With Leigh Griffiths set to sign in the next few moments our business for the January transfer window is complete. As well as Leigh, we added 20-year-old Icelandic striker Holmbert Fridjobsson, and 23-year-old Norwegian left-midfielder, Stefan Johansen.
I expect Johansen and Griffiths to be holding down a starting place no later than next month. Johansen’s case will be made all the more straightforward if Joe Ledley accepts an offer from Crystal Palace, although he may choose to wait until the summer before leaving.
We’ll be wondering why we signed Mo Bangura years from now, he patently didn’t look a player at Celtic.
Neil Lennon has a fixer-upper with Leigh, a player he has taken a number of references for and believes he can turn into a productive Celtic player. The player’s personal history is something he has to put behind him now. I’ve read many comments on this subject over the last few days, with some empathy, but it’s just as well Twitter wasn’t around in the 60s, 70s or 80s. Some of our heroes from past eras have been more than a tad off-colour in my earshot.
Time for Leigh to get onto the field and do what he does best.
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TTTT
I’ll agree to disagree with your proposition :-)))
A big Celtic welcome to Leigh & the others who have joined us recently I wish you all the best in your efforts to succeed at our great Club
John O’Neil
16:23 on 31 January, 2014
I’d imagine an ‘if we can’ would have been added to that statement.
In the ideal world the January window would be our main one for getting players in to give them time to settle before CL qualifiers. The reality is the January window is a mad frenzy of desperate clubs signing average players for either stupid money or on loan.
Welcome Leigh to the great Glasgow Celtic. Have fun and score lots of goals.
PF – I was drawing the line before him! :-)
T4
Kojo
He will be missed by me.
BUUUUUUT if he dies not sign new deal or move on then his place in the team must go to players who want to be here and need to be well settled in for the Qualifiers.
Kayal, I think that the excuses can only be taken for so long. Of course it is a horrible time to acquire players but our management are paid a lot of money in order to get us players. My heart could not stand another 90 minutes of toiling against a mediocre side such as Elfsborg.
Kayal – apart from VVD, last summer’s business was very poor and we scraped through to the CL group stage.
Lessons learned? What would Jim Royale say to that?!
T4
£31m last season & £21m this seasons champions league & sales of Hooper, Wanyama, Wilson & Ki for £26m =£78m is that it in terms of preparing for cl qualification hope our gambling pays off again Pedro!
These objections to Leigh Griffiths are very odd. The man said sorry for his error with the tweet. I very much doubt that he is a racist. I am sceptical about his abilities in the European arena but wish the guy well. He will do very well in Scotland of course.
Kojo
Does not Dies:((
blushingherecsc
Well thats the end of our transfer window and I would say it was a very cautious window by Celtic a young striker I dont know much about a midfielder who comes with a well hyped reputation and Leigh Griffiths a 23 year old striker who divides the Celtic support.Now the first two players I dont know enough about them to comment however,Leigh Griffiths in my opinion will go on to be a real star for Celtic just as long as he keeps his offield activities under control and I think he will make us forget Gary Hooper. H.H.
MWD, we wouldn’t go within spitting distance of the line in the sand as far as el haj doof is concerned.
You should have came over and had a beer with us on Wed, yer auld mucker JJ was with us.
HH
John O Neil
Pal..
Why do you doubt that Lee wull be capable of Handling CL Competion?
What is your reasoning in coming tae that Conclusion?
Kojo
Still,Laughing
Sack the Board
HH
I posted this at the very end of the previous posts:
“Could someone/anyone please answer these two very simple questions:
1) Has Joe Ledley left?
2) Has Leigh Griffiths arrived?
Thanks,
JJ”
Paul`s article suggests that 2) is as good as but what about 1) ?
I feel quite sure the Joe Ledley will still be a Celtic player tomorrow……..in spite of all those wishing him well at Palace !!!
JJ
For the record I actually like griffiths as a player and at least we bought a striker. But time after time the club lie and mislead us……..good enough for CL qualification???? Mmmmmmm.
Kayal 33
Transfer window opens again 1st July, couple of weeks before 1st CL qualifier. Not a lot of time especially as world cup runs to July 13th
BontyBhoy
Good post, but I disagree with you on Ledley. I sympathise with you on the whole ‘what does he bring’ angle, as he’s neither clearly defensive nor attacking – ‘solid’, some would say.
However, for a central midfielder, he consistently brought goals and assists each season. More importantly, when Celtic played two banks of four, his partnership with Brown at CM yielded (or should I say ‘has yielded’?) 53 points from a possible 57. Think about that. In theory that partnership would see us ending the season on 106 points! If that’s ‘solid’, I’ll take it.
I think he has got better season on season, most notably this one, so if he does go to Palace, I don’t think they’ll regret their purchase.
John O’Neil
16:31 on 31 January, 2014
If, as has been intimated, the manager wants Snodgrass, Norwich won’t sell now but may in the summer, what should he do? Wait and see if he can get him in the summer or go for someone else who may be his 2nd or 3rd choice? Bearing in mind we have won the league and don’t actually need anyone just now. I’d rather wait, what’s the point of filling the squad with players not good enough for the first team like we did in the summer. 5 of our 6 summer signings can’t get a regular game, and are unlikely to do so anytime soon.
Time will tell but as things currently stand (assuming Griffiths signs) we will be going into CL qualifiers with a goalscorer. We didn’t have one last season when we played Stokes & Sammi in 5 of our 6 qualifiers.
Don’t know why I do it! Every transfer window I get sucked in on rumors of scouting trips and 6 mil players and every transfer window we get nickled and dimed. My only hope is that our transfer inactivity may lead to more of a run for our talented youth. But judging on recent form I doubt thats going to be the case either, we’ll just run the senior players into the ground then be surprised when we look leggy so early next season.
John O’Neil 16:21 on 31 January, 2014
I couldn’t care less about Rangers’ transfer dealings. Celtic are the priority.
……………………………………………………………………………………
So true, but no doubt that the MSM and Scot BBC will do their best to pretend that the dealings of a team in the third division of part-time players is somehow relevant
HT,
I’m just glad there wasn’t twitter when I was young and foolish, glad there was no mobiles either, as I gave out so many bogus numbers back then.
LeftClick
Hiya,pally?
Nice tae greet ye..
You are not alone,when You reveal that you will Miss, Joe.
My opinion of Joe,which is Diametricallly Opposed tae yer ain…is Shared by Few.
If ye like the wey that he Performs in a Celtic Jersey..then.
Good fur You.
Ah Dinnae.
Nice Chattin,pal
Kojo,
Still,Laughin
A film called ” Angels` Share ” is about giving people a second chance. As the film progresses, I found myself forgetting about the message and just enjoying the film. I am hoping there will be a parallel with ” Angels` Share” and Leigh Griffiths.
JJ
paolosboots FC before PLC
I presume you were present at any meeting between Peter Lawwell and Neil Lennon when he was told that he had a good enough squad to be going on with and would not be getting any further new signings?
I presume you were present at any and all transfer negotiations carried out by the club and its representatives were they deliberately offered derisory terms to prospective signings to ensure they did not accept our offer?
How about this for a radical idea, maybe Celtic did make enquiries about a higher standard, priced or more famous player and could not come up with a mutually satisfactory deal and so the move did not come about. Maybe Celtic approached clubs enquiring about players and were told “sorry not for sale”.
As radical as my theory is it has just as much chance of being true as yours and mine has the added benefit of not being based on wild ass speculation.
Griffiths certainly has a scoring record. Scored some spectacular goals too. Never very impressed with him when the standard required a step up. As a character I fear the jersey has shrunk already.
On Wednesday night Joe turned in his best and most commanding performance this season. I wondered at half time who in the stand was watching to encourage such. Lo and behold an offer comes in.
I liked Joe. He did the dirty link up/cover work that doesn’t get you noticed but which allows others to express themselves. I also thought he was Izzy’s best sub though he clearly hated the role.
Not so long ago he was quoted as saying happy to stay for life. Wonder what changed?
If he signs for Palace he’ll have made a big mistake in football terms.
HH
Someone earlier asked how many fans turned up at the park to see leigh Griffiths sign?.
Probably the same amount that turned up when the kok and lubo did!.
If this laddie concentrates on fitba he will score 30 goals a season for us.
Welcome to paradise son.
Hail hail
Big sean.
Some sad, some glad at Ledley’s departure.
Personally I think we are lucky that we have enough strength and depth in MF to provide more than adequate cover.
We are neither weaker nor stronger in that area.
Have we improved the striking situation?
Probably.
If Sammi and Ledley don’t move and don’t resign then let them accompany the under 20s to places like Broomfield, Boghead and Livingston.
I’m sure the young lads can learn something from them and it may not be in footballing nous.
Good afternoon friends.
I’ve signed on to CQN for another 18 months…
Like ive said many times….Peter Lawell has no ambition whatsoever, and like a true businessman, always looking to cut costs, and do things on the cheap.
An insult to the intelligence of Celtic fans……What was it NL said, we have the money for a 5-6 million pound player….another piece of nonsense.
Totally uninspiring as usual Peter.
You can fool some of the people some of the time….but eventually you will get found out.
No ambition at all….dealing in the bargain basement once again.
Raking in CL money, wanyama, hooper etc……but will not push the boat out, not even a little bit…..taking the p imo
HH
Without reading any of my fellow ‘Tic fans’ comments I’d just like to welcome Leigh into our Family and wish him every success on and off the field. Let’s hope we’ve found our goal scorer to take the weight off Kris and hope it can inspire Stokes, Pukki and Balde to start contributing their goals.
The best Celtic teams of the past had a nice rotation of at least 3 strikers all capable of contributing double digits with one of them scoring 20+ goals a season. We need to get back to that.
As important as it is to get the end product right, of equal importance is the supply line. IN that regard I’m excited about the possibilities Johansson brings to the team. I still feel we’re perhaps one or two players short in that regard, especially having another wide player with pace (yes I know we have a certain Dutch player, but…) to relieve some of the pressure that is on Forrest. Again Celtic teams of the past often had two wingers. I know Izzy and Adam Matthews, Mikel Lustig and you Fisher provide that option today, but remember they’re defenders and we need to be sure we’re not sucked into an opponent’s trap, especially a CL opponent.
Still, we have the summer window – albeit a short one because of the World Cup – bu perhaps some unfinished business there could help us. Though I fear for us keeping FF and Virgil beyond then.
Meantime, let’s stay positive and say yes to the Double! HH
Paul 67
Quite ” a few moments” have passed. Has he signed yet?
JJ
jungle jim
16:46 on 31 January, 2014
I watched Angel’s Share a couple of snowy weekends ago.
Nice laid back movie after the frenetic opening.
It had subtitles on USA Netflix ;-).
I kid you not
I was going to make that exact point Paul67… how many of the Lisbon Lions would have had a reputation if they had been exposed to the media and social media of today? How many would have assault charges for getting into a fight in the boozer?
It’s not excusing his past behaviour and he’ll be expected to tow the line but he needs to be given a chance. Let the first who has not sinned cast the first stone and all of that.
My friends in Celtic,
Reality check,
Recession, what recession.
£126m spent and over 6 hrs to go. Last years record spending at this time of £120m has been smashed.
It emphasises how hard our task is to entice players while maintaining a credible and sustainable wage structure.
Over to you LG, the ball is in your court. make a name for yourself. Yes I know!!!!!!!!!!
HH.
….pfayr supports weeoscar
16:14 on 31 January, 2014
HT
I expect nothing less from you …well said
Ibid from me HT and Lennybhoy’s words above. Comment of a big man and a proper gentleman.
HH jamesgang
PS ghuys. Cheers for letting me know there was a new article!!! Got pretty lonely on a never-changing page2!
JimmyNaePalsCSC!
Sky still running with the Efe moving down south story even though NL has already said no one has come in for him. As suspected, quiet day so Sky now commenting on the rumours they make up themselves to try to maintain interest.