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Fullname: John Alberto Fernando Andres Luigi Olof Guidetti
aka: John Guidetti, ‘Ghodetti’
Born: 15 April 1992
Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
Signed: 4 September 2014 (on loan from Man City)
Left: 31 May 2015
Position: Central Striker
Debut: Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen, SP, 13 Sep 2014
Squad No.: 9
Internationals: Sweden
International Caps: 29 [complete at end of career]
International Goals: 3 [complete at end of career]
Biog
| I live for ‘We did the impossible’.” John Guidetti to the Times (2017) |
So, in came Celtic who were desperate to placate the support after a humiliating start to the 2014/15 season. You have got to understand the initial environment that Guidetti encountered. A new and floundering manager (Deila), knocked out of the Champions League ignominiously, tough economic situation and a frustrated support. Add to this a mismatch set of strikers, so the burden was heavy.
Despite all that, Guidetti initially stepped up , and whilst all the other strikers copped flak and got away with the odd goal, Guidetti got on with his job and initially scored regularly. The quality of some of his goals could be excellent and soon enough he was to be dubbed ‘Ghodetti‘, but this handle didn’t last for long.
Around December 2014, his goals dried up. He was still ploughing away on the pitch and driving for goals yet to little avail. It got so bad that he was even dropped from the first team. He was tweeting how much he was looking forward to scoring a hat-trick in the inaugural match v TheRangers but he was only subbed on late and his only ‘goal’ was ruled offside. A cynic could argue that his form fell coincidentally at the same time that he had knocked back Celtic’s initial contract offers, but then again maybe he just now reverted to type and his true form.
Probably the high mark was his excellent late goal that salvaged a draw v Inter Milan at home in the Uefa cup knock out stages. Having been hit by a poor start going two down within the first quarter of the match, Celtic fought back but at the last moments were 3-2 down. Some good play provided Guidetti a glorious chance which he took at the death and sent the support into rapture when it went in.
He spoiled it all when childishly he had a stroppy at the end of the league cup final as he didn’t get to take a late penalty. He had to be coaxed back onto the pitch for the celebrations, which marked him down. His teammates deserved better. It also signalled an impetuous attitude that was of concern for the longer term.
From the turn of the year, he featured less and less in the first team to no surprise. It appeared that Deila had made his mind up already. Guidetti was regarded as a useful player but not providing enough.
Off the field, incredibly, in February 2015 he was charged by the SFA Compliance Officer for ‘comments of offensive nature‘ on Dutch TV. He basically sang the “John Guidetti puts the ball in the Netty, the huns are deid” song, and this supposedly was offensive to some knuckle draggers. Everyone else just laughed.
His backroom team were hawking him around, which is fair enough when he was running down his contract with only a few months left. Trouble is their valuations weren’t being met, and a hoped for lucrative move to Feyenoord was beginning to clearly be far less lucrative than they were expecting. If they thought the two clubs would fight it out between themselves over him, that wasn’t happening. It was more pass the parcel. Guidetti wasted his chances.
He could have been like Samaras at Celtic (albeit a more consistent success) but threw in the towel. Some great goals to remember Guidetti by, but the feeling is that it should have been so much more. Yet it was hard to know if it was Celtic or Guidetti who were to lose out the most once the contracts were over.
On leaving Celtic, he bemoaned that apparently goals in the Scottish Premiership were not regarded as highly as in the major leagues, and that supposedly cost him his place in his national side. Once you’ve wiped away the tears after reading about his plight, it should be noted that playing in the Scottish Premiership did not negatively impact a number of his compatriots which have included far more respected players like Larsson, Mjallby and Lustig.
The more honest truth for why he wasn’t in his national first team was as he had stopped scoring goals and wasn’t proving to be of value despite playing enough games to prove himself. Actually, he had only now won his first cap for Sweden in 2.5 years which was whilst being at Celtic. He claimed that he was dropped to the bench at Celtic as he would not confirm he wished to stay, which is a manager’s right to do so as he was a loan player and that’s the gamble you take with such a deal.
On the other hand, maybe he wasn’t deemed good enough as Deila still played players like Denayer who was also on loan. Anyhow, Guidetti still played in more than enough games yet scored a paltry four times in his last 23 matches. Not exactly exhibiting any special talent worthy of further opportunities. He was probably making excuses to deflect the truth of why he had failed at Celtic.
He could have buckled down and dealt with what was in front of him, and then his career would have built on from there (as was the case with Lustig). The grass isn’t greener on the other side as some recent successful strikers from the Scottish Premiership with far superior records to Guidetti had found out when they moved on (e.g. Hooper and Jelavic). His time at Man City wasn’t exactly showing that they or anyone else loaded with money had much interest in him. Time for him to look towards his own situation, and despite the early good high notes at Celtic, he was to leave regarded as a failed loan move.
It was a disappointing note to leave on, but not as bad as the lampooning he got in reaction to some of his comments. In any case, the main point needed addressing. The uncomfortable fact for him was that the previously maligned Leigh Griffiths had now proven himself to be a better prospect, and even if Guidetti had remained he was no longer the first name for the main striker’s role. That was going to be the hardest point to stomach for him.
Post-Celtic
Back at Man City, he was freed just as he arrived back. Now on a Bosman, he joked on his situation that: “A cheeseburger now costs more than me!“.
He won the European U21s with Sweden in the summer straight after leaving Celtic & Man City, despite being 23 at time of the tournament, so was overage.
He moved onto Spain, and we wished him the best, yet some were wondering at the time “What if?”, but then in the following seasons, with the success of Griffiths and Dembele, few really noticed his absence. If anything, Griffiths and Dembele were to become far superior strikers than Guidetti ever could hope to be.
In 2017, he helped Celta Vigo to the UEFA Cup semi-finals, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Man Utd. Guidetti had the chance to become a hero but squandered a last chance at the end of the second leg that could and even should have been converted. A cynic could argue this moment encapsulates his entire career.
He never set the heather on fire in Spain, and his international goal tally was nothing to write home about. At an age where he should have been at his peak, he wasn’t proving to be any great value at all. He was to move to Alaves in the Spanish La Liga, fighting off relegation battles and hovering at best in mid-table with a paltry goal scoring record. Ironically, in 2019 at Alaves he ended up being demoted to the bench by Oliver Burke, who the season before had himself been a loanee at Celtic, and had himself underperformed expectations at Celtic.
As Guidetti’s career floundered he needed a reboot as he was out of sorts at just 26 years of age. He was reportedly wanted by Turkish side Galatasary according to certain Turkish media in late 2018 but they also stated that he was sounding out a possible return to Celtic. The response from Celtic fans was lukewarm from the few and negative from the majority.
He was then sent out humiliatingly on loan to struggling Hanover 96 in the second tier in Germany, very far away from the top table as he at once believed he ought to be dining at. Again the loan move didn’t work out and he was back to Alaves in Spain in the summer of 2020, but the problem was that the covid pandemic was in full force creating uncertainty and limiting opportunities for players. He later moved back to Sweden to play for AIK Solna.
An added measure was his poor goal tally at international level, in which despite a hefty number of caps for the full senior side, he only managed a single goal in competitive matches and that was against the Faroe Islands. Not a great record to boast about, and something that he couldn’t talk his way out of.
He once said that “I live for ‘We did the impossible’”, but if he had hung on and stuck in at Celtic maybe he could potentially have played with Celtic’s 2016/17 InVIncibles side who remained unbeaten domestically all season (assuming all other conditions remained constant). He missed out on an incredible experience and so he didn’t live for that, or get a chance in the Champions League with Celtic. It was his loss.
His Swedish colleague Mikael Lustig left Celtic in 2019, after a long distinguished career at Celtic, with far greater memories & achievements than John Guidetti could list, but more importantly the love & affection of countless football supporters from across the globe something that money can’t buy. It was something to note. Guidetti was even dropped for the Euro 2020 squad for Sweden, which even a very aged Lustig played in, and to rub things in for him, Scotland even qualified too.
In many ways, what can be best said about John Guidetti is that he was able to raise his game ad hoc, but didn’t have the ability or self-motivation to be a consistent performer. That probably explains his overall failure relative to his ambitions, expectations & delusions.
Possibly, his peak moment came in the summer of 2015, when Swedish music group Badpojken composed “Johnny G (The Guidetti Song)” and hit the top of the Swedish music charts with the tune.
Regardless, he has still some great highlights & memories to look back on in his career, and that is something to give credit on.
[…]
Quotes
“I went to Celtic, smashed it the first half [of the season], and then they said, ‘John you have to sign a contract.’ I said, ‘Listen, I don’t think I owe you anything’. Celtic’s a massive club but I like the big games. I don’t like — with all respect — Ross County away. When we won the league, we didn’t even celebrate, just walked round the pitch. In the Swedish league, they’re drunk for a week when they win the league. I live for ‘We did the impossible.’”
John Guidetti to the Times (2017)
“In my loan spell at Celtic, the club played a nasty game with me. The Scottish league was good for me to get fully fit, but my goal was always to play in England or Spain because I consider those two competitions to be the best in the world. Because of that, at Celtic I ended up in the stands. It was a real pity because Celtic are a terrific club and their fans deserved a better farewell from me.”
John Guidetti (2019) – the above from Guidetti is delusional on the “nasty game” part, as he was the issue not the board or the club management. Plenty to counter this quote from Guidetti
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES (sub) |
LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2014-15 | 19(5) | 1(4) | 2(2) | 1(1) | 23(12) |
| Goals | 8 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 15 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Scottish League Cup
Pictures
KDS
- KDS (2014-15): http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/9141368/
Articles
John Guidetti slammed over ‘H**s are deid’ song
http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/john-guidetti-slammed-over-h-s-are-deid-song-1-3713163
08:38Monday 09 March 2015
JOHN Guidetti has been criticised by Rangers fans and anti-bigotry campaigners after footage appeared of him singing a song poking fun at Rangers with the word ‘H**s’.
The Swedish striker was interviewed by Dutch TV channel RTV Rijnmond, singing a song that Celtic fans composed in his honour.
As the closing credits roll, Guidetti – wearing a Celtic training top – sings: “Oh John Guidetti, puts the ball in the net-y, he’s a super Swede and the h**s are died, walking in Guidetti wonderland.”
The on-loan Manchester City striker then grin and describes it as a ‘good song’ during the interview conducted in Celtic’s dressing room.
A number of Rangers fans took to Twitter to vent their anger at the footballer using an offensive term, and while Celtic refused to comment, a Hoops insider said: “John was asked to sing the song that is sung about him.
“He doesn’t know what the song is about or the content of it but to suggest there is any sectarian element whatsoever is absolute nonsense.”
And David Scott, of the anti-sectarian charity Nil by Mouth, said the video ‘underlined the need for a proper education programme for Scots footballers.
He added: “Clubs should make it clear to them the kind of language likely to provoke others.
“We’ve already seen Guidetti’s team-mate Leigh Griffiths being charged under the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act.”
Griffiths was charged over claims he had sang an offensive song about former Hearts player Rudi Skacel, along with fans of Hibernian in an Edinburgh bar before a derby match at Tynecastle.
John Guidetti: I quit Celtic because goals in Scotland don’t count for much
STV 5 June 2015 10:33 BST
John Guidetti
The Swedish striker claims Celtic refused to play him once he had decided to leave.John Guidetti says he had to leave Celtic because his goals for the Scottish champions didn’t count for as much as they would in other leagues.
Speaking to the Swedish press, the striker has stated that there were too few “big games” in the Scottish calendar to get him recognised by his national side.
Quoted by Swedish newspaper Expressen, Guidetti said: “I was taken out of the national team after scoring, I think it was 11 goals in 10 matches, but I did not play.
“Then I understood. It felt like my goals at Celtic were not counted in the same way as in other leagues and I can understand.”
He added: “We played Inter and the stadium was packed. It was the most magical atmosphere I have experienced. But there are too few big games in Celtic.
“So I felt that my goals were not counted in the same way as in another league. There are too few ‘big games’.”
Despite a strong start during his loan spell at Parkhead, with five goals in his first nine Premiership games, Guidetti’s form and time on the pitch came to an abrupt halt in January.
A lack of first team games came as a result of the Swedish international telling manager Ronny Deila of his decision to leave the club in the summer.
“I would start, but the day before the game he [Deila] said I would sit on the bench because I was not going to stay at the club,” Guidetti said. “He said he would focus on the players who wanted to be there.
“The coach said that we can’t play you if you keep scoring goals and we build up your value, and then you leave the club.”