BOF Posted February 1, 2007 Moderator Share Posted February 1, 2007 BOF profiles Villa's final January acquisition. Shaun Maloney Position - Striker Born - Mirri, Malaysia DOB - 24/01/83 Height 5'7 (1.70m) Weight 10st 12lbs (155lbs) Previous clubs - Celtic (youth) Cost - £1m Career stats 00/01 - 4 apps 0 goals 01/02 - 20 apps 10 goals (5 in the cup) 02/03 - 30 apps 5 goals (2 in the cup) 03/04 - 23 apps 6 goals (1 in the cup) 04/05 - 3 apps 0 goals 05/06 - 45 apps 16 goals (3 in the cup) 06/07 - 15 apps 0 goals Shaun Maloney has been around for 6 years now having made his Celtic debut under Martin O'Neill in April 2001 - in a 3-0 Old Firm derby win no less. In his early days however, he was in and out of the team, used sparingly. It was clear though that as a youngster he had tremendous ability and an eye for goal. Unfortunately for him in early 2004 he suffered a cruciate ligament knee injury which kept him out of the game for 12 months. With most players this type of injury can often be the changing of them for the worse. They never come back quite the way they were. In Shaun's case however this injury looks to have been the making of him in a strange way. He came back from it with a new hunger for the game and scored 16 goals in 44 appearances as a mainstay of the Celtic attack not to mention in and around 20 assists. As a result of this brilliant season he also has the very prestigious honour of being the only player in Scottish football history to be voted the player of the year AND the young player of the year in the same season. During that season Shaun also became a full Scottish international in their defeat to Belarus and has been selected ever since. Shaun joins Villa after protracted talks with Celtic failed all seasonl long. Celtic were desperate to sign him to a long-term deal and the uproar of their fans to the news that he had signed a pre-contract agreement with Villa is a telling indication of the calibre of player they are losing and we are gaining. He has served his apprenticeship and joins Villa as a mature 24 year old ready to 'hit the ground running'. He re-joins Martin O'Neill as Villa's final capture of the '07 January transfer window and at the time of writing has yet to make his debut. He will offer us an exciting option up front as he can play as an attacking midfielder from the left or centre and of course his bread&butter position is up top scoring the goals. Let us hope he can be the next successful Scottish import into the English game. It's a while since there's been a real Scottish gem brought down. BOF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoopedTeuchter Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 As a Celtic fan I am sorry to lose Maloney and I am sure he will be a good aquisition for Villa. I should point out that Maloney was lattely more often used in an attacking midfield role on the left, in the hole, or occasionally off the lone striker on the rare occasions Celtic adopted such tactics. He is definitely not a poacher type striker - he does a lot of buzzing about on the edge of the box. Also, he can take a mean free kick. He invariably gets them on target, and has scored a few for Celtic, so move over Gareth Barry or whoever takes the set peices at Villa. Or Aston Celtic as we now know them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted February 1, 2007 Author Moderator Share Posted February 1, 2007 As a Celtic fan I am sorry to lose Maloney and I am sure he will be a good aquisition for Villa. I should point out that Maloney was lattely more often used in an attacking midfield role on the left, in the hole, or occasionally off the lone striker on the rare occasions Celtic adopted such tactics. He is definitely not a poacher type striker - he does alot of buzzing about on the edge of the box. Also, he can take a mean free kick. He invariably gets them on target, and has scored a few for Celtic, so move over Gareth Barry or whoever takes the set peices at Villa. Thanks for that. Didn't know he could take a free. It seems that all our new signings can, Petrov, Young, Carew & Maloney. Or Aston Celtic as we now know them! Why ever would you call us that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 They're our feeder club! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoopedTeuchter Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 The word on the street is that Bobo Balde would have been bought by Martin O'Neill as well if he hadn't been injured... Petrov's (who I believe has been playing with an injury recently, hence disappointing form) style of free kick involves a low piledriver of a shot that has fooled a few keepers over the years with the sheer velocity of it. None of this fancy bending it over the wall into the corner malarkey - leave that to Maloney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfcinwales Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 The word on the street is that Bobo Balde would have been bought by Martin O'Neill as well if he hadn't been injured... Come off it I know several Celtic fans and they are all keen to lose Balde, asap. Maybe O'Neill is mug enough to take most of your rubbish off you for a price, I'm hoping even he isn't daft enough to try for Balde. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee_av Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 The word on the street is that Bobo Balde would have been bought by Martin O'Neill as well if he hadn't been injured... Come off it I know several Celtic fans and they are all keen to lose Balde, asap. Maybe O'Neill is mug enough to take most of your rubbish off you for a price, I'm hoping even he isn't daft enough to try for Balde. Both Petrov and Maloney have both won players of the year in Scoland, and are players that he knows well. Agathe and Sutton have been stop gaps. Word on the street means nothing, only actions. Get over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee_av Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Or Aston Celtic as we now know them! Never :winkold: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisVillan Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 I seem to have missed something. Petrov can take a free kick?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoopedTeuchter Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 The word on the street is that Bobo Balde would have been bought by Martin O'Neill as well if he hadn't been injured... Come off it I know several Celtic fans and they are all keen to lose Balde, asap. Maybe O'Neill is mug enough to take most of your rubbish off you for a price, I'm hoping even he isn't daft enough to try for Balde. Both Petrov and Maloney have both won players of the year in Scoland, and are players that he knows well. Agathe and Sutton have been stop gaps. Word on the street means nothing, only actions. Get over it. Get over what? Balde is a pretty decent centre half, very powerful, if prone to the occasional rush of blood to the head. The reason Celtic fans wouldn't mind seeing him go is that he's on 28 grand a week and we'd probably get 2-3 mil or so for him. His wages are rather steep for Scotland - we only get around £2m TV money as champions, whereas in England the bottom team will get 30 mil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condimentalist Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Thankyou for your contributions HoopedTeucher, you are far more civilised (and welcome) than some of the other bitter idiots that have been on here over the last couple of days. From the signings we've made it looks as if MON wants to go back to the 433, so Maloney and Young would, I imagine, play off Carew up front, with Luke, Gabby, Angel, Sutton as back up. Is Maloney likely to be match fit at the moment would you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoopedTeuchter Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Why thanks, I like to think I am reasonably civilised! Maloney has been injured a fair bit this season and he's made the bench or started last few games so he's not far off being match fit. Probably would have played more but we have McGeady on the left and Riordon has been given a couple of run outs as well. Maloney can play on the right as well (he's right footed) but Nakamura (who's left footed) plays there and he's untouchable at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Is he actually a striker though? Or attacking midfielder/winger who can play upfront type, like Ashley Young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoopedTeuchter Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 I would say he is more of an attacking midfielder now. He started off as an out an out striker, but plays deeper now. In his best season, that stats here showed he got more goals than assists... But yeah, he can still play up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlitobrigante Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 nice to have a chat we a celtic fan who isnt screaming bile at us in every post!! Would there be riots up there if we got Mcgeady in the summer? You get a few of our ex-players aswell (dublin, thompson) so at least it isnt all one way.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnePablo Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 i have a very good feeling about maloney. i was only saying to my mate at the manu game that we miss a merson type..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfcinwales Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 The word on the street is that Bobo Balde would have been bought by Martin O'Neill as well if he hadn't been injured... Come off it I know several Celtic fans and they are all keen to lose Balde, asap. Maybe O'Neill is mug enough to take most of your rubbish off you for a price, I'm hoping even he isn't daft enough to try for Balde. Both Petrov and Maloney have both won players of the year in Scoland, and are players that he knows well. Agathe and Sutton have been stop gaps. Word on the street means nothing, only actions. Get over it. Its called banter with a Celtic fan, although I have to admit doing such on here with so many keener to get me banned than listening to what I've said or the way in which I've said something is a dangerous thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoopedTeuchter Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 We're not all nutters you know! In fact, the majority of us are sane, reasonable, cultured, intelligent and unbigoted individuals. I think there would be a bit of umbrage if you got McGeady, but at the same time you would have to pay a pretty penny for him and apparently he's not that popular at Celtic Park as he's a bit of a Billy Big Boots. I've seen it quoted somwhere that someone at Celtic said that if he was made of chocolate, he'd eat himself. Kind of surprised O'Neill didn't take Thommo back as he was one of his stalwarts... he's scored 2 great free kicks for Leeds in his first 2 games for them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Is he quick? Like Gabby/Young quick? Or just average quick :bonk: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheriffvilla Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Maloney will be an important piece of the jigsaw... because, League Cups in the 90's aside, we only ever win major honours with Scotsmen in the team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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