The long Kris goodbye
FOND FAREWELL Commons admits he’s close to hanging up boots because he wants to leave with his head held high
KRIS COMMONS admits he is at a career crossroads. The 33- year- old dropped the biggest hint yet he may be ready to hang up his boots after bidding an emotional farewell to the Hoops faithful on Sunday. Commons bowed out in style after six years at Parkhead by scoring in a charity match as Henrik’s Heroes defeated Lubo’s Legends 5-2. An injury-plagued season saw the playmaker reduced to the role of spectator as Brendan Rodgers’s Hoops secured an Invincible Treble. His only action came during a loan spell at Hibs and he has been linked with a move back to Easter Road under former Celts boss Neil Lennon. But Commons doesn’t want to become a shadow of the player he once was and would rather quit than see kids give him the runaround. He said: “I have options and it’s not just football. This next part of my journey – whether it be playing, coaching, or media – I want to be 100 per cent committed. “You want to play for the best clubs at the highest level. I’ve been lucky, I have done that. Now it’s about enjoying my football. “If I can pass my knowledge on to younger players that would be great. I just don’t know whether that should be in a playing capacity or if I should go down the coaching route. “I still feel like I have unfinished business as a player. The doubt is whether I can get up to a level where I am going to be the Kris Commons everyone knows. “If I’m not then there is no point in dwindling away. I’d rather finish on a relative high. If I can get fit enough to play then I will. “I don’t want to be the guy who has 21-year-olds running past him and to have a feeling of disappointment in my last two years in football.” Commons has a treasure trove of memories from his stint at Parkhead. He banged in 91 goals but one stands out – the screamer that sparked a dramatic Champions League qualifying win over Shakhter Karagandy in 2013. The Hoops were 2-0 down from the first leg but Commons’s opener helped them claim a 3-0 win in the return. He said: “I loved that Shakhter game. I scored and I’d never felt so much drive to get the ball out of the net and restart the game.
“I wouldn’t say I felt invincible but it was a case of, ‘Let’s go’.
“That win and the way we did it was astonishing. The fans might forget my goals next season but the memories that have been created will live with me until the day I die.
“My debut, my first goal, my Old Firm debut, beating Barcelona, reaching the Champions League last 16. If anyone came to this club with boxes to tick I’ve done them all – apart from the Treble.
“I was naive before I came to Celtic. I thought I was a player. Then I came here, saw the scale and size of the club and realised what it meant.
“You see big clubs around England but Celtic is above and beyond anything I’ve felt for any club. If you leave this place and don’t get tearful you need a slap around the ear.
“All my family have been brought up Celtic supporters and my kids are dressed in Celtic gear 24 hours a day.
“I will always have an attachment to this club now. The last two weeks have been magical.
“We have had the Lisbon Lions anniversary, the Invincible league season then winning the Treble.
“To then be able to grace Celtic Park for the last time with real legends of this club is a fitting end for me. It has been emotional.”
As one Celtic chapter closes Commons reckons Hoops boss Rodgers is about to embark on a successful era of his own.
And he believes Europe will be high on the list of priorities.
He said: “Brendan is a man who came in here to flip this club upside down. He wouldn’t have expected to go unbeaten and win the Treble in his first 12 months. It has catapulted him to legendary status.
“He can now sit down with the board and say, ‘These are my targets and this is the next step – Europe’.
“How far can Celtic go in Europe? How big is the chequebook?
“Do Celtic chuck millions and millions at it? I just don’t think there is enough money in Scottish football right now to do that.
“This squad can compete in Europe at the moment.
“He is a guy who genuinely knows what it takes to get to the next level.
“Look at Ajax. They have a lot of young kids and they got all the way to the Europa final. But we gave them a good game a couple of years ago.”
So how would Commons like to remembered at Celtic?
He said: “The boy who did OK for £300k. Do I remind Peter Lawwell how little I cost?
“That fell out his back pocket.” time out in a crucial win over Slovenia.
The players who drop out of his plans are Hearts keeper Jack Hamilton, Hibs midfielder John McGinn, Aberdeen’s Kenny McLean and strikers Steven Fletcher and Jamie Murphy.
Revised Scotland squad: Keepers: Craig Gordon (Celtic), David Marshall (Hull City), Allan McGregor (Hull City).
Defenders: Ikechi Anya ( Derby), Christophe Berra ( Hearts), Stephen Kingsley (Swansea City), Russell Martin (Norwich City), Charlie Mulgrew ( Blackburn Rovers), Mark Reynolds (Aberdeen), Andrew Robertson (Hull City), Kieran Tierney (Celtic).
Midf i elder s : Stu a r t Armstrong (Celtic), Barry Bannan (Sheffield Wednesday), Scott Brown (Celtic), Tom Cairney ( Fulham), Darren Fletcher (West Brom), James Forrest (Celtic), Ryan Fraser ( Bournemouth) , James McArthur (Crystal Palace), James Morrison (West Brom), Robert Snodgrass (West Ham).
Forwards: Leigh Griffiths (Celtic), Chris Martin (Derby), Steven Naismith (Norwich City).