Published Date:
22 June 2009
By Ronnie Esplin
CELTIC legend Joe McBride insists new Parkhead manager Tony Mowbray's priority signing must be a goalscorer, and he believes Steven Fletcher is the answer.
The Hibernian striker, who worked with Mowbray at Easter Road, was subject to a failed bid by the former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan in January.
There were also rumours that Mowbray wanted him at West Bromwich Albion but the 22-year-old Scotland striker stayed in Leith.
However, Fletcher recently hinted that he would like the chance to play for his boyhood heroes and speculation emerged again yesterday that the move to Celtic could be on.
McBride, who played for the Parkhead club in the 1960s, has admitted that he is impressed by the Hibs striker, who he thinks would fit in well at Celtic Park.
"There is no question about it, a scorer is a priority for Tony Mowbray," the 70-year-old said before taking part in the Men's Health Forum Scotland 10K race in Glasgow.
"If Celtic would have scored against Hibs at Easter Road in the second last game of the season, when I thought they had 70% of the play, then I could have seen them winning the league.
"But they didn't score and the next game was also goalless. So there is no question about it, a scorer is clearly a priority.
"And on that day at Easter Road I thought Fletcher had an outstanding game. On that performance, he looked a player and Gordon may have admitted that he could have done with him.
"I thought Celtic played reasonable football but were not finishing and they paid the penalty.
"In the second half of the season they went ages without scoring goals in matches they should have won out the park.
"Scott McDonald does his job. He didn't have a great striking ratio last season but he scored a few and no-one could complain.
"But he was the only one who was going to score. I don't know if it was a bad injury that Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink had and he didn't recover from it.
"Also, Georgios Samaras started the season well but in the second half of the season he didn't perform at all, in terms of scoring. So Celtic needed a striker, most definitely."
McBride will reserve judgment on Mowbray but he knows that the former Celtic defender will only be deemed a success if he brings the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title back to Parkhead after losing it to their Old Firm rivals Rangers last season.
"I really don't know Tony but everything I read is positive," said McBride. "He is dedicated and is focused so if he has any ability then that will show through.
"He did reasonably well at Hibs and West Brom but the Celtic fans will want success and the only way to succeed is to win the league and get a good run in Europe.
"To be fair to Gordon Strachan, he did that. A lot of supporters didn't see Strachan as the man for Celtic but you can't argue with his record.
"His team was a disappointment last season. If he had won the league I don't think there would have been a problem but he didn't and the fans were upset.
"I think they were a better footballing side than Rangers last year but Rangers won most of the important games and got the points – and if you are to win the league, then you've obviously got to win games."
The full article contains 591 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
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Last Updated:
21 June 2009 11:32 PM
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Source:
The Scotsman
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Location:
Edinburgh
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Related Topics:
Hibernian FC