Celtic fans take Tam McManus to task over Steven Fletcher comments

By John Reid

August 15, 2020

Experienced striker Steven Fletcher was recently linked with a move to Celtic. Indeed, Neil Lennon told BBC Sport that the Hoops had held talks with the player.

However, Celtic elected to make a move to sign Albian Ajeti, with Fletcher joining Stoke City on Friday. Football pundit Tam McManus wasn’t slow in giving his opinion on why Fletcher didn’t join the Hoops.

McManus took to Twitter to claim that the player was offered a two-year deal by the Championship side, a move which Celtic weren’t willing to match, McManus claimed that Celtic ‘messed him about’.

It is fair to see that McManus’ comments on the stalled transfer to Celtic caught the eye of the Hoops support on social media.

Fletcher in action for Sheffield Wednesday (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

Many fans strongly disagreed with the former Hibs striker’s comments. One fan claimed that Fletcher would only have been a ‘stop-gap’ with the Hoops.

Another fan defended Celtic’s approach to the prospective move for Fletcher, proclaiming that the Hoops make an offer to the player at what the club believes he is worth and it is up to the player to accept it.

Hoops did the right thing in not moving for player

Fletcher would probably have done a job for the Hoops in the short-term indeed, but the Hoops have done the right thing in moving for Ajeti instead.

Fletcher during his Marseille days (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

He is a player that will hopefully be in the Celtic side for years to come, and can be part of the next generation of the Hoops, who are focused on breaking other records once 10 in a row is clinched.

Club can now look to move on

The same can’t be said for Fletcher, who would not have been at the Hoops for long if he had joined. Still, now a line in the sand can be drawn under the move, although Celtic fans were correct to defend the club’s approach to the deal.

Here are some of the best replies from Twitter to McManus’ comments on the stalled Fletcher deal:

In other news, a Celtic youngster is hoping for more game time this season