Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Saints pin faith in ‘colourful’ Ciftci for survival bid
ST JOHNSTONE’S latest signing, Nadir Ciftci, needs little introduction.
Certainly not in this part of the country.
His reputation – good and bad – goes before him.
Courier Sport looks back at the colourful career so far of the man Callum Davidson will be hoping scores the goals to keep the Perth club in the Premiership.
THE BAD BOY OF BREDA
Ciftci’s notoriety as being a footballing, shall we say “character”, didn’t take hold in Scotland.
Stories of training-ground bustups with NAC Breda team-mates had leaked out before he was recommended to Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara by his agent, and another player cut from the “maverick” cloth, ex-Celt Pierre van Hooijdonk.
“I admit what I did at NAC was not right, but when lots of people are fighting, lots of people are to blame,” Ciftci, who represented the Netherlands and Turkey as a youth player, later reflected.
“My team-mates were b ****** s in training. When players shout at you: ‘Break his leg, bring him down,’ then it has an effect on you.
“An awful lot went on yet I was the one who was dumped in the youth team. I did things wrong, but the club were not honest with me.
“I was seen as the bad boy, but that is not the case. I am just passionate.”
THE TANNADICE HERO
In the summer of 2013, McNamara gave a number of trialists the chance to earn a contract with United.
Jean-Yves Koue, Graham Carey and Neal Trotman came and went without troubling the club history books, but Ciftci seized his opportunity.
Two years later he made United a £1.5 million profit and, in between times, he made United some magical memories.
There were 33 goals (none of them against Saints) and the most significant one was probably the simplest.
At a “neutral” Ibrox for the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers, with McNamara’s side 2-1 in front, Ciftci capitalised on a botched clearance from goalkeeper Steve Simonsen to roll the ball into an empty net.
Enough to help him into club folklore on its own.
But the United fans will forever joyously recall the iconic sight of their striker celebrating with arms aloft BEFORE he put boot to ball, then cupping his hand to his right ear to taunt the Light Blues’ support. The tangerine and black ribbons were tied on his cult hero status there and then.
THE FINAL Tangerine and black ribbons were not tied on to the Scottish Cup trophy a few weeks later, not that Saints supporters need to be told that.
Ciftci did come agonisingly close to scoring in the Celtic Park final, however – his free-kick hitting the bar then keeper Alan Mannus but still somehow staying the right side of the line from a Perth point of view.
“I was already running to celebrate,” he acknowledged. Without good cause this time, though.
A 90-minute battle with Frazer Wright has also become the stuff of McDiarmid Park legend.
“He had that wee loose bit in his head that you could get at, so obviously I used that to my advantage,” said Wright.
“He gave as good as he got so it was all good.”
THE BITE
In normal circumstances, scoring a double in a 3-0 defeat of Dundee would be a perfect way to sign off as a United player.
But an incident involving Jim McAlister over-shadowed Ciftci’s two goals in a one-sided, last-day contest at Tannadice.
Not long after the game a photograph appeared to show a bite mark on McAlister’s leg and was displayed on social media.
Then the SPFL put out footage of the incident on its official YouTube channel, with McAlister clearly heard claiming that Ciftci had bitten him.
“Tempers flare in tetchy Dundee derby” was the title.
Despite his denial (and United commending Ciftci for his “tolerance” in the wake of “quite severe physical and totally unacceptable verbal provocation”) he ended up with an eight-game ban.
Two of those were suspended but it certainly didn’t help him hit the ground running at Celtic.
CELTIC DISAPPOINTMENT (BUT SCORING AGAINST SAINTS
AT LAST)
After paying for a half-page advert in The Courier to say his thank-yous to United fans, Ciftci followed the lead of Stuart Armstrong and Gary MackaySteven in heading to Celtic Park.
That there were as many loans away from his parent club as there were goals in green and white (four) tells its own story.
Ironically, two of those four came at McDiarmid Park in a 3-0 win for Ronny Deila’s side.
Celtic supporters might have forgotten them but the Saints assistant manager that day, now the man in charge, clearly hasn’t.