Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (19), joined on a season-long loan from Manchester City yesterday, following a tradition of City central defenders after Jason Denayer and Dedryck Boyata took the same route.
We have a settled first-choice on the right of central defence with Cameron Carter-Vickers, while on the left we vacillate between Liam Scales and Auston Trusty. Jahmai is right-footed, so it would be a surprise to see him dislodge Liam and Auston, he is more likely to deputise for Cameron – who needs a reliable backup.
With Liam, Auston and Hayato Inamura available for the left position, right side is covered by Cameron, Jahmai, Stephen Welsh (25). and Dane Murray (22). Seven is at least one central defender too many. Dane is in the last year of his contract and Brendan Rodgers is likely to spend the remainder of the month making a final decision on whether to allow him or Stephen (who has two years on his contract) to leave the club this month.
Playing our League Cup game against Falkirk on the Friday gives us extra recovery time before the first qualifier, five days later. In deciding to play Livingston at home, three days before the return leg, instead of exercising the option to postpone that game, Brendan clearly feels his squad will need gametime. Given that Sloven and Almaty will both have played twice as many competitive games as Celtic at that stage, it feels a good call.
Regular reminder: there are 13 days to add to our Champions League playoff squad and 25 days to add to our season squad. Getting it done right is more important than getting it done early. Fretting about our Coefficient Monkeys is not a good look. We spent £27m between 6 Aug 2024 and the end of that month. Try to remember how successful sides work.
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Blogger GM
Not sure re Brugge ‘club signings’ going on loan. 3 were free transfers. I will endeavour to find the answer. Also more re their structure.
Cheers Jimmy 👍
Don’t know if there is any truth in the Adam Obert rumours.
Usual [INSERT CLUB NAME] won’t budget p15h in Celtic cyberspace.
But, as a 6’1″ Centre back?
… he sure fits the profile.
Are there low ceilings in the weights room in Lennoxtown we should know about?
Typo – budge
B78 – thanks, but my question was a bit tongue-in-cheek: our manager seems to want everyone to know Inamura and Yamada are nothing to do with him and were signed by the “club” (here was me thinking that as manager he was part of the club, but it shows you how wrong you can be sometimes).
The Blogger Formerly Known As GM @ 9:11 am,
Or how wrong you can be most of the time, about your mate…
It’s worth remembering, that although we regularly failed to get into the UCL proper, we lost millions and millions on moneyball players, we crashed and burned to a “strong R2ngers”…
The CEO still managed eye watering bonus payments.
Hail Hail
We seem to be run as a private company, with one difference, an AGM once a year after that you come to your own conclusions on goals direction policy and ambition.
Sorry to disappoint, Chairbhoy, I’ve never met or even been in the same room as Peter Lawell.
But you just crack on making stuff up👍
The Blogger Formerly Known As GM…
Getting down to brass tax with the…
Arne, Auston, A-dam…. Phenomenon
Let’s get some context, were they a departure from our norm recruitment
Yes
Have they been a roaring success
No
Have they added value to the first team
Emphatically Yes
Now, let’s get things in context, we were about to embark on the new UCL format and our first team group weren’t fit for purpose*
We had Adam Idah on loan for six months and he did a great job backing up Kyogo.
We needed him in but didn’t get a loan to buy, Adam was a circa 6 mn striker, a loan to buy might have meant we got him at 3-4 mn, as it happens Norwich played hard ball and very rarely for a high value player, Celtic paid over the odds and had to pay 8.5 mn for Adam.
Now, no doubt the football side of the company said, we can develop Adam into a eight figure sum player, no problem.
So, granted, this has been a problem, as Adam is still looking like a 6 mn player.
For Trusty and Engels we paid the going rate* again, very un-Celtic like.
Now not that it’s relevant outside the…
Arne, Auston, A-dam… nonsense**
But we still 20 mn plus worth of players there.
Look at the last twenty months of phenomenal squad management.
*Our first team group was in a mess going into a hugely important season as our 2023 recruitment had been a car crash – the head job was given out of nepotism and not experience or knowledge. It was who Mark Lawwell knew, not what he knew that got him the job. The mess had to be cleared up and that as usual took time and money – it’s the folk who recruited him that should be getting pelters, not those left to clear up the mess.
**That’s the best you target BR&CO with, no Mo Bangura, no Derk Boerigtor or Yuki Kobayashi in sight
Hail Hail
Careful we don’t over invest? There is taking the p*ss and there there is that!! Extraordinary the length some will go to defend their position – this is real Trumpian stuff ffs………..
Even if we only invested the majority of the gains we still wouldn’t be touching the principle – we are currently approx £20m short on that idea…….
My big worry is that we are not yet finished selling however if we follow the logic that no investment can be made when a manager is in final year of a contract does the same apply to selling assets?? no laughing at the back…
Adam Obert, £3million bid reportedly rejected.
We apparently believe a 22 year old with 12 international caps and over 40 Serie A appearances is worth £500K more than Basun Lawal…
Surely if Brendan Rodgers has signed a new contract we would have known by now,our club are good at asking for money on renewing your season ticket,and merchandise ,but when questioned about Rodgers contract, new players arriving etc ,we are told nothing,
Reading back….sounds like we’re a basket case!
An Dún on 7th August 2025 9:58 am
Adam Obert, £3million bid reportedly rejected.
We apparently believe a 22 year old with 12 international caps and over 40 Serie A appearances is worth £500K more than Basun Lawal…
——-
I hear you An Dun .. but i read it differently.
If I may reframe based on your text …
We apparently believe the ongoing success of our trading model will be best served by attempting to secure …
… a 22 year old with 12 international caps and over 40 Serie A appearances …
…. for a fee which is just £500K more than we received for Bosun Lawal.
AD- Good comparison
BTW, An Dun – just on that pursuit of this guy
(Who I’d never heard of last week)
A very common theme among the negative, frustrated, exasperated commentators of our transfer business …
.. is a default position that the selling clubs’ perceived or public valuation of a player is robust, principled, honourable and absolutely not to be challenged.
Helps to justify and perpetuate “low ball”, “dithering”, “penny pinching”, “unprofessional”, “insulting”, “embarrassing” narratives.
But hey …
Why pay £6.9m for Mathias Kvistgaarden when you can easily get him for £12m ?
seems Club Celtic are getting the CLQ game free of charge
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 7TH AUGUST 2025 10:28 AM
Are you putting up the fact that Norwich triggered the £7 million release clause for a player we’d been persuing for multiple windows as evidence of our competent transfer policy?
If some muppet on the blogosphere at some point suggested we were in for Darwin Nunez would we now be getting ‘snubbed’ as he’s going to Al-Hilal for £46m.
It’s mental on here and elsewhere, at the point now where no matter who we sign it’s going to be greeted with disdain.
Is there a wee room in the bowels of ibrox with funny looking men in sashes infiltrating Celtic blogs from their computers.
Maybe Celtic will surprise us all and spend decent money on 1st ready players before the window closes , or will they revert to type (last year excepted) and say they tried their best but couldn’t quite get deals over the line ?
1st team ready #
borgo67- and 400k a week tax free
Timmy 7
Who said the manager has signed a new deal ? That would be good news and can hopefully end the game theory or even game playing and can allow focus on football. I am not aware of it though.
An Dún on 7th August 2025 10:53 am
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL …
Are you putting up the fact that Norwich triggered the £7 million release clause for a player we’d been persuing for multiple windows as evidence of our competent transfer policy?
—-
Cheers AD.
Absolutely not.
And I am very comfortable that our transfer policy (positioning, ownership, competency) is discussed and challenged publicly.
What i am putting up?
The issue of blind acceptance as truth of numbers which are “put out there”
The people putting them out there ALWAYS have the same vested interest.
(£,€,$,¥ … either directly or indirectly).
Hard of thinking types then readily swallow these numbers and indulge in the same tiresome refrain …
“Just pay the money, Celtic !!”
Including that drunken idiot who harangued Peter Lawwell at Love Street.
Dessybhoy
Show me a more transparent senior football club, aside from Motherwell, in Scotland.
Show me a more transparent football club in top
Flight in UK ?
Numbers are all there public and despite some really sad bitter folks rhetoric nobody is taking fortunes out of the club.
BADA
It’s crazy money.
He’s got a some real pace but if we were in that market he would be a no from me.
FOURSTONECOPPI on 7TH AUGUST 2025 10:10 AM
Reading back….sounds like we’re a basket case!
—————-
😂😂😂😂
Dont agree where is the world class in everything we do, we aren’t its total self appraisal spoken by those who are unchallengable on it, you tell me where are we world class you have the floor? Or what is World Class about Celtic Football Club/ Celtic plc? I’m asking you beacause the CEO who is paid a fortune wont tell us?
I see Celtic, Aberdeen & Partick have been sanctioned for pyros. I assume the SPL are still looking into missiles being thrown at Celtic players in recent games at Ibrox? 🤔
Maybe we need another 10m in the bank to be World Class who knows.
new article posted.
Why on earth has the exterior of the stadium been allowed to deteriorate?
Easy fixes, paint the grey and rusting poles, Install some LED screens that can be used to show historic players and goals as well as advertising whatever the hell they want to sell that week.
Do the board members not see this when they go to matches???
I think the general consensus is we look reasonable at the back but very light up front both in terms of quality and depth so why are we supposedly tracking another defender?
If this is correct we do not seem to have a joined up plan. We seem determined to make an arse of this window as the school bhoys all seem to fall out with one another………..
Celtic appear to have no requirement to engage with us or just push the boat a little quicker to please fans/customers. Are they so far removed from reality that they can’t take the temperature in the room and throw us something? Could they try just a little harder to get a positive headline and get us all onside – clearly not.
Worst case scenario currently is that anyone with some influence hates everyone else and and they are all as stubborn as each other and if this is remotely close to the truth then we are in big trouble. At this moment anything less than that shitshow would seem positive………
Who’s in charge of our transfer strategy
WhatstrategyCSC