Sometimes a player’s own words tell a story no amount of speculation ever could.
After a Celtic supporter thanked Kelechi Iheanacho for everything he did last season and apologised for the way the club had treated him, the striker replied from his own verified social media account.
“Thank you so much for your very kind message. It was a privilege to play for Celtic FC and for you the fans. I did my absolute best but I can’t go back to where I am not wanted. I’ll forever be grateful to Celtic FC and you the fans.”
One sentence stands above all the rest.
“I can’t go back to where I am not wanted.”
Those are not the words of a player criticising the supporters. In fact, he goes out of his way to thank them and says it was a privilege to represent Celtic. His issue appears to lie elsewhere.
If those words genuinely reflect how Iheanacho felt before leaving, they should make for deeply uncomfortable reading inside the Celtic boardroom.
Here was a player who reportedly had the backing of Martin O’Neill, who already knew the club and who left supporters with memorable moments last season. Yet his lasting feeling is that he simply wasn’t wanted.
That is an extraordinary indictment of the football operation.
Supporters have reached the point where stories like this no longer shock them. Instead, they reinforce a growing belief that the club’s leadership is failing to manage even straightforward situations effectively.
Whether intended or not, Iheanacho’s message has become a powerful symbol of where Celtic are today.
When a departing player thanks the fans but says he cannot return because he wasn’t wanted, the biggest questions should not be aimed at the player.
They should be aimed squarely at the people running Celtic Football Club.
The odious Desmond and his malignant cabal of corporate greed and austerity fc are abusing the fans ,they are behaving as if they are a club in financial distress and they might well be, stop giving them your money or you are complicit in the destruction of our club
There is only one person being greedy here and that is Iheanacho wanting 50k a week
He was offered 1 year with the option of a 2nd year. He wanted a straight 3 year deal. Given his injury record, Celtic’s offer is fair.
The Board are just the custodians of our club, they don’t spend one penny of their money on the club but take the high wages. They are no better than the Whites and Kelly’s.
It’s time the supporters do something before it’s too late.
Asking for 50k a week no way is worth that. Well done to the Celtic board for telling him to do one. Greedy bastard
Funny how you don’t show comments that support the club. Only comments which fit your agenda. Celtic don’t need supporters like you
The board have put it out to their media messengers that his agent went awol before the player moved to Turkey on a ‘reported” 47k per week. But Celtic already had a contract agreement in place, it was Celtic’s choice to extend the contract for another year. The board will try to pin this on player/agent when all they had to do was activate the contract