KDS European Player of the Year 07/08

We had the highs of Moscow, the penalty shoot out and late late goals from Skippy and Donati bringing the house down at Paradise. Then the lows, struggling on the road again, the fan on the park with his ninja slap and seeing us draw Barca and knowing that was going to be difficult. However last sixteen two years in a row is something we can truly be proud of and if you are going to get horsed out it might as well be against a pure footballing side who can do the things Barca can with a ball.

So to announce the results I thought I would push the boat out a little and see if we couldn’t get a little star power on Kerrydale Street!
Lets go right for the big one I thought!
So a quick call to a certain Swede named Henrik Larsson’s agent. Negotiations seemed to be going well. We set up a conference call with Ghod himself and he was thrilled to help honor the team and be in contact with the Celtic fans again. We had almost secured the deal when he asked the name of the site. The conference call was hastily put on hold. Henrik’s agent came back on the line and murmered something about beaches and stalkers and that was the end of negotiations.
Not to be thwarted I called Celtic Park and had a quick chat with a Lisbon Lion. Yes, the voice of Channel 67 and drunk grandpas everywhere Jim Craig was all for it. Then he realized Auldbhoy was older than him and still breathing he backed out because “that’s just no natural”. I then tried the Channel 67 team themselves and they had this to say “buffering”. Great.

So in a final act I decided to land the big one! Bawman! “Away and check yersel wee man that’s well below me” was the polite reply.

So I guess you are stuck with me.

Gary was struggling outside the top ten for a wee bit behind Donati but a late push saw him grab last place. Caldwell seems capable of great performances only to have a mad moment and undo all his good work. Unfortunately he seems to keep those mad moments for the European stage….

Last year our Naka was the hero with the free kicks against Man Utd. No cameos this year though with his season limited with injuries. He still had his moments in Europe and proved when he came back in the team we were better with him.

Our big summer signing got his first taste of top level football and struggled to find his feet. His energy helped us in games but his lack of experience also hurt us. Let’s hope this is a learning season for Scott and future campaigns will see him make a bigger impact and more importantly place higher in the KDS Euro Player of the year!

He has a cool song! And a cool name! So Jan gets number 7 this year.

Huh? Who? Not sure how he managed to fall into 6th place but here he is. The only man who expends less energy during a 90 minute game than most people do taking a dump. He wouldn’t want to sweat and ruin his make up. In fairness Jiri was a player more suited for the European style of play and his best performances in the hoops came on that stage. On to the top 5!

Yes, Oweny rigged the vote to squeeze his pal Paul into the top 5. I don’t know how much you had to pay the people but you managed it!
Hartley is a player that completely divides the Celtic support. Half of KDS think he is next coming of Paul McStay, the other half think he is a poor man’s Mikey Galloway. What Paul has made his own at Celtic Park though is the defensive midfielder role, one that is relied upon a lot more in European competition than against the world beating dross that the SPL fields week in week out. He plays that role well and has made himself a big part of our European campaign.

Big Mick is a player the support has watched grow up before their eyes. It has long been said he would benefit greatly from more experience alongside him (See Caldwell, Gary at #10) but he has coped admirably with the role he has been given. We are often under pressure in Europe and Mick rises to the occasion. It’s interesting to look at the voting. Our defense takes pelters after Euro nights yet Mick was only 80 votes from cracking the top three while Caldwell squeaked in to the top ten and no other defenders were mentioned. Maybe in the future the wee ginger man will invest in the experience to partner Mick and we will see how good a player our captain can become.

Who would have thunked it?
Skippy! All 4 feet of him! In the top three! If we can think back to the derision, teeth gnashing and season ticket burning that accompanied his signing he has won the support over. A high goals tally, great workrate and generally being an annoying wee nyaff (But OUR annoying wee nyaff!) to the opposition has sealed his place as a fan favorite. Another who had his first introduction to the Champions League this year he looked at home at this level. Let’s hope he is banging in late goals to send the support into delirium for many years.

The season Aiden truly fulfilled his potential. We all knew he had the skill he just had to develop and apply the skill to make an impact. The way he ghosted past Puyol early in the game at Celtic Park was worth the admission price alone. What more respect can a young attacking player ask for than being double marked on the largest stage in the world? There can be no doubt he has attracted the eyes of larger clubs with his performances in Europe and at home this season. We can only hope he stays at Paradise and entertains and thrills us for a couple more years before he makes the move we all know is inevitable to a side that can challenge for the Champions League. In the meantime let’s applaud and marvel at the skills he shows week in week out. And if you want to kidnap him after every game so no other team can get to talk to him the mods are starting a forum for ideas……

For the second year running The Holy Goalie takes top honors.
Artur is slightly left of mental. OK, he is about a light year left of mental. He also makes a habit of winding up the orcish hordes of the huns and about anyone else that will pay attention to him. That on top of world class performances time after time has truly endeared him to the Celtic support.
Every now and then at Celtic we get a player that defines his position. That when talking about our beloved ‘tic in later years (or our later years!) we reminisce and say “What a player he was!”
When other players come into our team they are immediately compared, strikers to Larsson, central midfielders to McStay, attacking midfielders to Lubo, full backs to McGrain.
Artur, every keeper who ever takes the position between the sticks for Celtic will be compared to you. There is no higher compliment we can give you.
Well except to award you the KDS European player of the year!
Congratulations big man.

PS If anyone wants to kidnap Artur at the same time as they are kidnapping Aiden (Not you 1otB we don’t want to you to break the restraining order) feel free. The longer these two are playing for Celtic the better we will be.