| McManus ready to sign a new deal
With Richard Purden
 It looks like
Stephen McManus will sign a new deal with Celtic this week.
The popular Celtic defender who will be out of contract in the summer
has been chased by a string of English clubs including Aston Villa, Spurs,
Crystal Palace and Fulham.
After months of negotiations it looks like the deal will see McManus stay
at Celtic until 2009. The deal will slot McManus into the same wages bracket
as Celtic strikers Aidan McGeady and Shaun Maloney.
Celtic manager Gordon Strachan said: “Stephen is as important to
this club as any player. The talks to sign him up have been going well
and we’re not too far away. There are only a couple of silly wee
things left to sort out, minor details really.”
Undoubtedly McManus, along with players such as McGeady and Maloney, form
part of a vibrant, young Celtic team who understand the club’s history
and are playing for the jersey.
Strachan has huge respect for the player.
He said: “When you look in his eyes you know he is listening. Guys
like Stephen are one of the reasons why you become a coach.
“Stephen is a sponge of information and takes what he can out on
to the pitch.
“‘He’s the one who does our talking at the back and
he’s maturing all the time.”
It looks as though Republic of Ireland left-back Ian Harte could be bound
for Scotland. Gordon Strachan has been in talks with Spanish Second Division
side Levante and the player has expressed a desire to play for the Hoops.
Harte has two years left on his current contract and Levante club president
Pedro Villarroel has slapped a £2million figure on his head.
Celtic will have to move quick as Hearts are now also chasing the player
along with Blackburn and Sunderland.
Irishman Richie Foran has kept Motherwell’s chances of staying in
the top six alive before the SPL split with yet another headline-grabbing
goal against Inverness. It was only Inverness Caley Thistle’s second
defeat in 16 games.
Scoring from a penalty in the 1-0 win Foran was delighted with the result.
He said: “It was a relief believe me. That was a huge game. I
think it was the same for both sides.
“We needed three points badly. That has given us a great deal of
confidence and we believe we can go on and win a place in the top six.”
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