Celtic managing director Fergus McCann last night launched an astonishing attack on his own players' greed, saying that the tax bill of a single Celtic player would pay the wages of the entire St Patrick's Athletic team beaten by Celtic last month. McCann was commenting after an internal row over bonuses to be paid if Celtic make it into the lucrative Champions' League boiled over yesterday - a photocall to launch a new kit was called off with little notice when players did not turn up. Celtic play the first leg of their qualifying tie against Croatia Zagreb tomorrow. "The position is the club has been extremely generous both in terms of winning the Championship and we even awarded substantial bonuses for the match in Dublin against St Patrick's Athletic," McCann said.
"To be honest, without being disrespectful, in St Pat's we beat a team whose salaries in total did not match one player's weekly tax here. We shared the benefits of that game in Dublin quite substantially with the players with a huge bonus 10 times above the standard rate."
Rangers play their second qualifying round home tie with PAOK Salonika tonight, with manager Dick Advocaat telling the fans to keep their hopes realistic.
Gary Kelly is almost certain to miss Leeds United's Premierships opener at Middlesbrough on Saturday. Kelly is awaiting tests after complaining of swollen shins, which have forced him out of Leeds' last three pre-season friendlies. The Republic of Ireland international fears he may be suffering from shin splints. "There's a lot of pressure on the shins, which are still quite sore. It means I won't be able to train this week, so it is unlikely I will be fit in time."
Arsenal have sent an official request to UEFA asking to play their first match in the Champions' League on September 16th away from home because Wembley is not available on that date as the stadium will be undergoing preparations for a Spice Girls pop-concert there a few days later.
Wolves striker Steve Claridge has signed for First Division rivals Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee. Wolves boss Mark McGhee, who has told Irish striker Robbie Keane that he intends to build the team around him, has also sold strikers Dougie Freedman, to Nottingham Forest for £900,000, and Jason Roberts to Bristol Rovers for £250,000, while Finnish international Mixu Paatelainen is considering a move to Preston. Spanish midfielder Fernando Gomez Colomer yesterday joined Wolves on a free transfer from Valencia.
