Neil Lennon suggested Gary Hooper, unquestionably his favourite son, was Celtic’s best striker since Henrik Larsson. It’s an interesting question.
The list is long: Chris Sutton, John Hartson, Henri Camara, Craig Bellamy, Dion Dublin, Scott McDonald, Marc-Antoine Fortune, Chris Killen, Maciej Zurawski, Kenny Miller, Derek Riordan, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Georgios Samaras, Robbie Keane, Diomansy Kamara, Olivier Kapo, Anthony Stokes, Pawel Brozek, Moh Bangura, Daryl Murphy, Miku and Lassad.
Apologies if I’ve overlooked someone. That’s 22 strikers in nine years (it’s a bit soon to consider Amido Balde), some of whom were loans, but the list doesn’t include the many Celtic youth players who got their shot at first team football, or those, like Tony Watt, who were signed for low fees from lower league Scottish clubs.
Chris Sutton and John Hartson were already at the club when Henrik left, but it quickly became evident they were past their best. Robbie Keane and Craig Bellamy were quality but only played a dozen or so games, so can’t really be considered as competition to Hooper.
Maciej Zurawski arrived a year after Larsson left and had a phenomenal first season at the club. He made his debut after the 5-0 reversal to Artmedia but inspired Celtic to a 4-0 win six days later. Maciej was on fire when he joined and only failed to score in five league games before the league win in April but he never found anything close to that consistency again. Record: 22 goals in 55 games.
Scott McDonald’s YouTube clip of goals in the Champions League and against Rangers will have featured heavily in the portfolio as his agent looked for a new club this year. His goals got us into the Champions League, beat European champions, Milan, and regularly put our (then) nearest rivals to the sword. Record: 51 goals in 88 games.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink arrived in summer 2006 and immediately outshone Zurawski. His debut as a substitute against Hibs transformed Celtic and won the game. His signing was pivotal in Celtic winning the title in 2007. Record: 34 goals in 78 games.
Georgios Samaras arrived 18 months after Vennegoor of Hesselink and alongside Barry Robson pushed Celtic over the line for three in a row. 2008 was a fabulous year for Georgios but although he’s still a forward, he’s not really been a striker since. Record: 41 goals in 138 games.
With 63 goals, 95 games, Gary Hooper’s scoring record is better than anyone else’s, but the challenge to be best since Larsson was simple, just outperform Scott McDonald. With all those strikers as competition, that’s not as high as the bar could be.
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Cardiff City want to bring £3million Joe Ledley ‘home’ from Celtic
28 Jul 2013 22:30
The Welsh international is in the last year of his Bhoys contract – and Bluebirds representatives were on hand to watch him make his comeback from injury
Cardiff City want to bring Joe Ledley home for their Premier League campaign – after he made his Celtic comeback.
Welsh international Ledley is a £3million target for Malky Mackay as he tries to tempt him to return to the club where he made his name.
Ledley is a ‘marquee’ capture for the Bluebirds because of his links with the club and Cardiff will offer him a big rise to come to them.
Cardiff have been after Ledley for months, but his injury lay-off put the move on ice. However a delegation watched his comeback at the weekend.
Celtic know that Ledley is in the last year of his contract and may have to take a decent offer – despite raising funds by selling Victor Wanyama and Gary Hooper.
Mackay’s recruitment drive has picked up lately and landing Ledley would add an extra buzz to the club before their first top-flight
Voguepunter,
Was over in your direction yesterday.
Funeral of a long-time friend.
St. Columkille’s is truly beautiful.
Ru’glen in the sun looked very attractive.
Went along to the Wetherspoon shop. Could not believe that a pint of Dark Island was only £1.59.
You are living in HEAVEN.
Good luck.
Doc
Good stuff. Not surprised James is published now. Talented writer. Stephen is a good lad too. When he first posted on here I thought he was a Hun!
My mistake csc
Ason of fan
I say we have zero strikers
I say James forest doesn’t contribute to the team
You give me personal Abuse
If you don’t like the obvious then walk on by
TnT, next time I see him, I’ll mention that, I’ll stand we’ll back mind.
We’ll=well.
I’ve not followed all the comments today but it is always good to hear comments from those who are not in sync with most participants of the blog, especially when they put forward such excellent arguments.
Yes, we may well be doing well right at this very moment, despite us making Big profits from two of our best players, who, in my opinion, wanted away. I’m going to wait until this ‘horrible’ transfer window closes before I judge if we are going to build as much as possible from this “position of strength”. As far back as I can remember we have Never Capitalised and then moved on as best as possible but there is definitely the harmony of the squad to always be taken into account when going the high wages route.
It is a difficult situation and it makes the likes of Scott, Georgios, Joe and Charlie the most important players at the Club. These guys, I feel, really want to be there and hopefully they can encourage more of our successful projects to Stay, even if they have been given the indication that Celtic, whilst we are in Scotland, is a Willing stepping stone.
Auldheid 21:07
The earliest Rangers will be CL competitors will be 2016.
——————————————
Huns cannot compete in CL until season 2019/20 at the earliest. And of course, they’ll by then probably go bust again! So, the Hun hordes will have to get used watch us strutting out to the CL tune for many more seasons.Happy daze! HH
The earliest Rangers will be CL competitors will be 2016.
——————————————
Huns cannot compete in CL until season 2019/20 at the earliest. And of course, they’ll by then probably go bust again! So, the Hun hordes will have to get used watching us strutting out to the CL tune for many more seasons.Happy daze! HH
Jinks
Strathaven toffee was tablet. It’s the shire don’t forget.
Hey doc
Don’t tell him I said he was a Hun. Say it was Ernie or Canamalar. They are used to getting the blame for everything on here;-)
Tryingtokeepmygoodlooks csc
cardiff have a cheek..£6m for joe and then we’l see,rich league who want to offer pishy derisory sums is an insult..if i remember they wanted us to part with at least £2m to get him initialy,but that was via msm and we got him on the cheep..nite hh
BT
Tablet and toffee are as different as oldco and sevco
oh wee job offer from g1 group for maintenance work,interview tomorrow,fingers crossed hh
With regards to the recent CF leaks between media house and the BBC over definitions of pro-ira songs, I have dug out my last response from the BBC complaints dept and sent them another letter. I asked them to verify if were consulted by MH , and did this result in Celtic fans being slated 5 days later at half time in the Scottish Cup final for alleged ‘Sectarian’ singing.
openingupoldwoundscsc
HH
bostonbhoy2000-2001
23:13 on 28 July, 2013
Auldheid 21:07
The earliest Rangers will be CL competitors will be 2016.
——————————————
Huns cannot compete in CL until season 2019/20 at the earliest. And of course, they’ll by then probably go bust again! So, the Hun hordes will have to get used watch us strutting out to the CL tune for many more seasons.Happy daze! HH
————————————————————————————————————————
Bostonbhoy, don’t doubt your info but why 2019? I thought it was a 3 year ban from the point they were liquidated? I’m pleased to hear it though!
Alfreð Finnbogason @A_Finnbogason 1m
Nothing better than some good tunes before going to bed! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OV5_LQArLa0 … #GoodNight
tommysbhoy-good luck mate.
Tommy
Very best of luck. Will have fingers crossed for you mate. Remember, when they ask your hobbies, its hillwalking, tennis , squash, lacrosse, golf and polo. Don’t say following Celtic ffs :-)
TnT, I’ll protect the innocent!
CQN Sunday transfer rumours
In
Ajax winger .. dick shumbudy
Herenveen striker .. finnbogason
Out
Wilson
Sammi
Forrest
Ledley
tommysbhoy
Good luck with the interview.
Not bothering with an early night :)
Jinky
Sammy??? Nah. No way.
Palacio,
Good mhan, someone else was on claiming to have made the same complaint but said he wouldn’t be following it up as its a waste of time.
Glad you’ve got a bit more heart.
Hail Hail
Hope the Finnboggasson rumours are true. About time we paid the going rate for a proven goal scorer. Instead of gambling away 1-2.5 mil on projects. Boerigter, Sammy and Finnbogassonn, on paper looks exceptional.
Make it happen Pistol.
if we’re a selling club how are we aquiring the players in the first place
Good luck T.
Malarkey
That bugger shoulda been in bed early if hes coming to celtic this week
Well 4am rise so goodnight CQN. Hopefully we’ll be welcoming a few new players in starting tomorrow, though this FInnbogasson deal seems like another Jan Venegoor of Hesselink, 50p a letter oan the jersey rip aff tae me.
twisty..,
I’m sure Auldheid said it had more to do with the audited accounts, three years required, and they’ve still no produced any, so with the qualifiers already under way I expect its now four years :o)
Know what I mean, they had to issue accounts this year to qualify fot 2016, they never got the accounts in before the qualifiers so they’ll need to wait till 2017 now.
The Boy Jinky..
If he ends up at Liverpool I’m going to go ape.
Peeps bombarding him with questions about moving to Celtic and hentweets Gerry and the Pacemakers YNWA!
@A_Finnbogason: Nothing better than some good tunes before going to bed! http://t.co/7CD8u6RRvD #GoodNight
tommysbhoy
23:18 on 28 July, 2013
cardiff have a cheek..£6m for joe and then we’l see,rich league who want to offer pishy derisory sums is an insult..if i remember they wanted us to part with at least £2m to get him initialy,but that was via msm and we got him on the cheep..nite hh
_________________________________________________________
The transfer fee is quite irrelevant now because of Bosman. Joe seems to get Celtic and hopefully he wouldn’t be awkward, I don’t know him at all but if someone triples (a guess) your wages, there is no doubt he’d be tempted to be awkward – I think he cares about his Football and also his Team.
TnT
Just repeating snippets from cqn .. I dont reckon james will leave … joe only if offer is great and he isnt signing a new deal … sammi aint going anywhere
….and if ye think I’m wrang, ask yourself why KI was sold?
If Sammi goes,……. I go.
Harrumph!
From TSFM….
Tif Finn says:
July 28, 2013 at 8:02 pm
51 1 Rate This
My take on the two cup finals being discussed is this.
The CIS Cup
I heard Rangers fans sing sectarian, banned throughout an entire game of football. Not a minority, the majority. Not once or twice, throughout the game. The full songbook as I recall, “Billy Boys”, “Famine Song” etc. heard it with my own ears, and had it confirmed by two Rangers fans who were in the crowd and who absolutely loved it. They said in advance they were going to do it and they did. It happened, it’s as simple as that.
The Reaction
Media during the game – Nothing, no comment that I can recall (maybe I am wrong in that).
Justice Minister (Who brought in the law banning the behaviour) – Praised the fans
Assistant Chief Constable (Responsible for enforcing the law0 – Praised the fans.
Scottish Cup Final
I watched that game as well and heard nothing sectarian or banned. I have heard or read no evidence supporting the suggestion that either set of fans was singing or chanting sectarian or banned songs. Again I could be wrong, but I can only speak about the evidence I have seen or heard.
Reaction
Media during the game – Decried the Celtic fans, live on television, in front of millions based on hearsay, in contravention of the national broadcasters own stated customs and practices. As far as i am aware the source has not been identified.
Justice Minister (Who brought in the law banning the behaviour) – Nothing that I am aware of.
Assistant Chief Constable (Responsible for enforcing the law0 – Nothing that I am aware of.
I can guarantee you this, If I made the above comments to the likes of Hugh Keevins on their radio hone in I would be cut off, then mocked for my typical Celtic fan paranoia. Thankfully I have never phoned one of their shows and rarely if ever listen to them now. If I do it’s by accident in the car home and I listen for a few minutes before switching over.
So, call me paranoid if you wish. However I have now seen enough evidence in relation to referees cheating, media manipulation, financial irregularities, football authorities bending and breaking their own rules etc to confirm absolutely and without any shadow of doubt that there was no paranoia involved. In fact the accusations of paranoia and phrases like “biscuit tin mentality” were really only part of the same agenda.
Edit
I meant to say, by the time you include the Government, the Police, the media, the banking system, the legal system and the football authorities you pretty much have “the establishment”.
Who was their club again.
Malarkey
I thought the same re liverpool :)
BTW … I work with a guy called malarkey .. lives in ek but dad from easterhouse I think