4th of July Rumors Roundup: 4 edition

By: Matt | July 4th, 2009

On the 4th of July, this week’s Rumor’s Roundup has a theme of four. New Celtic Coach Tony Mowbray has remarked that he’s looking for at least four new pieces for Celtic, maybe more if there is a big sale. Marc Antoine-Fortune remains on the top of Mowbray’s wish list, working with the French striker last year when he was on loan to West Brom. Fortune has been telling the press he’d make a decision in the “next 24 hours” for the past four days now, so who knows when he will decide on his future. Mowbray said of Fortune “We’ve come to an agreement with Nancy and Marco’s torn at the moment. His first choice would be to come here and play but he has more than a couple of Premier League clubs chasing him. It’s that eternal dilemma: Do you make a football decision or a finance decision? I’m hopeful, but I’m realistic.” One player that Celtic fans wanted no part of was Steven Fletcher, who joined Burnley this past week. It appears that Mowbray felt the same way as Celtic fans, saying “There was no conversation with Steven. He’s a very talented individual but, if we are going to spend the sort of money he went for, I felt there needed to be an instant impact on the team. Is Steven ready to come to Celtic and be the main striker, someone who scores 25 or 30 goals a season? I’m maybe doing him a disservice because I haven’t seen him enough in the last two years, but my view would be he needs another year or so to do that. You want a striker to come in and take the burden on his shoulders.” Sounds like good judgment to me. And now for those wacky tabloid rumors from the previous week, of which there are four!!

Paul Hartley and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink were not offered extensions by Celtic and look to take their careers elsewhere. JVOH is likely heading back to Holland, while Hartley looks to sign with Bristol City. I’d like to thank Big Jan for tons of great memories at Celtic, while I’d like to thank Hartley for…..well….always having a great beard. Seriously though, thanks to two hard working players who always fought for the shirt. Thanks for the service and good luck.

Celtic have failed in their bid to land Polish teenager Michal Kucharczyk from Swit Nowy Dwor. Burnley had a deal knocked back for Hamilton’s James McCarthy, but are still interested in the team. Celtic will have to compete for McCarthy with Wigan, Ipswich, Derby, Lazio, Brescia and Palermo.

The agent of Iceland international Solvi Ottesen has claimed his client is attracting interest from both England and Scotland. Celtic and Birmingham are said to be interested in the Icelandic international. Ottesen started his career at Reykjavík-based Vikingur and from there moved on to Swedish club Djurgarden in 2004.

Celtic will also compete with Birmingham for the signature of freed Arsenal midfielder Amaury Bischoff. The central midfielder faced injury problems with the Gooners and also featured for Werder Bremen in the past.

That’s it for this week. If you’re American, enjoy some hot dogs, fireworks, and if of age, copious amounts of alcohol for the 4th of July. If you’re not American, celebrate anyways, because at least you’re not British. If you’re British, 2-0, easy, easy, easy! Paul RevereCSC!