James McCarthy

Oh I don't blame him for the contract, it's absolutely on those that sanctioned it. I said back when we signed him I didn't think we would see much of him due to his injuries, if I could see that then you'd think they would be able to see the risk of a long term contract probably wasn't worth it. That being said less than 9 games worth of minutes over 4 years is worse than even I was expecting!

 

https://bornceltic.com/2025/06/11/u...hy-is-actually-doing-at-celtic-now-is-solved/The James McCarthy Celtic mystery has just been solved


James McCarthy’s Celtic situation has been an extremely strange one for the club.

Signed under Ange Postecoglou, McCarthy has barely featured for Celtic in the four years he has been at the club.



However, there has been some sort of mystery surrounding McCarthy at Celtic and it’s quite simple, no one really knows if he is still at the club.
That’s it, until now.

James McCarthy is still still a Celtic player, but with a caveat
The boys in ACSOM sleeve discussing transfers ins and outs and who should leave the club when the topic of McCarthy reared its head.



Paul John Dykes was explaining how an appearance at a recent event shed light on McCarthy’s Celtic situation.

Dykes told A Celtic State of Mind, “The thing is, unfortunately for us and for the player as well, he’s not listed, and all the rest of it. He’s not been, obviously training at Celtic, but he’s still contracted at Celtic.


So there was an event about six months ago, I think it was a talk to a friend of mine who was at this fundraising event. And one of the guests, although I don’t think he did a speaking bit, but sat at one of the tables, was James McCarthy.

“And at that time, what I was able to take from that is that he was still officially contracted to Celtic but he was allowed to train the kids at Hamilton Academicals.

“I don’t know if he’s got his badges or if he has any kind of ambition to become a coach, but he was at Hamilton Accies and he was doing some training there, but he was still officially at Celtic player until his contract ends this summer.”



James McCarthy’s costly Celtic career
McCarthy made 27 appearances for Celtic amassing a grand total of 801 minutes. (Transfermarkt)

And according to SalarySport the Irishman was on £14,000 per week at Celtic. Combined, McCarthy has earned £2.184m or £2,696 per minute he has spent wearing the green and white Hoops.

Not bad work if you can get it.

 

* biggest waste of money ever

 

"Unfortunately for the player".

Aye, because McCarthy hasn't made a conscious decision to be a waste of space for the club.

 

Only £2M, worth every penny and then some for his contribution to that late GG7 goal against St Johnstone and I'm not even joking. Every point was crucial with automatic qualification to the Champions League and everything we have built since. £2M for 3 points that day was worth it and the psychological effect those sorts of days had on that lot. It kept us 2 points ahead in the league when we would have went even.

 

The club made a conscious decision to give an inury prone, past his best midfielder a 4-year deal.

Definitely not unfortunate but I'd 100% do the same thing in his shoes

 

oh well thats bound to be his 4 years up now , unless we offered him an extension

 

I’d do it for 50p a week if it give me the chance to say I’d played for Celtic when I retired

 

Not to mention the entertainment value of whatever tf that accent of his is supposed to be

 

He was a Desmond signing and the length of contract was to reflect the drop in wages he'd have coming to us. It didn't work out and we all move on.

 

Why does this name keep cropping up & hunting us

 

Wouldn’t even put it past them.

 

I’m far less accepting of this than some of you

He’s well within his rights to sit on his * and collect that money, but fans are well within their rights to consider an already rich, supposed fan doing so, in extremely poor taste.

 

We don't know anything at all about his circumstances, and we're only guessing that he's * the club around... I had surgery one December, thought I was fine by about March to do light training, overdid it and busted myself for a month once. And I'm not talking anything like a pro level anything or other... He could have really genuine issues...

The only thing we can categorically say is that it turned out to be a bad transfer for us, not that he deliberately robbed us. I'm not arguing that point at all, and I'll be glad to see him drop off the accounts, but it's not really fair for people to throw everything he's ever said and done as a fan in his face because he got injured and didn't play, no matter how frustrating that was for us...

 

It's fair to say that James McCarthy's time at Celtic didn't work out as planned.



The lifelong fan became one of Ange Postecoglou's first signings as he was announced on the same day as Joe Hart in 2021 - much to the excitement of fans.


McCarthy - who was a free agent after leaving Crystal Palace - put pen to paper on a bumper four-year deal with his boyhood heroes.


That was despite the Republic of Ireland international suffering an injury-hit few seasons with Everton and, latterly, the Eagles


A popular figure in the dressing room but a bit-part player on the park, McCarthy's Hoops career never really got up and running.

The midfielder started just six of his 27 appearances for Celts, with his last outing coming as a sub away to Motherwell in October 2022.



After that? He fell off the radar completely and was rarely even spotted at Lennoxtown. In fact, that night at Fir Park was the final time he kicked a ball in his professional career.

A sad ending for an outstanding talent who first burst onto the scene at Hamilton Accies before enjoying an impressive career down south - famously winning the FA Cup with Wigan in 2013.

Celtic's forgotten man quietly left Parkhead last summer as his profile vanished from the club's official squad page - a year before his contract was due to expire.




There was no official statement confirming his departure either, nor was Brendan Rodgers ever asked. The silence baffled fans, and now, former Celts goalie Ben Siegrist has offered a rare insight into McCarthy's circumstances.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Bondi Podcast, Siegrist revealed an injury left McCarthy sidelined for months as he said: "He trained and then towards the end of the first year when I was there, he was just training either on the side or with the reserves.




I think he had a really nasty injury just before we went to Australia [during the 2022 World Cup break]. I think he had a really bad hamstring tear.

"The last part of his rehab I think was with the reserve team. As a player, you understand that he's frustrated but it's decisions made and you just get with it.

"You spoke to him but if somebody tells you that you're not part of the plans, then there's not really anything to argue.


"I don't think anyone has ever gone into the office and when the manager said you're not part of the plan, said 'No, I am, I am!'. Nothing's going to change.



"Other players were closer to Macca than I was. But the Macca I experienced was bright as a button and always up for fun.

"He was a good guy around the dressing room. In my two years at Celtic, there was not one player who was a bad egg."




Now 34, McCarthy remains without a club and appears to have hung up his boots after a distinguished playing career.

Capped 43 times by Ireland, the playmaker made 446 appearances for Hamilton, Wigan, Everton and Celtic, scoring 27 goals.

 

Actually quite a sad end to his career, he was a cracking player in his day but injuries got the better of him.

Giving him a 4 year deal was mental, but wasn't his fault. A one year deal with an option and no one would really have complained. 27 appearances in 1st season at a time when we were in transition and hed probably he looked on similarly to the Kolo Toure signing.

No doubt for him the idea of coming up here at 30 he would have thought he still had enough to offer and would have been a really good end of career move for him, but injuries and a manager with a very different style as well as strong competition in his position limited his game time.

 

Well Celtic haven’t officially announced he’s left


Move it back to Celtic chat