decent in Scotland as well. Van Hoojidonk was good in Scotland. Marco Negri. Neil McCann was a star in Scotland and couldnt get his game with Southampton. Do you want me to continue?

Saying that Petrov is motivated by money is naive in the very least. He is not the first, nor the last that will leave an Old Firm team for English Minnows. Van Hoojidonk and Di Canio spring to mind.

You SPL fans bury your heads in the sand and pretend that its the best league in the world - that's fine. Just don't ram it down my throat when you are talking absolute rubbish.

Smite to the lot of you

[bandage]

eamo said:

thepiedpiper said:

quite a petty comment imo. was tore andre flo not a daming indictment of the epl when he had such a terrible time in the spl? if petrov wants to swap celtic for portsmouth it only reflects poorly on him. this idea that it reflects poorly on the spl is the usual evening herald sort of comment that doesn't add anything to a debate.

This thread is running in parallel with the Larsson/Fowler thread.

The above is a load of shite by the way. You slag me for being an evening herald journalist and adding nothing to the debate. You pick out Tore Andre Flo, who is Norwegian and was never good in the first place. So a poor player went from England to Scotland and didnt do well in either league. That is only one example and it doesnt make a debate. What about Brian Laudrup? A legend in Scotland. Did nothing in England. Boumsong was decent in Scotland as well. Van Hoojidonk was good in Scotland. Marco Negri. Neil McCann was a star in Scotland and couldnt get his game with Southampton. Do you want me to continue?

Saying that Petrov is motivated by money is naive in the very least. He is not the first, nor the last that will leave an Old Firm team for English Minnows. Van Hoojidonk and Di Canio spring to mind.

You SPL fans bury your heads in the sand and pretend that its the best league in the world - that's fine. Just don't ram it down my throat when you are talking absolute rubbish.

Smite to the lot of you

You are being very hypocritical here saying big Pierre and Di Canio left Celtic Park for English minnows when on a previous thread you said they left and bettered themselves with better clubs. I think my point at the time was 'if you think being the darling of West Ham for 18 months as they get relegated is in any way comparable to playing for Celtic then I don't think you know anything about football'. That still stands.

Equally nobody here said the SPL was the best league in the world and nobody rammed it down anyone's throat. If you read the thread you will see you brought up the SPL in the first place after Sam posted the story linking Petrov with Portsmouth and then went on a rant about it for no apparent reason.

[iamthelaw]

eamo said:

What about Brian Laudrup? A legend in Scotland. Did nothing in England.

Laudrup was a legend full stop. Even if he played for the wrong side in Scotland. Danish player of the year a record four times, including in 1992, star of their team that year and in 1996. Just cos one season with a mediocre English team didn't work out doesn't mean he wasn't a good player. Indeed Laudrup's career was defined by bad moves, to Fiorentina, Milan, and FC Copenhagen. Rangers (in terms of success) was just the one time he got into a team that suited him. I'm not a big SPL fan, but Laudrup's success there doesn't diminish it in my eyes; to the contrary, his presence there increased the prestige of the league.

[therock67]

Portsmouth have made a bid of £5m for Stan.

[bandage]

Can’t be arsed pasting it but there’s a funny article on the BBC site where Redknapp is explaining why playing for Portsmouth would be much better for Petrov than playing for Celtic with quotes and stuff. Then it moves to a separate paragraph that says ‘Celtic will be playing in the Champions League next season while Portsmouth bravely battled against relegation last season. Portsmouth’s attendances of 19k average less than one third of those of the Glasgow giants.’ Yes Stan – tough decision alright. The funnier thing is the quotes from his agent which almost suggests he’d join any EPL team now what with the top 4 not having made a move for him.

[pagey]

Can't understand why Petrov would want to do something like that. He will be a loss for Celtic but an utter stupid move for him. If he thinks that playing with Portsmouth will get him a move to the top four then he is truly mistaken. Would have liked to seen him team captain this season but it seems he really wants to move so i'd take £5m. Wouldn't it not make more sense for him to take a leading role for Celtic this season in the group stages of the CL and then he could play himself into a greater team, possibly in Spain?

[therock67]

pagey said:

Can't understand why Petrov would want to do something like that. He will be a loss for Celtic but an utter stupid move for him. If he thinks that playing with Portsmouth will get him a move to the top four then he is truly mistaken. Would have liked to seen him team captain this season but it seems he really wants to move so i'd take £5m. Wouldn't it not make more sense for him to take a leading role for Celtic this season in the group stages of the CL and then he could play himself into a greater team, possibly in Spain?

You'd think so - I don't understand it at all. Maybe Eamo or Lyonsee spoke to him about the glory of the Premiership. If he wants to go (and it seems he does) then I'd bite their hands off for £5m - after a bit of negotiating of course to see if there's a bit more on offer. Someone with that level of ambition does not belong as captain of Celtic.

[tommymoore]

maybe he decided that he achieved all he can achieve with Celtic and wanted another challenge? Maybe he's had enough of going to the likes of Hibs and Inverness in the pouring rain and freezing cold and decided that he wanted to play in stadiums like Old Trafford, Emirates stadium and Stamford Bridge. Maybe he wanted to measure himself against players in the class of Wayne Rooney, Michael Ballack, Steven Gerrard etc on a weekly basis and not just every 2nd week in the Champions league which going on precedent Celtic will be knocked out of by Christmas anyway.

[therock67]

tommymoore said:

maybe he decided that he achieved all he can achieve with Celtic and wanted another challenge? Maybe he's had enough of going to the likes of Hibs and Inverness in the pouring rain and freezing cold and decided that he wanted to play in stadiums like Old Trafford, Emirates stadium and Stamford Bridge. Maybe he wanted to measure himself against players in the class of Wayne Rooney, Michael Ballack, Steven Gerrard etc on a weekly basis and not just every 2nd week in the Champions league which going on precedent Celtic will be knocked out of by Christmas anyway.

I really shouldn't bother my hole responding to what is an obvious effort at winding up the Celtic fans on here but what use is a forum if you can't go off on the odd rant?

Anyway to address your points in the order in which they were made.

1. Maybe he did decide he has achieved all he can with Celtic and he wants another challenge. If I was him I'd be feeling that I could achieve so much more with Celtic. In particular I might look back to the role I played in the UEFA Cup final in Seville where I was anonymous in the biggest game of my career. I'd probably want to make amends for that performance. If I decided "fuck it, I'll leave anyway" then I'd look for a club challenging for honours somewhere else.

2. The weather in Scotland isn't hugely different from that in England. In fact the weather in Edinburgh (home of Hibs) is far drier than in Manchester for example and many parts of England.

3. Petrov currently plays in Celtic Park every second week. I don't think the quality of stadium is what is attracting him to Fratton Park. With Ibrox and probably Murrayfield at least twice a season and Celtic Park around 23 times a season I don't think he's going to see much improvement in facilities.

4. Your last point is truly golden. Do you think he will be playing against the likes of Ballack, Gerrard, Rooney more or less often when playing in England. He will play Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United and Arsenal twice. With Celtic he would play a minimum of 6 Champions League games and 4 old firm games. Also a UEFA cup run or an extended run in the Champions League are highly likely given Celtic's seeding this year. You're making the clasic premiership lover's mistake of assuming that playing for Portsmouth against Reading is somehow better than playing for Celtic against Hibs. There are 15 or 16 clubs in the Premiership who are, quite frankly, shite. And Portsmouth are definitely one.

[tommymoore]

Although I have been known to wind up Celtic fans before this honestly was not one of these. Up until my post the majority of contributors were Celtic fans who just couldn’t understand why a senior player like Petrov would want to leave Celtic. As a non Celtic and Scottish football fan I wanted to bring in another side to the argument. That’s what a forum is for. As we seem to agree the chances are Petrov decided he had achieved all he could with Celtic and fancies a new challenge. Not many players have the Roy Keane type motivation to go back and prove himself after his abysmal performance in Seville. I don’t think Celtic fans should hold it against him for wanting a change of scenery and something different to aspire to.

[bandage]

I think all the Celtic supporters on the forum wished him all the best on a previous thread what with him having given 7 years of excellent service since signing in 1999. What we did hope for though was that he was leaving to further his career and with the intention of winning more silverware – he was linked heavily with Bayern Munich a couple of months back and that would have been an understandable move. His chances of winning anything playing for Portsmouth are somewhere below nil – unless you count a potential Nationwide/Championship title. It really would be a staggering move imo and one that smacks of a serious lack of ambition.

[pagey]

I don't hold it against him for wanting to leave and I don't think Celtic supporters in general do, but honestly what is he going to aspire to at such a poor club like Portsmouth. I don't see how a professional would want to play for a club that are not going to do anything in the EPL besides fight for survival every year. He would have been playing a vital part in the Celtic team next season, playing at the highest level and as Celtic are for the first time a second seeded team and I believe have a very realistic chance of getting past the group stages this season. Maybe its about money, thats only reason I can possibly see why he would go from playing at the highest level to making up the numbers in the EPL.

[lyonsee]

pagey said:

I don't hold it against him for wanting to leave and I don't think Celtic supporters in general do, but honestly what is he going to aspire to at such a poor club like Portsmouth. I don't see how a professional would want to play for a club that are not going to do anything in the EPL besides fight for survival every year. He would have been playing a vital part in the Celtic team next season, playing at the highest level and as Celtic are for the first time a second seeded team and I believe have a very realistic chance of getting past the group stages this season. Maybe its about money, thats only reason I can possibly see why he would go from playing at the highest level to making up the numbers in the EPL.

Agree that it would be a ridiculous move to make - I'm a big fan of Petrov but he must just be in it for the oil money which is pathetic.

TheRock67, it's a tad ironic that you say above that you shouldn't bother responding to tommymoore's post as it's an obvious attempt to rile Celtic fans when a couple of posts prior to that you say " Maybe Eamo or Lyonsee spoke to him about the glory of the Premiership". These types of comments are popping up on a number of threads and are lame and unnecessary imo. We've had the debate, we don't agree, let's get over it and move on with our lives no?

[lyonsee]

admin said:

tommymoore said:

maybe he decided that he achieved all he can achieve with Celtic and wanted another challenge? Maybe he's had enough of going to the likes of Hibs and Inverness in the pouring rain and freezing cold and decided that he wanted to play in stadiums like Old Trafford, Emirates stadium and Stamford Bridge. Maybe he wanted to measure himself against players in the class of Wayne Rooney, Michael Ballack, Steven Gerrard etc on a weekly basis and not just every 2nd week in the Champions league which going on precedent Celtic will be knocked out of by Christmas anyway.

Also a UEFA cup run or an extended run in the Champions League are highly likely given Celtic's seeding this year.

The above amused me. How is the former possible if the latter is highly probable? Seems like you don't have all that much faith. Was sweating on my €100 bet with bandage on Celtic making it through the group stages but not so much now with the loss of Keane and Petrov (more than likely). That leaves one hell of a hole in a team that already had a few. It's still possible they'll make it through but I reckon they'll need a good draw along with some plucky away performances, that is presuming they perform well at home. I just don't think Celtic have the same spirit they had a couple of seasons ago.

[therock67]

The point is that in all likelihood Celtic will finish second or third in their CL group. This allows them to either proceed beyond the CL group stages or into the UEFA cup which would give them a run past Christmas in either competition.

I know where you're coming from with your comments about a deteriorating team but I think the first eleven needed serious rebuilding. There are some excellent young players at the club now and if Petrov is sold for cash then there is the possibility of acquiring a decent, experienced replacement. Gravesen was touted as a potential signing a few weeks ago - think it's unlikely myself, but he'd add something in terms of class and spirit to that midfield.

Maloney - Gravesen - Jarosik - Nakamura

would be class.