Ex-Celtic star Stephen Welsh sees Swansea City honeymoon ended in spectacular fashion
Former Celtic star Stephen Welsh's honeymoon at Swansea City may be over. Welsh left the Bhoys on a free transfer during the summer after mutually agreeing a contract termination with the club following a loan spell with Motherwell.
Welsh had done well at Motherwell, so it was surprising that Celtic were willing to cancel his deal. It was highly likely they could have brought in a fee for Welsh, and Championship club Swansea City, who spent a fair bit during the summer, were already agreeing to sign him for free.
It was baffling that the Bhoys wouldn't make the Swans pay at least something to sign Welsh, but it seemed as though the club were willing to do the defender a favour to allow him to move South.
Since then, Welsh has been enjoying a fine old time of things, playing a key role for Swansea in a superb start to the season that saw them sitting top ahead of the weekend just gone, when they faced QPR.
That form also saw Welsh win a Scotland call-up for the last international window, and he represented his country during that window.
But things took a turn over the weekend when Swansea lost 5-0 away to QPR. The Swans were 3-0 down within 15 minutes, with Richard Koné scoring all three, and the Hoops went on to score again before half-time to make it four.
Welsh was substituted at half-time, suggesting Swans boss Vitor Matos wasn't particularly impressed with how he was handling the Koné challenge, and it ultimately finished 5-0. That made it back-to-back defeats for the Swans.
Bad games happen, of course, and we hope Welsh gets back to his best as a Celtic product. But this was his first real reality check down South after a fine start to the season with his new club. It will be interesting to see whether he starts the next game and how he bounces back in any case.
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