cheerio mark

[Scotty]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/t..._ct/6273101.stm

[Action Man]

Bruno gone, Dods going, majority of team nearing 30, time to let the kids have a go and see what they are made of. Once were clear of any relegation worries of course. GO MIKEY!

CI / C3..Langfield.?... :015: :015: :015: :014:

[wyness_is_god]

http://news.BBC.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/t..._ct/6273101.stm

Doesn't say he has signed yet then  :003: hope he has a change of heart over the coming days then because this is a seriously bad move for him and the only way this can be a plus for him is on the financial side of it :009:

Get the cheque book out Strachan none of this poor silly cash you and the other half of evil at Ibrox are offering for players recently  :018: 300k at least please! :016:

[Doofer]

Are celtic signing him now or at the end of the season?

[Pele_Is_God]

Now i think.Will know more tomorrow i should think.

[Guest cuteweenumber]

well MY source says he's off for a medical tonight... :004:

so it seems to be a done deal :007:

[tm4tj]

Next season will see the start of a new era at ICT, players are off too easily nowadays, very little loyalty shown, off back doon the road, we get this all the time from our so called big time charlies. Give us good home grown talent, get the wages sorted out and get back to being the wee team from the highlands stuffing the big boys.

Well, we now have something to really moan about, soon the team will be decimated and freefall will be inevitable. It's a wonder nobody has blamed CC for this, or is Bozo and midge sleeping together.

Broon, if you go, don't darken our doorstep again, you selfish greedy greedy fokker :008: :008: :008:

[918loyal]

from what i have heard it's pretty much a done deal...

[Johnboy]

Ah well.... At least the next Scotland boss won't have so far to travel to see MB.....

Sitting on a bench...  :015: :015:

[Pele_Is_God]

TM4TJ , your posts always brighten up my day! :015:.Totally agree with you can't believe he would rather sit on a bench than play for us or even Falkirk :006:

[Scotty]

not sure how to feel about this one .....

On the one hand I wish him well as he has been a consistently good player for us who re-signed his last contract with no fuss. He has to look after #1 even if he wont be the #1 and moving to Celtic will certainly give him more money. I think I prefer the idea of him moving to Celtic rather than Falkirk as at least it shows some ambition rather than a pure money grab.

On the other hand, I am disappointed if this is true as the reason touted for his apparent reluctance to sign a contract was a desire to break into the international squad and I fail to see how sitting on the celtic bench will make him an international keeper - although he will probably make it into the squad by virtue of being an OF player, reserve or not !!

Oh well - Mikey Fraser may not have made many starts but now is his chance ........

[tm4tj]

Sory PIG, certain things just irk me a tad, and this is one.

Why Celtic would consider buying a goalie who:-

can't save penalties

can't catch cross balls

can't communicate with his defenders

can't kick a moving ball

can't live on mediocre wages

can't get a game for his country

can't live in the North of Scotland

can't be bothered playing first team football

and worst of all,

can't be bothered playing for the team that resurrected his downward spiralling career for the sake of the promise of an easy life and a few more shekels, well, it's beyond me.

You thought you were under the spotlight in the outback, <tumbleweed drifts bye> well you aint  s s seen n n nuthin yet matey bhoy, you will be scrutinised for everything you do, you won't be able to go for a sh!te but it will be in the record, aye thats what the big time is about, well if thats what you really want......so long loser.

[kencar]

Still trying to work out the logic of this move other than purely for financial gain  :024:

Is Boruc moving on in the summer??

Will Marshall's loan become permanent??

Perhaps Mark knows something we don't or he's supremely confident in his own ability or could it be the fact he's probably tripling his wages!!

I'm surprised we are letting him go - surely any compensation we get will be minimal for a player with less than 6 months on his contract. Maybe he has a clause in his contract allowing him to move if the OF come calling though  :006:

[Stevie]

I think there is little or no doubt, Brown will never be Celtic's 1st choice.

[Alex MacLeod]

What I cant understand in all this is that Mark Brown is committing himself to being No.3 at Celtic.

Marshall will always be No.2 but from now till season end he is going out on loan to Norwich, either to help them out or to keep his own hand in, I suspect the former. I believe Peter Grant, who still has ties with Celtic, is behind the request for help. Marshall is Celtic through and through and I dont think he's going for any other reason than helping out a friend for a while. He'll be back warming the bench next season, such is his level of committment to Celtic.

How any of this helps Brown I cant fathom. I think its a bad move but if he feels the need to go then so be it. Hes done excellent for us, saved us a few times, and I would wish him nothing other than good luck for the future.

Manny, Manny, Manny, not good to be bitter.  :018: No player stays in one place forever unless its with the twins of evil. Mark was not spiralling downwards either. |He was doing very well at Motherwell but became a victim of some drastic financial problems that resulted in him and eight others not being paid for a few weeks. We needed a keeper and he done an excellent job for us over the last four and a half seasons

[Harry Chibber]

I think everyone is forgetting how good a keeper Brown really is.. and at 25 he has at least 10 years of his best football to look forward to.  I would like to know the fee ICT have settled on because it must have been fairly substantial to let him go half way through the season.  He has been superb for us and who can blaim him for taking a decent pay check, Mike Fraser could turn out to be a much better player than Broonie, I'm just concerned who would back him up.  Jon Smith is next inline I think and he looks even smaller than Broonie  :010:

[Alex MacLeod]

I think Jonathan really needs to fill up on growth hormones.

[kencar]

How tall is Smith?

He looked smallish when I saw him in our friendly against Clach.

Still Goram and Klos were/are pretty decent  keepers under 6 ft.

Harry C - can't really see MB ever being Celtic's No 1 - he's a good keeper but not that good  :006:

[Harry Chibber]

Stranger things have happened, Marshall has been wanting first team football for years now and with Peter Grant at Norwich he might be swayed to sign permanentley, there are plenty of big teams sniffing about Boruc (he also made it clear when he first joined Celtic that his goal was to play in the Premiership).  I think Broonie definitely has the ability but his confidence would be the issue not to mention his lack of leadershp in the box but these things can be worked on.

Still not 100% this is true though

[Guest Rebelwithoutaclue]

Thank him for the service to ICT and wish him misery for the rest of his career!

Nothing personal-just football.

I'm confident Mike Fraser can do the business for us.

[CaleyD]

We've suffered bigger losses and managed just fine - Mark Brown was a great keeper for us, but Mike Fraser is more than capable of stepping up to the plate and has a more rounded skillset and the potential to be even better.

BTW, have you all seen Fraser kick a ball?  They'll be shouting for the pitch to be lengthened just so he can keep it in the park  :015:

"ICT have a free kick on the edge of their own area....whats this??? ICT have put all 10 men inside the oppositions box.....Fraser take the kick...OMG OMG...straight in the top corner....What a Goal!!!!!"

OK, so I got a bit carried away, but the guy can fair kick the bloody thing...and more importantly, he can kick it straight.

[monthecaley]

how excited must the boy fraser be right now? all those years as browns number two, and he finally gets his big chance

[Morgan Spice]

If I was Mark Brown and had the opportunity he's been given I would grab it especially reading some of the posts telling him he's a money grabber and a traitor after all we've done for him.  I think a few people forget that it is his profession and he has the right to go to a club with better facilities and a place where let's face it the coaching staff will improve him playing or not. And he has shown 5 years of loyalty to this club and he has always acknowledged it was our club that saved his career.  So to the snipers out there having a go at him why don't you maybe try congratulating him on being such a big part of our Challenge Cup and First Division success.  Being a key figure in the last 3 SPL seasons and not once kicked up a fuss bar one recent interview. And I'm sorry but Boruc isn't that good a keeper he is average it's the defence that make his statistics look so good.  If Mark believes he can get into the starting eleven at Celtic then who are we to tell him he won't?  Boruc might get injured and Mark might seize his opportunity you don't know!  Maybe he'll have a change of heart and decide he wants to be at a club where he is number one.  Time will tell but for goodness sake get off his back he's been a great servant to the club anyway!  

[DJS]

Looking ahead, ICT must acquire another keeper before the month is out.  Mike Fraser deserves his chance but we must have some quality and a bit of experience to back him up. The young lad Smith is indeed wee but has virtually no experience at reserve level never mind the SPL.

[Libero]

Echoing what morgan spice said

i cant believe so many people on here are being bitter towards Mark, he has been a true professional and been a great servant to the club. He has been outstanding for the majority of his 5 years here and for fans on here to be criticising him for moving and wishing ill of his future is disappointing and unfair to say the least.

It is every professional football players dream to be playing for a succesful club challenging for trophies domestically, on the european stage and having a much better chance of being picked for the international scene so for mark to knock back this dream move would be ludicrous. I think even though Mark may be moving to Celtic Park to be sitting on the bench in the short term i think he has the ability to challenge for the No 1 shirt in the future and whos to say that Boruc wont break his leg next week or move to a bigger club himslef. Finanacially it is a good move for him as he will be on a lot more money and i'm afraid in this day and age where footballers often struggle to make a living once their football career is over then you cannot fault a player for looking after his own interests. I also think he has a far better chance of being called up to the international set up while being at an old firm club and should his international call up come then its no more than he deserves

I for one wich Mark all the best for the future and thank him for his great service to the club.

as DJS says our priority now is securing another keeper whther it be a recognised SPL keeper or competition for Mike Fraser