News that Fraser Forster has signed a long term contract with Celtic, who will pay Newcastle United £2m for his services, adds some welcome stability ahead of the Champions League qualifiers. Buying a new, first-choice, keeper is fraught with the kind of difficulties Neil Lennon would rather avoid.
Last summer we looked at Croatian international Stipe Pletikosa, who performed at the European Championships, but he failed to impress during his trial period at Celtic, including a poor performance against Wolves at Celtic Park.
Last year we also looked at Polish cap, Gregorz Sandomierski, who subsequently went to Belgian club racing Genk for €3m, but he failed to make a competitive appearance for Genk and was shipped back to Poland on loan. By comparison, Forster, who turned 24 on St Patrick’s Day, cemented his place with the champions.
Last year Celtic concluded a provisional deal with Newcastle to sign Fraser on a permanent deal this summer but although player and club were both keen to do business, negotiations took until the end of the players’ summer break, perhaps reflecting a tightening of Celtic’s finances ahead of what could be a period of financial uncertainty in the Scottish game.
982 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- ...
- 26
- »
Minceyheidman on 2 July, 2012 at 13:12 said:
Hey you lot , nothing wrong with mince.
—————————————————————-ly
Unless it’s flying
philvisreturns on 2 July, 2012 at 13:20 said:
BobbyRussell – oh deer
I know your game. (thumbsup)
I`m not playing any game, I was merely ribbing you. What`s your beef? I`m pig sick of this tripe. Mind you, if you took up my challenge of a square go i`d probably chicken out of it. I may even duck out of it. Tartare for now….
remember that old 70’s classic?….Pie, Pie, Pie, Pie ya hun….
Even the really stupid of the Stupids know that things have changed somewhat (even if they haven’t quite grasped the concept of liquidation and death).
However, I don’t think it has really hit any of them fully (the really stupids, the quite stupids and the merely dim alike) due to being shielded by the close season where there is no football for any of us and not just them. Once the season starts, they will really feel it as they come to terms with Division 3 at best or no football at all.
They should think of it as their gap year.
rangers players moan after cars were taken off them by car giant at murray park
they said that the had to wait audi for a taxi
All those years wondering and I finally understood what
“vorsprung durch technik” means.
Apparently it means “we don’t do walking away”.
Guess they need a new ad campaign now.
Things that make you feel old:
Fraser Forster, Gary Hooper, and Anthony Stokes were all born in our centenary year. (thumbsup)
Anyone want to buy a can of Red Bull?
MWD ;-))
Thanks to sligobhoy on KDS
John Bomber Brown @johnbomberbrown
Meeting being arranged with #RFC & Donald Findlay QC (my advisor). Dont buy season books till Donald gives his report. Pls RT #VeryImportant
This guy is getting funnier than Ron Burgundy
BobbyRussell – Mind you, if you took up my challenge of a square go i`d probably chicken out of it. I may even duck out of it.
I’m a liver, not a fighter. (thumbsup)
Red Indian went into a car showroom and said “Audi”
Ooh, you lot are offal!!
Queen going to be in Glasgow on Wednesday, for a Jubilee party in George Square.
Unfortunately I fly out on holiday tomorrow. Anyone going to George Square want to let me know how it goes?
Son of Gab
My wive did the same a few weeks ago was out of action for abt 5days. Wrapped it in a towel a sat it on a radiator and prayed. Works ok now tho the fuel bill will be huge next month! <:o(
Good luck.
31003 – ye forgot Combine Harvester
:)
(thumbsup)
B R
How.
Dead and Loving it on 2 July, 2012 at 13:19 said:
If it wasn’t that stick, they would find another…
Tom McClure @airman614
@johnbomberbrown keep fighting John, you are the only hope we have, #WATP
Details Expand Collapse Reply RetweetedRetweet
Delete
FavoritedFavorite
=============================================
If Bomber is the ONLY hope they have they have no hope
nohopeofromecsc
I received this today via Email :
FOOD FOR THOUGH WHEN THOSE WHO REPRESENT YOU, ALL VOTE BASED ON AN INSULAR SELF MOTIVATED HATRED,
RATHER THAN WHAT IS RIGHT FOR THE GOOD OF SCOTTISH FOOTBALL.
REMEMBER IT IS ONLY RIGHT THAT THE WHOLE OF SCOTTISH FOOTBALL SUFFER IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET YOUR OWN BACK ON RANGERS.
LETS HOPE THOSE WHO ARE LAID OFF AND SIGNING ON IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS HAVE THE SAME RESPONSE.
IF CLUBS GO TO THE WALL IN THE COMING YEARS THEN LOOK NO FURTHER THAN YOURSELVES AND YOUR CHAIRMEN.
Ron Scott – The Voice of Experience – Sunday Post – July1 2012
“The way the Scottish football authorities have allowed the Rangers scenario to unravel is nothing short of disgraceful.
The whole sorry episode should have been nipped in the bud.
Instead we’re now in the situation where it’s not just the survival of Rangers that’s at stake, but the Scottish game itself.
As the fans and clubs become hysterical about how the Light Blues should be punished, it’s worth remembering the Ibrox club has done nothing unlawful.
Employment Benefit Trusts are legal. That’s why HMRC wants to close this particular loophole.
Informed sources suggest, at worst, Rangers will receive fine, and there appears no danger of having to pay back-tax on the system Sir David Murray implemented.
The SFA then decided to impose severe sanctions on Rangers after awakening to the fact that Craig Whyte was not a fit and proper person to own the club.
Yet the independent Ibrox board set up to look into Whyte while he was still negotiating with Murray decided themselves that [he] wasn’t fit and proper to own the club.
They told the SFA that at least fifteen months ago, but the powers-that-be decided in their wisdom to take no action at that time.
Now the situation is like a runaway train full of explosives that’s about to be derailed and blow up the whole of Scottish football.
Let’s face the obvious here. Not even Celtic will be able to sustain their present level for long without Rangers.
So if they end up having to make cuts, how is the rest of Scottish football going to survive?
There are already whispers that other SPL clubs will be forced into administration.
There is even talk of part-time football at the highest level, never mind the First Division.
It’s all very well to bleat on about sporting integrity. But why risk the entire future of Scottish football especially when the facts clearly show Rangers have done nothing wrong.
At the end of the day, the main villain of the piece remains Whyte, with Murray a close second.
It’s totally wrong to run the risk of losing Rangers altogether and sending down the entire game with them.
If SPL & SFL kick Gers out of football they will kill our game By jim Traynor on Jul 2, 12 07:25 AM
THE shape of things to come will be decided by close of play Wednesday. We should know by then if Scottish football has been big enough to edge back from the brink. For months now there has been a savagery. The game has been ripping itself apart all in the name of fair play. Or was it sporting integrity? Forgive me, the reasons for the crisis that threatens to destroy Scottish football have been lost somewhere in the lust to tear and shred one club. It’s as though a century of hatred and probably jealousy have erupted. And the handful of reasoned souls left in the game are fighting a losing battle to cap the flow. The trouble is too many men with influence have been working not for the good of the game but to selfish agendas. They’ve done bad things in the name of morality. They’ve abused their privileged positions and if there was any decency left in the sleazy, tacky football world they inhabit they would not be allowed inside Hampden this or any other week. The dishonourable posing as protectors of the game’s integrity by making up laws and punishments as they go along. By arguing and pressing for more severe punishments and demanding that Rangers newco be stripped of titles and trophies won in the EBT years by another business entirely, they are inflaming and prolonging an agonisingly painful and damaging period. Anyone who believes that stripping the old Rangers of baubles will help solve this meltdown should be ignored, pushed aside because we are way beyond bragging rights. We, Scottish football, are on the brink of total collapse. Those who are consumed by petty matters and the settling of old, ancient scores have made it harder to find the solution, the compromise agreement that’s badly needed. One day the truth about the subterfuge, deception, and downright spitefulness used to prolong this saga might be told but right now those who are trying to save what is left of the game need to be given space. And hopefully the right and sensible decisions will be made when the SFL and SPL meet tomorrow and Wednesday respectively. Everything, the game’s fate and Rangers’ chances of survival never mind revival, depends on these leagues of gentlemen, if of course they do meet tomorrow. The situation is critical yet it seems we have two clubs threatening to block tomorrow’s meeting. Stenhousemuir and Alloa have an objection. God help us. Hopefully the meetings will go ahead and if honesty and common sense prevail we might just begin to emerge from the darkness and see clearly who is working for the game and who is working for themselves. We might also notice that in our rabid rush to condemn and stone Rangers we have stumbled to the very precipice of catastrophe. Another misguided step or irrational utterance and Scottish football will be in total free fall so tomorrow the SFL must do one of two things. Either they decide to let Rangers newco – who already know they don’t have the support of enough SPL clubs to get the share that would let them begin again at the top – kick off in the First Division or the way is cleared for them to start in the bottom tier. But research has shown the game will lose £16million if Rangers are dumped in the Third Division and frankly that would be too great a loss to an already impoverished business. Supporters, of course, are entitled to be heard but the question is this: Are fans – forget the ones who can’t see beyond their own hatred – willing to see what they believe to be justice done no matter the cost or consequences? What if their justice means Scottish football would be reduced to a truly moribund state that would make recovery impossible? What if their idea of fair play meant our game would be forever locked out of the big boys’ playground? Morals and integrity are fine but we must all be sure we can cope with the fall out, which would be considerable. Clubs will cut right back on numbers as we’re already seeing with Hibernian who have just paid off Pat Fenlon’s deputy Billy Brown. Players and wages will be next, although the first real casualty is more likely to be youth development. Mark my words, clubs are already being squeezed by their banks who have seen Lloyds get out with all of their money back from Rangers. The other lenders also want shot of their football clients and they’ll be imposing tougher repayment plans on clubs, who will use these demands as excuses to make swingeing cuts on their budgets. If they are asked to reduce spending by £300,000 a year they’ll make it £600,000 and blame it all on Rangers. But even by making savage cuts, a number of clubs will still go bust. This will be the true price of sporting integrity. And when the doors are being padlocked let’s have no wailing or tears because too many clubs saw Rangers’ insolvency as an opportunity to promote their own agendas. Yet what good has that done any of them, apart from allowing them to invade the moral high ground for a short while. Now, though, as they hobble down having broken their toes through kicking Rangers they are suddenly confronted with reality. They have the power to deny this new club any chance of life but they’ll be condemning themselves to a miserable, empty future. Without the millions a healthy Rangers and their fans help generate, Scottish football will decline rapidly. All credibility at home and abroad will be lost. If this is what we wish then fine, deny Rangers an SPL share on Wednesday and SFA membership when the Appellate Tribunal sits again to decide a punishment acceptable in the eyes of the real law. If this is what upholding fair play means then let’s go for it. Let’s take decisions tomorrow and the next day that will chime with whatever our notions of integrity are and kill the game. After all, we can’t put a price on justice, especially in football where justice is something to be kicked around without finesse or direction. Of course justice should be about fairness and handing down punishments that reflect the nature of crimes committed. It should always be about observing the law according to the rules and principles written down. But that’s the problem with applying justice in a morally bankrupt game. Nothing seems to be written down. If it is there in black and white no one can understand it. The SFL have called in lawyers to make sense of their own articles ahead of tomorrow’s meetings and, of course, the SFA spent a couple of years revamping their own codes, leaning heavily on the finest legal minds. Yet, when a transfer ban on Rangers was imposed it was kicked out in Edinburgh’s Court of Session. It’s a grotesque farce and one club chairman had to remove himself from the entire business yesterday. He had to plod along a west-coast beach in the wind and rain to try and clear his head. The game is pulling itself apart because some want to settle old scores with Rangers while others strive only to make the most of the problems and strengthen their own positions. Okay, but what’s the point in being powerful within a game that will soon have no real significance beyond its own boundaries? But here are a few questions those ‘just’ men should ask themselves as they file into their meeting rooms on Hampden’s sixth floor over the next couple of days: Is losing all credibility, standing in the game, SFA licence, SPL share and being treated with the utmost contempt not punishment enough? No? Then ask yourselves this: Is going out of business, struggling to emerge as a newco without fan support and being banned from playing in Europe for three years and being branded pariahs not punishment enough? If the answer is still no then there is no justice. And there is no hope. The game, and not just Rangers, will be doomed.
——————————————————————
Sure brightened up a gloomy Monday.
Now imagine the boot on the other foot.
Celtic Mac
Jon Daly????
♪ ♫ Hector Avocado ♫ ♪ on 2 July, 2012 at 13:29 said: Minceyheidman on 2 July, 2012 at 13:12 said: Hey you lot , nothing wrong with mince.—————————————————————-ly Unless it’s flying
hope its not tremblin’
Sevco 5088 announce multi-pound sponsorship with Wee Mental Davie, the taxi driver. (thumbsup)
Signing big Fraser Forster is like a new signing! Oh wait and minute….it is a new signing!
Also naebody needs to go up ladders to put the angel on top of the Xmas tree for the Celtic players Xmas party.
Strange that no confirmation of FF signing on BBC Radio Scotland at 1pm ?
Sammy the mechanic going to be busy with all the second hand motors at Ibrokes.
Watching Espana play and how important ball retention is in Europe I would not like to see Ki being sold.
The European stage is where Ki could shine brightly, but, alas I do think we are trying to sell him.
Billy`s bhoy
The reason that the angel sits on the top of the tree happened by chance. One day Santa was in a very bad mood when the angel came in and said to him, “Santa, what shall I do with this tree?”
Billy’s Bhoy – Also naebody needs to go up ladders to put the angel on top of the Xmas tree for the Celtic players Xmas party.
Kris Commons is said to be chuffed to bits.
Anyway, putting an angel on top of the Christmas tree is an abomination in the sight of God on a par with butterscotch flavoured Angel Delight.
You’re supposed to put a star on top. (thumbsup)
Evening Times: Rangers manager Ally McCoist returned to training at Murray Park today after a well-earned break to try and build a team for next season.
Ah, bless him!
67 heaven
No sign of it on the Official Celtic Site either.
BobbyRussell
Thin line between hope and despair!
Audi cars to Noddy cars…
philvisreturns
Wee mental Davies advertising slogan is
“Dont do walking away”
Phone me
Jonny the Tim – Ooh, you lot are offal!!
Arnold Schwarzenegger voice:
Pleased to “meat” you. (thumbsup)
Re. The Pies new signing Andrew Mitchell.
Is he not the bastard offspring of Phil Mitchell and Big Pat off Eastenders?
philvisreturns on 2 July, 2012 at 13:39 said: Sevco 5088 announce multi-pound sponsorship with Wee Mental Davie, the taxi driver. (thumbsup)
big thumbsup,or even thumbing a lift
Dead and Loving it – I like it.
His business card advises you not to ask for credit, and has a picture of a claw hammer on it as a visual aide-mémoire. (thumbsup)
Philvisreturns 13.27
Everyone wants peace,but history tells us it won’t happen in an occupied country.