' Cardiff City believe they have smoothed the Rift '

Cardiff City smooth over Celtic rift with Victor Wanyama 'correction' and could target more Scots
23rd Jul 2013

After a row broke out between Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan and Celtic boss Neil Lennon over the weekend, moves have been made to cool the situation.


Cardiff City are keen to avoid a row with Celtic boss Neil Lennon as Malky Mackay could have other targets north of the border.

Cardiff City believe they have moved to cool a rift with Celtic after issuing what they dub ‘a correction’ to remarks made by owner Vincent Tan on Victor Wanyama.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon criticised Tan for claiming last week that the Scottish giants had accepted a record Bluebirds £10m bid for the blockbusting midfield man... only to then up the price.

Manager Mackay was away at the time of Tan’s comments with his 26-man squad on a week’s training camp in Switzerland.

Mackay has brought a number of Scots down to South Wales during his two-year spell as manager and may have other targets north of the border he wishes to pursue, having seen the move for Wanyama collapse.

Former City star Joe Ledley is another player the Bluebirds have been linked with, although he has signed a new Celtic deal and made it clear his immediate future is in Glasgow.

Cardiff will be hoping. though , that their swift response to Lennon’s outburst, whereby they issued what they dub ‘a correction’ on their website, will take the sting out of the matter.

Biillionaire owner Tan said last week that he personally pulled the plug on the Wanyama deal because he believed it had become too costly.



Tan claimed: “We agreed to buy Wanyama, but they (Celtic) raised what they wanted from £10m and I said no.

“They ask for £10m, then the other party is interested and they say it’s £12m, £12.5m.”



Lennon hit back angrily ahead of Celtic’s pre-season friendly at Brentford on Saturday, insisting there was an entirely different version of events.

“We totally disagree with what he (Tan) said publicly,” said Lennon.

“There was never a deal agreed with Cardiff, and there was never a price set for Victor.

“Southampton’s was the only confirmed offer we had, and it was considerably more than the figure Cardiff were talking about.

“It is frustrating if he (Tan) is trying to give us a bad name in this deal because we acted as we always do, with the greatest professionalism and dignity towards ourselves and any other club.

“The bottom line was that Cardiff made an offer that was not up to the requirement of what we wanted.

“It was nowhere near the valuation of the player and nowhere near the structure of the deal that suited us. In the end, it was never going to happen.”


Cardiff responded to Lennon’s stinging remarks by posting the following official statement on their website.

Under a banner headline ‘Wanyama Correction,’ it read: “The club and Tan Sri Vincent Tan would like to clarify that while negotiations with Celtic were on-going for the proposed transfer of Wanyama, no formal bid was officially accepted.

“Having been unable to reach an agreement, we thanked Celtic for their help and have since directed our attention to other targets.”

So its not saying we DIDNT bid. Just that no formal bid was ACCEPTED.

I'd tell Celtic to go f**k themselves anyway. Scum Club, Scum fans

So its not saying we DIDNT bid. Just that no formal bid was ACCEPTED.

I'd tell Celtic to go f**k themselves anyway. Scum Club, Scum fans

Correct, hate them more than the jacks!

Lennon always looks like that bloke down the pub, had a skinful, stood in the way by the bar, staring at anyone who tries to buy a drink and who everyone is trying to avoid - gunning for a fight with anyone, over nothing.

I once worked for a bloke who was 5 feet nothing from Glasgow - he'd pick a fight with his shadow if he could.