Farewell Erik!

‘Honestly, mark my words, this Sviatchenko guy will run a savvy up here, he’ll be here for a few seasons and go to Southampton for £15m. Book it.’ - some guy, Jan 2016

That some guy would eh, be me.

I had very high hopes for the well groomed Dane after his arrival to Celtic purely based on two consecutively fantastic seasons for my Benfica team in Fitba Manager 2014.

As I have now found out, a big dog in the influential Sports Interactive management sim doesn’t necessarily mean they will be a world beater in real life. Although there’s still hope for big Tomas Necid....

Sviatchenko’s status as a key defender, to surplus to requirements, has escalated quickly. It was only a year ago that he was being praised by Brendan Rodgers for his game , and was a big part of Celtic’s flawless run in the build up to the winter break, scoring against Ross County in the process with a 35 yard daisy-cutter that Scott Fox, as he always does against us, sold the jerseys with.

The turning point in Sviatchenko’s Celtic career seemed to come against Rangers last March in a 1-1 draw.

Sviatchenko was somehow ran ragged and physically battered by the hopeless Martyn Waghorn and after that game, slowly but surely, the manager’s Boyata/Simunovic partnership was his preferred one, with Sviatchenko’s appearances few and far between afterwards.

The writing truly was on the wall when he was subbed, albeit after picking up an injury, 24 minutes into the away tie in the Champions League with Rosenborg.

Not long after returning to fitness after being out from that game, Rodgers said he was no longer needed at Celtic and was free to sign for another club, and earlier today Celtic indeed confirmed he would return to the club he was signed from, FC Midtjylland. The deal is a loan until the end of the season, but I strongly suspect there will be a view to a permy deal in there too.

Sviatchenko High Point: The composed performance in the 2-2 ‘loss’ to Rangers in the Scottish Cup 2016 Semi Final, where he replaced a panic-striken and mentally fragile Boyata to get us back in the game with a superb header from a corner to make it 1-1 at the time.

Sviatchenko Low Point : That ‘shuffle’ patter. Really bad.

Regardless, all the best to him.