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| Full Name | Saidy Janko |
| Known as | Saidy Janko |
| Date of Birth | 22nd October 1995 |
| Birthplace | Zürich, Switzerland |
| Height | 1.78m (5ft 10in) |
| Position | Defender, RB |
| Signed | 1 July 2015 from Manchester Utd £200k |
| Left | 7 July 2018 to AS Saint-Etienne |
| Squad No. | 22 |
| International | Gambia |
| Caps | (complete at end of career) |
| Goals | – |
Biog
Saidy Janko arrived at Celtic as a hope to help shore up the defence with the departing duo of Denayer and van Dijk leaving a big hole. Bought for a cut-price £200k from Man U, he was rated by Man Utd manager Davie Moyes, and there were hopes he’d fit in fine, challenging Lustig for the right-back role.
It was to be a poor underachieving period for himself personally.
Spent the bulk of his first season on the medic’s table much to the frustration of a support desperate to see any sign of improvement in what was to be a deteriorating season with manager Ronnie Deila resigning at the end.
The only advantage for Janko was that he escaped the flak that was directed at the much maligned defence that meant the longer you were away from it then the higher the player’s reputation rose. The few starts he had saw him win some good words from a support needing hope, or deluding themselves that he was some kind of answer.
With the arrival of Brendan Rodgers as manager, he had a new opportunity to reboot his career which he could have taken advantage of.
It was to end ignominiously.
A dreadful game v Hapoel Be’er Shiva (Israel) away in Champions League playoffs (Aug 2016) where he was involved in a calamitous goal could have cost Celtic qualification through to the Champions’ League Group stages. Most were amazed he wasn’t pulled at half time having been run ragged by the opposition on his wing. He was poor that night and the knives were out, but Celtic still qualified 5-4 on aggregate despite a 2-0 loss away. He seemed to get a reprieve as Celtic qualified despite his poor form in the match.
Brendan Rodgers was proving to be ruthless, and a second chance not an automatic choice for various players (e.g. Gordon or Ambrose). Janko’s disaster against Hapoel led to a quick and unexpected loan transfer out to Rotherham very soon after that game, with a sympathetic word being that he was still young and the time away would help.
Despite all its prestige and money, the Man Utd academy was now seeming to come unstuck (and the club was actually falling behind their peers). Latest recruits for Celtic from there had proven to be lacking, and maybe clubs should begin to look less starstruck by those badges. Many of Celtic’s better recent recruits didn’t necessarily come from these famed stables, albeit with exceptions like Paddy Roberts (although once he left and his career stalled after Celtic).
In many ways Janko’s a lucky guy. He came through the Man Utd academy, he played for Celtic in the Champions League, he missed out on much of the low points of the Deila reign through injury, and despite his poor performance v Hapol Be’er Shiva, Celtic still slipped through to the group stages. Luck can only take you so far though, and it ran out as Celtic quickly cut him and sent him out after the aforementioned Champions League qualifiers.
Maybe if his former manager David Moyes had gotten the Celtic job instead of Brendan Rodgers he’d have had been used more often. There were no issues with Janko overall, and he did have more than enough opportunities to prove himself at Celtic.
He left to Ligue 1 club AS Saint-Etienne on 7 July 2017, having missed out as he was away from Celtic during the incredible treble winning season (and domestically undefeated) of 2016/17. Despite the earlier luck, he was really quite unfortunate at the end for his overall career taking in his spell at Celtic, as he missed out on the worst at Celtic but then missed out on the best. Strong and athletic, but not too great a footballer it seemed.
Lustig ended up having a wonderful season in 2016/17 and that killed off Janko’s chances at Celtic, despite any concerns about Lustig some may have had at that time. Lustig was also well loved, so that was another difficult hurdle to jump over for Janko.
We wished Saidy Janko all the best.
His career continued to falter after Celtic, moving to Porto after Saint-Etienne, and then with loans out to clubs like Young Boys & Notts Forrest.
He’d managed to settle in at Young Boys of Berne, and then faced TheRangers in the Europa League group stages in 2019 helping his side to a 2-1 victory despite reports in papers claiming this ‘Celtic flop‘ would be targeted by the Sevco players.
As was becoming the norm, his list of clubs was becoming excessively long, hindering his progress. He was back at his parent club (after the spell at Young Boys of Berne) who sold him on, this time to Real Vallodolid where he settled into be a regular starter. He then had a loan spell at Bochum, before Young Boys of Berne came back in to buy him permanently in 2023.
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Quotes
“He’s very powerful. He’s built like a rugby league player…incredibly fast. They would be his biggest strength.
“He came as a right-back, but he can play further forward as a wide right. I think you’ll need to give his technical development time, but he’s been a year or so at United and he’s been out on loan as well.
“It might take him a little time, but I think he’s a good signing for Celtic.
“I liked him, he was a good boy, good mentality. Celtic might need to be a little bit patient with him, but hopefully you’ve got a good player.”
David Moyes (ex-Celt, and Janko’s manager at Man U, 2015)
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2015-16 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016-17 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 12 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
20 |
| Goals | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Scottish League Cup
- 2016-17
- (only played in an early round match)