Celtic say goodbye to the highs and lows of Gary Caldwell

Heid heads to Wigan

The move has not yet been confirmed by either club but the BBC have reported the move as being confirmed by Caldwell’s agent. Caldwell is said to have agreed a four and a half year deal with the English Premier League side.

No player can be consistently great in every match, not even the acknowledged greats.

A consistent level of good performances is what most fans ask for, especially in the SPL, where any truly astounding talent would be whisked away.

Even consistently average performances by a player can be tolerated by fans, nothing spectacular but nothing disastrous can keep many a player in wages and in the first team line-up.

Where fans start to get edgy though is with the players who rapidly flick between great and horrendous in the blink of an eye. Football fans may claim to want to be on the edge of their seat at matches but when it is caused by your own centre half, it is maybe not the best.

WeKnowSFA acknowledges the work done in this field and doffs its cap to Gary Caldwell.

The man known as Heid is off to twitter from the English Premier League and the footballing Mecca that is Wigan. So called because Bingo is the second most popular sport in the area, after rugby.

Some highlights of the Gary Caldwell era:

Having a big massive heid
Pointing one way and passing the ball in the other direction
Replacing Neil Lennon in the 2007 Scottish Cup final and moving the team a further 20 yards up the park resulting in a scrappy triumph
A low controlled shot against AC Milan which Dida spilled allowing Scott McDonald to poke home the winner
His penalty in the shoot-out against Spartak Moscow
His chipped pass to Scott McDonald in the build-up to Jan venegoor of Hesselink’s injury-time winner in the 2-1 win over Rangers
In fact, his performances in the run-in for Celtic’s 3 in a Row campaign

Some lowlights of the Gary Caldwell era:

Needlessly giving away a penalty in injury time at Tynecastle, costing the loss of 2 points
BENFICA
Aalborg
Arsenal at home
Barcelona at home
The “we’ll decide if we’ve played well” remark
The general fear when teams were awarded a corner against Celtic
In fact, the general interviews and sound-bites offered to the media
Walking the ball out of the park at the San Siro under no pressure (although this was rather funny)

For a Bosman signing who was played out of position for a reasonable period of time, Gary Caldwell was probably more good than bad for Celtic. His player of the year award will doubtlessly remain in pride of place in his new Wigan apartment and the medals and memories of his time at Celtic Park will hopefully remain pleasurable for Gary.

That said, there is a definite feeling that Celtic need to refresh their line-up and with the defenders contract ready to expire in the summer, a fee of around £1m is good business for Celtic.

Well Gary, Scottish fans will be watching MOTD every week waiting to see which Caldwell turns up, hoping for some wonders, some blunders and if we’re lucky, a startled walking the ball out of the park just like that night in Milan.

All those who say the EPL is the best in the world…remember there are two Caldwell’s playing there now.

What is your abiding memory of the man known as Caldenbaur?

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