KRIS CROSS

Celtic idol says new contract offer is not good enough

KRIS COMMONS last night branded Celtic’s contract offer unacceptable — and confirmed he wants a longer deal to stay at Parkhead.

The 31-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and it is understood a 12-month extension is all that has been put forward to date.

Commons — being tracked by Crystal Palace, Leicester and Bolton — is adamant he wants to remain with Ronny Deila’s side but made it clear better terms will have to be put forward.

Speaking after he scored in last night’s disappointing 4-3 Europa League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb, Commons said: ‘Where do we stand at the moment? I really don’t know. A lot has been said in the press and I don’t want to add more fuel to the fire.

‘Has an offer been made? Not that I want to sign.

‘It’s not in my hands. It’s down to the club, the board, the manager. If they want

From Back Page me here, they’ll keep me here. ‘I’ve reiterated many times that I want to stay here. I’ve loved playing football for Celtic and have a great rapport with the fans. ‘I’ve enjoyed four very successful years but there comes a time when you do need your future sorted out — and the clock is ticking. ‘No doubt they deem the offer at the minute is something they feel is worthy of myself. But that’s where the sticking point is. I think I warrant something else.’ Asked if it was about the length of the contract rather than finance, Commons replied: ‘Yes.’ Deila admitted recently that Celtic had to be careful about offering lengthier deals to older players — and the current impasse leaves it looking all the more likely that Commons’ time at the club could be nearing its end. Last night Deila was more immediately concerned by Celtic’s defensive frailties in the dead rubber in Croatia. Aghast that his team had scored three goals — through Commons, Stefan Scepovic and an own goal from Josip Pivaric — but still lost the match, he insisted his players would have to improve ahead of the knockout stages. ‘It was a poor performance. We were not 100 per cent and there was a lack of intensity and aggression,’ said Deila, whose team had already qualified for the last-32 as Group D runners-up. ‘It was disappointing we weren’t up for the game. We scored three goals, that was a positive, and I think the substitutes (Darnell Fisher, Liam Henderson and Anthony Stokes) were positive when they came on but, defensively, we gave away too many chances and conceded four goals. ‘You should win when you score three goals away in Europe. ‘Individually, there were some bad performances but also as a team. As a back four, we dropped too much and there was a lot of space between the defence and midfield. ‘They (Dinamo) got three chances from that at the start of the second half. ‘We were talking before the game about being compact and no balls in between us, and we didn’t get that at the beginning of the second half. ‘We were too open. That was the problem. We had the chance to win at 2-1 and it was disappointing we gave away the victory. ‘We have to take this with us to the next stage. We have the players but we have to think about the formation when we play away in Europe and what kind of players we use. ‘We were more offensive than we have been and conceded too many goals.’ Admitting he will have a re-think on tactics once he finds out who Celtic have drawn on Monday, Deila added: ‘We have to be a lot better in the next round. ‘We will have players back who will give us more spirit, so I am not frightened about that.’ Meanwhile, Celtic’s potential opponents in the next round include the likes of Everton, Inter Milan, Feyenoord and Legia Warsaw — who were ejected from the Champions League after fielding an ineligible player against the Parkhead side — but not Spurs and Liverpool, who are unseeded like Deila’s men.