Glenn Loovens joins champions

Podium?

Rub it in, Paul - nice!

Left back?

Photo finish but the NJ bhoy sticks out his chest to break the tape.

'GG watching 2 much Olymoic coverage

oldtim 67

I got it thanks. Reply sent to you, Sir.

Paul67 and me

do we know, for certain, that there are more signings on the way, I say yes, what do we say

Ronnie RIP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T7OaDDR7i8

paul67,do you know if we are at an advanced stage in discussions with anyone,or is it gonna be later rather than sooner before we get any more transfer news

An ad's just been on STV for tomorrow's Sunday Mail. It features 'Scotland's hottest football couple' in an 'exclusive fashion shoot'.

It's Alan McGregor and his 'fiancee'.

I don't feel well.

Confirmation that Glenn Loovens has completed his transfer to the champions will be a welcome boost the squad ahead of the trip to Tannadice tomorrow.

That's the problem not one player we have signed this window is any better than what we have. We have enough squad players.

We need players who can replace our weak links. We needed a quality centre half with European experience we didn't get it yet.

Caldwell and Mick are ok for the SPl but get shown up when up against fast European class forwards. Loovens is indeed a good squad player but not what we needed at theis stage in our evolution.

This is not meant to be negative and not because he comes from Cardiff the EPl has many fine players but we are now on the 18th of august and as of yet:

No back up for Boruc - brown is cack
No left back to challenge a very weak incumbent
No quality centre half with European or international experience
No attacking midfield player - we get a 20 year old prospect who i hope becomes a class act but he is a prospect none the less.
No mobile striker (whilst I like GG he will not score more than 10 a season) we have a static one dimensional forward line.

We have excellent financials but I fear we are still not willing to go that extra mile.

With current squads the SPl will be very close this year when it should not even be a contest.

Sorry paul67 not impressed with this signing.

Gordon J, never an opportunity missed.

jvoh67, you know as well as I do, the answer is yes.

gordybhoy64, I know we are at a mature stage with a couple of players, but they are not signed until they are signed.

Gweedorebhoy, I bow to your greater knowledge of Marc and Glenn (that they are not better than the players we have). You do have greater knowledge of them, don’t you?

If you didn’t, surely it would be impossible for you to be impressed. I have never once predicted greatness, or otherwise, from a new signing on these pages as I firmly believe you need to watch a player – with the explicit intention of assessing him – before judging, simply watching a game he plays in seldom disseminates enough information (for me).

LennyBhoy, no news on left back. On the Loovens fee, Celtic have made it a condition of all transfers that the fee is undisclosed for a few years now. Commercial sensitivities observed.

Bryce Curdy, were you trying to lob a hand grenade in there?

No confirmation on your question, but I arrived at the same assumption. There were a few others too.

ShanghaiHoops, on TG, I understand that this is the case.

mcgrory-for-arsenal, I too remember a good friend telling me with some concern how well Rangers had played against Hearts two years ago this month.

Ronnie Drew; end of an era. Live music will never be heard in quite the same way again.

gweedore

Certainly not disputing much of the thrust of your points, but just wanted to point another side to one point. Quality centre-back, ok, but McManus has 'European and international experience' - captain of his country and (I make it) 17 games in the Champions League. Not too shabby.

paul67 put your dummy back in you big bairn it's only an opinion.

This might be your blog but jesus your getting more touchy as each day goes by.

The point was are they better than we have already?

Grow up

Paul

You spin so much you get a job in Westminster.Loovens is better than McManus so will we have a new Captain?

Frame it all you like but the Huns are spending more than us and they are supposed to be in Meltdown.

I do however like the feel of your retorts so im confident some good work is being done and we will all be Orgasmic come 1st Sept.

4-4-2
Boruc
Caddis Caldwell Loovens Wilson
Crosas
Brown Robson McGeadie
JVOH Skippy

Dundee United 0 Celtic 5

What a worderful view fae the telly.

Unsurprisingly the huns do not roll over.

My closest friend is of the 'let's finish them off' school where we must spend heavily to really push our advantage over them and some how they will never rise again.

Will never happen, they will always have the capacity to challenge us for the league, however, we do now have the ability to out spend them and attract better players.

Twice now Walter Smith has been beaten on the last day by us and I rather suspect this league will go to the last month. However, they are betting hugely this year, as they did last year.

Murray spent big last year and was saved by the Hutton sale and the remarkable run in europe.

Can they be luckly two years in a row?

View

Would be great if it happened — shame it wont :(

notfeelingoverlyconfidentthesedaysCSC

bs71

Naw

viewfae

I like that team.But I suspect it will be Status Quo.I would also like our young Antipodean Forward to have a few games at the Shyberry Excelsior to Buck his ideas up.
I like Loovens, hope Gordon doesnt leave him on the bench till an injury gives him the excuse.

gweedorebhoy

I must try again to explain. I was not trying to wind you up. I was serious and clearly Velichka made it to the Gers by a roundabout route. Peace?

Marty
One can only dream

Paul67.

I like this signing,I know others will not be so pleased as he isn't a mega-buck signing.
But there's still more to come in,and maybe that wow signing's not to far away.

Am I the only one who is disillusioned with Celtic's activity in the transer market ? None of our signings are going right into the first team and squad players were not what we needed. To move on to the next level we required at least two real quality signings and it's noticable we till haven't signed a decent left back.

Also our expenditure so far is approx 4.3M and the huns so far have spent approx 15M (if they get Edu). Even last summer they outspent us despite our 15M profit.

Having a great financial report is fine but the focus should be on us moving to that next level and leaving them in our wake.

There is still 2 weeks left in the window but I fear we have missed yet another opportunity to bury that lot.

Paul67.

I listened to final score on BBc Radio Scotland.

I see were going to be analysed by the panel regarding dodgy decisions for us against any other team in the league,this is going to get worse before it gets better,they are out to besmirch any referee who gives us an iffy decision this season.

We had A game today where the referee turned down a penalty claim,seemingly a good claim at that,and there were other decisions that went against the away team.

After they had summerised all the games,they spent time analysing The Celtic game of last week,Ken Dodds was adament it wasn't a penalty,in fact he said that Jan was offside and he tugged the defenders shirt rather than the other way around.

I can see what they're trying to do,And that is to put pressure on referee's to award us zilch,any goal that we score will have to be a good goal,and not a goal that can be knocked of for no other reason than a Referee's prejudice.
This will become more prevalent as the season wears on,and there will be no Referee's who are Catholic be allowed to referee games involving Celtic.

PS
You'll notice I called Dodds,Ken,rather than Billy,He is a comedian after all.

Paul, does your reply to Bryce's query re TG contract being terminated imply that (if indeed it's true) there could be others eg Balde being shown the door???

viewfaethewindae 9:03

I think, you are exaggerating with 0:5. They have Polish lad in the goal, who wanted to play for Celtic. 0:1 methinks.

View

You're bang on with that. Caddis should be a stick-on to start and Naylor should never see a jersey again but sadly that isn't the case. I'd like to see Crosas but Tannadice won't be the place for his debut. 5 goals would be amazing but I feel we won't start scoring properly until Naka returns.

Hail Hail!

Right, I'm at an age where I have to use viagra, not for sex, you understand, but just to ensure that I do not roll out of bed. However, even if I am losing my faculties, I ahve to believe that the management of the club I love are not losing theirs. A left back please.

Paul, any truth in the Mikael Silvestre rumour?

Paul - when you say 'there were a few others too' are you referring to other people reaching the same conclusion re TG, or do you mean the statement referred to the termination of contracts for other players?

Gweedorebhoy - just read your posts above and we are in total agreement. However go easy on Paul, we don't want this hallowed site turning into the bile and venom you associate with the likes of the huddleboard !

paul 67

i have been hearing maloneys name mentioned on here all day long,is it just talk or is there a chance that he will be back at paradise?

i hope its true i always rated the wee man.

hail hail

nels,
The view fae the windae was of Skippy banging in the goals in training, I predict the wee man might get three tomorrow. McGeadie was flying, Robson immense.

jvoh from last thread
I am gutted at the news ,you are disbanding our wonderful clique .
First one I have ever been in and I am out quicker than the gers in Europe .
I take it the xmas night out will have to be cancelled too ,I hope I can get our deposit back from BT .

St. Anthony ,

From the last thread , Very few supporters are happy with squad rebuilding as of now , very few.

Underwhelmed is a good description. We're only being honest. Lat year was a gamble , we got away with it but why gamble two years in a row? In my honest opinion we all know we have a chance here , a valuable chance to bury our rivals. We need the quality on the park and we need it now not January. Our rivals are skint so we're told yet they can manage 15+ this year on transfers after 12+ last year. Money doesn't guarantee success but it goes a long way in helping , nobody would advocate doing an 'Advocaat' but a reasonable budgeted spend on problematic areas of our side would do wonders for our chances this year fighting on different fronts and not to mention morale among the fans.

A question for all , when was the last time we got excited by a signing? For me not since Nakamura. For what its worth I believe the board are doing their utmost to deliver reinforcements but most fans feel we're moving sideways not forwards.

Our midfield is also a big problem. Last week the forwards got zero service from the wings and there was absolutely no support from central midfield a la Petrov.

Hoping for better tomorrow.

Gweedorebhoy - "No back up for Boruc - brown is cack" I think Brown has done well anytime he has been asked to step up.

As for Loovens - The question is, is our scouting system more advanced than other top European club and our backroom staff have a crystal ball? Possibly not. Therefore we have signed someone with potential as opposed to renown European experience.

Paul67, this guy has had four senior seasons in leagues of lesser quality than the SPL and no European experience to speak of. I'd be very surprised if less than 95% of the support were NOT disappointed with this signing. I feel sorry for the guy now; he has a lot to come in and prove. Mick and Caldo are the first choice pairing and of course, GS would replace them with other guys if he had the choice. But, we have to hear all this "lack of funds" and "spending £10-15 million pound" gash.

I've already said, aye, no amount of money guarantees you a player who will perform consistently, but paying £2.5 (allegedly) for this guy seems a tad high.

Basa, Tamas, Madlung... these guys might not have had the same desire as MacLoovenit, but they seem to have been ahead of Glen in the preference of GS himself.

Is it possible its Balde who will be taking an early pay and walking out the door?

Glenn Loovens the dwarf central defender as cover for 2 goats - happy dayz !

Zbyszek,
The Polish are fine and noble people, however with Lee Wilkie in front of their fantastic goalkeeper I fear the worst for United, Polish keeper or not. No Sir, Skippy for three, Celtic for five, inspired by Robson and McGeadie.

gweedorebhoy, I'm with you. It's the midfield that needs a good kick up the backside and let's hope Crosas does it but........we're told he's more of a defensive player. ( Groan ! )
Watched 'Lubo - a Gift fron God' on CTV last night and it makes the present lot look like pub footballers ! Lubo was a one-off but even Berkovich could show this team a thing or two. Sit them down and make 'em watch how it should be done - guys using the brains God gave 'em. 3 titles ( with a little help from our friends ) does not make Strachan a master manager in my book and I've got a horrible feeling that, in spite of all Rangers' problems, 4-in-a-row might elude us.

Fergus slayed the blues,

What about the "we are not popular enough to be in clique" clique.

Its you and me against the world now

The best thing about signing Loovens ?

Rangers failure to make The Champions League paid for him.

A big thank you to Walter Smith.

Have to partially agree with gweedorebhoy.

Wouldn't go as far as to say M Brown is cack think he's decent and its not like we're gonna be able to attract a real quality keeper to sit on the bench and watch the Holy Goalie.

Also wouldn't say we have no quality center half with European or international experience, both GC and Mac have gained valuable experience in both European and international football over the last couple of seasons

Would completely agree we obviously need a quality left back and that central midfield has been another problem area but i think we have good attacking options there Robson showed last season particularly with DU that he can find the net and his performances along side Hartly in the run in were what we all hoped to see from Momo and Skoosh at the start of the season.

Not sure Crosas is that attack minded, probably wrong, but i think i read that he's more of a defensive midfielder who'll free his partner up to drive forward

Up front Skippy and JVOH done the job last season and GG mucked in as a sub with some important goals but i would like to see a more mobile threat with the ability to create something from nothing as it seems the other 3 really rely on others creating the chances they can undoubtedly finish. Don't feel I've articulated that well but i hope you know what i mean, the ability to change a game single handedly.

This is why i agree with the crux of gweedorebhoy's argument, that we should be signing players who are better than what we have IN THE FIRST TEAM not just better squad players. Dont get me wrong, i like the idea of having players with potential like Crosas and Paddy Mac, and the improved cover for CB and Forward provided by Loovens and Samaras but i would of preferred to have signed players who are good enough to displace those already in the 1st team, thereby making the displaced player the cover for the position. That i feel would be TEAM improvement which in (my) theory should produce better results than SQUAD improvement.

Sorry for the long post, feel like i've taken ages to say very little. That'll be why im usually a lurker :-)

Recently I was given a pile of old football mags from the 70's - shoot, goal, scoop etc. There was a weekly series in shoot called 'focus on' where a player of the day answered personal questions. One of them was always 'favourite other team'. Those of us of a certain age will remember Jim Montgomery of Sunderland who was famous for his goalkeeping heroics in the 1973 FA cup for Sunderland against Leeds. From shoot 5 Feb 1977 he answered Celtic as his favourite other team !

I have hundreds of Celtic press photos and photos from mags but I am a technophobe. I would like to share them with you so can anyone advise on how I can do this ?

B8-c-Bhoy

I cannot agree about Mark Brown,I believe that he almost cost us the league last season when the holy goalie was injured. We really really need a better reserve keeper.

I have ranted about this before.

st.anthony

I believe copyright usually runs out after 30 years so you could scan them and put them on Flickr
but I am no expert and it can be extended.

jvoh
I don't think I am ready to venture into a new clique the wounds from the last one are still too tender.
and a word of advise with that Viagra you are taking ,swallow it quickly otherwise you will end up with a stiff neck

We are working ourselves into a lather about the bus loads of questionable and unproven talent arriving at Ibrox. Smith and Murray (S&M) are showing signs of sheer desperation and blind panic following their humiliations in Lithuania and Cardiff, and the subsequent outcry from faithful.
When S&M get together they will be looking at our squad and wondering how they can match us. They don’t like what they see.

Goalies: The best in Europe and an SPL class deputy.
F Backs: Wilson, Caddis, Doumbe, Hinkel, Naylor
C Backs: Caldwell, McManus, O’Dea, Loovens
M Fielders: Nakamura, McGeady, Brown, Robson, Harley, Donati, Sno, McCourt
Strikers: JVOH, McDonald, Samaras, Killen
Waiting in the wings: Mizuno, Hutchison, Sheridan, Crosas and a new LB(?)

Apart maybe from LB, I think everyone can agree that we are well served in defence, especially for the SPL which is our primary target. We may quibble about pace or quality in the CL, but we certainly have the edge over Rangers from our outstanding goalkeeper to our international centre back pairing.
In midfield we have a stronger group, despite any fears the media may try to inflict on us with Smith and Murray’s flurry of knee jerk signings.
Mendes is a replacement for Ferguson who will probably make very few appearances this season. Bougherra was meant as a backup to Cuellar, or so the S&M pair would have us believe. Davis hardly set the heather on fire in his loan spell, so his signing should not really concern us too much. Adu is young and largely unproven. Even playing in a weak league he only managed 13 shots on goal in 38 appearances. He certainly isn’t the answer for a team which badly needs to provide goals from midfield to compensate for profligate strikers. He may not even receive a work permit as he has only two caps for the USA, in a period where they have been playing numerous games to qualify from the Concacaf group.

So while we look on in shock and awe at Murray’s reckless gambling, we should console ourselves with the fact that there is little or no improvement in the ageing squad which failed to stay the course last year.
Despite the numbers in, remember that they can only field 12 men each game, and the choice of one of them is not controlled by Walter Smith, although his namesake may have a hand in that decision.

So providing we can get the blend and balance right in midfield, even if we are unable to strengthen at LB, I would prefer to be in the east end for next May’s celebrations than have to witness the wake and subsequent implosion in Paisley Road.

'GG opTIMisTIC

Big_Liam - were you not excited when we signed Lee Naylor?

Seriously though, anyone got a comprehensive list of In's and Out's in GS time in charge?

Fergus slayed the blues

I understand, as the great man said, hell hath no fury like a poster scroned. Apparently.

Right I am a clique of one. Although I am also Paul 67, and he is Mansell and Joshyboy. Actually its getting a wee bit crowded in here.

dundee utd bottom of league, on paper. I feel slightly nervous about this game tommorrow.

robson wide right, also worries me againts a better team than st mirren.

nakka to the rescue i think??

Hugh Maxwell Fan Club - caution! It seems anyone who sits in front of the defense is a defenisve midfielder. Im only 29, but I believe these guys were called play makers.

Bazza Fergy is similar to how I think Crosas would have fitted in (except he'd actually be good). Though someone said GS commented that he mentioned our wider players in terms of who Crosas would be pushing for a place.

Bizarre.

I thought we'd stop buying players and asking them to play in roles they are not familiar with or any bloody good at!

I appreciate TG was asked to change his style and didn't/couldn't but why do we persist in playing guys out of position or filling gaps with players who are not suited to the role and worse, signing guys who we see do a great job in one spot, signing for us and being asked to play a different role.

The best thing about signing Loovens ?

Rangers failure to make The Champions League paid for him.

A big thank you to Walter Smith.

Unless or until we sell sell Aiden or Artur, in the way the darnel sold Hutton and Cuellar we will not have the money to spend upwards of £10m in a transfer window.

Take your pick. You aint getting both.

hi ghuys and ghirls

does anyone have any info on the return of maloney to paradise?

hail hail

GG ? Remind me somebody. Who is GG ?

Paul67

Surely you can understand why this signing is not exciting anyone for so many reasons?

He did not seem to appear on the radar until we played cardiff/rangers wanted him - Not a great recommendation for this alleged scouting network. I remember Gordon saying his targets for this summer were identified 6-12 months in advance, looks to me like it depends on the pre-season opposition

he is not on the face of it a significant improvement on what we have and would not generally be considered to be more than strengthening the squad, not the team the distinction is important. Not the type of signing ,on the face of it, that wil see us reach our aim of the CL last 8

We keep hearing we are trying hard, is our team really good enough that it can not be improved within budget and we need to just strengthen the squad

for all our financial prudence we pay reportedly over £2m for a player available to sign a pre contract in 4 1/2 months - does not wuite fit the strategy

It sends the signal, in tandem with Gordon's recent laughable comments on value of our current CBs that we have fiven up on a top centre back, if we have not it is even worse financial mismanagement

We do not need more squad centre backs why loan out kennedy and cuthbert, be stuck with bobo but sign another centre back

It sends the wrong message to our young players when there is another squad player coming in blocking any potential progression

I think it needs to be accepted that at this moment in time our first team is no stronger than it was last season yet we have spent arounf £3.5m which i suspect will represent at least 40% of our spend come 01/09/08

I will agai qualify this by saying tho the season is judged on whether we win the SPL not who we sign and i would be more thanhappy if we signed no more players so long as we won the league

A few points.

1. I would let Gravesen and Balde rot for 12 months rather than pay them off. No training, no reserve team. If they want to play Russian roulette with their career that is their choice.

2. Our scouts should be looking for gems in Scandinavia, Holland, Poland. Croatia etc. I was tremendously impressed by the Danish team who beat Man City. What a work ethic they had, mobile, pacy, versatile and strong. We could learn a thing or two from them.

Paul67

Surely you can understand why this signing is not exciting anyone for so many reasons?

He did not seem to appear on the radar until we played cardiff/rangers wanted him - Not a great recommendation for this alleged scouting network. I remember Gordon saying his targets for this summer were identified 6-12 months in advance, looks to me like it depends on the pre-season opposition

he is not on the face of it a significant improvement on what we have and would not generally be considered to be more than strengthening the squad, not the team the distinction is important. Not the type of signing ,on the face of it, that wil see us reach our aim of the CL last 8

We keep hearing we are trying hard, is our team really good enough that it can not be improved within budget and we need to just strengthen the squad

for all our financial prudence we pay reportedly over £2m for a player available to sign a pre contract in 4 1/2 months - does not wuite fit the strategy

It sends the signal, in tandem with Gordon's recent laughable comments on value of our current CBs that we have fiven up on a top centre back, if we have not it is even worse financial mismanagement

We do not need more squad centre backs why loan out kennedy and cuthbert, be stuck with bobo but sign another centre back

It sends the wrong message to our young players when there is another squad player coming in blocking any potential progression

I think it needs to be accepted that at this moment in time our first team is no stronger than it was last season yet we have spent arounf £3.5m which i suspect will represent at least 40% of our spend come 01/09/08

I will agai qualify this by saying tho the season is judged on whether we win the SPL not who we sign and i would be more thanhappy if we signed no more players so long as we won the league

Evening all,

I keep hearing that we need a Left Back. This I agree with. However a woo or box office signing should be a striker of high quality. We do not have a top quality striker at the club. We have good ones but not box office. The type of player that ensures all seats are tken at Celtic Park.

Any thoughts?

anoyone care to predict the team?

boruc

hinkel caldwell mcmanus naylor

robson hartley brown mcgeady

skippy jvoh

.

Dutch Dude = Left Back....

joshy told Me....

o1bhoy

I meant wow signing.

St Ant

been harping on about players from these countries for a while, however, its more difficult these days, as young quality is beingw being snapped up by the EPl teams when boys are 16/17 years of ag and yet people still wonder why we dont sign 3 or four first team players each season. I think the finance and the will is there but sometimes that's not enough and the search continues...

hugh maxwell
Our midfield does need sorting out but I think we have plenty of options and players there .In my view It is the system that needs tweaking ,If we are playing two wide men do we need to have our full backs overlapping IMO SB and BR are being outnumbered in their area of the pitch .If they are worried about leaving space behind them ,then they are not going to get close enough to the front men .Look at Sunday, when the ball went to the feet of the strikers they held it up ,looked up and there was no supporting player to give it to .How many times were SB and BR in a shooting position outside the box, we know these guys can give us goals it is up to the manager to find a system that allows them to get them .

whooosh> yo! peeps..was gibt?
curly> the "boss" got your mail, unfortunatley her good self and the wee man are full of home made pizza(with stuffed crust)and watching the scorpion king 2...waiting for hellboy2 to start myself... many thanks for your help... although im sure theres a great shot of you later... ;-)

who are these peeps to say "underwhelmed" when they havent seen any of the new signings in the flesh? i havent seen them in the flesh myself but i havent been judgemental...(koki,hutchinson,mccourt,loovens et al)

ok the orcs won today thanks to their friends in black..(so it was ever thus).and the usual suspects go into meltdown on here... get a grip peeps...
its a squad game nowadays....there are more signings to come..who cares what that mob do...look at what we have here...

if i guess right theres another 37 games to go..or somewhere along those lines... plus and i say PLUS european games...
to paraphrase martin42 and the other great "bob"..get up..stand up ...

although this other "bob" has much to commend..>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_SloL3gdsM&feature=related

RIP ronnie drew....(1934-2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1RQutN--qA

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
slan
aldo

Evening all,
Long time lurker,1st time poster.
Please, please tomorrow can we set up with the players in their correct positions. Stop shunting Barry and/or Broony out wide,
play them together, in the middle. Possibly harsh on Zico but really we should'nt need a minder for the spl, cl yes but not
tomorrow. If Naka's fit then great, let him start. If not then
lets go with Caddis wide right, he's on fire and lets face it,
if he can be thrown in against Barca then i'm sure he can handle
Tannadice. With Aiden on the other side, i'm sure this is a
midfield that can function and create for Skippy and JVOH. Of
course i'm presuming Crosas and Loovens will not be involved tomorrow. (We will cross that bridge next week!)

Paul67, great site, looking forward to more White Smoke.

Zbyszek, any news from Moscow and a certain Mr Basa??!!!

Hail Hail
Carlo 7

Paul67

Incidentally i see you are up to the second most influential Tim online this year!

Can I just be the 1st poster after Paul to welcome Loovens into the fold?
From what I saw of him in the Algarve Cup, we may have a player here.I'm sure many more out there will also judge him on what they see of him, not what WGS or anyone else says.I think he will give Mick & Sundance a bit of competition at CB, and surely thats healthy for the squad.

Paul,

I heard or read that Bobo has rejected 27,500pw from Wolves to sit in the stand at CP til next May. So how much short is that from what we pay him? Rumour is he is on 28k-30k with us, but never heard anything concrete. Can you shed some light?

Ta

CIGAA

MiltonPossilLambhillParkhouseNo1CSC

There's a lot of complaining about this signing and that not being "exciting". Listen fholks, its not transfer activity we should be getting excited about, its the football fare on offer.

Loovens may be an awesome signing if he can adapt to a team that plays the ball on the ground at speed with mobile team mates. Alas that has not been the strategy for a while now.

Tomorrow will see us revert to Aiden "Gaun Yersel'" McGeady and also the launch to JVoH/McDonald.

We don't need to buy a new player. Its a new coaching manual.

Carlo 7

The news from Moscow is - Basa is not Locomotive player...yet, anymore? I don't know what are the proper words on this situation.

malceye, I'd go further. New coach !

jaztim

i agree with your selection ...only because we are SOOOO damned predictable

however with the exception of Naka i think it`s our best 11 players ...wouldn`t agree with where they are played though

for me Robson has to be in the middle playing him on the right wing is stupid/ineffective and wrong ...Brown should be there ...i watched him murder teams from that position playing for Hibs

zbyszeck>dziendobry> gluckwunsch am deinem arbeit?
proper words would be >cholera???;-)

carlo7
Agree with you regarding SB and BR being played through the middle ,also regards young Caddis ,impressed me in the man city game albeit pre season at least he was strong and direct

Craggy Island

Wolves rubbished that a couple of days ago. Their wage ceiling is much lower than Bobo's current wage.

HOOPDOG

And the money for this striker will come from? Take your pick, selling Artur or Aiden.

By Hugh Maxwell Fan Club on August 16, 2008 9:40 PM
GG ? Remind me somebody. Who is GG ?

I assume Gorgeous George Samaras?

'GG Gavil 'Ghuy

malceye

I agree.
Passandmove
PassandmovePassandmovePassandmovePassandmovePassandmovePassandmove

From some of the comments on here, people are comparing our spend to Rangers spend every year, and deciding on whether it was a good transfer window based solely on this. Do they want us to...I don't know...for every fiver they spend, we should spend a tenner?

Thanks Zbyszek,
Well no news is good news, i hope!!!!
I believe Basa went for talks 3-4 days ago now.
Could your prophecy/prediction (from a few days ago),
about the SSM persuading Mr Basa on the phone to
come to Paradise about to come true?
Hmmmm!!!

Thanks, Blogger 'GG. How could I have forgotten ? Though, com next season, we may all have.

PF ayr,

We are so predictable because we have the movement similar to that of an elephant with a gammy leg. I watched Man City play against us with great movement and first touch. They always seemed to have two or three options when they have the ball. I hate it when teams seem to have more men than us. How many times does McGeady have to face up to two or three players with no one to pass to. Players are hiding.
By the way just heard the Steve McLaren interview in Holland. What a twat.

Fedup.com

Gweedorebhoy, mine was a perfectly civil point. Is he better than we have? I have no idea, but I’ll give him every chance.

Nelsbhoy, despite your barb at me trying to “spin”, I have made no claims about the player. Why the need to do him down? At least permit him the opportunity to mis-control the ball before writing him off.

bsm71, agree, we will never ‘finish them off once and for all’, or ‘bury’ them, Rangers will remain a threat. We beat them by >20 points recently and lost the league the following season.

oldtim67, I am sure there is indeed more to come.

Doherty's 7, Bryce, no, I was referring to Zurawski and Jarosik, but Bobo could be considered.

Ghosty, no info.

Ibleedgreenandwhite, there is indeed a possibility that Shaun Maloney will be a Celtic player later this month, but….. the ball’s in Martin’s court, so who knows how it will go.

B8-c-Bhoy, it is a subjective view, but the SPL regularly loses players to clubs in the Championship and below, the Championship pays more money than the SPL, so I would dispute it is a lesser quality league.

He has, of course, experience of putting Rangers out of Europe, so he is not entirely inexperienced.

Again, I would be stunned if “95% of the support were NOT disappointed with this signing”. I find the vast majority of Celtic fans are more than prepared to give players they have never seen a chance before coming to a baseless conclusion.

Antsman, of course I understand why this signing does not excite some people, I’ll tell you…

The player came from a Championship club.

If we had signed Tamas, Kadlec, Basa, the very same people would be delighted, even though they have never made a proper assessment of any of these players.

It’s an interesting phenomenon; sign from a British club, disappointment, sign from a foreign club, pleasure. Interesting, but it is a phenomenon with plenty of evidence of its existence.

Right a player off before you have seen him? Welcome to Celtic, Glenn.

Oh, and, second most influential? Second is for losers, who was first, Lindsay Lohan in hooped stilettos?

Welcome Carlo 7, good to hear from you.

craggy island gaa, thank you for extending that welcome. Forget the Bobo story, completely untrue.

Стахановец, 10:03, ha! Comment of the week.

craggy
Wolves came out in their official website totally refuting hose claims .They said It was never in their wage structure to pay such a high salary .

El Diego is absolutely correct. If you want a WOW signing, you need spondoolies. That will only come from the sale of one of the stars of the team. And then what ? Which WOW signing wants to come to Scotland to ply his trade in the SPL. For goodness sake, it can sometimes be a grind going to watch us play the St Mirrens of this world, so you can forgive a talented player thinnking long and hard.

You don't want to sell Artur or Aiden. A cheaper option is to use the players at your disposal but have them follow an aesthetically pleasing approach to football. Entertainment and success - Am I being too greedy ?!!!

one game into the season and we are already getting calls for a new coach/manager,i really despair at times about celtic supporters,how do the detractors know who we will sign,how we will play and what we will win or is it just change for the sake of it and mega signings like TG they are after,did you not celebrate winning the league?

ElDiego

Thanks for keeping me informed,I have 2 little babies and sometimesits hard to retain ANY information gathered from Media or anywhere! It did sound a strange one that a Championship side could afford that.

If another rumour about Gravesen is well founded, then we may see some new faces sooner. Or we'll see them 31st of the month, just in the nick of time.If we are keeping our powder dry til then, well done The SSM.I just hope it doesn't blow up in your face.
Once again, only metaphorically.

HOOPDOG-McLaren interview,haven't heard it.What did he say?Hail,hail

To all the guys that know more about signings and tactics than our highly paid coaching team.

Nothing any of you say is new. At least, there have been posts telling the manager how to do his job almost every day since I started posting in 2006.

Fine. I won't be able to find anything to say to stop you from taking pot-shots at Celtic. That's how you get through the day.

However, think about this.

Celtic, under Gordon Strachan, have gone to Tannadice and performed brilliantly and won well more times than not. There is every chance of a great performance and a great victory tomorrow. I certainly hope no other thought is entering the head of anyone involved.

If that's what we get — a great performance and a great victory — more of you should have the decency to come on and turn your scorn into praise, in public, than you ever do.

It's easy to talk a good game. At the level Celtic are playing at, even in the SPL, you guys know the same amount as me (first division amateur) — hee haw.

стахановец> hunbelieveable though it may sound.. some peeps here are doing a MON and believing "rangers are the yardstick" while not realising that he was saying something completely different behind closed doors.......others are also believing the hype around the "for every 5 they spend we will spend 10"...

reverse psychology works... i was told i was a clown on here the other day and to "run along like a good boy"...
and by god i took that on board and bought a big pair of baggy trousers, a flower that squirts water...a car that all the doors fall off while i sound an amusing horn..and to cap it all a big shiney red nose and bad hairdo.....
ok maybe the last two are already there....

my main concern is that none of the signings to date give any real encouragement that we will rise above the mediocrity that we have been exhibiting for the last few seasons

last season we were mediocre for the most part , with the occassional excellent performance ...but almost lost the league as we were not able to maintain even mediocrity in Dec 07

the signings we have brought in will cover for injury , loss of form and suspension ...but none of them seem to be of a calibre to increase our overall standard

to date i think our signings have been a lesson in maintaining what we have rather than progressing

i may be completely wrong ...i would be delighted to be ...don`t think i will be though

Antsman, WGS told everyone yesterday that Loovens had been on our radar for a long time. You should pay more attention to what's going on and perhaps you wouldn't be so quick to question the professionalism of our management team. Furthermore, you may have noticed that the club made a pre-tax profit for the last financial year. This was pretty good news but the reality is that with this level of profit we're certainly not in any position to go out and splash tens of millions of pounds on high profile players. This is not rocket science and, frankly, I find your comments infinitley more laughable than those of our manager

For the record, I think it's fantastic that WGS talks up his players by suggesting that it would take tens of millions to acquire better ones. A quick look at the transfers down South tells you that WGS was spot on with this comment. How much do you think we would have to pay for either of our current centre halfs in the current market bearing in mind that they are both international players with two years of last sixteen Champion's League experience?

bold prediction by jvoh67 - celtic will win the league, no matter who comes in, IF THE HOLY GOALIE STAYS FIT.

I can only imagine the same people who are slagging off Loovens are probably the same people who thought Graveson was a great signing ( I did too), the criticism of Loovens seems to be we haven't really heard of him.

I hadn't heard of Larsson, Lubo, Mjallby, Petrov or Nakamura.

I had heard of Camera, Juninho and the afore mentioned Tommy G.

I am willing to at least Loovens in a few games before I decide if he is a squad player.

Also for most of my adult life Celtic have struggled to get a 1st choice keeper who was barely adequate, now we are complaining because we don't have a "top class" keeper who will sit on THE BENCH!

Sheesh, maybe after we attract a top class 2nd keeper and buy 4 "top class players" who can walk into the team (that will only cost about 20-30 million, at least)we can all dance down lollipop lane, swim in chocolate lakes and ride unicorns through the clouds.

Craggy Island

Best wishes for your young ones. They'll grow up so quickly. Enjoy every minute of their lives.

ssm

McLaren's interview was posted on a previous thread. Doubtless one of the techies will re-post. Hilarious. The interviewer must have had to work hard not to laugh at his accent.

Celtic_First

you talk a good game.

Blogger GG

A very fair and concise summary of our present pool of players.

Man for man we are much stronger than Rankers.

Where our problem stems from is the stubborness of our manager
His slavish adherence to 4-4-2 , particularly the very rigid version that he enforces on the team, give us many of the problems.

To play Gordon's system we would need 2 central midfielders like Roy Keane and Patrick Viera at their peak
We would do far better if he were to design a system with his best players rather than force square pegs into round holes

Why not play
AB
Hinkel GC Mick or O'Dea Naylor
Hartley Robson
NAka ( if fit )/Caddis if not Brown McGeady
GS

Once the game is firmly under our control we could bring on more strikers

paul 67

thanks for the info paul,much appreciated mate.

hail hail

WDH

:¬))

TFOD sign players in a hurry, don’t they? No messin about once they have the cash to splash. Mendes is a good player, I think and we have work to do to achieve 4-in-a-row, no question.

But, to those demanding that Celtic spends all its bags of gold in a big mad spree. None of us can possibly know what sums are being spent by them or by us, so let’s not worry about it. What does price say anyway? Lubo, Henrik (cheap and astonishingly brilliant), Gravesen, Rafael Scheidt (v expensive and v useless).

Gordy,

its not for the sake of change that I ask for new tactics (note I have not called for the head of the manager). The same tactics have been used for 2 seasons now and were evident last weekend. It is a reasonable prediction that similar tactics will be utilised tomorrow and beyond. The reason I want it changed ? I don't like falling asleep during games. Purely selfish on my part.

Big Chris

Are you Willie Wonka:o)

What is a wow signing? Was Tommy G one? That worked out well. Some of the best players in recent years have come from unfashionable clubs for less than average transfer fees.

I don't think Rangers are any better overall now than they were last season. They've lost Cuellar and Ferguson (for a few months at least). Weir and Dailly are a year older and not getting any better. They don't have young players still improving. And none of their signings fill me with dread.

We have not lost any first team players. We also have a number of younger players who are getting better with age and experience. And I still think we have two or three more signings to come in.

Let's wait until the end of the month to judge whether our business in this window is positive or not.

obviously I meant "watch Loovens in a few games". D'oh!

fergus slayed the blues,

now i'm not trying to compare rugby park and tannadice when i say this, but in fact i would like to amend what i previously said. If Naka's fit, then play him with young Caddis at R/B. (sorry Hinkel but you're not doing enough). Cast your mind back to our Scottish
Cup tie this year at Kilmarnock where young Paul was fearless,
marauding and overlapping at every opportunity and between him
and Naka, they destroyed Killie down our right side.
I know Utd will provide a sterner test, but that pairing should
proove to be irresistable and as a result the chances would come
and the team's confidence would flow.

wdh

How was the 'burger supper?

ElDiego

Thanks for that, friend. They are nearly 7 months and each day is a joy with them. A wee Bhoy and Ghirl, apparently a Gentleman's family. My wife says if she could just find a Gentleman...

Hail Hail

Paul, people talk about Crosas being a wonerkid, the boy Rangers have signed from Valencia being a wonderkid, without having actually seen either play in anger. We have a very much distorted view of players in this country, if you like, ignorance is bliss whereas familiarity breeds contempt! I've no idea if Loovens is an improvement on what we have but prepared to give him a chance. Du Wei was feted by some in abstentia, then along came Clyde... Unfortunately we find it easier to criticise rather than praise and being fickle is a national trait that is on Olympic gold medal standard, just listen to Clyde's "super scoreboard" if you have any doubts.
Can we improve on what we have, even slightly, or are we at our level player wise and be grateful for what we have?

Whitedog

Was thinking about you this evening. My seven-year-old and nine-year-old were arguing about whether the Rioja I was drinking had more cherry or raspberry in the bouquet.

I am not worthy.

Note to social workers: all they did was smell it.

imo we should wait till loovens has had at least a couple of games in the hoops before rendering an opinion (remember lubo)...lets assume for a moment that the management team are more informed and better placed to judge what a player can bring to the team than most,if not all, of us.
To use a well worn phrase,...MON THE HOOPS.

ElDiegoBhoy1, I have been called something similar in my time....

paul 67

i have another guestion for you mate,hope im not pestering you too much.

anyways,its regarding peter lawell's comments on upgrading the main stand at parkhead.

have you seen any plans,or heard what the possible new capacity will be?

hail hail

aldo67:

The minority isnt always wrong!

The only criticism I have is that a new LB wasn't in place by now, but of course, the window still has a couple of weeks to run.

Outside of that, I wouldn't have spent any more than we have already. £4.5million for four new players, one of whom has already proven he will score us SPL goals? Not bad.

malceye,cheers for your reply,my post was not aimed at you,just at some who have already decided that we have not spent enough in the transfer window,even although there are 2 weeks to go,while we may not get fast free flowing football this season at least we should wait to see what kind of team we can put on the park,we should also remember last week was our first competetive game of the season,the manky mob,man city and liverpool are among those who have found their opening game to be of a very poor standard

EDB magnificent !

Celtic_First

I believe ( should become my catchphrase)
that parents can let their children as young as they like take alcohol - obviously in context and with care

Need a bloody lawyer on here to answer that one ?
Certainly under liscencing laws here the age is very young.

Big Chris

LOL.

I have had a word with me and paul67 snd joshyboy and mansell. I require, more medication, a left back and a better reserve keeper.

Even if none of these turn up we will still win the league, sure as I eat my own toe nails