Sheffield Wednesday appeared to be playing to the galleries on Wednesday after they confirmed they had lost one of their top young players to Celtic.
Instead of simply announcing the deal, the club put a message out confirming there would be an investigation in how the deal came into the public domain so early.
The English club didn’t want the deal to be announced but they said Celtic made it clear they would announce the signing and Neil Lennon did just that.
Neil Lennon briefly confirming in an interview that the club had secured the midfielder. They might not have wanted the deal to be public but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it and an investigation smacks of desperation.
Here is their full statement:
Sheffield Wednesday can confirm that midfielder Liam Shaw has signed a pre-contract agreement with Scottish Premiership side Celtic.
We are currently investigating this matter and will consider if there are any further steps available to protect the club’s interest.
It was not our intention to place this development into the public domain out of respect to all parties concerned.
However, we were contacted by Celtic informing the club of their intention to formally confirm this development, which was revealed by the former Celtic manager in a media briefing.
Both clubs exchanged statements in advance of a coordinated release but Celtic have since ceased correspondence to this end.
Shaw remains a Sheffield Wednesday player until the expiry of his current contract and will be available for selection for the remainder of the season.
We will make no further comment at this time
Opening any investigation into how it came about seems rather futile and clearly playing to their fan base. Their own announcement confirmed Celtic done things by the book. The Hoops contacted Sheffield Wednesday to let it be known they would be talking to and potentially signing the soon to be free agent.
As far as Celtic are concerned, they done everything by the book and a report by RecordSport backs that up this morning.
We hope Liam continues to get game time between now and the end of the season and is not adversely affected by hurt feelings.
