GLENN Loovens has warned Stephen McManus and Gary Caldwell he will oust one of them from the centre of Celtic's defence – even if it takes him four years.
McManus and Caldwell remain very much the first-choice pairing for the Scottish champions, but manager Gordon Strachan signed Loovens this summer as part of his bid to increase competition for places at Celtic Park. The Dutch defender, 24, has starte
d just three games for his new club and on Tuesday night found himself playing for a Celtic Select against Derry City.
But despite enjoying regular first-team football before his £2.5million move from Cardiff City, Loovens has no problem being told to fight for his place.
"Mick (McManus] and Gary are top players and it won't be easy to break up that partnership," said Loovens, who snubbed a move to Rangers to join their arch-rivals.
"But I've signed for four years at Celtic, that's a long time. The manager has been good with me, and I know what I have to do."
Loovens has no regrets about his summer switch, saying in Celtic View: "I think the games I've played so far have been okay. Football-wise, I'm satisfied. Things are going well and I'm settling in more every week.
"Obviously, I want to play more games. But I'm certain I made the right decision to come here. I'm the new guy and the boys in the team have been doing well. I just need to wait for my chance, and hopefully it will come.
"This is what happens at a big club. There is real competition for those two places. And, while we all get on well, we all have the same aim. It can only be good for the club, though."
Loovens insists he welcomes the pressure of being at a club who are expected to win every Premier League game they play.
"The standard of the SPL is what I expected," he said. "The expectation is always there. But that's not a problem. It's something you have to cope with because we're expected to win every game.
"I relish that sort of pressure, though. I came to Celtic to win things, to progress my career, and that's what I'm doing."
Meanwhile, Bertie Auld believes Celtic are in desperate need of a player who can get fans off their seats – just like Lubomir Moravcik did in his prime.
The Lisbon Lion
is well aware of just how important silverware is for a team like Celtic, but believes that, in the quest for success, entertainment value has dipped in recent years.
Auld would now love to see the sort of excitement at Celtic Park which was once generated by the likes of Henrik Larsson and Moravcik.
He said: "We have achieved three in a row and we are winning trophies, which is something the club will always look to do. What we need now is entertainment, as well as winning trophies. We are just short of that a little bit.
"I must admit, I loved Lubo. Whenever he got up just to warm-up, I was up applauding.
"If he gets my bum off the seat, he must be someone special. Henrik Larsson was another one but Lubo, as far as I was concerned, was the most important person. It's all about the quality of the player that's brought in.
"If the manager does not have the money to bring in the quality that is required, he shouldn't bring in anyone." Moravcik was brought to Celtic by fellow Slovakian, Dr Jozef Venglos, for a sum of just £300,000 in 1998 and established himself as a firm fans' favourite during his four years in the east end of Glasgow.
And Auld believes funds need to be released for Strachan in January to provide the Celtic manager with the opportunity to add something different to the current squad.
He added: "It's important that Gordon gets money to bring in an entertainer. We need that lift, someone who is going to change games, rather than just win games."
Auld has every faith in his former club's ability to achieve four in a row, but predicts another close battle between the two halves of the Old Firm.
Speaking at the launch of his book, A Bhoy Called Bertie: The Bertie Auld Story, he said: "It's going to be a more difficult one. Rangers have a pool of players with depth and it's getting more and more difficult because of the quality of players at the other teams.
"It will be difficult, but it's not beyond us. We don't have a lot of variety – but we do have a good pool of players."
The full article contains 788 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
