Allan is looking after No 1 ...just like every other footballer!
FOOTBALL fans might labour under t he illusion that players care f or a club as much as they do. Scott Allan proves they don’t. Not really.
A diehard Rangers man might find the idea of joining Celtic unthinkable.
The reasons for that are often unsavoury. In Glasgow, a toxic trail of bigotry poisons the well.
But for most, it’s not a question of religion. It’s about deep-rooted bonds. A simple matter of football rivalry. A man can change his shirt or his wife. But his football team is ingrained.
Unless, of course, that man is a professional footballer.
Rangers supporters believed Allan was a kindred spirit. When Hibs rejected three Ibrox bids — each only slightly less derisory than the last — they launched a ‘Free The Ibrox One’ campaign.
In the recent meeting of the two clubs at Easter Road, they sought to influence the matter by chanting: ‘Scott Allan, he’s one of our own.’
News Celtic were out to gazump them was a surprise, but not a shock.
Many clung to the hope Allan would follow the lead of Nacho Novo, the Spaniard who attained instant icon status by telling then Celtic boss Martin O’Neill ‘no thanks’, joining Rangers instead.
Even yesterday — while Allan was visiting Celtic’s Lennoxtown training base for talks — Rangers First, the fan ownership group, urged supporters to tweet Allan asking him to ‘ follow (his) heart and join us at the Blue Sea of Ibrox.’
It was a slightly undignified business. Not to mention a waste of time and effort.
Because footballers like Allan can claim to be dyed in the wool. They can grow up overlooking Ibrox. Their best friends — like Andy Halliday — might be Rangers employees. They might even hand in a transfer request to work their ticket to their boyhood idols.
But no one should labour under any romantic delusion about this.
For Allan, as with any footballer, supporting themselves will always come first.
He would certainly have joined Rangers, but Hibs dug in their heels; they would not sell to a promotion rival. The Ibrox club did themselves no favours with three low-ball offers.
Antagonising the club f rom whom you want to buy their best player is not a great negotiating position. Least of all when Rod Petrie, a hard-bitten negotiator, is chairman.
Rangers, though, believed player power would prevail. That Allan would reject any Celtic overtures because he was ‘one of them’.
That stance can now be seen as a naive misjudgement. Some have painted Hibs as modern- day plantation owners over their handling of the situation.
But as he sits nursing a hefty signing- on fee and trebles his previous salary, it’s unlikely Allan will feel much like a freed slave.
He may have made great public play of a desire to sign for Rangers. However, with European football on offer, the decision to j oin arch-rivals Celtic was probably a good deal less stressful than Ibrox fans would like to think.
All being equal, he would have moved to Ibrox. But right now, the circumstances of these clubs are far from equal. And being staunch about anything never paid the bills.
From a young age, aspiring footballers with serious ambitions of a senior career forget the idea of spending their Saturdays at Ibrox, Parkhead or Pittodrie.
Career decisions are made with their head rather than their heart. One big contract can change their life. There may be good, logical footballing reasons why Allan should have held out for Rangers. At 23, the midfielder has played only 78 senior first-team games. No one can work out where he might play for Celtic.
At Hibs, Alan Stubbs made him the heart of his team. Mark Warburton could easily have done likewise at Rangers.
But Celtic’s delayed bid reflected concerns amongst the management team over his work-rate.
Ronny Deila believes the player has talent. How best to develop that now is the challenge.
For Rangers, there are other concerns. Chairman Dave King promised to do whatever it took to rebuild his club.
But a brutal act of one-upmanship suggests Celtic won’t stand back to form a guard of honour.