Riordan's Looking A Forgotten Man At Parkhead

Nov 4 2007 Rob Maclean

CELTIC are paying but not playing Derek Riordan and are well within their rights to make that distinction.

But it's a crying shame that one of the most talented players Scottish football has produced for a decade has vanished without trace.

It's getting to the stage where you have to dig out a DVD montage of Riordan's greatest hits to remind yourself how gifted the former Hibs striker is.

Over three sensational seasons at Easter Road he scored more than 60 goals - yet by no stretch of the imagination was he an out-and-out attacker.

Riordan drifted in off the touchline to score with both feet - some blistering strikes, others curled into the corners - and even one or two with his head.

And his assists - if you added on the goals he created for Garry O'Connor and others - during that purple patch would be nearer three figures.

He broke into the Scotland squad and his technical ability won him admirers in Scotland, England and further afield.

Lokomotiv Moscow were interested before they landed team-mate O'Connor and German club Nuremburg also made a move for him.

But in summer last year he signed for Celtic.

And Deeks has since started only 12 matches for Gordon Strachan in the best part of 18 months.

The striker still has another year-and-a-half to run on his deal with an option to extend the arrangement.

Obviously Riordan is receiving generous compensation for his inactivity.

I reckon he's earning around £9,000 a week - more than 10 times what he was being paid at Hibs.

So any sympathy we feel for his current predicament should be kept in perspective.

But it's a sad waste of a prodigious talent.

He played in the Old Firm reserve game during the week and had a blast afterwards about his lack of major opportunities.

Riordan will turn 25 midway through the January transfer window and his birthday wish has to be a return to first-team football.

It's not happening for him at Parkhead. Derek has started just twice this season and, in terms of player development, he has to be going backwards.

I don't think he has a serious problem with Strachan but doesn't seem to have been gi ven a satisfactory explanation for his lack of involvement.

The gaffer who signed him described Riordan (right) as the most natural finisher at the club.

Despite a total of only a dozen starts he's scored seven.

But even after Kenny Miller departed for Derby and in the absence of injured pair Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Maciej Zurawski, Riordan's face still didn't fit.

Only Scott McDonald has been scoring for Celtic in the last few games - two more yesterday in the 2-1 win over Kilmarnock But the Hoops huffed and puffed against Hearts on Wednesday night before bowing out of the CIS Cup.

Aiden McGeady was biggest threat but there was a lack of end product. I can't remember Hearts keeper Anthony Basso being seriously tested.

Celtic were crying out for more ingenuity or inspiration.

But Riordan wasn't even listed as a sub.

He was on the bench yesterday but there was little chance of him making an appearance even as Celts searched for a spark in the second half to kill off Killie.

Pre-match Strachan explained that Jiri Jarosik started at Rugby Park because he's a scorer. The Czech international hasn't netted since January.

Maybe there has been another off-field issue that affects the selection of Riordan but It's not the case as far as I'm aware.

Maybe there are football reasons why Deeks doesn't fit into Celtic's plans but Strachan surely got what it said on the tin when he signed him?

Can Riordan really only play on the left of midfield?

Could his two-footed talents not be used on the other side or further forward?

The way things stand he's being kept out of the team by McGeady. Jarosik or Paul Hartley are more likely to play that position than Riordan.

Shaun Maloney was also ahead of him in the queue until his reunion with Martin O'Neill at Aston Villa.

Continuing rumours of a return to Celtic for Maloney do nothing for Riordan's growing insecurity.

So why don't they let him go? That could well happen when the transfer market reopens but the word is Celtic could be looking for more than the £1.2million paid by West Brom for Craig Beattie.

Derek could be forgiven for taking a wistful look at the Edinburgh Derby today and hankering after the old days. His bank balance has never been better but all he really wants to do is play.