Just as a year ago, we lost the first game of the season against Newco, but the similarities end with the result. Celtic bossed the first half and created the better chances in an even second period. Goals change games and when Kyogo Furuhashi centred a cross for Odsonne Edouard, the game should have changed. Instead, Odsonne took his eye off the ball, which bounced off his heel and ran to safety.
One week ago today, despite scoring six against St Mirren, I urged Ange Postecoglou to play Kyogo through the middle, if necessary moving Odsonne to the left. He started Kyogo on the left yesterday and although Celtic enjoyed the bulk of possession, they were blunt in front of goal; Odsonne’s miss starkly demonstrating the point. It was a foreseeable error from Ange, which he later accepted.
Although Newco were unable to keep possession throughout the first half, at home, exclusively in front of their own fans, news of their demise was exaggerated. They survived the torrent when required and adjusted their game plan at halftime. From that point, Celtic were no more than equal in the contest until Kyogo moved into the middle on 70 minutes.
After Kygo shot from a tight angle, Ryan Christie reacted animatedly towards his teammate, presumably complaining that the Japanese striker did not square the ball for him to finish in front of goal.
I’m never keen on Celtic players shouting at each other and suspect this show of agitation contributed to Kyogo passing instead of shooting moments later, when the clear shot at goal was on. Our Imperious Icon could be forgiven for wondering why bother laying chances on a plate for others after Edouard’s earlier miss.
Just like the first goal we lost to Newco last season, yesterday’s goal was lost from a set piece but I’m not pressing the panic button on this one. Last year we were unable to form a straight defensive line, it was largely the central defenders who were causing the problems. The defenders were correctly marshalled yesterday, the goal was lost because none of the others picked up a late runner.
The transformation in Celtic in such a short period has been beyond any of our expectations. We will continue to improve and I expect will top the table after Newco’s visit on 2 January. In losing twice so early, however, we have put ourselves under unwelcome pressure. Playing the beautiful stuff is not always rewarded.
Last week they came after the Japanese, yesterday, they came after the Irish. Racism in Scotland is in spate, it was even given a police escort post-match in Glasgow yesterday. It is not the responsibility of Celtic to win so often that the mob have no opportunity to wreak havoc on the city.
Our political leaders and police cannot ignore this problem away. Scotland is home to many cultures, creeds and ethnicities. All will suffer unless the laws of the land are enforced.
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Eddy out the door is sad news for me. I never loke to see talent like his leave Paradise.
He had it, perhaps lost it a bit but – thanks for some great fitba’ an’ a brilliant song…:)))))
The big BIG money we’ll bank for him will not replace him imo.
I hope to see some good news soon.
HH
How many media outlets use this site to garner stories???
Keep seeing peoples posts getting used to create clicks in newsnow?
PHILBHOY on 31ST AUGUST 2021 10:39 AM
I’ve promised myself I won’t sit in front of my laptop until midnight, like I usually do on the last day of the window.
Shopping and housework to do.
Back later!
——–
Get us some tattie scones while you’re out. I’ll square ye up later. Cheers👍
Just got word my son,has Covid.Quite a few of his mates have also tested positive.All go on the same bus,and all together at the game.Who knows?Bus or game.
Had double vacs so just feeling rough like flu.
TURKEYBHOY on 31ST AUGUST 2021 10:54 AM
I have been posting on this site for at least 15 years
I wanted McCarthy when he was at Hamilton but Lawwell wouldn’t pay the money for him.
I have watched as the boy’s career has stalled again and again through injury. There came the point that he needed a move from whatever EPL club had taken an unsuccessful punt on him and every time clowns on here have shouted for him, blind to the fact he’s not the player who left Hamilton.
I have never argued for his return. Most Celtic supporters of my acquaintance have regarded the twice yearly “McCarthy for Celtic” stories as lazy hack garbage. None would’ve touched him with a bargepole even without a transfer fee.
I posted a link yesterday with stats he started 36 EPL game in the last 5 seasons.
A classic Desmond signing – “sexy EPL”, with Irish connection.
A complete waste of money.
From The Celtic Star
Celtic’s 2021 transfer bonanza reaches £50m from player sales
By NIALL J 31 August, 2021
St Johnstone v Celtic – Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership – McDiarmid Park Celtics Odsonne Edouard celebrates scoring their side s first goal of the game with Ryan Christie left during the Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership match at McDiarmid Park, Perth. Picture date: Sunday February 14, 2021. Use subject to restrictions. Editorial use only, no commercial use without prior consent from rights holder. PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xIanxMcNicholx 58081586
Well, it looks as if the club have now said au revoir to French Eddy on the final day of the transfer window, with Crystal Palace paying north of £16 million for Celtic’s star man.
It is a fair sum by Scottish standards for a player in his final contract, yet a fee Palace will soon be looking upon as a bargain as and when Odsonne Edouard settles down to focus entirely on his football again without the off-field uncertainty over his future impacting on his matchday focus.
For Celtic this is a substantial amount of money to hit the club’s accounts and will be particularly welcomed as Ange Postecoglou realises the size of the rebuild he’s been tasked with at the club.
Yet this isn’t the only fee Celtic have received or indeed a hefty weekly wage removed from the club’s salary bill, so as the window closes just how much have Celtic brought into the club in transfer fees since the turn of the year.
Celtic v Livingston – Photo: Andrew Milligan
Well, first up there was Jeremie Frimpong and his move to Bayer Leverkusen. The deal to sell the former Man City project signed from the Citizens for a mere £300k was widely reported to be £11.5m but a hefty sell on fee to City left Celtic pocketing just north of £8m for the right back.
Photo by Stuart Wallace
Next up came the sale of the century as Patryck Klimala headed out the door to Major League Soccer club New York Red Bulls. The fee attached for a player who made little or no impact at Celtic, or wasn’t given a real opportunity depending on your viewpoint, was £3.5million. Hatem Abd Elhamed also returned home to Israel after failing to settle in covid -hit Scotland, with the club recouping around £750k on the initial transfer fee paid.
Another disappointing signing for Celtic was then on the move as Belgian side Mechelen agreed a fee with Celtic to sign Maryan Shved – and his questionable attitude – on a permanent basis after a successful loan spell in the Jupiler League. The fee has generally been stated as unreported but it is believed Celtic recouped somewhere in the region of £900k for the Ukrainian.
Next up saw the man unveiled under the Disco lights at Celtic Park followed a similar route to the Belgian top flight as Maryan Shved, this time via Ligue2 in France. Vakouun Bayo had been expected to sign for Toulouse after an impressive loan spell saw the French club just fail in the play offs for promotion to Ligue1. That failure may have impacted on the available funds to secure the striker on a permanent basis as Gent stole in to conclude the deal for Bayo, for a fee of £1.4m.
And it was the Jupiler League again who came calling as Celtic offloaded Scottish International defender Jack Hendry to Oostende as a loan with an option to buy was concluded for a fee of £1.75m. A decent fee recouped on paper you’d say but given the improvement the player exhibited while performing well in the Belgian top flight you might well see Oostende flip Jack Hendry soon enough and make a substantial profit on a player who has interested clubs in England in the recent past.
Photo: Andrew Milligan
The next player to leave the club was of course Kristoffer Ajer as Celtic’s prized defensive asset eventually moved to West London and joined EPL new boys Brentford, leaving long-term suitors Bayer Leverkusen’s nose somewhat out of joint. The fee for this one was initially reported to be £13.5m with a series of add-ons attached, however it has since been stated that particular figure may have been as much as £17.5million. Not a bad bit of financial business from Dom McKay that one, considering Ajer had made his feelings clear regarding his wish to leave the club and the fact he was in the final year of his contract.
Others of course have left the club as club legend Scott Brown headed north to Aberdeen on a free, Armstrong Oko-Flex headed for London’s East end and West Ham United and young goalkeeper Vincent Angelini, moved to the EPL as well and joined newly promoted Watford for a nominal fee.
Ntcham Scores vs Lazio
The enigma that was Olivier Ntcham was eventually freed from his contract as Celtic simply chose to cut their losses, before a real defensive prospect in Leo Hjelde chose to join the Under-23 set up at Leeds United rather than stay for the final year of his deal with the Hoops. A disappointing transfer that one given Celtic’s defensive lack of numbers and despite a transfer fee being involved the figure hasn’t actually been reported, yet if Celtic even received as much as £1m for the combined sales of Hjelde, Oko-Flex and Angelini they’d have been doing well.
And now it looks like we’ll be adding Odsonne Edouard and some £16m to the list of those who have chosen to head for challenges away from Celtic for the next chapters of their careers.
Even at a conservative estimate, and not including the re-assessed figure of Kris Ajer’s transfer fee to Brentford, or any fees recouped Hjelde, Oko-Flex and Angelini, Celtic have attracted transfer fees in the region of £45m since Jeremie Frimpong started a steady stream of players looking to ply their trade away from Celtic. It is possible if those other fees were included Celtic could have gained as much as £50m.
Ryan Christie. Photo: Jane Barlow
With the transfer window yet to close and with rumours abound – Ryan Christie is set to join Bournemouth with the transfer fee rumours ranging from £1m to £3m – and others may also be moving today, so there may well be further fees recouped by midnight tonight. It will also be interesting to see just how much is ultimately reinvested in strengthening Ange Postecoglou’s rebuild on the back of the money banked. Very interesting indeed.
Niall J
£ 1,000 would replace the Eddy we have been watching.He was great,then he was crap.Dont see all this affection heading Griffs way.He was great,then he was crap.No difference in my book.Eddy,just a mercenary like most others.Wish him well,but he was always leaving us.His crap form lost us about 10 million in transfers.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1432628108839038976
SAINT STIVS @ 10:09 AM,
What does success look like?
Guess that’s both a subjective and a relative thing.
What I would say as an example of success is what the Celtic custodians achieved when they wrestled away Celtic FC from the clutches of the administrator and within a decade had built a 60,000 seater stadium, managed to crush the stranglehold Rangers had in Scottish football and get the team to the final of a European competition.
Now that’s ten years of success.
Been downhill ever since, of course we have had ups and downs, the ups have been great, thanks in the main to Brendan and the bhoys but from Tony Mowbray onwards the direction of travel has been one way.
Re-writing the seasons won’t wash
Example – Lenny brought through how many academy players?
Let me tell you… One… James Forrest. ..
Any success we had was despite the Board not because of the Board.
Example – When Rangers died Celtic were pretty much guaranteed to be Champions of Scotland.
The UEFA brought in the Champions route for UCL qualification.
Celtic should have qualified for the UCL every season. Sure luck of the draw, the odd poor performance would have meant Europa football now and again. But UCL group stages should have been the norm
The opposite has been true and now getting the Europa instead of the conference is “success”. Expectations managed.
Hail Hail
TURKEYBHOY
I travelled on a crowded supporters bus from and to Edinburgh for the St Mirren game and by Monday evening I had tickly throat and cough. It developed into runny nose and on Saturday I had a PCR test which confirmed Covid-19. No more than what I’d describe as a common cold and thank goodness for the double vaccination.
I definitely put it down to the supporters bus which had dozens of young unvaccinated guys on board.
My symptoms have passed and I feel ok but for the foreseeable future I’ll be taking my car to games.
-SQUIRE DANAHER on 31ST AUGUST 2021 11:06 AM
TURKEYBHOY on 31ST AUGUST 2021 10:54 AM,
I agree.You make the very point I was making.Listening to a lot on here regards transfers,is a nonsense.I was sick of the clamour to get him here.
In saying that,now he is here,let’s hope we get something from him.I will reserve judgement.
TOM MCLAUGHLIN on 31ST AUGUST 2021 11:17 AM
Good news mate.There is an older guy goes on the bus,with some real underlying issues,and at the moment not too good.Worse than the others.
TB- years ago the huns were notorious for hounding players after a couple of games, thanks to social media, it’s not just them
If Eddie does go today, of course I’ll regret his loss of form over the past months but my abiding memory will be his treble-winning goal against Hearts at Hampden. There was a tiny pause while we sucked in our breath and in that pause the ball hit the net, I’ll never forget the sound it made. It was one of the highlights of my Celtic-supporting life, and I’ve been around a while!
Thanks for the memories, M. Edouard. A great talent and I wish you the best. And if you can get us a massive sell-on fee, so much the better.
They’re leaving us short. Course they are. It’s what they do.
Profit, profit, profit, it’s the CELTIC WAY…
GARYGILLESPIESHAMSTRING on 31ST AUGUST 2021 11:10 AM
https://twitter.com/i/status/1432628108839038976
Exactly what I was saying.A guy who scored over 100 goals for us,with health issues,is being booed and told to GTF.A guy who only came to put himself in the shop window,with 10 times the talent Griff has,downed tools in our most important season,and played atrocious.Now being treated like a hero.
I will always remember Griff,driving the Huns apoplectic,putting the scarves on their goalposts,wiping his nose on their flag,in the Broomloan when he was not playing with a giant tri color.”Yer teams deid mate,beat it”
My memories of Griff.
Those transfer fees should buy a lot of white flags.
Try the huns then. Nae profit there.
OH,FFS,the two Amigos have arrived.
“What’s that Mother,time for tea,I’ll be right there”
For me it was their attitude. Both seemed disinterested and selfish last season. That’s unforgivable in my book.
On his day Edouard was unplayable, but I can’t remember the last time he kicked a ball for Celtic.
From memory I can’t recall Christie having a good game against the huns. Being counted in those games is kind of important if you play for Celtic
I wish both well, but it was time they moved on.
Make that the 3 Amigos.
Turkeybhoy…fanatically fickle fans.
Hendry going for £6 million seemingly….
Griffiths was unfit for the whole of the “ten” season, showed no willingness to rectify it.
Coupled with yet more outside football activity, would we really want a guy like him?
Sad to see Eddy go, I would have loved to have seen him and Koygo form a partnership. Hopefully, this transfer deadline day does not leave us with the sad sinking feeling of the last few years. Whatever happened to the Dembélé money?
new article posted.
Excellent business if we get £3M for another wantaway who can walkaway in January for nothing.
His ‘better form’ this season earned him a wage rise offer, but he’s clearly not as good as
he thinks he is and has been leaving since the start of last year.
With 3 out the door today minimum we need players in. Even on loan. at least one CF. attacking MF with energy. CH
!!BADA BING!!
Hendry going for £6 million seemingly….
I hope the Bhoy does well but I have a funny feeling he will be back on loan at us (or them) next season.
PS we should have had them in months ago. all down to the board not bringing in a manger at start off the year. Killed this seasons build up
Selling players who don’t want to be here after a shutdown of football and in an economic world wide dowturn? Good idea.
Ditching them to reserves, loses their value so you play them. Sevco ditch them and then can’t sell them.
Players already in who the manager wanted…Abada, Kyogo..(for similar positions)
A commitment to play youths, about time academy needs a clearer route to the first team.
The pattern of moaners and their one line digs, tells everyone they’re trolls. They know it too, they just like attention or are plants.
Pleased so many are seeing through them.
!BADA BING!! on 31ST AUGUST 2021 11:23 AM
TB- years ago the huns were notorious for hounding players after a couple of games, thanks to social media, it’s not just them
We should not be acting like those illiterate morons.Surely it does not take a great deal of brain cells to know that not all players settle as quickly as others.To make up your mind about a player after a few games is ridiculous.Both ways.Some supremely talented players have problems.
Abada had a couple of good games,and they were on here saying”Much better than Forrest”Really!!!!!After a couple of games?It takes time.
TURKEYBHOY
I have seen Carter- Vickers a few times.
Not impressed.
What makes you think he would be a good signing.
Because he’s with Spurs.
Laxalt came from AC Milan and look how that turned out.
MARADOMINIC on 31ST AUGUST 2021 11:43 AM
PS we should have had them in months ago. all down to the board not bringing in a manger at start off the year. Killed this seasons build up
Yes,and which manager should we have brought in?Where would the money have come from in the worst of the Pandemic,to buy these players.
Just opening mouth,and making nonsense.
ST TAMS,
Where did I say he was any good?I have only seen him once.No opinion on him.I know he was highly rated in the States.Enough for Spurs to buy him.Thats it.I said maybe we would have a nibble.We might.
If you want an endorsement on a player,read my views on Lovric.
Griff official to Dundee on a seasons loan.
Eddie official subject to Medical, £17.5m plus add ons plus sell on percentage.
Ryan between Bournemouth and Burnley. with a fee to be announced.
The want aways that you wanted away, are away, whits you shifting the moaning onto now ?
Kerching.
rubs hands in a scrooge mcduck type capitalistic manner.
Good luck LG – start hammering them in again !