Giorgos Giakoumakis

All comes down to how much he wanted and how much we offered. I thought at the time we should have done more to keep him. Seemed like we were very keen to move him on for not much more than we paid. But you never know, we're only getting his side to it.

 

Yet if he got offered the money he wanted he would still be here not giving two * about the weather.

So basically it comes down to money. As most of us know.

 

Giakoumakis could’ve gotten the money he wanted in Denmark but didn’t go because of the weather. And all I ever said was that it was a consideration and I’ve been proven right.

 

Did he accept a lower wage to go to America?

 

What a silly question. I’ve also never claimed money wasn’t an issue.

 

We were having the debate with folk lifestyle and weather etc comes into decisions from players and it was being dismissed as nonsense.

Aye there’s a price that’ll they’d not give a * about it, it’s not the top consideration, but these guys have families that they want the Mrs and weans to be somewhere they’re happy. And it’s worked in our favour before - Joe Ledley signed for us on a good wage and sign on fee, with a bigger offer from Roma on the table because they were having a baby and wanted an English speaking country to bring the wean up.

They aren’t robots. Everything being equal, climate, the city and culture comes into the equation majorly.

 

* knows what he’s on over there, how much he had on the table in Denmark (more money according to him) or how much we offered him. But he’s outright said stuff like the weather comes into his thinking there, and with us it’s not just that, talking about taking his wean out… in Glasgow, under the magnifying glass that they have on them here, it’s stifling and I could see why it could be miserable for them.

 

It’s not silly because I’ve said that ultimately it’s money that trumps all nearly every time. Hence why he would still have been a Celtic player had we “doubled” his money as allegedly that’s what he wanted according to some. We do that and he isn’t giving two * about the rain, hail, sleet and snow.

 

Doubly so as they had a second child whilst with us. So those sort of family considerations become all the more important.

 

If FC Midtjylland offered more money than us then that is scandalous and he is right to tell us to * off. We should have paid him first team/top scorer wages and found a way to play 2 up front. You can't tell me there's not a system that would work for GG and Kyogo against SPFL teams.

 

We were smashing teams playing one up top once Ange's system clicked, changing the whole system to make a second choice player happier is nonsense.

 

It is silly. No one has ever said money wasn’t a factor. I’m delighted to have been proven right though. Gave me a right good laugh.

 

Aye pretty similar to what I said a while ago. Even Henrik said he wanted to play somewhere warm after he left us.

 

I've thought the same. He did well in his first season, I can't deny that but Kyogo was red hot when he was fit and GG was rightly second choice. GG at any other time would be a dead cert starter.

He's not going to come out and say that he didn't like that he was second choice. I wouldn't take what he is saying at face value to be honest.

 

What was the quote?

"I want to feel the sun on my back" - was that the one?

Never said it but probably thinking "and not the freezing wind and rain battering against my forehead"

 

The main factor in almost every deal that gets done. Which is what was being argued against by you previously.

 

No it wasn’t, the discussion was that it wasn’t the sole motivator in upwards of “90% of deals” as you claimed. Go have a lie down.

 

“I had one year left on my contract and, in order to stop all the speculation, I wanted to declare as early as possible that I wouldn’t sign an extension at Celtic – I didn’t want any misinterpretations.

“There were more than 30 clubs interested, and I was looking to Spain because my dream was to play somewhere warm. I didn’t want to be fighting relegation, so I thought I would be pleased if it was a team in the middle. But then Barca came in and I said, ‘Yes!'”

 

Yip. And if we had offered Giakoumakis what he wanted, he wouldn’t have cared less about sunshine. He would still be here. Because ultimately, it boils down to money in almost every case.