Just seen this on a football rumour sight 14 Jan 2012 18:54:22 Celtic agree fee in principle with Southampton for the services of Hooper as they indicate their main target for his replacement has been found and a fee agreed with his club. Personal terms will now be discussed monday /tuesday. Indications from within one of the clubs is 7.2 million pounds plus a player valued around 500k going the other way.(Totalling 7.7 million pounds)...3 times what was paid for Hooper 16 months ago ... The board could not turn this down. http://www.football-rumours.co.uk/ not sure if i believe it but hope it's true sounds quite a lot of money though
Would you rather play 38 games in the Premier League, plus a handful of FA Cup appearances or would you prefer to play in a 4 game a season SPL with at most 6 games in the Champions League? Celtic aren't going to win the Champions League (Or Europa League) any time soon - it's been 47 years since they won anything in Europe, they just make up the numbers the rest of the time. Being in Europe and being one of the whipping boys is not appealing for a player.
But we aren't in the Premier League YET. We should all stay level headed here because it can all back fire badly!
he could be part of the team which wins the league first time of asking though. easily be his best achievment
That is true. If we get Hooper, and everything goes to plan in the Lee deal, I can see us tearing this league apart. Even more so!
I haven't come across any hard evidence to prove it, but there's a some talk of twitter that Sharp has rejected Leicester.
I'm not getting ahead of myself don't worry lad! I know there's a long way to go and that nothing is assured at this stage of the season. But I can't understand people saying "We're not in the Premier League yet, so staying at Celtic would be of more appeal to him. It'd be a risk for him if he joined Saints" etc etc. He's a goalscorer and goals win you games, if we win more games than our competitors we'll get promoted - It's as simple as that. If he believes in his own ability then it wouldn't be a risky move for him because he'll know he will be the one putting the ball in the net to GET us into the Premier League. I understand Celtic are double (Maybe even triple) the size of us but I still believe he can achieve much greater things at Southampton. Also st_brendy - Pretty sure Saunders said in his post match interview that Billy's told him he doesn't want to join Leicester.
Yeah, the word "indicated" was used. "Dean "billy has indicated hes not going to leicester. Hopefully will stay with us till end of season" - @drfc_official
Sky Sports also reporting it - http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11704/7430635/Sharp-snubs-Leicester
On his Twitter (Sharp) has said 'today wasn't his day, he'll try again next week!' Along those lines anyway!
"Disappointed I didn't get us the 3 points today,will do my head in all night,but I'll put that right next week." What a top man he is!
A few years ago this would never happen in a million years, but since the SPL has declined in recent years, I think it's more likely. The SPL only has 12 teams in it, so they can fit 2 more old firm games into a season. The old firm bias has been so detrimental to the competitiveness of Scottish football that all the teams are crap and cash-strapped. Not a complaint mind as we can pinch their best players.
It didn't seem to bother Kenny Miller. I know he went to Bursaspor before going to Cardiff but he obviously doesn't mind the Championship. I think Hooper is a much better striker than Miller but all the same, the situations are comparable.
