 | "I have mixed feelings about my time at Celtic" |
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There does not seem to be any love lost between outgoing Celtic defender Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe and former manager Gordon Strachan. The man from Cameroon has laid the blame for a difficult final season in Glasgow at Strachan's door. The former Rennes player was a regular during his loan spell at the club in the first half of 2007, and his performance persuaded Celtic to sign him on a permanent basis that summer. However, he admits that overall it has been an unhappy experience. Perrier-Doumbe found himself sidelined shortly after coming back from five months out with an Achilles injury.
He said: "I have mixed feelings about my time at Celtic. At the beginning, I was a regular starter in the league, in the Champions League, I scored the goal in the Scottish Cup final. Everything was going well. Then I got injured against AC Milan in October, I came back fine before the manager gave me a really hard time. Last summer, I asked to leave when the club signed Andreas Hinkel. The manager categorically refused. He never played me again. Did I annoy him when I asked to leave? I don't know. Anyway, I didn't understand anything. No-one understood. I tried my luck again in January, because I had interest from Norwich and Coventry for loan spells, also in Hungary, at Ujpest! Again the manager refused. Outcome - I spent my season on the bench."
Perrier-Doumbe is on the look-out for his next club and claims he has several options at the moment. He wants to take his time before reaching a decision as he bids to get back into the international set-up. The Cameroon defender won his last cap in 2006 but insists he has not given up hope of making it to the World Cup next year. Perrier-Doumbe went on: "Larissa (Greece) are interested and Freiburg, who have just been promoted into the Bundesliga. In France two Ligue 2 clubs, who are going to be playing for promotion, have made enquiries. I'm taking my time. In my heart, I would love to go back to Ligue 1, which I played in with Auxerre and Rennes. I don't want to make the wrong choice, knowing that my primary motivation is to feel useful. If I play, I will again become an option for (Cameroon). I have already played in the African Nations Cup and the Confederations Cup with Cameroon. To be in the World Cup in 2010 would be massive."
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