Celtic Green, Barca News & Fat Spurs

By: JT | February 14th, 2008

Not that we didn’t already know that Celtic are one of the top twenty clubs in the world (actually top 1), Deloitte’s Football Money League for 2006/7 now confirms it. The Bhoys are 17th in the table, behind the usual suspects, Real Madrid, Man U, et al.

Its difficult to complain about the financial stewardship of the club in recent years, and this list bears that out. A combination of intelligent personnel moves, performance on the pitch, and the expansion of the Celtic brand have all contributed. Oh yeah, the Huns dropped out, putting a cherry on top of this exceptional green ice cream sundae.

Richard Dunne’s name has resurfaced as a Celtic target because his talks with Manchester City about a contract extension have stalled. He wants his contract to be on par with that of young stud and fellow center half Micah Richards, which is only fair considering the Irishman’s awesome displays of late and the fact he’s been the club’s Player of the Year for three seasons running.

I know Dunne has been a Celtic supporter since birth, but this move doesn’t seem likely to me. Man City are certainly on the up, and after seeing Dunne dominate the box against Man U last weekend, there will be no shortage of suitors. He’ll command a much higher wage than Celtic can afford (despite the Money League news), and he’ll undoubtedly be looking for the best deal he can get because he’s just about hitting his prime. If he wants to sacrifice the piles of cash he’ll receive elsewhere, I’ll welcome him to Celtic Park with open arms, but I think that move will happen in about five or six years time.

NOTICIES DE BARCA

Striker Samuel Eto’o is finally back in the fold after taking a mini-vacation following Cameroon’s elimination from the African Cup of Nations. They’re trying to blame this on Cameroon’s FA, but really, I think Sam has the cash to charter a flight for himself if he wants to. He’s unlikely to feature against Zaragoza this weekend, but will definitely be in the lineup against Celtic next week. (UPDATE: They say that Eto’o is now doubtful for the Celtic match with a thigh strain.)

Barca’s skipper Carles Puyol is recovering from injury faster than expected, and could feature in Glasgow next week. They’ll need him.

Midfield lynchpin Xavi has claimed that his boys expect to make the finals of both the Champions League and the Copa del Rey. As well they should, look at their squad. The papers are trying to make this out to be some kind of crazy prediction about whipping the Bhoys, but I don’t think a young hungry squad like Celtic really need extra motivation to take Barca’s scalp.

WHY THE TIGHT WHITE SHIRT THEN?

This has nothing to do with Celtic, but Tottenham’s new fitness coach says that the squad was almost 100kg overweight when he and Juande Ramos arrived last fall. They’ve knocked off 40-50 of those kgs, but the remainder is going to be tough to cut.

I don’t do the metric system, so let’s break this down. 100kg=220 lbs, and they’re probably looking at about 22 players, so to make it nice and even, that’s 10 pounds per player! Tom Huddlestone and Paul Robinson were obvious fatties, but come on, aren’t these guys professionals at a club trying to break into the top 4? What the hell, Martin Jol?

NEXT FIXTURE

Celtic’s warmup for Barcelona this weekend is Heart of Midlothian at home. The Celts handed the Jambos a healthy ass-kicking back in August (right before the Spartak Moskva first leg I might add), but Hearts won 2-0 at Celtic Park in the CIS Cup, and a 1-1 draw was the result last time out in the SPL. A performance the likes of the last two weekends is required to have the faithful confident heading into the midweek clash with Barca. Look for a full preview tomorrow.