I THOUGHT it was a strange decision to loan Celtic striker Tony Watt out to Lierse in Belgium this season.

I can understand why Neil Lennon would maybe want him to go out on loan to gain more first-team experience.

But Belgium? Sending him there seemed unusual to me.

Sending him down to England to play for a Championship club or putting him to another SPFL Premiership club made more sense.

But Lierse? It did not seem a right fit for Tony.

I think his experiences there in the first half of the 2013/14 campaign have shown that it was a strange move.

The 20-year-old got homesick - which was entirely understandable being away in a foreign country at such a young age.

He obviously had issues with his manager over there and often hit the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Every time you read about the boy he seemed to be getting castigated in all quarters.

Tony has, though, been persuaded to go back for the second half of the season by his manager.

I really hope it works out for him this time around.

Because we saw against both Barcelona and other clubs last season that he has got the talent to be a success at Celtic.

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