Allan a Hoops enigma
A person or thing that is mysterious and difficult to understand.
Through no fault of his own Scott Al lan is now becoming Scottish football’s definition of an enigma.
The curious case of why this talented, technically gifted footballer can’t cut it at Celtic is baffling.
After less than a year – and just three starts – at Parkhead he left last week for Rotherham United.
But why did Celtic and old boss Ronny Deila push the boat out to sign him?
Why was he rarely given a chance to excel in his best position?
And why have other, less capable players now jumped ahead of him in Brendan Rodgers’ pecking order?
Ask anyone at the club and they’ll tell you that Allan trains terrifically well.
Because of the circumstances surrounding his move to Celtic, with boyhood club Rangers chasing him for weeks previously, Allan is now rarely seen out in Glasgow.
He knew the gamble he was taking so he was always going to do whatever it took to make it work.
No one will convince me that Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor or Stefan Johansen have more ability.
But clearly, that hasn’t been enough.
It’s a shame for Allan – but also for our game. Scottish players with his quality shouldn’t be getting shunted down to Rotherham.
Dei la’s insistence on deploying him wide didn’t help. He’ll now be reunited with Alan Stubbs and at least he knows how to get the best out of him.
At Hibs, he built a team around Allan and I’m sure the midfielder will shine for Rotherham.
If he does, it would make it even more mysterious as to why he hasn’t been given a chance to do the same at our top club side.
But as the Aberdeen captain geared up for the club’s latest tilt at the Premiership – after being second to Celtic twice – Jack’s message was loud and clear.
The Dons’ old foes Rangers are back in the top flight and believe they will be the team to mount a challenge to the champions for the title.
But the 24-year-old is refusing to accept Mark Warburton’s side will simply nudge Aberdeen out of the top two positions.
The midfielder believes McInnes’ men will better their points tally from last term – and continue to challenge at the sharp end of the table.
In fact, as Jack prepared for Aberdeen’s opening match at St Johnstone today, he said: “Rangers coming back into the league will be good for us.
“It gives us games against them at Pittodrie and Ibrox and they’ll be great occasions for the players. The games will be packed out and you want to be involved in that.
“Also, you look at the players Rangers are signing and it’s clear they’re going to have a push for the title as well.
“It’s strong competition but we’re looking forward to that.
“With Rangers back up, a lot has been said about them being the team to push Celtic. As a group, we haven’t spoken about that side of it. We’ll just concentrate on ourselves and what we want to do.
“But we don’t see any reason why we can’t improve on our points tally from last season. It might work in our favour, Rangers being there. We never really want to rely on other teams to do our work for us. But on a few occasions last season, if Celtic had lost we’d have gone ahead of them – and it just didn’t happen. “This t ime Rangers wi l l make the league stronger and that can only be for the better.” Some cynics, particularly in the west of Scotland, might say last season was Aberdeen’s best chance of ever winning the title again. Celtic toi led under Ronny Deila but, despite losing twice to the Dons,