Fortuné, Marc-Antoine

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Fullname: Marc-Antoine Fortuné
aka: MA-F
Born: 2 July 1981
Birthplace: Cayenne, French Guiana
Height: 6ft, 1.83m
Signed: 8 July 2009 (from West Brom Albion)
Fee (signed): £3.8m
Left: 27 August 2010 (to West Brom Albion undisclosed fee)
Position: Striker, Forward
Squad no.: 10
Debut: Celtic 0-1 Dynamo Kiev, European Cup, 29 July 2009
Internationals: none

Biog

Marc-Antoine became the first signing of Tony Mowbray’s reign as Celtic manager when he joined the Hoops in a reported £3.8 million deal from French side Nancy on July 9th 2009.

The 6ft striker had previously played under Mowbrary at West Brom, having joined the midlanders on loan for the second half of their 2008/09 Premiership campaign.

During his spell at the Hawthorns Fortuné bagged 5 goals in 17 appearances but his impressive performances were not enough to prevent the Baggies returning to the Coca-Cola Championship.

By then Fortuné had caught the attention of several managers and once his loan with West Brom expired Hull, Fulham and Portsmouth all declared their intent to sign him from Nancy on a permanent deal.

Now installed as boss at Celtic Park, Mowbray was also keen to bring the player back to the UK and after several weeks of speculation and rumours Fortuné eventually decided to turn his back on England and head north to Parkhead.

Fortuné made his Celtic debut as a substitute in the Bhoys 3-0 pre-season win in Australia against Brisbane Roar on July 12th. His competitive debut came at Celtic Park on July 29th in the Champions League defeat (1-0) against Dynamo Moscow and the striker would open his goal account for the Bhoys with a double in the 5-2 home league defeat of St Johnstone August 22nd.

Fortuné naturally took a little time to adjust to the Scottish game and before the striker had a chance to really get settled he and Celtic suffered a bitter blow when he was ruled out for eight weeks after damaging knee ligaments in the Champions League Qualifier defeat at Arsenal. On return from that injury Fortuné was given little opportunity to regain his match fitnees and form before the Scottish media began to pile the pressure on a man they were only too eager to label an expensive flop.

That particular campaign would blow up in their face in spectacular fashion. Giving no thought to the fact that Fortuné was not only in his first few months with a new club but had also just returned from a serious injury, the media were falling over themselves to give the player a hard time. Sadly some Celtic fans were only too eager to join in. Newspaper articles, radio phone ins and TV debates were all discussing this supposed waste of money.

With Celtic drawing 2-2 at Motherwell on a live TV game Fortuné emerged from the bench with little more than 12 minutes remaining. The Sky commentary team – Ian Crocker and Andy Walker – could not resist a couple of digs as Fortuné entered the play. But within a minute their smug smirks were wiped off in memorable fashion. Fortuné’s immediate contribution to the game was to neatly flick on a long ball forward to the feet of Scott McDonald. He then made a fine looped run into space on the edge of the Motherwell area and on receiving a return pass from McDonald he smashed home a spectacular winner for the Bhoys.

As Crocker and Walker acclaimed a truly wonderful goal they could not disguise a real sense of chagrin in their voices.

Celtic entered 2010 with the powerful forward beginning to find his form. He put in a fine performance in a 1-1 draw with Rangers and was hugely unlucky to have a perfectly legitimate goal ruled out. His contribution to the team was growing and through the early months of 2010 Fortune was one of the better performers in a stuttering Celtic side.

However, while Fortune’s pace and movement was causing headaches for defenders in Scotland some critics pointed out that his goal return was not what it should be. This lack of goals certainly frustrated a section of the Hoops support who saw little value in a forward who couldn’t contribute with an ample goal tally.

A dire 4-0 defeat to St.Mirren triggered the exit of manager Tony Mowbrary – the man who brought Marc-Antoine to Parkhead. In the aftermath of Mowbrary’s departure Fortune suffered a dip in form but – the cup horror show against Ross County aside – he quickly regained his confidence and played an integral role as the Neil Lennon’s side put in a strong finish to an otherwise hugely disappointing league campaign.

Pitched out on the right wing at the start of the 2010/11 campaign, Fortune enjoyed a decent start to the season and contributed well to opening league wins over Inverness and St Mirren. However, when the Bhoys crashed to a 4-0 defeat against Utrecht in a Europa League qualifier on August 26th Fortune had looked out of sorts and even disinterested.

The next day, as Celtic fans licked their wounds after another humiliating European exit, it was announced that Fortune had re-joined West Brom for an undisclosed fee. Given he had been handed a key role for the Bhoys just hours earlier the speed of his exit had many asking about the wisdom of his selection for such a crucial match.

Fortune’s exit split the support. Many believed for a big money striker his contribution was too frequently feeble and that for all his running off the ball he offered little threat to opposing teams. Some critics cited a lack of heart and a general lack of ability with the ball at his feet. Others believed he was under-valued, that he had the ability to hold the ball up and his link play could have been a useful asset in a more balanced team.

In truth, even those who were generally sympathetic to the player during his time at the club, ended up being not too upset to see the departure of another player from the failed Mowbrary era. It was time to draw a line over that period.

He never hit any great heights after Celtic (as expected) but still bagged at least a handful of goals at every club he moved to, including: West Bromwich Albion, Doncaster Rovers, Wigan Athletic, Coventry City, Southend Utd and then non-league Chesterfield.

He then moved on to Belgium with La Louvière Centre in the Belgian third tier where he appears to have wrapped up his playing career in 2021.

We wished him the best.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

None

KDS Honours

Pictures

• Player Pics

KStreet

• Fortuné signs for Celtic (July 09)
• Fortuné leaves (Aug 10)

Articles

West Brom sign Celtic’s Fortune

West Brom have signed striker Marc-Antoine Fortune from Celtic on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

It is the 29-year-old’s second spell at The Hawthorns after he spent five months there on loan at the end of the 2008-09 campaign.

The French Guiana-born forward moved to Parkhead last summer in a £3.8m deal from Nancy but managed only 12 goals.

He flew straight to the Midlands from Holland after playing in Celtic’s 4-0 Europa League play-off loss at Utrecht.

Fortune has been registered in time to play in Sunday’s clash at Liverpool, subject to international clearance.

West Brom manager Roberto di Matteo said he was delighted to welcome the frontman back to Albion, with the club holding a year’s option to extend his initial contract.

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/west_bromwich_albion/8950154.stm

Published: 2010/08/27 12:54:37 GMT
© BBC MM