Hoops News 10.31.07: Boo Hoo Bobo!

By: JT | October 31st, 2007

Both Bobo Balde and Derek Riordan have expressed their desires to leave Celtic Football Club as soon as they possibly can, but for very different, and quite honestly, frustrating reasons.

Balde is basically leeching off the Parkhead club these days, having refused a short term loan deal to Sunderland near the end of the summer transfer window. He chose not to make the move because it wasn’t permanent enough for him (only three months), and he wanted it his way, and not Chairman Peter Lawwell’s.

Balde is the highest wage earner at the club, at a healthy £28,000 per week. He has been told by both manager Gordon Strachan and Lawwell that he’s tumbled all the way down to sixth choice center back. So why the hell is he still in Glasgow, collecting a fat check?

I really can’t answer that without disparaging a guy who has been a great player and a fantastic servant for the club until this point. He must have a little something left in the tank if Roy Keane wants him playing Premiership football for him, right? So what gives?

The rise of Stephen McManus as an automatic choice in central defense and injuries have cost Balde big time. He’s obviously put his personal interests above those of the the club and his teammates, and that type of attitude will always rub WGS the wrong way. So he sits, collects a fat check, and plays reserve football. A great deal for everyone, except the club of course. Yippee! Let’s hope that ol’ Keano makes a trip north again come January to get this malingerer off Celtic’s hands.

Now, the case of Derek Riordan is entirely different. I sense a personality clash between him and the manager, because while Deek may not be a clear cut first team choice, he certainly deserves to be getting a whole lot more playing time than he is. He’s also quite versatile, and the idea that he’s only a left winger who’s second choice behind Aiden McGeady is bogus in my eyes.

Riordan has a ton to offer as a striker as well, and while he and Scott McDonald would probably form the shortest attacking duo in Europe, they could more than make up for it with their guts and guile.

Riordan was a great player for Hibernian, and hopefully he learns something from his time at Celtic. Complaining to the press will get you moved, but it will certainly not earn you more playing time, especially with a guy like WGS as your manager. I personally rate Riordan (obviously), and think his time at Celtic will be a small road bump in his career when he looks back on it after finishing up. I just hope his next club isn’t in the SPL, because I can just see him taking his frustrations out on the Celts at some point, and that will really drive me nuts!

Shunsuke Nakamura is a question mark for the HUGE Champions League match at Celtic Park versus Benfica next week. Naka has been told to rest his knee, which has now been diagnosed with tendinitis. He initially injured himself during the Spartak Moskva CL qualifier in August, and has never really recovered.

Those two matches took place after Naka spent his entire summer playing in the Asian Cup. He had to play in the Spartak matches due to their importance to the club, and unfortunately this is another great example of how heavy a load footballers carry physically, especially when they’re flying all around the earth to play matches. Hopefully he’ll be well soon, because Celtic need him at 100% ASAP.

As Stuart reported on the Nottingham Forest Offside, former Celtic captain Neil Lennon was MIA from Forest’s most recent match with Oldham. The official line from the club is that Lennon returned to Scotland for “personal reasons” as his girlfriend and daughter still live in Glasgow.

He’s also recently acknowledged his battle with depression, which could easily be exacerbated by his current separation from his family. Or it could have been a training ground bust-up with the manager, which sounds just like Lenny. Any road, no matter what the issue is, let’s hope he returns to Forest in sound physical and mental health as soon as he’s ready.