Rudi Awakening; After an Eight-Year Sabbatical From Scottish Football, Former Celtic Star Rudi Vata Is Back at St Johnstone, but They Had Better Be On Their Toes ... He's Got No Time for Amateurs. Stewart Fisher Reports

Sunday Herald › January 20, 2004

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Summary

MR ARMANDO DUKA, president of the Albanian Football Association: Rudi Vata has a message for you. In a neatly-appointed little room at McDiarmid Park, Vata is launching into a polemic against the footballing authorities of his native country for the combination of corruption, intimidation and ineptitude which caused him to turn his back on his homeland.

The former Celtic full-back, now 33 and back in Scottish football after eight years spent in Cyprus, Germany and Japan, quit international football in disgust after a 2-0 World Cup qualifying defeat to Finland in Tirana. At the time, he was his nation's captain, and with 59 appearances, its most-capped player. He may be safely installed with a work permit and a six-month contract at St Johnstone, but Vata is not so much seeking asylum as a soap box.

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Extract

Rudi Awakening; After an Eight-Year Sabbatical From Scottish Football, Former Celtic Star Rudi Vata Is Back at St Johnstone, but They Had Better Be On Their Toes ... He's Got No Time for Amateurs. Stewart Fisher Reports

"People who work there with the Albanian FA earn the money and speak too much," Vata told the Sunday Herald. "They make too many noises about doing so many things but at the end of the day they sit around in coffee shops and do nothing. Professionals and amateurs shouldn't mix together. Me, as a professional, I cannot work wi...

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