Adam Matthews ' Cant compare Celtic & Cardiff '

Adam Matthews

“I don’t think [Celtic and Cardiff] can be compared, really. Celtic’s fan base is worldwide. Cardiff are a completely different team to when I was there — they’ve done really well to get into the Premier League and I’m happy for them.


Celtic's Victor Wanyama a £10million target for Cardiff City as Cliftonville await in Champions League

Adam Matthews, like Joe Ledley, made the journey from Cardiff to Celtic in order to savour the Champions League experience with Celtic: now he hopes that team-mate Victor Wanyama does not travel in the opposite direction.


Premier League new boys Cardiff City have made a £10million bid for the Kenya midfielder but, while not disrespecting his alma mater, Matthews believes that the 21-year-old could do better than the Bluebirds or Southampton, with whom he failed to agree personal terms.

At present, Celtic — who were drawn against Cliftonville of Belfast in the second qualifying round for the Champions League yesterday — would appear to be in a win-win situation with Wanyama.
Either they trouser a hefty profit on a player they signed for £900,000 from Beerschot two years ago — which is likely to be the preferred option — or they retain his impressive presence in the heart of the engine room for the forthcoming campaign.
“Victor showed last season he’s a top player, not just in the SPL but also in the Champions League,” said Matthews.
“If we could keep hold of him that would be brilliant but, if he goes, then I’m sure the gaffer will bring in some excellent players with the money we get.





“I don’t think [Celtic and Cardiff] can be compared, really. Celtic’s fan base is worldwide. Cardiff are a completely different team to when I was there — they’ve done really well to get into the Premier League and I’m happy for them.
“But I have no regrets coming to Celtic. Cardiff are a great club with great fans and being in the Prem is good for them. They’ll want to stay up.
“However, having come to Celtic it would be hard to emulate that if he goes anywhere else.
“I think we need a player like that in our team. we’ll just need to see what happens.
“The top division in England is definitely stronger than the SPL but playing in the Champions League — remembering the run we went on last season — will hopefully make him stay and taste that again this season.”
Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United monitored Wanyama as he shone against Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow last season and Matthews argues he might be selling himself short by joining a lesser side.
“His performances last season show he could go to a bigger club,” he added.
“Celtic have done that down the years, taken relatively unknown players and make them into players the whole country is talking about. Victor is one of them.”
Neil Lennon’s side is likely to be at home for the first leg against Cliftonville on July 16 or 17, with the return in Northern Ireland the following week.
On paper, it represents the perfect draw for the Scottish champions, with minimum travel and opponents who are unlikely to provide a shock. Matthews, though, rightly refuses to take them lightly.
“It’s going to be a hard game, we know that, but we’re happy with it,” he said. “We’ve been training well and everyone is looking sharp.
“The draw could have been a lot worse but we know it’s going to be a tough, especially when we go to their ground.
“We’ve got to respect them and treat it like a Champions League game.”
Beaten Scottish Cup finalists Hibernian will face either Drogheda from Ireland or Swedish side Malmo in the second qualifying round for the Europa League while St Johnstone will be up against either Norwegians Rosenborg or Crusaders from Belfast, with both Scottish clubs away for the first leg.





http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... eague.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/celtic/10139746/Celtics-Victor-Wanyama-a-10million-target-for-Cardiff-City-as-Cliftonville-await-in-Champions-League.html

Whilst a lot of what Adam says is accurate,he fails to realise the competetive aspect of the game(or lack of) up in Scotland will always be the Downfall and reason for not keeping their so called stars.
It's all okay when like last season the beat Barca and had a very good tournament before being humbled by Juventus. But Players will also know its not all glitz and glamour,not so long ago they were humped 5-0 away to Bratislava and knocked out of the qualifying rounds.

It's safe to say he could join a more established side in the EPL, but the quality between the Scottish and English Premierships are not comparable.

Cheeky little tw*t the 1 team league is where he belongs

I think you could say that if Celtic were in the prem then Mathews would not be with them.

blimey a couple of good games in the champions league and they think they are world class.
does he actually look around when hes playing at the likes of livingston and a huge crowd of about 5000 in the tinpot league!! league 1 and 2 teams would make a good show in scotland cos of the tougher leagues they play in than the scottish prem,the championship is far better than that ,how some of these players can enjoy playing at some of those half empty grounds is laughable .

Thought he was quite respectful really. Comes across as an intelligent kid. Let's not forget he's playing for them now, so that's where his loyalties should lie.

Is his brother still with us ?

Goalie for the youth team a year or so back.

He did well there. He could of easily put his foot in it one way or the other.

Jones' biggest mistake letting him go imo.

Its his cousin not brother and yes hes still with us

Celtic would swap places with Cardiff in a heart beat.

Its his cousin not brother and yes hes still with us

Cheers.

He's from Swansea, so I'm not sure if there is much difference.

He would leave celtic in a heartbeat, if a premier league club came in for him. He'd be mad not to. Its all well and good playing a few glamour ties in the champions league each season, but that doesn't even come close to playing in the premier league. celtic are a huge club with a massive fanbase, but that doesn't really amount to much when you're playing against relative minnows each week, and your biggest rivals and only club that can match you are not even in your league anymore.

Fairplay to Matthews, he didn't make any silly comments to let hiself down.

You have 6 games in the Champions League and the rest of the games are shite.

its always been a place where you go to retire. or take a break from real football. or. your not good enough for the prem. anybody who has ambition are well gone from there

As has been posted. The great Celtic would swop places with us in a heartbeat

Is this really what Mathews have said ? I mean there's been a lot Of poor journilism as of late just to get a story !!! Has he gone on record on the news or radio as to really saying this ?

Mickey Mouse has got a world wide fan base as well.
Says it all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scottish Premier League in total is League 1 standard. Laughable really.

most SPL are League One standard, whilst Celtic are Premier League.

As much as I like Premiership and Championship football, it isn't as good as it was a few years back. I remember the class of Bergkamp or Drogba, being invited to watch Chelsea v Arsenal (10 years ago, I think), the standard of football was amazing. Since then, the Spanish and German leagues have improved and they are ahead of the Premier League now. The English game isn't the best in the World anymore, not even the best of Europe.

And Matthews is right, you cannot compare Celtic and Cardiff. Different setups, different countries, different leagues, Celtic with a global- us with a more local/community fanbase...

He's spot on in my opinion.

Celtic have been having huge home crowds for decades.

You dont have to go far back to remember us with crowds of 2-3000. Our support is fickle, if we did plummet through the leagues we would still have a hardcore of around 5000 but the rest would soon be on their toes.