With two days left of the transfer window, Celtic’s energies are targeted on defence, with Borussia Dortmund’s Jeremy Toljan (24) the prime target. This would almost certainly mark the end of Mikael Lustig’s seven year period as first choice for the position, before he leaves the club in the summer. It is also likely to be the last we see of Cristian Gamboa, with the currently injured Anthony Ralston acting as backup.
We will discuss Celtic’s use of the loan system later. Securing players for half a season is far from ideal. Nor is it cheap. Toljan will become the highest paid player at the club, while Borussia’s loan fee will be significant. But it was used effectively in securing Filip Benkovic, who was almost certainly better than whoever we were likely to purchase last summer.
Benkovic’s injury, which has yet to be fully diagnosed, may clear the decks for a move in central defence, which the club were resigned to postponing until the summer due to the form of Benkovic and Dedryck Boyata. Better for this to happen days before, as opposed to days after, the window closes, but no one at Lennoxtown will be happy at making any unplanned decision on a player.
St Johnstone travel to Glasgow tonight with the distinction of collecting more points away from home than any team in the league, having played the same of fewer than all others, and that’s despite losing at Tynecastle on Saturday.
Fortunately, Celtic are top of the ‘home league table’, having won all their 11 league games at Celtic Park (we are sixth in the ‘away table’). The only table that matters is the one Celtic will go six points clear at the top of with 15 games remaining, should they win tonight. A win would be ominous.
134 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- »
Celtic4me
He wouldn’t be working for Celtic.
CELTIC40ME
SFA is a great place for developing a god complex and learning the fine details of corruption with no chance of paying for your transgressions.
In summary a perfect place to hone your skills for a job at the totally corrupt UEFA or FIFA.
That’s some evil master plan.
An Dún, You are normally a sound bhoy but how can you post that Brendan is obviously offski in the Summer.
He may well go in the Summer or he may not but there is certainly nothing obvious about it either way.
Regarding loans for defenders with KT & Ralston injured of course getting a loanee rather then a last minute panic buy is the correct course.
Panic buys fill the squad with wage thieves like Compper , it is hard to get rid of duds and having them hanging around for years hoovers up valuable resources.
The plan at this stage has to be simple provide the playing resources to ensure we close out the Title, if that can be assisted by Loanees it wouldn’t bother me how many of them we signed.
Brendan Rodgers is here for 10iar me hopes HH
WITS@2-00pm
At the present rate it will be a convoy.
Should we have a sign up list to see who gets the honours?
Would there be a certain criteria based on level of criticism to select who is driving who?
A selection committee on here could decide which malcontent’s are truly worthy of such.
………gotta luv the decidedly downbeat projections for our Manager…………
Where to begin?
Mon was touted to be offski as soon as he was successful……..funny that.
I deffo know for a fact……. FACT!………… that Brendan is staying.
There ye go!
HH.
Only an observation: Of course if we sign a plethora of loan players and don’t play them then we are basically paying for other clubs employee’s to sit on the bench or the stands.
Cue much slagging of the huns reportedly paying Defoe £65k to sit twiddling his thumbs.
HH.
I’m booked to take BR to the Airport in the year 2055, I may not make the booking I’ll be 100 .
What? You think this is bit over the top?
Well you started it! por cierto.
I posted this article the other day, but, I think most of you were probably asleep (or, just scrolling past …. either is okay).
http://www.espn.com/soccer/blog/espn-fc-united/68/post/3757094/for-most-clubs-losing-top-talent-is-a-killer-for-ajax-its-their-business-model
Given some of the comments this morning, I thought it might be of some interest. Ajax followed Celtic as one of the top European teams in the early ’70s, but they seem to have taken very different paths since that time ….
They have more academy players playing professionally than any club in Europe, and are now selling top players for in excess of $70million. So, they are obviously doing something right ….
As Hrvatski points out, there are issues with one or two teams stock-piling young talent. But, we should at least really look at the issues before deciding the best path.
I am not saying that we should be adopting everything they do holus bolus, but surely we could learn something from their emphasis on development and their infrastructure.
Their CEO is former keeper, Edwin Van Der Sar …..when he finished playing, he did a bit of coaching, while he did a degree in Sportts management. In 2012, after graduating, he became head of marketing for Ajax, and in 2016, worked his way up to CEO.
As I said, there are obvious differences, but there is enough there that people should, at least, seriously ask whether we are getting the best bang for our buck in terms of how the club is being run.
Awe naw,
The body reading scientists are back ???
My earliest recollection of supporting Celtic, was 85/86. Players like Tony Shepperd, Owen Archdeacon, Lex Baillie, Pearce O’Leary, Paul McGaughan.
I’m 40 now… I recall Danny McGrain vaguely. Certainly his last days. The core of that side, was a young emerging Paul McStay, Tommy Burns, Mudro McLoed, Roy Aitken, Alan Rambo McInally, Brian McClair, and say it quietly, a certain Maurice Johnston.
Anyway, I know there are huge number of fans with many more years experience in terms of supporting Celtic than myself.
On the subject of loans, I see a lot of people are against this method of securing players. I will assume, and may be wrong, but would hazard a guess that the majority of people opposed to loans, are of the old school. i.e fans of an older vintage.
Football has evolved. The money in the game particularly down south, is absolutely mental. Benckovic, Weah, Burke, Toljan etc and players of that ilk, would otherwise be outwith our reach, if we were trying to buy. The new lad Bayo is our market. That is the harsh reality. If we can identify 22 year olds that haven’t quite cut it at Man City, Dortmund, PSG, Man Utd, we may still see the occasional 4 million / 5 million signing, similar to Ntcham. However aside from that, young quality on loan, is a sensible option.
Just my opinion obviously
I think there’s something to be said for loans with an option to buy .The club gets to look at the player , the player gets to look at the club . If club and player fall in love with each other , we buy.
If we are paying said player large dods of money for not playing , that suggests a lack of ability/application/fitness/homesickness/poor scouting.
Mix and match from the above.
Juve make move for Bruno Alves. Good grief.
MIT,
We cannot compete financially with the tv rich clubs, but we have the resources and facilities to excel in our youth development.
We are seeing some signs of progress, but we need more, much more. This is the way forward for clubs of our stature.
When BR eventually leaves after a ten year managerial stint and gets elevated to our board ; I trust you will adhere to the Ajax model when in charge.
HH.
Anybody know any good body reading courses I could go on ?
I’m feeling a bit ill-equipped to post these days given this shortfall.
In fact……….FACT!….if you notice the subtle drumming movement that Brendan makes with his right index finger, you will notice that he , almost noiselessly, traces out the words to “The Four Leaf Clover” as he speaks…especially when resonding to the Chic’s , Kenny’s and Awwy’s of this parish………Just watch.
Psychologists who know about these things call this “Unrepentant Finger Behaviour” or UFB for short…….
Thems the FACTS.
QED CSC
If it’s Prestwick then I’ll take Brendan to the airport. Means I can pick up Stevie in Kilmarnock on the way back.
This season we have had a few opportunities to cement our position at the top of the table, but we have been unable to do it. Tonight is huge psychologically for us and the chasing pack, We drew both matches against them at home last season. It will be a tough, physical match and one which is unlikely to be straightforward. We skelpted them 6-0 last time out but history tells us the next meeting tends to be tighter. Just get the 3 points Celtic.
Such smug attempts at sattire.
It’s only an opinion bhoys. I think Brendan will be away. Some, or most of you, think not.
Time will tell.
BIG WAVY on 30TH JANUARY 2019 2:34 PM
Anybody know any good body reading courses I could go on ?
I’m feeling a bit ill-equipped to post these days given this shortfall
———-
Hey I never knew you guys were on Skype.
Is this the futuristic CQN.?
HH.
David17
wise words
Something tells me this is going to be tricky tonight.
I’ll take a 2-1 victory, last minute, Timothy Weah left arse cheek, bundled over the line from 2 yards, in 91st minute winner.
DAVID 17
Agree with all of that . Treat tonight as our biggest game of the season . May or may not be pivotal, but a win would be a severe whack in the scrotum for our ‘rivals’.
Aye at this time of the season it’s just the result that matter, 3 points please, por cierto
Mike in Toronto
“Holus Bolus”?
Is that something you learned in Law School? A first for me, and, I suspect, a first for this site eh.
NO BOBBY DOES IT PETTA-so do I mate,will be delighted to be proved wrong……
16 League games left 8 at home starting tonight & 8 away. 3 of away games will be post split including the Hun but we should be getting Killie at home whilst the Hun should l be playing them on plastic in the post split games.
16 Cup Finals, no game can be taken for granted, you saw what happened to Cittee last night. Being the better team on the night counts for little, it’s all about grinding out win after win starting tonight.
You will always hope the closest challengers will slip up easing the pressure but you can’t rely on it.
It’s in our hands but we must keep churning out victories.
Celtic Mac
Ha!
I have introduced a few friends to this site…. invariably, the non-Scottish ones ask me ‘what language are they speaking? I didnt sound like English.’
I usually respond ‘some are just a bit crazy… others are just speaking Scottish. and some are both.’
:)
Celtic park is a large playing surface.
You often hear coaches talking about stretching the field to create space.
Our one paced side to side approach has a tendency to do the opposite by compacting everyone into the last third limiting space for our attackers.
We have the pace and talent to vary our approach so lets hope we use both to beat an organized but limited opponent.
MIT
Over the last 12 years Ajax have made a profit of over €200m on players brought through the academy or signed cheaply when very young from other teams from the Netherlands. All but one were themselves from the Netherlands, Vermeulen who was in the academy from a young age. That doesn’t include players like Suarez and Sanchez who together went for nearly €100m
Its not a great comparison – they have a far superior pool of talent to develop and sell for a very large amount of money. Their transfer model is different to ours because of the talent in the country they operate in.
We not only have poorer kids playing the game we also have a club with a similar fan base competing for local talent. Billy Gilmour, for example, was never singing for us
Other than Mcgeady, and perhaps Armstrong I cant think of any other Scottish players who would fit that model.
They also benefit from closer links with the scandinavian market than us, and have a history of selling players who have gone on to become very successful abroad. They are a more attractive club as a stepping stone for any player when you look at who their players move to. Virgil needed a move to Southampton before he moved to the big boys in England, Victor the same. Ajax sell their players to United, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Arsenal
CELTIC MAC on 30TH JANUARY 2019 2:46 PM
Mike in Toronto
“Holus Bolus”?
Benkovics injury?
De Ligt is the next one off the conveyor belt, with a €60m price tag and interest from Barcelona and PSG
MIKE IN TORONTO
many years ago i was in the Parlour NY with a lady who had grown up in the city.
Was a busy game and a great atmosphere.
She was made very welcome and seemed to be chatting away.
After about half an hour she leaned into me and asked what language are these people speaking?
I have three sisters who all live in Scotland and my wife for the most part understands the two who do not live in Glasgow.
But my sister in Glasgow she struggles to understand what she’s saying despite knowing her for around ten years.
Bada Bing
Ditto!
HH.
CELTIC40ME
It’s time to stretch our financial muscle at home though. Every wonder kid in Scotland should be at our academy, I know that playing for the team you support has great sway, but money should talk, and especially when the kids can see that they will be given every chance at Celtic to fulfil their potential por cierto.
FAN-A-TIC on 30TH JANUARY 2019 3:02 PM
CELTIC MAC on 30TH JANUARY 2019 2:46 PM
Mike in Toronto
“Holus Bolus”?
Benkovics injury?
I certainly hope not…. I’m told that a bolused holus can be very painful.
:)
Years ago, I was seeing a Canadian girl … we stopped at my house, and I left her in the kitchen with my grandfather, while I went to get changed for dinner. A few minutes later, I went back into the kitchen, and they were laughing and having a gay old time. In the car, Deanna turns me and says, ‘your grandfather … such a sweet old man… but I couldn’t understand a word he was saying!’..
the next day, I’m chatting with my grandad, and he says to me, ‘she seemed like a lovely lass… but, to be honest… I couldn’t understand a word she was saying!’…
I guess it works both ways!
:)
I think I’ll marry Jenifer Aniston
fan-a-tic
Is it latin for the abductor muscle which is the latest version of Felip’s injury.