Soccer:Emilio Izaguirre has vowed to be a success at Celtic. The Honduras international arrived in Glasgow at the weekend and is undergoing a medical ahead of a reported €750,000 move.
Motagua left back Izaguirre — a team-mate of Rangers trialist Georgie Welcome claims he will fulfil a dream by signing for the Parkhead club.
He said: “I am ready and very happy because I have now fulfilled my dream of playing overseas. I’m going to achieve my lifetime ambition of signing for a huge team.
“My agent worked very hard to get me a move to a big European club and and I am very excited about it. I thank God I have been given this chance and I hope and pray I can be a success.
“I will not waste this opportunity. It will make me a better footballer and a more experienced one. Celtic are one of the biggest teams in Britain and they are known throughout the world and I know Efrain Juarez who plays here.
“I hope to make Hondurans proud of me so that one day, when I want to end my career, I can come back and play for Motagua.”
Celtic, meanwhile, today revealed a 15 per cent drop in annual turnover and an increase in bank debt of more than €4.5 million — a financial performance partly attributed to “unacceptable results” under Tony Mowbray.
Chairman John Reid claimed the team‘s fortunes under previous manager Mowbray, who departed in March after a 4-0 defeat at St Mirren all but handed Rangers their second successive Scottish Premier League title, were partly to blame for the financial downturn.
“The unacceptable results on the football pitch meant that a change in the football management team was needed,” Reid said. “Some pride was then restored from an unbeaten run in the SPL at the end of the season, with Neil Lennon taking temporary charge.
“But that does not in any way compensate for the extreme disappointment and frustration we and all Celtic supporters felt last season. It was simply not good enough for this club and those who support it.
“Fortunately, the relatively strong financial position we have insisted in maintaining in recent years has enabled us to continue to rebuild even after last year’s setback. But just as football and financial strength are essential partners in progress, so too they affect each other adversely when we are not succeeding as we should.
“Thus the combination of the financial/economic recession and disappointing football results have taken their toll in this year’s report.”