Late last night Celtic got their goalkeeper, Scott Bain (26), on loan from Dundee, from where he had already been loaned to Hibs this month, while also landing Jack Hendry (22) on a permanent deal from Dundee.
The Hendry deal is intriguing. The player didn’t get much of a chance to shine before being released by Wigan in the summer. Two dozen games for Dundee later and he is a Celtic player. This is not a conventional career path, so what are Celtic doing here?
First of all, the player has the attributes Brendan Rodgers looks for in a central defender. He has pace and is comfortable with the ball at his feet. The jump from Dens Park to the Allianz Arena is eye-watering, but when you have just signed a four and a half year contract at Celtic, someone must think you are capable of reaching the required standard to play at the latter venue one day.
I don’t know if Jack will make it that far in the game, but I am pretty sure Brendan Rodgers will improve him as a player and craft him into a valuable professional – one we may sell at a profit one day.
Set alongside the signing of Lewis Morgan (21), you can see a strategy here. If a Scottish player in his early 20s raises his profile high enough, we’ll sign him. Only some will make the grade, but the aggregate financial consideration of having these players at the club will probably be profitable.
Alongside all investment in youth sits Marvin Compper (32), one time German international and by all accounts, the real deal. Marvin will have the responsibility of leading the younger defenders through their on-field development.
The other side of the transfer window equation passed without Celtic cashing in any of their premium chips. By the time Moussa took to the field against Hearts on Tuesday, he knew he was going nowhere, and his performance indicated that whatever was previously on his mind had passed. Kieran Tierney’s recent contract renewal seems to have convinced all that there is no business to be had there. I expect some movement out in the summer in the central mid and central def positions.
You and I have been through January transfer windows when the objective has been to make sure we win the league. Now it is all about player development and getting ready for the inevitable Champions League qualifiers. We have not measurably improved our chances against Zenit this month, but it is not clear how possible this is (or even if it is necessary).
The market in England took another step into the ridiculous this window, possibly in anticipation of the announcement of a bumper new TV deal later this month. The new deal will not come into effect until summer 2019, but previously we have seen player values inflate immediately after the deal is announced. Game Theory suggests this inflating possibility will have been anticipated.
What you and I have also pondered for over a decade is when the great English football bubble will burst. I’m not going to predict that date, but just as sure as we knew Rangers would crash and burn years before they did, so will the English Premier League. The model has inherent risks which cannot be safely accommodated. Let’s wait and see how much Sky TV are prepared to pay this time.
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hail hail
H.H
ONEMALLOY on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 12:06 PM
GREENPINATA on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 11:32 AM
Bhoys & Ghirls,
With reference to BMCUW’s post @ 11.04 hrs.
I have always felt that there has been too much emphasis in this country about passing written exams in languages .
How many have passed language highers but cannot actually speak the language .
A long overdue educational reality check in languages is required.
Hail Hail and Auf Wiedersehen.
—————————————————————————————————————
I have just been sharing some of the Languages debate with my Partner Ms S. Interestingly as a recently retired Head of English and Modern Languages Dept she says that 30% of any Language exam is now based on “Talking” and almost another 30% is based on “Listening and answering”. Every day’s a school day :)))
HH
CELTIC
What you and I have also pondered for over a decade is when the great English football bubble will burst. I’m not going to predict that date, but just as sure as we knew Rangers would crash and burn years before they did, so will the English Premier League. The model has inherent risks which cannot be safely accommodated. Let’s wait and see how much Sky TV are prepared to pay this time.
=================
Isnt that where Facebook, Amazon, YT, etc come in?
HH
Nearly. Very pleased with the acquisitions this month. Old Alfredo won’t be a happy pawn in the big pantomime he’s involved. Might very well affect the guys performances. Just hope he doesn’t take to comfort eating as it could also affect his grossly inflated vakue
I’m sorry, Paul, but it’s not good enough and we deserve better. Oh, and you’re a mouthpiece for the board.
There, just spoiled the day’s postings for quite a few limbering up in the shadows.
Scott Brown – reading some of the articles earlier where Levein is protesting loudly and bitterly about our Captain, surely Celtic and Brendan will respond, indeed is there a case for the SFA and a disrepute charge being brought against this clown?
HH
I saw a clip of Ian Wright talking about transfers fees in England yesterday and I thought he hit the nail on the head, he said clubs are throwing money around now saying “it’s okay we’ve got the TV money and paying silly money for players” but he went on to say that the recent transfer prices are way out of reality and he found it all ” a little vulgar” now.
I don’t follow football now the way I used to apart from Celtic but I had never heard of the guy Arsenal paid 56 million pounds for.
56 million pounds that’s insane and when Championship clubs are paying 6/7 million for bang average strikers you see what Celtic and clubs like us from smaller leagues are facing.
HH
On the languages debate I do believe we “English Speakers” have it easy I would guess (and it is a gues) 50 plus % if people in planet earth can speak reasonable English So our drive to learn is not great
But as a 6/10 (my mark) Spanish speaker I get great pleasure chatting to Spanish people in their language
I have had some top nights in Barcelona Vigo Valencia watching CELTIC and having a beer with the locals
67ECW
Much better deal for Bain , in on cover with a chance to earn a longer deal, than Carson, a plodding stopgap all his days.375k plus a 2/3 year contract on 7/8k a week.We are going to need a new No 1 soon, we have bought ourselves a bit of time.The Motherwell CEO, should be sacked for refusing our offer for a guy who cost 10k , 6 months ago.They cannot afford to lose this type of money.
Wonder if we could see this outfield this season (3-5-2)?
… Hendry (22) … Simunovic (23)… Ajer (19) ……
………….Kouassi (20) … Ntcham (21)…………
… Roberts (20) … Musonda (21) … Tierney (20)
………. Dembele (21) … Edouard(20) ……..
Not a bad window when all considered, although it looks like we have missed out on Julio Arca again :-)
Obviously one or two are more for the future. Pity about Compper’s injury – could be doing with a bit more experience at the back.
Slightly worried about a bit of overload in the attacking midfield area, especially for next season if everyone is still here. Forrest, Roberts, Sinclair, Musonda, Rogic, Johnston. Then you have Armstrong, McGregor and Ntcham who can all play forward or back. Then Christie and Morgan to come in.
Anyway, hopefully should give us options to play different styles and with more variety.
Oh, and welcome to Celtic to all the new bhoys!
On the languages debate, let them who has their opinions to say write them here, and positively so.
Copyright C Nicholas, native English speaker, on multiple occasions
https://stv.tv/sport/football/1407424-levein-aims-dig-at-brown-for-cochrane-s-collarbone-injury/
We should respond to this….
!!BADA BING!! on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 12:37 PM
My response on twitter …
Embramike @Embramike
Sounds like the school bully who’s been “pantsed” by the big school prefect in public
FROM a manager that sends out
Kyle Sclafferty every week
Sure Broony is laughing but this is shocking
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42902391
So Dave King appears in Scotland, suddenly they can turn down lots of cash for their star player and a couple of fluff pieces appear dressed up as interviews with the latest stooge Murty. Poor guy doesn’t realize come the end of the season he’s getting sacrificed for the sake of some managerial bling to sell more season tickets
bit disappointed with the lack of high quality signings
bain average at best
Hendry young prospect
musonda quality
commper quality
morgan young prospect
we need more experience in defence
as has been proven at European level
boyata simunovic are not good enough at this level
tosic besiktas defender was the type we needed
Sandman 12.18
1). Who would you have liked to join us ?????
2). I have said on here before that Paul67 could be accused not often of being PLs PR man. But I believe that this relationship means Paul67 get accurate info from Celtic before the media
67 ECW
JC2- He should look closer to home, his appeal on Laffatme’s red card v Sheep was scandalous.
67ECW
I think Sandman was being tongue in cheek
Sack The Board
Well we have splashed half the Virgil money, what more do you expect?
Onwards to 10 in a row and £100m Turnover
The transfer window has been particularly odd. Have we strengthened – perhaps with the young guy from Chelsea – but we are paying a lot for that loan deal with no prospect of longer term gain.
The Commper signing me be good – but we got rid of what was previously a performing experienced central defender.
We bought maybe 2 prospects?
And goalkeeping cover.
We didn’t spend much – and are well in the black this transfer window again (never mind CL money etc etc).
Did we only go for the quality that Brendan said we would? Nope! Does Paul’s stuff about buying young Scottish prospects align with that? No? Will we be ensuring that Lewis Morgan brushes his teeth? Probably?
But perhaps most damningly is this quote by Paul:
“We have not measurably improved our chances against Zenit this month, but it is not clear how possible this is (or even if it is necessary).”
Wow! What a statement. So what does this say about what ambition celtic have?
Money first – football – errr – whatever?
I wonder what Brendan really thinks today?
Craig William Levein…
who once assaulted his own team mate breaking his nose, yes Craig, people need protection from feckin idiots like you! Always hated the bassa.
Paul 67,
I think we are in for a long wait for the English bubble to burst. This is a global league, played in England / Wales.
England is to footie what London is to finance.
Even if the bubble got pricked and there were individual casualties; another bubble would emerge.
Celtic are adapting well to this ongoing challenging scenario, but we always want more.
HH and Vaarwel .
PS: enjoyed the chat about languages, but still unhappy that I am unfortunately monolingual despite 5 years of French at school. And now too lazy to remedy this.
Classic African sound to go with your lunch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIBEl26er6Y
GREENPINATA on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 1:03 PM
You’d be surprised how quickly it came back to you, if you ever picked it up again. So many more resources and outlets now to help too.
HH
!BADA BING!! on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 12:29 PM
The Motherwell CEO, should be sacked for refusing our offer for a guy who cost 10k , 6 months ago.They cannot afford to lose this type of money.
So by this logic if we refused £10m for Dembele P. Lawwell should go?
Hearts and Murderwell are the dirtiest teams in the League. Brendan saw it coming the other night and tooled up accordingly. I’m still buzzing at Kouassi the destroyer. GIFUY Levein.
Neg 2,
I als wondered about the Zenit statement by Paul 67.
Some may think that it already a foregone conclusion.
HH.
Neganon, there’s longer term gain if Musonda helps us qualify for the Champions League. He’s the standard that we need.
Traditionalist88.
Thanks for the encouragement , only problem is, I would want to learn Spanish now. : )))))
Cheers.
What is the Stars @ 12.52
Oops !!!! Thanks for heads up.
67 ECW
Wonder if Brendan will ask PSG for another season to work with
Eddy
He is raw but got plenty going for him
Does Murtinho actually know what’s going on? “It’s almost designed to confuse and unsettle”.
Well, yeah, it’s definitely designed. But it’s got nothing to do with unsettling.
Let’s see if continues until the end of the Chinese window. Or will it just disappear all of a sudden…..?
Love the fact that we are now a very young squad, with loads of talent, love it.
Regarding the crap from Levein, best policy for the club is to rise above it and ignore it.
KINGLuBO
SOZ on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 1:08 PM
!BADA BING!! on 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 12:29 PM
The Motherwell CEO, should be sacked for refusing our offer for a guy who cost 10k , 6 months ago.They cannot afford to lose this type of money.
So by this logic if we refused £10m for Dembele P. Lawwell should go?
Is this a serious question?
Interesting variety of views on the transfer window.
We bought two of the brighter prospects of the Scottish game. We got an experienced centre half. We got a talented playmaker who looks like he’s game ready and he’s here for 18 months.
And we did this in the January window when it’s harder to get the players you really want in. We also made money on van dijk and leavevourselves in a string position going in to another difficult (World Cup year!!) transfer window in the summer.
We have no direct competitor in our league to compare our activity to but an already strong squad is now stronger. It’s possible that other squads in the top six are stronger too but we’ve kept ahead of them. Injured players will be returning within the month to boot. I think that would be hard to deny. But deny some people will. The problem is that only time will tell.
2 seasons ago we couldn’t get past the CL qualifiers. We’ve now done it twice and in so doing we’ve changed the entire landscape of the club and of Scottish Football.
It might not be to our tastes but we will also probably take in big money in the summer from player sales and put the club in an even more secure footing. I’d rather we didn’t have to think and act this way but we do. And in my 46 years on this planet Celtic FC has never been on a more stable and secure footing.
It’s also worth pointing out that we have three academy graduates regularly getting first team games with the prospect of another couple to follow. If they were good enough I think we’d all love to see a team full of home grown talent. We couldn’t afford to buy forrrest or tierney if they were at other clubs.
Enjoy the moment because we’ve rarely if ever had it so good.