THERE’S NO WAY BACK
PARADISE Petrov claims team-mates will not trust Boyata now
BY the summer of 2005, Stiliyan Petrov’s highlyprized feet were beginning to get itchy. Signed by John Barnes six years previously, the Bulgarian had overcome homesickness and a language barrier to become a fulcrum of Martin O’Neill’s all-conquering side.
There was scarcely a team in England who did not covet his signature and, with O’Neill having moved on, the midfielder privately believed the time was right to challenge himself in a more competitive domestic environment.
‘I wanted to go but Gordon (Strachan) was brilliant with me because he said: “I need you for another six months”,’ he recalled.
‘I was running my contract down, so we had an agreement that we decided I’d sign another and, if I played well, the club would get money.
‘I would help integrate (Shunsuke) Nakamura into the side, we had young Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney, and Gordon wanted me to help them and show them the way you acted as a Celtic player. I agreed with that.
‘Was I happy or not happy? It doesn’t matter. I had an agreement with that manager, I knew what was coming, I knew what I needed to do and for six months I played some of my best football. Gordon was happy and further down the line we shook hands, the club got what they deserved and I left for the English Premier League — which is what I wanted.’
A £6.5million signing for O’Neill’s Aston Villa a year later, Petrov’s departure was the epitome of a deal that suited all parties.
If his annoyance at staying for a full year beyond his wishes boiled over to the point where he handed in a transfer request in the April before he left, the hero’s welcome afforded to him each time he’s returned to Glasgow in the past 12 years speaks to the fact he never once downed tools.
The contrast with Dedryck Boyata’s situation could hardly be more striking. The forgotten man of Parkhead until Brendan Rodgers threw him a lifeline 18 months ago, the conduct of the Belgian and his agent over the past week has been deplorable.
Despite still having one year left on his deal, Belgian Mr Fixit Jacques Lichtenstein stormed Lennoxtown last Friday before effectively proclaiming his client would no longer be playing.
Boyata then took to social media to claim he was, in fact, injured, an excuse Rodgers simply wasn’t buying.
The fact Celtic were eliminated from the Champions League by AEK Athens after failing to deal with the kind of deep cross Boyata specialises in heading clear was lost on no one. In the eyes of team-mates and supporters alike, he’s now a pariah figure.
‘If he could have played and he didn’t then, as a team-mate, I will have felt let down,’ said Petrov.
‘You owe it to your team-mates and the people you work with every single day. If you let them down it is very difficult to come back from that and earn their trust again.
‘The next step for the board and manager is to see what is right for Celtic.’
In all probability, that will be selling the Belgian to the highest bidder although, in increasingly acrimonious circumstances, matching the £9m Fulham were prepared to pay may prove difficult.
Never a fans’ favourite, Boyata’s name is now mud. No supporter will truly blame him for wanting to try pastures new but if there is a right and wrong way to engineer a move he’s gone down the latter route.
By following his agent’s advice, he can rest assured his invitation to any future gatherings of the double-Treble winning squad will be lost in the post.
‘I think so,’ Petrov replied when asked if the defender should have thought for himself.
‘I was in the same situation. I’ve read all about his agent going to the training ground. I’ve seen things like that happen before. I’m not surprised by that.
‘Sometimes if things don’t go the way you want it, you get the players trying to force it. Sometimes you don’t get the outcome you want.
‘That’s where you get the friction and a problem between the club and player.’
The Boyata saga gave theory to the old adage that it never rains but it pours.
Rodgers may well have prevailed in Greece without the Belgian had Kristoffer Ajer not been suspended.
The same may well have been true had Odsonne Edouard not been injured and Moussa Dembele restricted to a cameo role.
However much has been made of Rodgers’ pointed comments about the lack of transfer activity over the past week, if it wasn’t for bad luck in the past fortnight he’d have had no luck at all.
‘The timing was wrong with Boyata, Dembele, Edouard and Ajer not playing,’ Petrov reflected. ‘These are four big players for Celtic and it did cost them.
‘If those four had been on the field, they wouldn’t have lost that second goal. They’d have headed the ball out of there as there would have been more presence in the box.’
The really surprising thing about the perfect storm Rodgers has run into is that it took so long to happen.
For over two years now, he’s ridden on a crest of a wave. Petrov can attest to the fact that, even for battle-hardened sides like those he played in, the going isn’t normally so smooth.
‘Celtic have done a great job in the last couple of seasons, and by getting into the Champions League they have gotten themselves on a safe financial footing,’ he said.
‘They will have the odd year when they don’t make it and they can still go far in the Europa League. There are so many good teams in that competition but Celtic can have a great run like we did in 2003.
‘They still have two more weeks in the transfer window to assess things and they can bring in new players and do something about it. Big clubs do that.
‘They move on and don’t stand still.’
STILIYAN PETROV and James Milner yesterday launched A Match for Cancer, which will take place at Celtic Park on Saturday, September 8. Tickets are now on sale priced £14 for adults and £6 for concessions.