We seem to have a lot of forwards. Stokes, Pukki, Balde, new recruit Fridjonsson, and on-loan, Atajic and Watt, while Georgios may yet stay beyond the summer. That’s six under contract for the Champions League qualifiers, not counting Sweden’s ‘next Henrik Larsson’, who is likely to move on soon.
Quantity is one thing but cost is just as important, only Samaras and Pukki are likely to be on wages competitive with some of the richer leagues in Europe, so the actual spend on forwards is likely to be considerably less than on defence or midfield. The manager is likely to be operating within budget for this area of the team.
What we’re missing is an on-form striker who is capable of embarrassing St Johnstone and Inverness’s finest with their goals-to-games ratio, not to mention our own free-wheeling creative-mid. Gone are the days Celtic strikers stats are dismissed as a mere by-product of the sheer volume of chances they are presented with. Without a class act up front, the squad is unbalanced.
There was a note of disappointment in Neil Lennon’s voice when he spoke of missing a potential signing last week. I’m almost certain we’ll sign a striker this week but if he’s more of a hunch than a certified target we’re wasting our money. Hunch signings are fine but you can only give space to so many in any one season. We’ve made our low-cost gambles up front, and there is never a time for a high-cost uncertified gamble.
Celtic have a bit of money burning a hole in their pocket earning 15% interest from the Co-op Bank at the moment. The desire to spend it, from chief exec, to manager, to scouts and all other influencers will be practically unstoppable, which is why I’m so sure we’ll sign someone. Time will tell if we experience buyers regret.
Reminder to everyone who booked tickets for the CQteN St Patrick’s Day Dinner that they have to be paid by 31 January. Let me know if you can’t find details, celticquicknews@gmail.com
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Could be worse though regarding LG he could have been in a night club and flashing the boaby about as per wee Jamesy or took to battering elvis about the hied!!
Just saying we all make mistakes, I remember the days o waking up cringing wae embarrassment o my antics fae the night afore around 17 – 18 year old, spilling full pints and making inappropriate remarks to ahem slightly older women, not excusing it but part and parcel of growing up and getting a clip on the lug, incidentally a played junior wae no pressure , bet ur LG etc get it stinking wherever they go!!
I’ve been consistent on Griffiths. He will be a fantastic signing.
Watch…!
Fawkes sake, gies peace!
So what if LG is not Lenny’s first choice striker?
NFL has already stated that he was trying hard to sign an un-named striker but last week had to pull the plug on it because it had hit a brick wall. So what does he do next?
Does he decide not to sign a striker because his first choice fell through? Or does he go for another target?
So whoever comes in won’t be Lenny’s first choice. So what?
ryecatcher
He’s in his counting house with the door locked!!
el maestro
00:00 on
28 January, 2014
“Could be worse though regarding LG he could have been in a night club and flashing the boaby about…”
FFS don’t be giving him ideas!
:-)))
kojo 23.25
Blue stockings?!?!? Blue?!?? Stockings???
Livibhoy very good piece important back ground stuff weldone
FFS,
See how easy PL controls the short of thinking on CQN !
All this debate about some none too bonnie looking ex Hibs player called Griffiths, and Messi slips through the net yet again.
Or is it just a negotiation stance from Barca’s equivalent to Peter Lawell?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25912393
Only handsome men can sign for Celtic, so LG and Messi are both ruled out. I’m waiting on PL’s private jet coming to pick me up from North Lanarkshire as we speak, my friends. I can’t score, but I can certainly look good.
Folk dragging up LG off field misdemeanors – he is only 23… Ffs!
Give the Bhoy a chance !
Natknow
I think that $64000 dollar question has lost its value these days. You can win £50000 on This Morning prog. And that equates to $100000 now.
31003
23:57 on
27 January, 2014
el maestro
I didn’t slag the boy at all…….I just said I expected a “bigger name” after Lenny saying we had £6,000,000 to spend on a striker…..then we bid £300.000 for Leigh Griffiths
weak weak argument pal bigger names don’t guarantee success, may I say Flo, Sutton at Chelsea etc etc counter act with your pal Hooper, Vic, KC, Lubo etc etc there is no guarantee in football for success, Say PSG pay £250 mill for Messi !!! No guarantee why?? Homesick, loss of form or even serious injury!! point is every signing has elements of luck , back to argument LG will score goals for us if he steers clear of injury GAURANTEED !! :)
I wanted Daly & Griff a few months back.
jude2005 is Neil Lennon \o/
00:10 on
28 January, 2014
Natknow
I think that $64000 dollar question has lost its value these days. You can win £50000 on This Morning prog. And that equates to $100000 now.
I’m watching the wrong station!
This is all right ’till the morning…
HT
I said the same in a post to you earlier.
” Maybe the young fella needs guidance, well he does need guidance, and if he signs, as others have said, he must be afforded a clean slate, and his embracing of all things Celtic can begin, he at least will deserve that ”
We have all been young, the boy maybe needs a chance to redeem himself, and Lenny reckons he can help him.
HH
NatKnow – Supporting wee Oscar
00.00
The answer to your four questions are
my opinion
nothing
yes
yes
TET
My opinion of Griffiths may well change but that will depend on him as a man. As I’ve said I do rate him as a footballer.
He may be afforded the opportunity to do something which we can only dream of. If he does sign, please God he goes on to be a Celtic great and a thoroughly decent human being.
B11OYS
00.01
I think your comment is addressed to me. Forgive me, please if I’m wrong.
Ok, I will.
HT
Thanks, if he can be redeemed, it will be Celtic that does it for him.
Sleep well mi amigo.
I hope to >}
HH
Night all. Night wee Oscar god bless x
TET
Nitey nite :-)
This transfer window is turning into another shambles!! Celtic have done so much right over the last few years it’s hard to be really critical. But it’s so frustrating that we can’t go out and buy one QUALITY forward thinking player that could make a big difference to us. We need a striker and a left sided midfielder who can score goals (I have completely written off Boerrighter as he has shown nothing so far…..Pukki and Balde haven’t been great but there’s glimpses of quality there and they are both relatively young).
Why oh why are we going for Leigh Griffiths? If he was really any good would Wolves be letting him go (for what I bet will be a relatively low transfer fee)?? If he was any good wouldn’t Wolves have him in their starting 11 (he’s only started 2 of the last 6 games)?? We were very successful signing Gary Hooper but Hooper was in the top 5 scorers in the Championship the season before he signed and he started every game for Scunthorpe (in fact he was voted their best ever player).
We have money (for the first time in a long time)…..we should be looking to push the boat out and sign one of Europe’s up and coming strikers. People will say that they are not attracted to the Scottish League (and that is a valid argument) but does the possibility of CL football, a higher pay packet to their current clubs and a shop window to bigger clubs not make Celtic an attractive proposition? It did for Van Diyk, Biton and Johansen…..why can’t we sign their striker equivalents??
Last summer Anderlecht (a similar size club) spent 4.5m on Alexander Mitrovic (one of Europe’s up and coming strikers). He has scored 10 goals in 16 games and when he eventually moves on it will be for at least double their initial investment. If none of these type players are available now, keep the money and try again in the summer!!
As Paul says in the article we already have a barrel load of average strikers….why sign another one!! I’m usually very pro board in my posts but this Griffiths transfer is making my blood boil!!!
niallo83
You make some very good points.
If you believe that Lenny is the one behind the signing of the players, I don’t personally, but if you do, the last player Lenny pushed for was Hooper, LG is the only other player I can recall him openly talking about.
Forget all the baggage, if Lenny thinks he will fit into the puzzle, he will.
We all want a striker who scores goals, we can’t afford a striker who scores goals at the top level, end of, we are grubbing about in the bosman, the freebie and the cheap end, as are most other clubs on the planet, we just have to take chances, most have failed, but maybes LG will be the one who doesen’t.
HH
In saying all that
I would take a punt on Stevie May, young, works his bollix off and has an eye for a goal.
HH
Oh and has the hair >}
HH
It’s going down maybe >}
http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/25921405
HH
Exiled Tim,
I guess one of the points I am trying to make is why we are looking in the cheap end of the market??
In the past I could understand it as we had no money but we have progressed a lot in the last few years. There will definitely be a point where we hit a bit of a ceiling (due to the league we play in and revenue we generate) but I don’t think we are there just yet.
I am not saying go out and buy 5-10m players. We have been very successful signing up and coming 20-23 year old players for most positions on the field in the (0-2.5m bracket). If we add on a premium for strikers we would be looking at the 2.5-5m market. Mitrovic was one example of a player available at this price. Vaclev Kadlec was another who went to Frankfurt last summer for 3m (and has scored quite a few goals in the Bundesliga).
We were apparently looking at Aron Johannson at AZ….that’s the type of player we should be signing. Or even Finnbogasson last summer (he’s too expensive now). I am not saying it isn’t difficult to get one of these players. I had just hoped we were now at the level that we could do that!!!
niallo83
problem is the biscuit tin, we still have it, it’s alive and thriving.
No way will te suits sanction a big splash, not a hope in hell of that happening, they are on a course, and it’s reaping dividends, and that will not change.
I have posted a few who I reckon we should be looking at, not a sniff, but as I live in a cave, that is par for the course.
There are decent players out there, but unless the money is right, I very much doubt they will want to come to scotland, they will need to at least double their income to come here, and I reckon that the likes of Vic was on little money when he arrived, others will be on the same wages, but more than they were earning before.
I wish I had an answer, I do and it involves us leaving this hell hole, more TV money, that is the answer.
HH
Seriously need to sleep now.
HH
KTF
LiviBhoy – God bless wee Oscar
23:00 on 27 January, 2014
=====================
Thanks for some perpective on Leigh Griffiths.
It’s been saddening to read some of the condemnation from the pious holier-than-thous who sadly masquerade as fellow Celtic supporters.
A daft boy who nobody knows save for what they’ve seen of him on a football pitch or – UN-FECKIN-BELIEVABLY – read in TABLOIDS! Yet judgement is scathing.
Tabloid testimony on someone’s character? Tabloids. Believed by ‘Celtic Fans’? Really? REALLY?
Scott MacDonald came to us public enemy number 1, a HUN HERO. A couple of years later he scored the winning goal for us in the last minute against the reigning European champions.
Previously ambivalent to Griffiths signing, after the stench of hypocritical ignorance lurking around the blog tonight, I actually hope we buy him – useful addition to a dynamic squad – SPL no-brainer – with potential for developing some star quality.
There’s no better manager to rope him to the task.
FFM
Hw you doing,stranger?
I’ll drop you a mail in about an hour if yer still around.
Is there a ‘Fit and Proper’ test for persons entering in to the SPFL?
LivibBhoy 23:00 27th January
A great post giving the other side of a story that would never appear in the SMSM, if he signs, let’s give him our support.
Auldheid 23:15 27th January
Best laugh of the night.
Back to work now.
From The Daily Mail.
Beware, fat-bottomed girl
Huge reaction to my column on Friday about Walsall Council handing out free disabled parking spaces to the obese.
It would seem that most of you share my disgust that people who can’t control their eating are classified as ‘victims’.
My favourite comment came from Tich, in Ipswich, on Mail Online. He found himself standing in a queue at a supermarket customer service desk behind a large lady ‘at least a size 28’.
Suddenly, her mobile phone started to beep, beep, beep.
‘Watch out,’ said another chap in the queue, ‘she’s reversing’.
BMCUWP…..
Have a very good mate from Walsall….he’s a proper yamyam and this is his favourite joke about Yamyams …
During the war, a British General visited an Army Hospital of the South Staffordshire Regiment.
Sensing a doom and gloom atmosphere he tried to rally the men by asking “Now
you men didn’t come here to die did you?” To which Aynuk and Ayli replied ” Na
sur, way booth coomd ere yesterdie.”
Celtic have a bit of money burning a hole in
their pocket earning 15% interest from the
Co-op Bank at the moment.
I told you, homeboy
Yeah, that’s how we livin’ and ya know
Look in my eyes, man
Yo, let me bust the funky lyrics
Fresh new kicks and pants
You got it like that now you know wanna dance
The desire to spend it, from chief exec, to manager,
to scouts and all other influencers will be practically
unstoppable, which is why I’m so sure we’ll sign someone.
Time will tell if we experience buyers regret.
And get a fly girl and catch this beat
While it’s rollin’, hold on
Pump a little bit and let them know it’s going on
Like that, like that
Cold on a mission so fall on back
…hammer time!!
Morag McGill…
You on the sauce?