Rumour Mill: Friday's football rumours and gossip
Barry Robson predicts Aiden McGeady will be the next Celtic player out of Parkhead
Tony expects refreshed Hoops
Scotland could play Celtic in John Kennedy testimonial
Rumour Mill: Thursday's football rumours and gossip
Celtic to put up statue of Jock Stein 25 years after death
Celtic hope to lure Nadir Belhadj from struggling Portsmouth
• Tony Mowbray looks for new left-back at Parkhead
• Algeria's Belhadj almost certain to leave in May
Celtic have identified Portsmouth's Nadir Belhadj as the answer to their problematic left-back position. Tony Mowbray believes the Algerian could be available for as little as £2.5m this summer amid Portsmouth's financial troubles.
Belhadj has been widely reported to be one of the players almost certain to leave Fratton Park when the transfer window re-opens in the summer. The Celtic manager currently has Holland's Edson Braafheid as a left-back but the player is expected to return to Bayern Munich when his loan deal expires in May.
Mowbray has been linked again this week with the Hearts defender José Gonçalves, whose contract ends this summer. The Portuguese defender, though, is not thought to be among Celtic's initial transfer targets.
While they are poised to follow up their interest in Belhadj with a formal bid, Celtic could face stiff competition for the 27-year-old's services. Speculation has linked Tottenham Hotspur, Roma and Barcelona with a move for the former Lens player, with each of those clubs easily able to top any wage available in Scotland.
Mowbray is also confident of turning Diomansy Kamara's loan move from Fulham into a permanent transfer this summer.
Celtic's manager, meanwhile, has been criticised for his substitutions by Scott McDonald, the striker who left Parkhead for Middlesbrough during January. Mowbray admitted in the aftermath of Saturday's 3-0 win at Kilmarnock that he was close to substituting Robbie Keane before the on-loan Tottenham player scored the first goal of a hat-trick.
McDonald remains irked at being replaced frequently – often early in the second half of games – by Mowbray during the opening half of this season. "I wasn't necessarily not playing at Celtic," McDonald said. "I think I only missed a couple of games. But it was becoming more and more frustrating that I wasn't getting enough time on the park. That did concern me a lot.
"Even with me not at the club Tony Mowbray likes to make changes at that period in games, for reasons unknown to players who will question, if you're having not a bad game: 'Why are you taking me off?'
"It was not something I was completely happy about and I'd be honest about it and say. But he's the boss and, accordingly, he does what he sees as right. You're not always going to agree with it, though."
McDonald admitted his old club's quest to reclaim the Premier League title from Rangers, who are 13 points in front of Celtic, looks forlorn despite Keane's arrival. "It was a great signing for Celtic but probably too little too late," McDonald said. "The damage had already been done."
Ewan Murrayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Celtic to erect statue in honour of Jock Stein
SPL Fanzone: Celtic
Rumour Mill: Tuesday's transfer rumours and gossip
Scottish Cup semi final draw: Rangers and Celtic kept apart
Rumour Mill: Monday's transfer news and gossip
Hibs or Ross County to face Celtic in Scottish Cup semi-final
Keane shoots down critics
Kilmarnock 0 - 3 Celtic: Keane's class clinches Celtic passage
Jordan: Loan deal won't be made permanent
Robbie Keane will return to Spurs this summer, says coach Joe Jordan
• Celtic's hat-trick hero made it eight for the club since January
• 'He was a major player in getting us out of trouble last season'
Tottenham's first-team coach Joe Jordan says there is no chance of Robbie Keane remaining at Celtic beyond the end of his loan period.
Keane, 29, joined Celtic until the end of the season in January and has so far scored eight goals, including a hat-trick in yesterday's Scottish Cup win over Kilmarnock.
However, Jordan is adamant the Republic of Ireland international still has a big role to play at Spurs.
He told the Sunday Herald: "Without a doubt [Keane will return], he's the captain. Harry [Redknapp] brought him back here and he was a major player in getting us out of trouble last season, not just on the pitch, but in the dressing room as well.There's not many of them going about. It wasn't just the player, it was the person we wanted."
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Kilmarnock 0-3 Celtic | Scottish Cup match report
Celtic's entry into the Scottish Cup semi-finals was basically personal retribution for Robbie Keane, whose hat-trick exacted revenge on the Kilmarnock side who had ruined his debut for the Parkhead side last month.
The striker also kept Celtic's season alive, in the process putting a grotesquely misleading scoreline on a match that Kilmarnock had seemed unlikely to lose, far less by such a margin.
Indeed, in a game in which defeat would have effectively ended their interest in the honours, Celtic for long periods played as though the worst had already happened. It was, in other words, often the kind of colourless, lifeless performance that has typified their endeavours since the start of the campaign.
This general blandness is never more obvious than in the vicinity of the opposition goal, and even the expensive capture of Keane on loan from Spurs has not been sufficient to redeem Tony Mowbray's side's prospects of regaining the SPL championship.
In this cup tie, until the Republic of Ireland international's second-half burst, he once again spent too much time chasing irretrievable causes. Perhaps this explained his sluggishness in attempting to convert the two good opportunities that came his way before half-time. A through ball from Marc Crosas left the striker with only Cammy Bell to beat, but he drove the ball straight at the goalkeeper's legs.
When he was next supplied by Aiden McGeady, he was too dilatory in releasing his shot, allowing Scott Severin to come across and make the block.
These were isolated moments in a first half in which Kilmarnock had the territorial advantage and frequently looked the more dangerous. They should have taken the lead when Darren O'Dea was unfortunate to see his good tackle "rewarded" by the ball breaking straight to Alan Russell. The striker tried to side-foot the drive first-time, but lifted it over Lukasz Zaluska and against the crossbar.
O'Dea would make an important intervention later, when Jamie Hamill's measured header down to Craig Bryson gave the latter the opportunity to deliver a net-bound drive and the Celtic defender deflected the ball for a corner kick.
Even Tim Clancy himself must have wondered what had become of the referee and his assistant when both missed his dreadful stamp on Morten Rasmussen's shin. The Kilmarnock man could have been shown a red card but did not even receive a yellow – at least, not until his later challenge on Scott Brown. The match officials also missed Rasmussen's off-the-ball elbow into the face of Frazer Wright, another offence that would have demanded a dismissal.
Celtic were noticeably more vibrant early in the second half and McGeady, the liveliest of all, was denied the goal he deserved when Bell made an excellent save from the Ireland international's drive. But, almost typically, the visitors had been reined in once again by the time Keane atoned for earlier failures with the goal that gave them the lead.
It came from nothing, a long ball punted forward from Edson Braafheid in the left-back position. Suddenly, however, James Fowler had slipped in midfield and Keane was bolting towards the ball as it dropped from the sky. His first touch was extraordinary, taking him past Bell and allowing him to knock the ball left-footed into the unprotected net from six yards.
Most of what good work Celtic produced in forward areas came from McGeady and it was his perfect pass to Keane that was relayed on to Georgios Samaras – he and Marc-Antoine Fortune had replaced Crosas and Rasmussen, and the Greece striker, from a tight angle on the left, was a little unfortunate to see his shot slip outside the far post.
But Keane's 90-second explosion near the end would leave Kilmarnock muttering about the game's injustices. Fortune did the good work on the left that brought the rolled pass to Keane and allowed the striker to tap the ball over the line.
It was another pass from McGeady that released Fortune on the right and his square pass to Keane saw the striker hit the drive, first time, high to the left of Bell from 18 yards.
Glenn Gibbonsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
