McNAMARA: If Scots game is so bad, why did Celts raid United?
JACKIE McNAMARA has asked Celtic No 2 John Collins why the Scottish champions r ai ded Tannadice for his three best players if he feels the quality of Scottish football remains so poor. Dundee United manager McNamara became the latest manager to respond to Collins’ weekend criticism of Scottish clubs not being ‘clever enough’ or ‘quick enough thinkers’ to punish Celtic in the same way as the opponents they meet in Europe. Collins was accused by Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes of giving the entire league ‘a slap in the face’, and yesterday a clearly puzzled McNamara asked if Celtic perceive the standard to be so poor, why then did the Parkhead club plunder United three times this year already to sign his front trio of Stuart Armstrong, Gary Mackay-Steven and Nadir Ciftci?
‘I haven’t actually heard him (Collins) say it, so I am not sure if he has been misquoted,’ said McNamara, who is a former Celtic captain.
‘But three of his attackers last week in
their most important game of the season (the Champions League qualifier away to Qarabag in Azerbaijan) were three of our players from last year. ‘Two of the three players they signed from us are Scottish. And they have walked straight into the (Celtic) team after leaving us. So make of that what you will. I don’t think it makes sense to say that.’ Dundee counterpart Paul Hartley was equally critical in his response to Collins’ comments as he prepared for tonight’s Dundee derby. ‘It’s unfair on the rest of the clubs in Scotland,’ said Hartley. ‘It’s being disrespectful. We try our best. We haven’t got the budget of every other club and Celtic are way ahead of us but I think, on our day, we have shown we can give them a game. They have taken three players (MackaySteven, Armstrong and Ciftci) from the Scottish Premiership, so it can’t be that bad. ‘They’ll probably look at more players. Aberdeen ran Celtic close last year and just fell short. ‘Aberdeen are strong, Hearts are strong. On our day, we have shown we can match them.’ Ahead of tonight’s match at Tannadice, McNamara was keen to stress that Rodney Sneijder, brother of Dutch mega star Wesley, has not gone AWOL and is instead undergoing tests in his homeland after being hospitalised in Dundee with a virus. ‘There’s no update on Rodney but we will know possibly tomorrow or Wednesday,’ said McNamara. ‘He had a viral infection last week. They kept him in hospital to do some tests and I went to see him on Thursday. He is back in Holland with his dad and will have some more tests. Hopefully, everything comes back OK.’ Shorn of the Old Firm and Edinburgh derbies, Dundee United against Dundee is now the leading local rivalry in Scotland. And ahead of tonight’s league game, McNamara was also keen to quell talk over a shift in the balance of power in the City of Discovery towards Dundee. ‘We played them five times last season and won four of them,’ he said. ‘We took a lot of goals off them. But that gets forgotten because it is the new season. ‘We now have to make sure we get three points off them tomorrow. ‘I don’t take into account that United have not lost a derby at Tannadice in 11 years. The most important thing is we win this one.’