BBC’s Jim Spence reports this morning that Dundee United have rejected a £900k bid from Celtic for striker Nadir Ciftci (23), as Ronny Deila continues his quest to recreate the all-conquering (cough) Dundee United team of 2014.
While Ciftci is clearly talented, this is an unexpected move. He can hold the ball up and bring others into play but he never struck me as having Ronny Deila-type industry. Not that he would be the first convert to perpetual motion.
With John Guidetti away and Stefan Scepovic yet to stake a claim, we’ve space for a couple of strikers. It would be good to have at least one before the qualifiers.
Dukla Prague are one of those teams who my generation grew up hearing about. They were one of the finest teams in Europe, with one of the world’s top players, Josef Masopust, who sadly died yesterday. Masopust won the Ballon d’Or in 1962, after leading the great Czechoslovakia to the World Cup final that year, which they lost to Brazil.
He faced Celtic with Dukla in the semi-final of the European Cup in 1967, losing only once in the competition, at Celtic Park. Czech football retains the potential to create great teams, but, denied access to TV deals available in neighbouring parts of the EU, they have been robbed of the ability to achieve meritocratic progression.
The passing of Masopust is a chance to celebrate a great player and team, and to regret what appears forever lost because of television.
Enjoying Phil MacGiollaBhain’s work with the Belfast Telegraph, laid bare in his blog of yesterday. He includes scanned letters from the newspaper’s editor who regards it as “outrageous to suggest that I, or the Belfast Telegraph, would operate a blacklist of any form”, including one which includes Phil, despite how popular such a move would be in places.
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The expectation management is a real success, even if the transfer policy is very poor.
The old silk purse out of a pigs ear routine, which very rarely works.
But carry on regardless.
It is fecking depressing.
awe_naw_no_annoni_oan_anaw_noo
20:37 on 30 June, 2015
Of those you mention mate
Guidetti, Scepovic, Tonev and Gordon were on the list before RD was thought of.
Denayer was Ronny’s pick. As was Berget.
Armstrong and GMS were RD’s picks I believe but GMS was on the list when Neil was here.
Of RD’s picks Berget for sure is one of his flops.
The only one I’m not sure about is Waskaso.
So far, for sure there has only been one flop, possibly two if Wakaso was his pick.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
A few thoughts on recent transfer speculation.
1) I suspect there is a one in one out policy
Balde goes, ANO comes in
2) The fact that we are nearly at the end of our fiscal year is signifant. If the numbers are looking good, we can probably afford to add someone else to the Impairment list.
3) Our signing strategy for strikers has been a disaster, which makes the decision to let proven quantities like Hooper and Samaras leave without much of a fight even worse
4) Samaras and Hooper were no Sutton/ Larsson, but, they could score goals – Hooper domestically & in Europe, Sammy in Europe. I have no idea how much it would have cost to keep these two, but it would have been a lot less than the impairment costs for Puuki, Bangura, Rasmussen, Balde, Lassad etc et
6) Cant say signing Cifci excites me, hopefully , to quote Paul 67, if the agent is talking to the press, he isnt talking to us.
Fwiw my view on Ciftci is that , primarily , he’s a player who gives us a different option up front , given his strength and ability to hold the ball up with his back to goal. I don’t see him being first choice.
Lennybhoy
Berget was on JP list before he signed for Cardiff, so may have been an option given to Ronny ? and Wakaso was also being spoken about before Ronny arrived from memory
Now I Also see Ross County have signed 3 players today
That’s 5 players all signed for SPFL teams, all must be great players, they were Free, let’s see what the MSM have to say :-)
green man
20:49 on 30 June, 2015
Was it something said in the dim and distant past…..? ……would you like the gasl’s number ?
CCB
All well with you?
I agree our strikers have been poor , with the possible exception of Griffiths , since Hooper left.
In all honesty though can we compete at all now when a player and his agent know he can go to the English championship , let alone the Premiership, for a salary far higher than we can compete with?
RobertTressell @20:03
indeed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruGk8aKeOYQ
LowkeyCSC
clashcitybhoy
21:00 on 30 June, 2015
Players who have left Celtic since end of season
Guidetti, Denayer, Tonev, Wakaso, Pukki, Balde, Zaluska, Herron
There may be more from the youngsters ?
Off topic
Looking for some advice
Taking Ms Brnobhoy to New York in August and would like to grad a Broadway Show
Any top tips on when/where to buy tickets?
Cheers
Brnobhoy
tlwio,
I refuse to accept we cannot compete with English championship teams on wages, I believe we simply don’t want to compete as it’s easier and lazy administration to throw blame around for our administrations failures.
I truly beleive Ronny gets a free ride nowadays.
The signings within his tenure have been fair.
The results have been fair.
I have swayed in favour of the
Mhan but…… I can see
Through the clubs PR drive and Commercial roars.
67Heaven
Get me on that board….they need told.
I could not possibly do worse.
Businessmen who know nothing about football.
Who take no responsibility for failure.
And who draw huge salaries and bonuses.
Who tell us that Celtic are a CL team….and then attempt to reach the group stages by bidding for crap players.
You cannot get something for nothing.
No CL on the cheap….it cant work.
If you do not try to improve the playing staff, you cannot improve the team.
HH
Agree with Canamalar 100%.
canamalar
I read an interesting article recently and wage wise championship is where we are at best.
Im surprised about comments on scepovic being a flop, when he has played he’s done very well and found the net. Considering the opportunities he has had hes far from a flop.
Cifti’s an interesting one, Domestically he can do it. In Europe not so sure, but thats the same for our current crop of strikers. However hooper never played in Europe before joining us and he developed very well, the same can happen with griffiths, scepovic etc
quonno
19:46 on 30 June, 2015
I understand your annoyance and irritation that Scottish nationalism has never been a part of the heritage and culture of Celtic. There’s good reasons for that of course, if you know your history. But please, there’s no need for the conspiracy theories. The fact remains, Willie Haughey does not own or control Celtic Park. You seem to think he does, as do some huns.
Any day you see a gent on a penny farthing is a good day.
I beleive every clubs will have
Minor Fluctuations in quality but for
Celtic, we seem to have had a continued decline in quality over
The past decade.
The Green Man
I posted my disappointment at our interest in Ciftci early this morning.
You posted just before or after me, I can’t remember.
Anyway, here we are 13 hours later and you’re still arguing the case.
I salute u sir!
HH
cowiebhoy
Didn’t know that about Berget, was putting two and two together given he was Norwegian. Waskaso didn’t know that either. Makes RD’s pick ratio even better when you think of success rate of choosing who to sign.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
guernica
I agree wholeheartadly with you, but Ronny will be given little cash to spend, and better players than we have will cost more than we will spend, end of.
HH
Brnobhoy – we got our tix from the office near the South St seaport.
They were uncheap; you might get a better deal at your hotel or in Times Sq.
Thanks dontbrattbakinanger
TLWIO,
I am well thanks, and hope you are similar.
I agree, we cant compete with EPL teams, but I do think we can compete with Championship teams.
I would also suggest we could look at cutting our cloth in different ways
– A smaller pool of better quality players, supplemented by more youngsters.In the season just finished, I suspect we had somewhere between £3 to £5m of wages being paid to guys who were sitting in the stands, or out on loan.
Its also worth having a look at the costs of our board.
When Fergus first arrived, and we started to get transparency on the cost of our board, it was less than 0 .5% of turnover, now it hovers around 2 to 3%.
Whilst we need to pay what it takes, paying the equivalent of £3 /5 k a day to have someone like Ian Livingston on board is probably the going rate, but not for others, and the board imho are paid about 30 to 40% more than they should be for a £50/£60 m business.
*the king vic 67*
21:15 on 30 June, 2015
Terminal decline for a decade?
A decade during which we have won 7 league championships, 7 domestic cups and reached group stage of CL 6 times, 3 of which we qualified for the last 16.
Green man, if your depressed with the way the club is at the moment I take it you weren’t around in the late 80s and 90s, that was DEPRESSING.
I’m 41 and I’ve never had it as good as it is just now, may it continue forever.
A great time to be a Celtic supporter
gary67
21:22 on 30 June, 2015
Well said mate, HH
Phew
Championship side Middlesbrough are set to launch a bid for Dundee United striker Nadir Ciftci, according to the Daily Mail.
The 23-year-old joined Dundee from NAC Breda in 2013 and has since gone on to make 64 appearances for the Scottish Premier League side – he scored 14 goals last season, and finished as the second top scorer in Scotland.
He’s been heavily linked with a switch to Boro’s Championships rival’s Huddersfield Town this year, but Terriers boss Chris Powell has ruled out making a move in order to focus on other areas.
Celtic have already had an approach for his signature rejected for the man who has a year left on his contract and is rejecting new offers by the club.
Boro boss Aitor Karanka needs to bring in new strikers this summer as Patrick Bamford and Jelle Vossen return to their parent clubs after loan spells.
The Sky Bet Championship outfit are set to make a £1.7 million offer this week, and it is uncertain as of yet whether Dundee United will accept of reject this imminent offer.
hun skelper
Ive been watching Celtic since I was 5 years old.
I know a crap player when I see one….and ive seen loads
PL knows nothing about football.
He needs stopped…keep him away from football matters
HH
Gary67
It’s all relative, while we have been winning these things domesticaly, the rest of scottish footy has been declining radicly, kudos for our CL exploits is down to GS and Lenny in spite of the board imo.
HH
clashcity bhoy,
The problem is we are downsizing the squad, Ronny has already said he wants a smaller squad, trick being, under MON we had a small decent quality squad, under WGS and NFL we down graded the quality but increased the squad numbers. We are now expected to accept a small squad with less quality because we’ve learned to accept the bullshit that we can’t have quality at Celtic any more.
Brnobhoy
There is a place that sells tickets in Times Sq, for shows that day.
I would use it if you want to go ( or if you get dragged to) a second or third show, as seats can be real hit and miss.
My Mrs bought tickets for a show, and was right at back of stalls, which she thought was ok, until she realised there were standing only spaces behind , full of folk who were hyperactive
I would also recommend going to Ellen’s Stardust Diner, where the staff are all broadway students & very talented.
Clashcitybhoy
Spot on….ive got a wee suggestion.
Sack half the board….and buy a decent striker.
Works for me.
HH
Been away on holiday , Vilamoura and trying to catch up.
How much did we get for Pukki , anybody ?
H H
spiritof67
21:34 on 30 June, 2015
£500k
spirit of 67
Two dozen pies and a crate of Irn Bru:)
HH
the green man
21:29 on 30 June, 2015
Buy the club and sack him then ….
TET
I agree but I did not want to upset those rigid belief systems too much.
We will see the usual window. If we qualify for CL we will spend a little at the end if tbe Window after VVD departure but with a net gain. If we dont we will not. Our recent forays in the market will be to cover those earmarked to go. Griffiths, Mulgrew and VVD.
HH