Your timely reminder. Players who are available at the start of a transfer window fall into one of a few categories:
Their clubs do not value them.
Their clubs need for cash is too urgent to wait until the end of the window (see Rapid Vienna).
Their clubs operate in a weak market, where the offer was a surprise and no other is expected.
When the player downs tools.
If a club is operating under normal financial circumstances and has an in-demand talent, why would it sell before the end of the window, when they can work on attracting higher bids? If you were Celtic manager, why would you sanction the sale of a top player early in a window?
We all know why deals happen late in the window. It frustrates the life out of all of us, but it’s the consequence of a natural bargaining position. Yet, goldfish-like memories really struggle with how the world around them works. There are exceptions, but see the above list for every one of them.
Then there’s the buyer. Option 4 is available, and you can have him at the start of the window but none of the coaches really want Option 4. They want Option 1, Option 2 at a push, but the further down the list you go, the less likely they are to give you the green light. You might even hear, “Option 4 is no better than what we’ve got, so forget it” – which happens often.
Celtic are in the market for a striker. Utrecht managed to sign a 26-year-old striker on 10 January with a Europa League winners medal, and experience in the Italian and German top flights. Celtic have Oh at the Asian Cup and are relying on Kyogo, why can’t we do what Utrecht have managed?
We are in the market for a left back. Now Greg Taylor is injured, we have to play his understudy Alexandro Bernabei against Ross County. There are dozens of left backs available within Celtic’s budget, why haven’t we signed one already this month?
Tell me, why can’t we do what Utrecht did and sign a player with the pedigree of Sam Lammers, or just go out and spend £3.5m again and sign another Bernabei or Boli Bolingoli? It can’t be that difficult!
Failure to grasp how the world works – when it is so obvious and predictable – holds people back more than they are prepared to accept.
Delighted Matt O’Riley has his eyes on the prize.
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You all know what day it is.
HH!
Have we signed a LB yet ?
Cant understand why the looking around starts when the window slams open. Do or can we not be looking for said payer say from September and buy in January, maybe they do.
Personally, I#+’d be ok with Myoski of Aberdeen
KINGLuBO
This is worth a repost. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
GARYGILLESPIESHAMSTRING on 26TH JANUARY 2024 11:57 AM
Looking forward to seeing the Huns waving their Ivory Coast flags to show their support for their new project.
Bayer Leverkusen said they won’t stop Alonso if he wants to go to Liverpool
KINGLUBO on 26TH JANUARY 2024 12:07 PM
Cant understand why the looking around starts when the window slams open. Do or can we not be looking for said payer say from September and buy in January, maybe they do.
—————–
It’s pretty obvious that scouting isn’t limited to 2 months a year.
“There are dozens of left backs available within Celtic’s budget, why haven’t we signed one already this month?”
—————–
More to the point, why didn’t we sign one last summer?
As to what other clubs are doing – I really couldn’t care less.
The articles are becoming more and more like a David Lynch script.
https://www.paviliontheatre.co.uk/shows/an-evening-with-the-fast-show/
Quick…..quick….
Striker is the priority, but January is a very difficult window…
LB has become a priority since Greg’s injury news broke, Beck in the summer is a good shout rather than an inferior more immediate option. Bernabei won’t do. Hopeless but. Put Scales in and play Maia next to CCV.
Are we managing to get rid of any non-contributors from our bloated squad? Or is it all just excuses for inertia? Not impressive.
Let’s hope MOR gets the prize he has his eye on, and not a runners up medal in a two team league. In view of our advantages last summer to include dough in the bank and recruiting an elite manager, it would be a boz-up of cataclysmic proportions if Sevco were to trump us, and in-gather all that extra CL money as a by-product.
“A” is for apologist.
You’re correct Paul, that failure to grasp how the world works is frustrating to many.
It’s known that January is a very hard time to bring a player in, so WHY did we not adequately recruit in the summer? Again.
Why do we have this charade time and time again?
We have a poor record in January with some exceptions but we are now in a position whereby we STILL have a bloated squad playing huge wages to players that rarely or never play.
BR may do enough to win us the league and maybe the cup but its hardly a joyful experience. We’ve endured another humiliating experience in Europe and we’ve made it harder than it is domestically.
So, no January should never be a time that we NEED a player (such as a left back) but that’s Celtic. Therefore, we should have done out business in the summer when the overwhelming majority of sensible and fairly knowledgable fans said so.
Cmon PAul. multi million pound negotiations are a dawdle..20 secs on the playstation..sack the board !
Klopp to leave Liverpool at the end of the season.
‘Rangers (sic) brace themselves for Clement Liverpool bid’ is a headline coming near you from the SMSM
From now on all new articles should be as follows.
God bless Peter Lawwell, keeping the green flag flying despite the begrudgers naysayers and malcontents..
People’s Republic of North Korea CSC
We spent circa £20m in summer 2023 on 10 players.2 (Kwon and Tlio) havent made any impression on the first team. Philips has retuned, so out of the 7 who gets pass marks?
Four, I would argue
Palma
Holm
Yang
Bernardo
Jury out (largely due to injury)
Nawrocki
Lagerbielke
Iwata
We have had much worse summer windows
“ I’m happy with the players I’ve got ,
so we’ll go with what we have “
Brendan Rodgers
“ I’m happy with the players I’ve got ,
so we’ll go with what we have “
Ange Postecoglu
“ I’m happy with the players I’ve got ,
so we’ll go with what we have “
Neil Lennon
“ I’m happy with the players I’ve got ,
so we’ll go with what we have “
Brendan Rodgers ( first time )
“ I’m happy with the players I’ve got ,
so we’ll go with what we have “
Ronny Deila
“ I’m happy with the players I’ve got ,
so we’ll go with what we have “
Neil Lennon ( first time )
“ I’m happy with the players I’ve got ,
so we’ll go with what we have “
Tony Mowbray
“ I’m happy with the players I’ve got ,
so we’ll go with what we have “
Gordon Strachan
“ I’m happy with the players I’ve got ,
so we’ll go with what we have “
Martin O’Neill
Sleeping 💤
We should be grateful and thank the Lord how good Saint Peter and his underlings manage our club.
Get a grip….
I think Klopp has told Liverpool to get Alonso before he went to Bayern
I personally think we recruited very well last summer for the most part but we won’t see the benefit of summer 2023 until the 2024/25 season.
A year too early for a few of them to start making a significant impact.
A couple of MLS teams after Kobiyashi
There’s a factor that has bee left out – you’re buying from a market where the league is finished for the season and you haveva manager with an intimate knowledge of the players from that market.
It’s undoubtedly tough but we’ve had an eye out fir a left back for about two years now. Must be hard to come by!
Worst case scenario Ralston can play there. Scales is possibly a better option if CCV and Maik are available in the centre. It’s not the disaster some are willing it to be.
Personally the centre forward position worries me more. GK too.
I think we might get some moves in and out by next week. It’s only the 26th January after all. Calm doon 😁
BSR on Tony Mowbray that January window was one of the most active and exciting I can remember. Turned out well……
NOTTHEBUS on 26TH JANUARY 2024 12:47 PM
I would put Yang and Holm in the jury out list tbh
That’s one way to look at it.
However you could argue that if a club is selling a player of genuine quality then doing so early in the window gives them to replace.
You could argue that if a recruitment team had such colossal failures in their 3 previous transfer windows then they would pay a premium to ensure deals were in place early given that any professional business where positions weren’t filled by nepotism.
You could argue that players available only at the end of the window are the ones clubs are desperate to get rid of and no one else wants.
And you could certainly argue that if you’re incompetent enough to be relying on last minute deals lest you leave your club in serious trouble and those deals fall through without time to seek alternatives, having failed to bring the power and pace the manager stated he wanted in July, having failed to bring in players early in this window the manager stated he wanted in December, then those responsible should pay for it with their job on February 1st.
You could have argued any of the above Paul67 but you chose as you always do the Lawwell and Lawwell party line. Perhaps you’re failing to understand the anger within what I believe to be the majority of the support. In the end doesn’t matter what I think. What you think. What anyone else in here thinks. Make no mistake, if we’re drawing or losing with 60 minutes gone tomorrow, the atmosphere will turn toxic and Lawwell will be the target. We have 3 positions with no adequate cover. Left back, goalkeeper, striker. And that’s with a full squad. Left back just went down. Who is going up front if Kyogo gets injured during the game tomorrow? Window closes on Thursday and we are scrambling about for the scraps from the table. Whoever signs won’t be ready for Aberdeen away and probably not Hibs either. 2 massive games. I don’t know a single fan who shares your blind optimism
Paul67
Good shout.
Still confident we’ll sign a striker, and one other next week.
The difference between BR spelling it out, is that he’s a supporter with a £9M contract in his back pooch, he’s bound to be content without the quality the internet Celtic supporter craves.
Signing £20M players could land us three overnight, but paying the type of wage that transfer fee demands, is not for Celtic, and has been posted and underlined on here for 20 years.
Don’t get attached to your favourites, get attached to Celtic, like most clubs business tends to get done in the last few days of any window.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTastpWNgCc
Basic market forces and 100% true
Its a blind spot that most football fans have – the rush to blame and the exceptionalism that we’re all guilty of means we’re happy to ignore the most basic of market principles when it comes to wanting what we want now.
Selling clubs have models, budgets and regulations just like us. Fail to realise the full amounts for their main assets and they’ll have their fans breathing down their necks when they have less cash to buy players. Every club has a Michael Nicholson who’s job it is to squeeze very last penny out of a deal. If you dont go into every deal with that in mind you’ll be out of work pretty quickly.
You’ve left out another important factor Paul67, the player and his agent. A quality player, much in demand these days apparently, will not by short of clubs looking to sign him. Any agent worth his 20% will be waiting as long as he can to secure the best club who’ll pay the most.
The differences we’re talking about run into millions of pounds, lot of money to everyone involved
RobertTressell
I remember the Robbie Keane window.
Ironically, I also remember Scott Brown at Left back ( for one game only under Mogga ) 👍
Unfortunately the world is as predictable as CQN articles as the end of a transfer window nears.
REGGIE on 26TH JANUARY 2024 1:08 PM
What Paul67 describes applies whoever is in charge at Celtic and it always will.
How the world works as Paul67 simply puts it. Football isnt a huge market in the grand scheme of things but its big enough and mature enough to have all the basic market principles apply.
Unfortunately we’re not special enough for them not to
Who scored Scottish football’s first-ever Sunday goal?
So what’s the excuse for not signing a keeper, a left back and a striker in the summer?
These articles are pathetic to the point of being laughable.
SB
was it Durrant vs us in 86 or was that the first live league game?
Scullbhoy@1.28.
How are you?
I asked the question you posed few years back.
Should read Scullybhoy..not Scullbhoy.
No need to worry. Our board will now ask the scouting team to confirm the lb that they have on the strategic plan.
Or maybe not.