The No. 1 rule of the transfer window is: get your first choices, and there is no doubt that Ronny Deila wanted Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven. We’ve tracked them for months, Ronny will have watched both players many times, John Collins will have watched them more often, and the entire scouting team will have watched them dozens of times, so on that basis alone, I’m happy.
I spoke to someone at the club early last month and there was some concern that some of our key players would ‘Do a Kelvin’, and present as not in the right frame of mind to play, unless we agreed to a transfer. While we are still competing in four competitions this was a major worry, but those players who were wanted elsewhere were happy to get their heads down and work to the spirit as well as the letter of their contracts. Happy at this too.
Stuart Armstrong is every inch a Ronny Deila player. He can run all day, gets into the box to support – or go beyond – strikers, and closes space in front of the defence. He will allow us to play to plan a lot oftener.
Last summer’s window was characterised by the signing of wingers. Wakaso, Inge Berget and Tonev all arrived on loan, while Callum McGregor emerged as a first team contender on his return from loan, and during the early season outshone all of them. None of these players are now considered as first choice, nor is Derk Boerrigter, who was recruited from Ajax 18 months ago and has proven every adage that ever existed for oft-injured players.
So we’re not short of wingers, but we need good ones, and Gary Mackay-Steven is another known quantity. He is fast, skilful, and will lend a creative hand to Kris Commons, who had shouldered those duties alone for years.
I’ve no proper information on Michael Duffy, who joined the development squad from Derry City.
To paraphrase Neil Lennon, this is only the beginning. Of the 10 outfield players who started at Hampden on Sunday, only one was a Ronny Deila signing, the rest were recruited by one of his predecessors. The summer transfer window was overwhelmingly misconceived, as the regime change cast a shadow over processes. As well as the wasteful wingers, two strikers were signed, neither of whom could dislodge last January’s late stocking filler, Leigh Griffiths.
Mackay-Steven and Armstrong will both make an impact at Celtic, but it will take more than a couple of players to craft the squad into the image of Ronny. More work will be needed in the summer.
Hibs, Hearts, Queen of the South, Ross County, St Mirren, Motherwell, and the SFA will all be alarmed at the flagrant influence Mike Ashley exercised at newco Rangers yesterday, despite his written agreement not to get involved. While the SFA must react accordingly, I’m not sure five players whose appearances are measured in minutes, not games, are ready for a promotion fight. It can take good player months to settle into a new team, and the potential for disruption, especially if the ‘manager’ didn’t play an active role in the process, is considerable.
The upside for newco is that these players settle quickly, take a Premiership place off Hibs, Queens, Motherwell or St Mirren, and leave a lot of clubs wondering what the point of having rules in the first place is. The only appropriate sanction the SFA can levy is a player registration ban, which would be the club’s second in their short history. Clearly a one year ban is not long enough to teach them a lesson.
Whatever you think of Ashley, you have to admire him:
On the last day of the window, he has 5 unwanted Newcastle players he is unable to loan to anyone else.
Realising he had no takers, he sends them to Ibrox, easing the Newcastle payroll.
Newco pay the players with Ashley’s loan, which they still have to pay back. If his men are kicked out at an EGM, these loans mean the new regime have even more money to find. It’s almost as though he wants to burn through the entire £10m loan before the EGM, leaving a new regime with an empty bank account and crippling debt.
It is a thing of Machiavellian beauty. Hibs and the rest are right to be upset, and Stewart Regan will feel humiliated, but I find the whole episode hilarious.
Welcome to Celtic, Gary, Stuart and Michael.
Well done Celtic on a productive transfer window. As always, it’s too early to tell how well we’ve done, but the perennial adage of leaving the window stronger than we went into it seems assured. Well done Mike too, keep up the good work.
Start your League Cup final weekend at the CQN11 St Patrick’s Dinner, at the Kerrydale Suite, Celtic Park, on Friday 11 March. Email me for details, celticquicknews@gmail.com
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Canman
You a he she? 8))
Will someone please go round to Jobo’s and slap him about a bit. Tell him half of us can’t function in the morning till we have read his EK weather report.
South of Tunis
…and don’t forget that Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Montella is a Neapolitan.
Even ‘tho he played for Roma!
Enjoy the game tonight.
Auguri n HH!!
Je suis Charlie.
Neganon2
On the charge of being pathetic what do you do when any case you put in public is savaged by an msm who point blank refuse to look at hard evidence of cheating with very serious consequences put on a plate for them?
14 journos received that evidence only one replied quoting an example that I then challenged. No reply yet.
What it all bills down to is was their a fundamental defect in the DOS ebts.
Well telling HMRC in 2005 there were no side letters takes those registrations into fundamental defect territory.
When the same evidence ie the De Boer side letter and HMRC documentation, explaining that what took place was either fraudulent or negligent is kept back from the very Commission set up to investigate side letters and ebts then you cannot get more fundamental than that.
All SPFL Boards have had same evidence for months now yet none have commented in public to even a knowledge there are questions to answer.
That same documentation was sent to SFA by Harper MacLeod and again it’s silence.
Problem is very few know the details and getting it out there is a problem.
It might be a good case for another advert but from TSFM as the reluctance to challenge is with all clubs.
antipodean red
08:41 on 4 February, 2015
Being “a bit slow in the uptake” doesn’t make me a bad person …. Hahahahahahahaha !!!!!!
Any of you corporate lawyers out there know if directors of limited companies are responsible to divulge information in their possession, about fiscal irregularities that threaten the wellbeing of their current employers.
BbT,
My woman’s intuition tells me no :)
canamalar.
Inter game is tonight.!
Will provide an opinion tomorrow.Mad Inter elderly neighbour is pleased that Shakiri got a Europa League place and Podolski didn’ t..He is very pleased that 18 year old Puscas got a place .Inter fans tend to really rate him and would much prefer he played rather than the likes of the seen to be well past it – Palacio
Got to go – mad Inter man taking me on a church crawl.A non believer but he just loves the buildings.
Jobo Balde please come back. Even your name makes me smile and your weather report is required reading for me every time I log on!
SoT,
It’s good looking a churches, I like looking at the craftsmanship and wondering about the cost, then depress myself by wondering at what the poor could have got had the money been spent on charity.
SoT,
Just caught what you said about the Inter game, that’ll be why your slow with the review :)
BT even
What’s happened to Jobo??
tallybhoy.
Grazie !
Montella got a loud ” One of Us ” as the bar watched the post match interviews.Bar was wild – I regretted having watched 2 episodes of Gomorra at the weekend.Too much similarity .
ACGR
enjoy
Posted last night by barrach obampot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYOrPTmXfsk
Canamalar
09:33 on 4 February, 2015
‘SoT,
It’s good looking a churches, I like looking at the craftsmanship and wondering about the cost, then depress myself by wondering at what the poor could have got had the money been spent on charity.’
####
The money spent on building churches would have been spent on paying wages to those employed in the construction and buying materials and would have been major economic drivers at the time.
A good news story about a new government Sri Lanka
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/sri-lanka-tells-james-packer-do-not-come-to-our-country-in-your-lifetime
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/india-to-help-sri-lanka-set-up-fiu-to-trace-billions-stashed-abroad-by-mahinda-rajapaksa/articleshow/46101613.cms
Wish we could get only like him
New prime minister takes over and states he will serve one term only, sacked the bureaucrats first and started an investigation into their corruption, what’s happening to politics.
CANAMALAR said:
“…what the poor could have got had the money been spent on charity.”
Had the money been spent on charity, the poor would still be with us but the beautiful churches would not.
Charity is not the answer in a ruthlessly unfair system.
JJ
Ernie…,
Materials more likely been donated, irrespective, someone tried to buy a place in heaven and the churches encouraged it. So corruption made the money and the money was used to corrupt Christianity.
JJ..,
The churches are a monument to the excesses and corruption of Christianity, what was the massage where people gather in my name, nothing in there about building big expensive monolithic seats of power.
Even a lurker rather than a contributor like me misses his East Kilbride weather report. Where is Jobo!
Over the weeks Phil has detailed time and time again why he believes Ashley is in control and that King and the 3 bears are not going to be able to unseat him.
From a Celtic perspective, surely we want King and co. to succeed as we know they simply don’t have the financial muscle to do anything with Sevco that will significantly improve where they are at now.
CANAMALAR
I was simply talking of the architecture.
JJ
JJ..,
Love the architecture too but can’t look at it without thinking of the implications.
Can anyone shed some light on what’s happened with Jobo?
Did Jobo not say that he was taking a break from CQN for a while?
Anyway it’s a fine morning at Dublin airport on my way home to the Big Smoke!
Josef k,
He was usurped by the sea cucumber yesterday and decided to take time out.
The price of the old man’ s accompanied church crawl will be waiting for me as I trawl the bins of a Napoli second hand vinyl store.Then a pizza from Napoli’ s best pizzeria – Port ‘ Alba.Been in business since 1830.
I really don’t know what MA plans to do.
He has smashed his glove right in the face of the SFA……………Interesting what the next move will be.
IS there a link to RST statement?
MWD said AYE
MWD,
It’s on one of the moonhowling pages
Bawsman,
The SFA is compromised, nothing they can do.
DeniaBhoy….if there is an egm at ibrokes i think kings mob will win it ,their problem is that it would be a hollow victory as MA controls most of the revenue streams,has still to be paid back the loans…that might suit MA….money coming in,no day to day hassle ffrom the sevconians….just my thoughts….
bgx,
Was that not Phil’s ideal MA scenario ?
canamalar….maybe …sounds about right to me….
So far this morning we’ve stories on the Dundee United player who reckons Stuart Armstong is a class act, why John Hartson needs to take a look at himself, Darren Jackson on the Hampden pitch and why Celtic should sign Kris Conmons on a new deal and why our old pals Legia Warsaw have to play behind closed doors…
http://Www.cqnmagazine.com
PS New look CQN blog coming very soon…
Cheers Canamalar