Ex-Celtic man discusses scathing social media post as Rangers loanee warned over ‘emotional’ gesture to fans

Sead Haksabanovic has opened up about his Celtic exit.Sead Haksabanovic has opened up about his Celtic exit.
Sead Haksabanovic has opened up about his Celtic exit. | Getty Images
A former Celtic winger has shared his version of events following his summer exit

Rangers claimed a hard-fought but ultimately unconvincing 1-0 victory against Premiership rivals Hibs on Sunday.

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The home side grabbed all three points through a sensational match-winning goal from Tom Lawrence. However, a great deal of the praise also has to go to goalkeeper Jack Butland, who denied Hibs starMykola Kuharevich from the penalty spot with a fine save on the stroke of half time.

The Light Blues were well off their best throughout the contest and had to absorb large periods of pressure from David Gray’s side, who upped the ante in the second half to try and level proceedings.

A number of Rangers fans expressed their disappointment at the team’s subdued performance and one player that was signalled out for criticism was loanee Vaclav Cerny.

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During the game, the Czechia winger was seen by the Sky Sports cameras throwing his hands up to supporters in an emotional response to groans from the Ibrox faithful whilst also appearing to be shouting towards the stands.

Commentator Neil McCann said at the time: "I tell you what, Cerny needs to calm himself down. He has actually having a go at the fans there - the fans are really unhappy he's not opened up his body with the ball inside and he's remonstrated. He has thrown his arms up and told them where to go.”

Cerny was taken off the pitch after 70 minutes after a disappointing display. In the aftermath, former Rangers star turned pundit Cammy Bell has urged the winger to keep his composure and not respond to fan criticism whilst on the pitch.

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Speaking to Sportscene, Bell said: "I don't think you can do that here at Ibrox. It is new here for [Vaclav] Cerny here at Ibrox. They've been playing at Hampden. The frustrations of the fans, you can feel it on the pitch when you are a player but you can't react to it and just have to get on with your game. There are huge expectations, which is right enough from the Rangers fans. But Cerny can't react. I think that is what Clement would have said when he subbed him, you need to hold your emotions in and try concentrate on your game."

Clement, who brought Cerny to Glasgow this summer, has been quick to try and squash any concerns regarding the winger's relationship with the supporters.

He told the Daily Record in his post match press conference: "It was just about keeping focus on the game in the heat of the moment. He loves the fans and the fans love him, so nothing special.

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“I just spoke with him about the game and the story we're making better and better. He didn't play too many games last season so we need to raise his level in that way to be able to perform every two days and that's a normal story.”

Former Celtic man has no regrets on summer exit as he discusses scathing social media post

Ex-Celtic winger Sead Haksabanovic hit the headlines last summer when he made a bombshell statement on social media, which effectively ended his career at Parkhead.

The 25-year-old winger, who didn’t see eye to eye with Brendan Rodgers shared a post in August 2023 with the caption:"If they don’t see your value maybe you’re not at the right place.”

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Just days after the post was made, the Montenegro international secured an escape route to join Championship side Stoke City on loan. Shortly after returning to Celtic, he secured a permanent exit from Glasgow and is now part of the team at Swedish champions Malmo.

Haksabanovic told Football Scotland shortly before his side’s Europa League defeat to Rangers, that he has no regrets about the post and admitted it was the right thing for him to do for his career.

He said: "I wouldn't say that I regret it [the Instagram post]. It was nothing to the fans or anything like that. I don't want to go into details and stuff, it's between me and them, but I felt I was not treated as the others were and I need to look for myself and make sure that I'm good because I understand why the fans were mad at me.

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"They always want the best for the club and as long as I was a Celtic player I did that as well. But I need to protect myself as well because of things that someone can do against me and if I don't like it, feel appreciated or respect it... it didn't need to go so far that I needed to post it, but it went so far so I had to do something for myself."

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