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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no bobby does it petta
14:17 on 27 January, 2014
I would add that Hibs were pitiful yesterday. Hoofing the ball up and down the park. A very poor football side that would struggle in the lower leagues of England.
…………………………………………
We must have been watching different games yesterday. In the game I watched Hibs tried to play football and Stanton, Harris and Zoubir provided a good test for our defence.
The green man
“Im sure you would agree, that in any other sphere of business, projects and hunches that don’t come off, wouldn’t be tolerated long term.”
Poor and inaccurate analogy.
JJ
I was having my cake and eating it.
The Green Man
All transfers are projects. None are guaranteed successes and none are guaranteed failures.
Look at any top manager and you’ll see a long list of bad buys in their CV. If you just looked at the debit column and tallied that up, they’d all have to walk.
However, most if us tally up their good buys to weigh against the bad. Three or four good buys can pay for a lot of failures.
Wanyama, when bought was a Project.
Ki, when bought was a Project.
Kelvin Wilson, when bought was a Project.
Fraser Forster, when bought was a Project.
Paddy McCourt & Niall McGinn, when bought were Projects.
Adam Matthews, when bought, was a Project.
Mikel Lustig, when bought was a Project.
Virgil van Dijk, when bought was a Project.
Efe Ambrose, when bought was a Project.
Emilio Izzaguire, when bought was a Project.
Kris Commons, when bought was a Project.
Tony Watt, when bought was a Project.
Some of these did and some of these will bring us both success and money.
That has to be weighed against failures like Bangura, Rasmussen and Murphy.
And, we need to wait and see which category Balde, Pukki, and Fridjohnson fall into, before we use them as makeweights on either side of that balance.
Remember bhoys Saturday’s game v St Mirren is on Sunday :))) still a 3pm KO
the green man
14:16 on 27 January, 2014
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha…….thought that…!!!!!!!
Jungle Jim
14:36 on 27 January, 2014
Big Nan
1) Do you have an email address for those of us who signed your petition to contact to give our views on the `failings` of the committee;
2) If you do, could you furnish us with the salient points ie dismissing the Norwegian situation, so that we only stick to the facts when contacting them.
I would think quite a few of us would be willing to bombard them with emails so as to at least annoy them and remind them of our presence and feelings.
JJ
………………………………
Despite several FOI requests the clerks refused to give me e-addresses of supporters (though this was done in the past) they say new Data Protection regulations prevent them from giving me this info.
So no, I have to use social media and sites such as this to get message out.
Anyone not satisfied with treatment of my petition should e-mail PPC at petitions@scottish.parliament.uk
Better to write, even though I suspect complaints will go in the round filing cabinet.
H.H.
Wayne Biggins was also known as Bertie, he was 5’10” tall.
Hunskelper-i think Portsmouth might have been after Hayes at the same time as us.
Don’t you all realise what this is? It’s a ploy by Lawwell and the Bored… Pretend to want Griffiths and the fans say Balde should be given a run out… Lawwell doesn’t have to buy a striker and saves money whilst agreeing to the fans wishes…..
Conspiracy theorists CFC
We should bring back Tony Watt and room him with Leigh Griffiths…..
I actually rated Martin Hayes (and Stuart Slater, for that matter).
As an addendum to my earlier stats, Daryl Murphy had scored 20 goals in 149 games before coming to Celtic (13.42%). It was therefore not much of a surprise that he left Celtic with a 3 in 23 record (13.04%).
However, Bangura is a bit of an anomaly as he scored 26 goals in 51 games (51%) before coming to Celtic but failed to find the net with us in 16 appearances. Since leaving us (on loan) he has scored 12 in 51 (23.5%) so appearing to be going backwards.
Lassad – 45 in 142 (31.7%) before us; 3 in 19 (15.8%) with us.
Miku – 73 in 264 (27.7%) before us; 2 in 14 (14.3%) with us.
Granted, none of those players were regulars and so stats a bit skewed but when we are scouting for strikers, a good strike rate before coming to us over a reasonable period of time is a good indicator for how likely they are to succeed at Celtic.
Mort
CultsBhoy 14:06 on 27 January, 2014
“Both are NOW better strikers than AS?”
No doubt Stokes has suffered a dip in form of late, but I wouldn’t write him off. He is a proven scorer in a Celtic shirt.
His contribution to the team, particularly in securing a Champions League place this season, should not be forgotten either.
HH
Hunskelper
My B-in-Law had moved to London and had taken to watching Charlton – swears they thought they had a done deal for Hayes at the reputed £65K.
Just had some good(?!) news.
Miss Tally has passed her driving test.
She wants a car!
Ffs!
Another wummin driver let loose on the pothole riddled roads of Scotland!
Only joking!
Well done sweetheart!
HH!!
Geordie Munro
Yeah, that wasn’t a good analogy, you’re right:)
HH
praecepta
14:58 on 27 January, 2014
Wasn’t sure what team it was mate sounds like its a true story then, we must have been run like sevco back then haha HH
LiviBhoy – God bless wee Oscar @ 14.23 hrs,
Thanks for your reply, however I disagree.
I do not accept the theory that there is no difference between scoring in the SPL and scoring in the CL proper. To me there is a huge difference. It is night and day, for the following reasons :-
1) CL teams have better defenders and goalkeepers.
2) CL teams are more organised and tactically aware.
3) CL teams are quicker and fitter. ( Ref KC’s fitness in the CL, slightly suspect IMO )
4) CL teams tend to be “clever” and get more officiating decisions. ( ref Scott Brown )
5) Our players in Scotland are generally not used to ( anymore ) intimidating atmospheres.
6) CL teams have usually mastered the art of offside.
7) We inherently tend to give too much respect to big name teams with reputations.
8) Usually Scottish physical play is penalised.
9) Some players find the travelling problematic. ref Jinky and flying.
10) A player needs to covert a greater percentage of chances than domestic football.
There will be many more reasons why a player can score domestically but will struggle in the CL and that is why I respectfully disagree.
HH. Always in Celtic.
parkheadcumsalford who is supporting the amsterdam 5
14:51 on 27 January, 2014
You rated them in a Celtic shirt ? HH
Sipsini
Brilliant…have been waiting for some puns!
Given that Lenny has said that Sami and Ledley would give an answer a week or so ago, if they haven’t said yes then I think they should be moved on or if they don’t want to move left out the team. Getting rid of players like Bangura will be difficult because he will be on good money, he never really got a chance and his goose was cooked after playing for Elfsborg in the CL qualifiers. Kayal has gone backwards so for me any offer would get him off the wage bill.
Wouldn’t mind LG but think he kind of plays in the KC role.
Kikinthenakas
Hayes was poor. Slater looked the part until Andy Goram knocked the stuffing out of him at Celtic Park. Slater could have had at least a hat trick. Goram pulled out some top drawer saves and he was never the same again. I remember him clowning around behind the goals at Starks Park one Saturday and thought to myself this lad has lost it completely. I’m sure that was the day of the Grand national bombscare and the guys behind me had a tenner each on a bomb scare. Not even sure you can bet that!
Harald Brattbakk I feel had a similar issue with a Rangers keeper and that was Klos. First game against them at Paradise he ran riot and done everything but score. Klos denied him 3 or 4 times. He never seemed to be the same player again after that but did score against St Johnstone to secure the title.
News Flash – Dundee United v St Johnstone – OFF
LB
Bada Bing
We could call them Bad Bhoys Inc :))
Looking resplendent in my new CQN beanie. Many thanks and HH Patmcg
We could call Tony Watt and Leigh Griffiths Tom Thumb.
TALLYBHOY
No holding her back now,bud.
Congrats to her,commiserations to your good self.
And of course,yer missus. Her daughter passing her test will have her back on the bevvy quick style!
GEAROID766
PEDROCARAVANECHIO67 fancied one of them with his name on it.
Widnae fit…
Tgm
I knew Sftb would be on to explain why, and in a much better way than I ever could ;)
Twists and Sadiesbhoy
Ok perhaps ‘pitiful’ is a bit harsh. However their passing was pretty poor to say the least.
And Twists, thanks for the morning round up of the papers! Ideal accompaniment to my morning coffee. Keep up the good work!
Greenpinata
I admire the depth of your post and you make many good points but with that theory any player we sign would struggle in the CL as the opposition have better players in every area.
We need to have a team ethic in Europe. Everyone must play for the team. Individuals running about themselves are no good to us.
Everyone must put a shift in. That’s what MON team did to get us to Seville and last 16 in CL. It’s what WGS and NL’s teams did to get us to last 16 in CL.
How can a player who played for Motherwell score in the CL? Skippy did it. he is now struggling down south. He did it because he is a goal scorer. A goal hanger. He knows where to be and can put the ball away. He revelled in the service he received. We need better service and that is why I have emphasised a play maker. I would love us to sign a Naka or a Lubo. The goals would come with these types of players. We need to sign players who want to develop and become better and work their erse off not only for the team but for themselves to get there.
Celtic are on the right track. People have been slating Pukki & Balde at times and a few of my mates have moaned about them all season but for me the biggest let down has been Derk. Shot his mouth off a lot when he arrived and has done nothing bar 25 mins on his debut. A huge let down and I’m afraid it looks like de Boer was right. He is injury prone!
I value your reponse but disagree to an extent. Not hugely but disagree on the fine details. It’s clear we both want Celtic to get these signings right. They are always a gamble though. Torres looked like one of the biggest sure things of all time and has not rediscovered the form he showed at Liverpool. Like someone has said before. They are all gambles. We just can’t afford to have a flop which will cost us more than a few million.
LB
When I was a young lad Bobby Evans left Celtic for Chelsea and it took me a long time to get over it. Similar when the Lisbon Lions started to break up I was equally sad about it. On the morning that the news broke that King Kenny was off to Liverpool, a lad informed me of this around 7.45 a.m. My reply was ‘don’t be daft I saw him play for the reserves at Dunfermline last night’. But alas….
So now I get frustrated when I see fans on here informing us that Virgil will go for so many millions in the summer. Yes, the msm are trying it on every day and I know that we are not in the greatest financial league in the world, but let an aging fan dream dreams, let me continue to hope that in the future there will be another Lisbon. Yes, I realise that it is a pipe dream until we can be in a position to hold on to our best players, but surely it must be the desire of every one of us.
All those years ago I got on a plane to Lisbon with a dream, and the world told me that we would not beat the Italians, but with thousands of other Celtic supporters I returned home with the European Champions. I still can dream….
LIVIBHOY
We got Slater as a bargain,bearing in mind his performances and potential.
It went wrong for him-and us-and will long be a mystery as to why.
Andy Goram broke a few hearts.
Ours,mainly.
Great keeper,I despise him still.
Geordie Munro
Its the mad psychosis of the transfer window, but im allowed:)
HH
CONNAIRE12
Sorry,bud. Yer a dinosaur.
PLC isnae interested in yer fond memories. Now. That is what they are interested in.
Unless there’s some money in it…..
hunskelper,
No. But I was happy when both signed. I expected great things, especially from Slater. He was a very good footballer with West Ham.
connaire12 15:13
I get where you’re coming from and everybody likes to have dreams but I think the average fan these days are more aware of the strategy of football clubs, particularly our own.
We can hope that the odd world class player will stick with us when the top leagues come calling but most will eventually realise that it isn’t going to happen often.
That doesn’t mean we can’t dream. In the age of ‘Moneyball’ football we can dream of a successful strategy – 10 years ago would you have been happy to have shared the type of success Ajax or Porto shared? I think you would. The average fan knows that the club will attempt to find value signings who can improve into top players, we’re unlikely to hold on to these stars as bids come in for £10m+ but we can reinvest the money into bringing more stars in – if everything clicks then the average quality will gradually improve year on year (with some blips) – then we can hope to have 2 or 3 of these players in the team at once. If that happens then there’s a real chance of something happening – and a better chance of them hanging about.
So we can dream of being well run, and hope for a good crop from the youth academy.
I used to love listening to Your Call when Stuart Cosgrove was on. Traynor did not like the fact Cosgrove would correct him at any given time. I was just wondering about Jackson on shortbread now. He wasn’t on it at the weekend (he was covering Barry Ferguson’s game against Doncaster) and tbf the panel ripped into McCoist. It will probably be written in his contract that he never appears on the show with Cosgrove as he can’t get away with his Sevco propaganda.
Anyone looking for a good book, found below to be well written and knowledgeable on mafia in Italy during last 3 decades. It covers the murder of the anti-mafia judge Falcone and the fall-out from it
Vendetta: The Mafia, Judge Falcone and the Quest for Justice
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS ………FC not PLC
Slater looked a player. He just lost his way.
Pukki needs to be protected and needs an arm around him. He strikes me as the type of character who can be swallowed up at Celtic. His body language is worrying. He looks the shy type. Not the most confident lad. He has ability. NL needs to man manage the lad. There is a player there. We need to handle him well.
LB