{"id":67825,"date":"2025-08-15T02:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T02:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/67825\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T02:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T02:03:08","slug":"absolutely-rubbish-jermaine-pennant-slaps-down-jason-cundys-ludicrous-verdict-of-iconic-celtic-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/67825\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Absolutely rubbish&#8217; &#8211; Jermaine Pennant slaps down Jason Cundy&#8217;s ludicrous verdict of iconic Celtic hero"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Celtic have had a number of iconic players who have donned the green and white Hoops over the years.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2000, Celtic fans have enjoyed the likes of Henrik Larsson, Paul Lambert, Chris Sutton, John Hartson and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.67hailhail.com\/news\/lubomir-moravcik-addresses-those-hugh-keevins-comments-and-what-made-him-sad-about-celtic-exit\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lubomir Moravcik strut their stuff at Celtic Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Shunsuke Nakamura is another hero fans will long remember for delivering special memories like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.67hailhail.com\/news\/watch-joe-harts-outstanding-reaction-to-famous-nakamura-celtic-strike\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Man United Champions League win at Celtic Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, it was under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.67hailhail.com\/tag\/neil-lennon\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Neil Lennon\u2019s<\/a> Celtic in 2013 where another Hoops hero was born and Jermaine Pennant had to defend him from the inane ramblings of talkSPORT motormouth Jason Cundy.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"842\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-182602116-1024x842.jpg\" alt=\"Celtic v FC Barcelona - UEFA Champions League\" class=\"wp-image-199817\" \/>Photo by Jeff J Mitchell\/Getty ImagesCeltic hero Virgil van Dijk \u2018isn\u2019t John Terry\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, this was Cundy\u2019s verdict on Celtic icon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.67hailhail.com\/tag\/virgil-van-dijk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Virgil van Dijk<\/a>. The man who won silverware in Scotland and multiple titles at Liverpool including the Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup amongst others.<\/p>\n<p>This is a defender who was voted the best defender in the world for the fourth time in a row by <a href=\"https:\/\/fifpro.org\/en\/supporting-players\/player-influence\/world11\/virgil-van-dijk-i-m-proud-to-be-in-the-world-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">FIFPRO<\/a> in 2024. <\/p>\n<p>But this motormouth talk show host reckons the former Celtic man is not better than John Terry.<\/p>\n<p>Cundy said on talkSPORT, \u201cI tell you what I will agree with you right? People talk about van Dijk as the greatest defender this country\u2019s ever seen. Rubbish. It\u2019s rubbish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry. Because he is a very, very good, excellent centre-back. He isn\u2019t John Terry. He isn\u2019t Rio [Ferdinand].<\/p>\n<p>Pennant: \u201cWhat do you mean? He\u2019s better! So you\u2019re telling me, you ask any attacker, who would you rather go up against, one on one, John Terry or Virgil van Dijk. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re going to say JT all day long.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cundy: \u201cI\u2019m not having it, mate. I\u2019m not having it. I\u2019ve said this before. I\u2019ve been saying this for years, and I\u2019ve got slaughtered for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pennant: \u201cSo you should get slaughtered for it because it\u2019s an absolutely rubbish debate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had one game, an off day [vs Crystal Palace] and one game out of 10 seasons or eight seasons at Liverpool, are you both having a laugh? <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re telling me, John Terry or Rio have been amazing every time they step on a football pitch?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Virgil van Dijk\u2019s glittering career including titles at Celtic and Liverpool<\/p>\n<p>If there is any proof needed that van Dijk is the best defender in the world, you only need to look at what he has won during his entire career.<\/p>\n<p>Virgil van Dijk\u2019s Celtic silverwareScottish Premiership: 2013\u201314, 2014\u201315Scottish League Cup: 2014\u201315Virgil van Dijk\u2019s Liverpool silverwarePremier League: 2019\u201320, 2024\u201325FA Cup: 2021\u201322EFL Cup: 2021\u201322, 2023\u201324; runner-up: 2024\u201325FA Community Shield: 2022UEFA Champions League: 2018\u201319; runner-up: 2017\u201318, 2021\u201322UEFA Super Cup: 2019FIFA Club World Cup: 2019Virgil van Dijk\u2019s personal awards at Celtic and LiverpoolPFA Players\u2019 Player of the Year: 2018\u201319PFA Team of the Year: 2018\u201319, 2019\u201320, 2021\u201322, 2023\u201324Premier League Player of the Season: 2018\u201319Premier League Player of the Year by Northwest Football Awards: 2019UEFA Men\u2019s Player of the Year Award: 2018\u201319UEFA Champions League Defender of the Season: 2018\u201319UEFA Team of the Year: 2018, 2019, 2020UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2017\u201318, 2018\u201319, 2019\u201320UEFA Champions League Team of the Season: 2021\u201322UEFA Nations League Finals Team of the Tournament: 2019Liverpool Fans\u2019 Player of the Season Award: 2018\u201319Liverpool Players\u2019 Player of the Season Award: 2018\u201319Southampton Player of the Season: 2015\u201316PFA Scotland Team of the Year: 2013\u201314, 2014\u201315Celtic Players\u2019 Player of the Year: 2013\u201314FIFA FIFPRO World 11: 2019, 2020, 2022, 2024Football Supporters\u2019 Federation Player of the Year: 2019Premier League Fan Team of the Season: 2024\u201325<\/p>\n<p>And let\u2019s not forget van Dijk\u2019s 82 caps for the Netherlands.<\/p>\n<p>To be fair to Cundy, van Dijk is not as good as John Terry, he\u2019s a million miles better!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celtic have had a number of iconic players who have donned the green and white Hoops over the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,35548,101,56,54,55,2225],"class_list":["post-67825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-jason-cundy","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-virgil-van-dijk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}