There’s a question I love asking Old Firm supporters…

‘Would you join the other half of Glasgow and play for them if they offered you £10k more than your lot?’

The majority of fans I ask scoff and say not a chance, they could never be seen wearing their rival’s colours.

But unfortunately for many of them (OK all of them) they aren’t good enough to play football professionally and will never get that choice.

For me? Well I’d go for the money, happily wear that opposing strip and do my upmost for my employers.

At the end of the day for footballers, football is a job and it’s big business. They have a limited time-frame to work with and need to make sure they do what’s right for themselves and their families.

Hibs midfielder Scott Allan looks set to sign up with Scottish Premiership champions Celtic. A deal worth £275k plus two players moving from Glasgow to Easter Road seems to be agreed.

This has come at the end of a long transfer saga involving Rangers and Hibs over Allan. The Edinbrugh side have rejected three bids from the Gers, citing their unwillingness to sell their best player to Championship rivals.

A Hibernian statement following the Rangers bids stated:

“Hibernian’s position has not changed. The player will not be sold to Rangers.”

To be fair you can understand the Hibees misgivings and it looks like their refusal has paid off as the Celtic deal looks more lucrative.

As well as getting similar money that was on offer from Rangers, they will also get two young players from Celtic that will improve their own squad.

Hibs manager Alan Stubbs will hope that, by bringing in Dylan McGeouch on a permanent deal and snapping up Liam Henderson on loan, his side will be stronger and can challenge Rangers for the Scottish Championship title this term.

By joining the Hoops Scott Allan will probably earn more than he’d have been offered at Ibrox and more importantly he’ll also be moving up a level. Now while things are improving under Mark Warburton at Rangers, they still cannot compete with Celtic, on or off the pitch.

At Parkhead, the green half of Glasgow can offer Allan a greater chance of winning silverware, exposure to European football and more of an opportunity to impress Scotland boss Gordon Strachan.

Many Gers fans may say ‘But Scott Allan was a Rangers supporter growing up!‘ but that counts for nothing at this moment in time.

Because there simply isn’t a choice for Scott Allan to choose between. Hibs aren’t willing to sell the player to the Ibrox outfit and Celtic can offer the twenty-three year old a better immediate future.

The creative midfielder will have to arrive at Celtic determined to prove himself.

It won’t matter that he once supported the rival club from Govan, what really matters is that the likes of Stuart Armstrong, Stefan Johansen and Kris Commons will all be vying for the same attacking role in the team. That competition for a place could keep Ronny Deila awake at nights, not a bad problem for the Celtic boss.

Scott Allan has vast potential. His career may have stalled at West Brom but he got it back on track with Hibernian and capped off a great season last year by winning the Scottish Championship’s player of the year award.

He now needs to prove himself at the top level and although it seemed like his heart was set on a move to Rangers, the exciting prospect now needs to show his true worth at Celtic Park.

One thing is for sure, if Scott Allan completes his move to Scottish champions Celtic then he’ll have no reason to regret his decision as no offer option was available to him!

Posted on August 14th, 2015 by scott
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