Adam Matthews

He was playing right wing in that game if I recall. Could barely get the ball over knee height.

 

I remember him having great talent but I think he changed position often?

Never forget he marked Messi for some of that Barca game though and was incredible, Messi looked non plussed, they even put another player over there to help Messi and it still wasn't working. Unfortunately Messi turned up for the goal but I felt that was unlucky, it was astonishing movement by Barca and Forster was unlucky his palm away felt right to Messi.

Messi said they talked about Forster for ages after that game, ond of the best keeping performances he's came up against.

I always remember the great performance but I think about the team equally when I think of how well we marked them. There was the midfield in front of the defence keeping Barca occupied and having to be very inventive which we blocked a lot. Our goals were by far the best but that one touch goal Barca scored. Just shows you they were still near enough the best team ever. No other team could score a goal like that, mind you our defence must've been tired.

I miss Matthews and Big Sammy. Matthews should never have left.

 

The disparity between what we could pay him and what he could get down South was nowhere near as big as it is now . We were paying him 30-40k a week i believe , he could have probably got 50-60 down South.
Today we could pay him 20-30 whereas he could conceivably earn 100k+ a week down South. Turning down an extra 10k a week in favour of medals is alot easier than turning down 80k a week.

In my opinion , we would not have been able to keep Henrik for seven years had the finances been as they are today .

 

Larsson only left Utd for a word of mouth promise to Helsingborg.

He says it's the only regret of his career but a promise is a promise and he couldn't go back on it. A man of his word.

 

They've sacrificed a better chance of trophies to play in a considerably more competitive and higher quality League. There's no doubt money will have played some part, but it's a bit simplistic to say that's the biggest factor for any of these guys leaving Celtic.

 

Wanyama plays in the best team in England imo if he stays at Spurs he will win a league title

 

No, his last contract took him to £40k

 

VVD and Vic didn't leave solely because of money though, obviously it was a big factor but they left mainly to further their career. By leaving for the south they recieve more exposure, chance of furthering their career and chances of actually winning half decent trophies that'd we'd never win due to our financial standing ie. the champions league. It's a bit different for us being celtic fans but if you ask a neutral what they would rather win, 10 SPL trophies in a row or 2 premier league titles and a good chance at european success, I know what they would choose every day of the week.

Henrik Larsson is a great example of loyalty but he was hardly on peanuts, the financial gap between us and teams down south is much greater than it was even back then. Didn't we have one of the highest wage bills in Europe when MON left?

 

No they haven't won anything yet since they left but what is your point? If they never leave to try achieve success they'll never get it.

And I might have read something wrong but I was sure I read something saying we had one of the highest in Europe or the UK under MON.

 

No I understood that part but in the larger argument what is your point? Are you suggesting people should never left us just because they might not reach success anywhere else? Or are you just simply stating a fact?

 

I know but I 100% understand why some people choose to leave and I don't have ill feeling towards players if they leave for what they believe to be better things, if they leave on good terms. Where as some Celtic fans don't feel that way.

 

well it wasnt as if he just accepted celtics first offer, have a read at this article, we were clearly hesitant to offer him 40k a week, if we hadnt offered him it im sure his agent would have made calls to down south. man utd signed van nistelroy instead and he was on around 40k. so it is unlikely he would have made much more as the poster says above

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-premier/3006322/Larsson-may-quit-Celtic.html

btw i love larsson but he was never some marty to the celtic cause or claimed to be, he knew he was a * good player and knew he was in a pretty good side who were going places. why risk going down south at that point where he may not find the world class form he had here? when he signed that contract roy keane was the highest paid player in britian on 50k

 

On his last deal he was given 40k a week and a testimonial in which he would pocket the gate money for himself . He earned the 40k a week which made him one of the highest paid players in the UK at the time , and then pocketed a million quid from his testimonial in 2004. 40 grand a week plus a million quid cherry on top . That type of package was very competitive even in EPL terms . Nowadays he would be looking at earning 30 grand here as opposed to a 100 grand down there. He would not have walked away from 70 grand a week extra, not a chance in *. We would not have kept him in the current climate . We will not be keeping any top players for a sustained period again because of the current climate.

Romanticise it all you like but we (rightly) made Larsson one of the top earners in the UK at the time and that was why we held on to him .