Brendan Rodgers declared himself delighted with his first transfer window as Celtic manager, which is now over, after the additions of Kolo Toure, Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele, Dorus de Vries and Cristian Gamboa.
Toure, Dembele and Sinclair, the managers three primary targets, were acquired early, while de Vries and right back, Gamboa, were added recently. Deals went close to the wire today but the hoped-for midfield player (which was never James McCarthy) didn’t materialise.
A permanent deal for a (known around these parts) central defender to backfill Jozo Simunovic, who was wanted by Torino, couldn’t be tied up either, so Torino also look to have missed their target.
You’ll hear direct from the manager soon enough but he’s got the calibre of recruit he wanted – which he didn’t know would be possible three months ago.
There was never anything possible to make a formidable Champions League group look any easier, but we’ll compete at the top table, and we’ll wipe the floor with all-comers domestically.
More tomorrow.
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Sheik Yerbouti on 1st September 2016 9:33 am
I suppose he’ll do ;)
HH
Can I just say that I am delighted that James Morrison did not sign for Celtic. Can’t stand his music…
Interesting to see the reaction on the blog since it became clear that our business was finished. Also interesting to see the subject of expectation management raised. Over the years I’ve learned from my own experience to temper expectations. Things that you think “must” happen – often don’t. People you think will “always” be there for you – sometimes aren’t. What you believe you “deserve” – you often don’t get. Other people don’t set our expectations – we set our own expectations based on what information we have and trust. Newspapers, bloggers etc. have all been telling us (with varying amounts of certitude) who is coming in and who is leaving from Celtic. Many of these people have no idea of what’s going on and indeed are just repeating what they themselves have read elsewhere. Mostly rumours. They have a product to sell and are happy to make it up as they go along. My expectation was that Celtic would try to improve in the areas Brendan and the management team have identified. I think we’ve done that with the possible exception of midfield.
I’m happy, hope you’re happy too.
Weebobby
I thought it was funny
NatKnow
I’m happy, hope you’re happy too.
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Awright Action Man…
Fiorentina ?
Italian Insolvency legislation resulted in them being declared bankrupt and dead — but – Italian Insolvency legislation -allowed Della Valle to repurchase the name and the symbol at a public auction.( no longer bankrupt no longer dead -brand new ! ). The money raised went to creditors.. A year in C2, a promotion and then some politics saw them being given a place in Serie B .
https://youtu.be/CMThz7eQ6K0
Natknow
For ewe
David bowie
Ashes to ashes
Good Morning.
I haven’t had the chance to come on to CQN fir some time bar a couple of times yesterday with a hackneyed plea for funds for the sleep out — which I will remind people they can donate to here:
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/jamesmcginley2
Re the transfer window – what a lot of hype and crap as it is all about inflated fees for average players.
In the last few seasons I have not agreed with our transfer policy or our recruitment process.
The “project” idea is a good one but its implementation has been very hit and miss in my opinion with the positives being Wanyama and Forster and the negatives being … well name them yourselves.
I believe that under Brendan we will see a new recruitment policy being implemented and it will take more than one window for it to be evident.
Everyone would have liked a new strong midfielder and it would appear we were trying to get Denayer back and would have let Simunovic go to Turin but it was not to be. I am not sure if Brendan likes the look of Simonovic or not but the boy now knows his future may well be elsewhere.
The Champions League Group is very tough and we will do well to grab a Europa League spot but it is not impossible.
We will be too strong for everyone else in Scotland so what is absolutely key is that from here on in we look 12 months down the line with a view to making sure that we are in the mix for Champion’s League football next season.
That might sound daft at this stage but proper forward planning in any project is a essential and you have to have a structured goal and aplan to achieve that.
Don’t forget that we can sign precontracts with players and that there are players of a certain calibre who are free agents.
Just because the transfer window has closed does not mean that the planning and activity should stop.
What we cannot do is simply repeat the lacklustre progress of the last few years.
Brendan is a better coach than Ronny and he will get players to play better.
Hopefully he can bring out consistent and better results with recruitment over a period.
DAVIDOPOULOS on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2016 9:23 AM
Reggie
If Ambrose was available on a free I think we should take him as cover….
=============
Release him and resign him as the holding midfielder some think he can play. Genius!
Thought Flamini’s name might come up but I think the Champions League deadline is midnight tonight so better get a move on
As Saturday proved for a large part of the second half, we’ll struggle in domestic games in midfield, never mind CL games
Expectation management, patronising rhetoric and the usual bull crap from people who support Celtic the business.
As part of his cull, BR should (if he could) get rid of JP and PL (Patronising Leech)
DAVIDOPOULOS on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2016 9:42 AM
NatKnow
I’m happy, hope you’re happy too.
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Awright Action Man…
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Down wi’ manflu the day. So…There’s No Action as Elvis would have it… :-))
My friends in Celtic,
The very same posters advocating James McCarthy are the very same posters that advocate no more projects.
The Timreaper @08.31 hrs summed it up perfectly.
James may well be better than what we have, but he is not a tried and tested answer. It would be another gamble that we can do without.
We have approximately 35 first team players, with a corresponding wage bill. Many more players than the likes of Arsenal and Man City.
We cannot keep adding to this without getting rid of the surplus that have no long term future. This is not BR’s making If players are on such good contracts . Remember Bobo.
BR knew the constraints of a team playing in Scottish Football when he put pen to paper. I would presume that part of his remit would be to manage ( yes manage) our existing players and to extract their full potential.
He would have been asked to optimise our substantial investment in Lennoxtown, with a view to having more first team players coming from this asset.
In short; He was never going to be just a cheque book manager to compete with the Madness down south.
Of course to some it’s all big bad Peter Lawwell’s fault. With respect I say to them. Get a reality check.
It matters not what we have all contributed in the past. What matters is what we contribute now, both morally and financially, from Scotland and beyond.If we cannot support our team now, then I really despair.
In my opinion too much credibility is given to supporters who have the means, the ability and the geography to physically go to Parkhead, but choose not to. ( Funny how that category of supporter seems to do the most winging )
Hail, Hail.
SHEIK YERBOUTI on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2016 9:44 AM
https://youtu.be/CMThz7eQ6K0
Natknow
For ewe
David bowie
Ashes to ashes
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Thanks mate. Scary Monsters is my fave. DB LP. :-)))
NatKnow
I’ve lit a candle for you, mate. Hope you pull through.
When I say candle I mean a pile of post-it notes are now ablaze on my desk…
Was hoping for a DM, but in some ways I’m glad nobody came in yesterday. It would have been a last-minute panic-buy. How often do they work out well?
But we have clearly needed one for at least a year. Surely there should have been a list with a few names? Could we not get them? Did Brendan not fancy them? Can Ajer do the job? Still very young.
All the latest from jinxyjohnstone
On YouTube
https://youtu.be/icxKDvbO_Lw
Buying a player like McCarthy would not have improved the team significantly plus he was probably unaffordable anyway I was not his greatest fan to be honest & I think the clamour to sign him was mistaken. Brendan is building for the longer term so let us see how we are next year.Not jam today but progress certainly
Natknow .
Glad to be of service
HH
DAVIDOPOULOS on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2016 9:51 AM
NatKnow
I’ve lit a candle for you, mate. Hope you pull through.
When I say candle I mean a pile of post-it notes are now ablaze on my desk…
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I hope none of those notes contained a secret sausage recipe or are the latest draft of your novel? :-)))
Not too sure Morrison is the type of player we needed; decent player though.
To all the Latin scholars:
ET EXIBIT! POSTEA!
Ave ave!!
HH!!
Natknow….
Are you trying go influenza the blog ?????
Gute besserung…..
I am hoopy….
Braw
NatKnow
No, no, just all my CQN top ten lists :)
TALLYBHOY on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2016 9:58 AM
To all the Latin scholars:
ET EXIBIT! POSTEA!
Ave ave!!
HH!!
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KevJ could adopt that.
Morning Celts
Been reading back all the dissapointed posters who immediatley upon closure of the window assert that BR is not in control and start up with the favourite subject of Lawell bashing and by association P67 bashing.
Some on here really need to get a grip.
I never missed a game at CP last season. As the year wore on i sat in a half empty stadium as half of the fans refused to attend due to the quality on the park and the style of play from RD.
At that point if someone had told me that some 12 games or so later the landscape could change so dramatically i would have told them to pass me some of whatever they were smoking.
We have a top manager in place and a tried and tested coaching team around him. A huge investment by the club.
We have players who we all thought would never do now playing at a standard and quality level we thought was not possible. BR showed us it was.
We have six new recruits just added in the past month or so who have definatley lifted the quality and skill level of our team.
I believe that had things gone our way yesterday in regard to sissoko to everton and simunovic completing his transfer we could have been talking this morning about mccarthy and Denayer arriving but it was not to be. Thems the breaks.
Are we in a much better place than we were on my half emty stadium day last year. Dam right we are. Did any one back then really expect champions league football this year. No chance. We were hoping for a run in the uefa cup. And..me might just get that as well as CL.
So please.. a sence of perspective on the past three months.
Celtic under Brendan have lots more windows to look forward to and i fully believe we as fans are going to enjoy the rollercoaster that is ahead.
Not having a go at anyone just offering some perspective.
HH
Mike
BR stated we need (not want) a midfielder. We didn’t get McCarthy or Morrison but he is “delighted” about that. I’m sure he is delighted we didn’t off load simo and Ambrose also. This window could have and should have been an absolute show of full support of the new manager, sadly and predictably we fell short.
Et exit postea…..
Good money to be made advising the Tories down in Brexit Towers on that very subject…..they have no personnel and even less of an idea how to “”aff oot”….…but they do have Boris so everything will go fine!
……wash,t his problem he does not withdraw quickly enough….or was that piggy lover Cameron…
Braw.
NatKnow on 1st September 2016 9:39 am
I’m happy, hope you’re happy too.
___________________________________________
One flash of light
But no smoking pistol
KTF
Now I know the answer here before I post this from some in here, it’s just my opinion, so don’t be getting your knickers in a twist and be going of on one, it’s just my opinion, from the team we took to Barcalona in season 13/14 and got pumped 6-1 to the squad we have today apart from the obvious few in the 13/14 season, now hang on now, here it is, ….
I’m happier with this squad (as a said obviously a few from 13/14 would be nice) than the squad of 13/14 and I thought at the time that wasent a bad squad, but looking back then and looking now?
01 Forster
23 Lustig
02 Matthews Booked (Stokes – 82′ )
06 Biton (Commons – 69′ )
04 Ambrose
05 van Dijk
11 Boerrigter
16 Ledley
20 Pukki (Mulgrew – 45′ )
08 Brown Booked
09 Samaras
Substitutes
10 Stokes
15 Commons
17 Baldé
21 Mulgrew
24 Zaluska
37 Atajic
41 Fisher
I often wonder if the numerous Celtic bloggers/high profile fans are used by the club to spread rumour and speculation. A wee leak to Paul67 that McCarthy is a ‘no goer, no idea where that nonsense came from’ but then a leak to etims that he’s ‘definitely a target’, then Celtic Underground ‘Yeah he’s a target but not the top target’ before you know it , it’s all around hyperspace with everyone getting excited. Head spinning stuff. Level5 on a local scale if you like!
Same with Jozo out but Denayer lined up….
Ultimately we end up with ‘We obviously tried but….’
Brendan has invigorated the team since that horrific result in Gibraltar and has got more out of the players he inherited but there is the presumption that all the players he has signed have strengthened the team. I’m not so sure looking at things just now. Hopefully in time all the signings will be better than what we have but who knows. Of the new players only Kolo Tore and Sinclair appear to be regulars.
Just because we’ve signed some players does not make us automatically stronger.
Dembele appears to be back up to Griffiths for the time being. Astronger back than Ciftci but back up nonetheless.
De Vries may well fight it out with Gordon. I’ve no idea if he’s better. I’ve seen him once and he was understandably a bit nervy.
My knowledge of EPL players is limited to Match of the Day highlights so based on them I have no knowledge of a West Brom right back who never got a game for them and therefore don’t know if he is a better option than Lustig. Or indeed Janko!
Ajer?(I realise not a Rodgers’ signing) Starting to look like a project in the Irn Bru Cup/development squad rather than an immediate answer to our supposed midfield problem.
The big downside to the transfer window is that the trimming of the squad never happened. From what I can see the manager would have been pleased to have moved on Jozo, Ambrose, Armstrong and GMS at the very least.
Again it appears that a midfielder was the main target. The worrying thing is that we have loads of midfielders. All those saying we haven’t seen Christie yet or Armstrong in his preferred position yet so all’s well are perhaps missing the point. Maybe the manager has decided that they simply aren’t good enough and he was willing to add yet another midfielder to the long list we have.
Hot Smoked 9.06
Wilfred Bony on loan
2.5 million
He would have scored 25 goals.
He would have held the ball up in Europe.
He would have helped us pick up 2 points in the CL and £1.2m extra prize money.
All just my opinion ,but he would have run riot up here.
TT
GARY67 on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2016 8:45 AM
So the spin this morning is we tried to sign James Morrison on loan from West Brom.
Just how is that spin?.Seems a perfectly sound statement to me.They wanted him,tried to sign him,West Brom would not sell.
Maybe the truth does not suit your agenda to batter someone at Celtic,so you try to “Spin”.When West Brom and Morrison deny this story,I will believe you.
Some unattached midfielders right now:
Sulley Muntari
Fernando Llorente
David Lopez
Hugo Ghana
Nigel Reo Coker
*Hugo Viana
Should be 3 points in Europe.
If Griff get injured ,we are up shit creek.
Dembele’s finishing is rank by comparison.
TT
HOT SMOKED on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2016 9:06 AM
I think those who are disappointed still fail to address these questions:
Who would you have bought;
How much would he have cost;
What would his wages have been;
Would he have made any meaningful difference to our likely successes and failures this season?
JJ
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I would have bought the target identified by Brendan. You know the one he wanted or would have liked.
He would have cost the amount Brendan expected to pay for him when he identified him as a target within the parameters set by his bosses which I am sure he was made aware of.
His wages would have been, once again, within the parameters set by Brendan’s bosses.
If Brendan felt he was required then I imagine YES he would have made a difference to Brendan’s perceived chances of success over his now perceived chances of failure considering he wanted a midfielder to fill a specific role.
Now if we went for my targets then I would be having Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Koos, Rodrigues, Ozil etc… But I can’t even afford all them with my dream team. So for now I will go with just looking for our PLC to back our manager and provide the necessary targets identified by him and if the no1 target is not available then to keep at it with his list until he gets one of the guys he wants.
So as a Celtic fan, I believe Brendan has done his job and I am happy with that. I however perceive, rightly or wrongly that once again the PLC have not done theirs. Therfore I am disappointed. No matter how happy Brendan is under the terms of his contract publicly.
DAVIDOPOULOS on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2016 9:03 AM
Very well said and agreed.
MWD
Kingoh.
Great post.
TT
NEUSTADT-BRAW on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2016 10:00 AM
Natknow….
Are you trying go influenza the blog ?????
Gute besserung…..
I am hoopy….
Braw
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I have little or no influenza here. Ignore what they say – a tissue of lies!