Monday’s win over Dundee gave an insight into the acclimatisation required for new players to settle into a team. Focus in this regard often goes on new living arrangements, the language and social aspects of being remote from your friends and family, but pragmatic aspects are just as important.
When to make a run, what it means when a team-mate does a specific action, where a player is most effective at receiving a ball are all things you learn in the heat of battle. We had two new forwards on the field on Monday, but this issue is more important for defenders, who are in danger if they do not know what the plan is when pressed in possession.
I am sure Martin O’Neill wants signings in as soon as possible, but for me, retaining the current squad until after the trip to Austria is more important. Celtic never looked back last season after the return from injury of Arne Engels and Alastair Johnston. They brought the energy and structure we missed for much of the campaign.
Monday looked rusty. The fastest way to change that is to work on fitness and process, without exit distractions.
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Mon the WD40 eleven
Need to retain players till after the qualifiers.
I wasn’t expecting much from Høgh on Monday, does he even know the names of his team mates!
Did notice when the mids had the ball he would point in the direction for the delivery. Unfortunately no one obliged, so if you don’t feed a striker, he starves………
The fastest way to integrate players, is get them in as early as possible, not rocket science
B78 – you posted this before Monday’s game
“Burnley78 on 3rd August 2026 2:38 pm
Buzzing for tonight.
Tough draw but winnable CL tie
A signing at least today hopefully and maybe 2 on parade tonight. More to come by next week.
AJ going nowhere until the price is right and ideally for full value post a win at Linz.”
Unfortunately didn’t happen- thought you might have been in the know
Only 8 weeks into the transfer window.
What a pickle we were in – who said that?
15 players this season no longer at Lennoxtown even MON has lost count – I’m going for 20 this window Engels, AJ, Hatate, Kenny, Balikwisha ( no laughing at the back )
Out
Paulo Bernardo
Daizen Maeda
Luis Palma
Stephen Welsh
Hayato Inamura
Shin Yamada
Odin Holm
Maik Nawrocki
Marcelo Saracchi
Keletchi Iheanacho
Junior Adamu
Joel Mvuka
Ben Arthur
Julian Araujo
Tomas Cvancara.
In
Camilo Duran
Kasper Høgh
It’s MON’s ‘lean’ year, doesn’t matter Rainjurz have
bought badly again, and we’ve slashed the wage bill and brought out a new pie
and cleaned the seats 🥧
After one game this season, we should be excited about next season and the ‘full reset’
Negative spend FC
A club like no other
🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮🇨🇮
and if he doesn’t score he is a dud
It’s clear to me that the side that played Dundee is the side that will play LASK – possibly Scales for Trusty being the one change MoN will make.
That means, Yang & Duran playing out of position. It means moving either AJ or Scales to LB when KT goes off.
It means McCowan getting minutes in a £20 million tie.
So we’re unprepared again.
And regardless of how that tie pends out, in the immediate aftermath it’ll be a transfer frenzy against the clock when every club in Europe will know we’re desperate.
Shambles.
AD- Estimated to be worth £36-40 million……
Prestonpans bhoys on 5th August 2026 12:05 pm
Noticed that too . A couple of times Kaspar made some space for himself followed by gestures of frustration when he didn’t get the ball . Maybe we should have signed the Bodo midfield too.;-)))
bournesouprecipe on 5th August 2026 12:10 pm
What a pickle we were in – who said that?
Think it was Richard Branston .
Yip as forecast we’ve done virtually nothing except weaken the squad. Anyone surprised? If you are you haven’t been paying attention.
Any sign of the changes we were promised after the Nancy fiasco?
🪱🐛 CSC
Breaking news ;Unnamed team signing Balikwisha for £8m . We will be paying the money in instalments .
Calm down you malcontents, we’ll get four in before the European tie. A man in the know told me.
Unfortunately he doesn’t know what the four refers to.
I reckon it’s new kits.
Entrepreneurs would have targets agreed and purchase asap. This helps gel the team, remove doubt and allow you to dictate selling price of wantaways.
Accountants insist on selling first to insure less chance of financial loss.
We are run by conservative accountants.
In the real world entrepreneurs employ accountants.
The squad is paper thin.
An injury to Sinasalo, Ross Doohan will be starting a CL play off. With an underage keeper brought up to sit on the bench.
AJ unavailable means Donovan or Ralston. Engles unavailable means McCowan starting.
These are all ifs but I’d argue millionaires in charge of running a £140 million a year business should be making contingencies instead of hoping.
Complete agreement Paul; I was mulling this same prospect earlier today.
Try to integrate too many strangers into the ranks – with a fortnight to go – or mainly go with the tried and tested albeit with two fresh faces up top.
I landed on the latter. After last year, this squad owes us two real good shows in Europe; they know it anaw.
V Dundee, I thought our backline was very good; even without our most constant defender big Liam !
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From previous…
bournesouprecipe on 5th August 2026 10:02 am
QUADROPHENIAN
Was he Bernardo the blaze Benfican ?
Indeed ;) We have not been the Benfic-iaries of Paulo’s prior promise !
Nicholson if asked now could not answer how many are coming in, when and who.
He admitted he found dealing with clubs, agents etc challenging and not something he looks forward to or enjoys.
CEO’s talk to other CEO’s , build relationships and help smooth transfers. It’s no surprise he is operating at the wrong level in the weeds. He has zero charisma and is clearly in the wrong job.
He has probably being saying a decade of the rosary morning, noon and night praying for the transfer window to close.
This guy will be single handedly responsible for CL exit failure.
He cannot hide behind Dermot said this and Dermot said that , he has to fight for the mandate which clearly Lawwell did at times. Nicholson is a nodding duck and as the CEO he is accountable.
Best he goes now…while there is a small window to do something.
GLENDALYSTONSILS on 5TH AUGUST 2026 12:31 PM
bournesouprecipe on 5th August 2026 12:10 pm
What a pickle we were in – who said that?
Think it was Richard Branston .
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These resin floors don’t lay themselves you know.
bournesouprecipe (12:10 pm)
“15 players this season no longer at Lennoxtown”
___________________________
Going by the player list you posted we’ve lost one first team starter and signed two, so we’re actually up on first team players and have cleared out a lot of dead wood, freeing up a lot of money for new or increased player wages.
I don’t have a problem with prudent financial and resource management, especially if this has put us in a position to recruit another couple of players that will immediately improve our first team squad.
quadrophenian on 5th August 2026 12:53 pm
Complete agreement Paul; I was mulling this same prospect earlier today.
Try to integrate too many strangers into the ranks – with a fortnight to go – or mainly go with the tried and tested albeit with two fresh faces up top.
————-
We’ve had 8 weeks – this situation is of our own making.
QUADROPHENIAN
Was he Bernardo the blaze Benfican ?
Indeed ;) We have not been the Benfic-iaries of Paulo’s prior promise !
———————
👏👏. Played –
At the going down of the pun we will remember you 🤣
BIGCHIPSUK on 5TH AUGUST 2026 1:02 PM
Neither do I BTW – just ‘ busy executives ‘ dealing with unscrupulous agents and very difficult new European tax laws 🤣
It’ll get worser the richer we get, hold off sales till deadline day, then say it was it was too late to get replacements.
We still have loaner fc Adam Montgomery to play left back on our books
GENE: I ken fine well of the palpable pissing around the suits appear to have indulged in.
Same as it ever was, as David Byrne wanst warbled.
Without defending it – I never have – we are where we are and so, I agree with Paul.
Work with the resources we have today; try not to sell AJ or Arne before both ties are done.
Get those in the dressing room drilled on their roles to unpick LASK and ensure we don’t fall into the Linz trap.
When we know whether we’re Champions, Europans or (shiver) Conferencers, bolster the ranks accordingly.
LintTrap CSC
BSR: pun for pun, you’re well able to go toe-to-toe with the best (and worst) of ’em !
Good afternoon CQN.
It’s a fine day to be a Celt.
BSR @ 12:10pm – good data.
The quantitative arithmetic is unarguable.
15 out / 2 in. 👍
There is context in the numerical data though, if a qualitative analysis is of interest.
Of the 15 you listed accurately
6 of 15 (40%) made absolute zero positive contribution to the first team last season
(Holm, Maik, Shin, Inamura, Mvuka, Luis)
4 of 15 (26.7%) made very small, but nonetheless important contributions
(Welsh, Junior, Arthur, Paulo)
4 of 15 (26.7%) made significant contributions (Kelechi, Tomas, Julian, Marcelo)
… even if their total minutes played stat doesn’t support the “significant” label.
When they played they made a difference.
That leaves 1 in the Please Don’t Go category. Daizen.
Huge loss.
In terms of who we have available to play in the first team this season who were not available last season?
Kasper – 100% new and shiny
Camilo – as above
Then 3 injured players who each barely played a third of last season
AJ – 67% more availability (if he stays of course)
CCV – 67% more availability
Osmand – 67% more availability
For all 3 above – assumes they mostly stay fit of course.
Big variable but, respectfully, one that can be applied to any footballer anywhere.
I’ll put my tin hat on here.
Before the departure of Paulo, IMHO, the available squad was better than, overall averaged out, the squad we had last year.
I have a bias to confess. I hate big squads
(See my previous yap about 66,000 minutes capacity per season serviced by 22 players)
Keep it tight(ish) with everyone making at least 2,000 minutes of contribution.
If we get injuries? … augment the squad (outside transfer windows) with up to 4 younger guys, stop bleating about bad luck with injuries, and get on with it.
I use “tight(ish)” above intentionally.
IMHO, we are 4 light in the squad this morning
(Goalie, left back, midfielder, winger)
Before anyone else leaves and Jota returns.
Don’t disagree that retaining AJ and Arne for the LASK games is a priority. It’s not mutually exclusive from bringing others in, but we know Celtic wait for the play-off outcome before buying rather than speculating to accumulate.
They are running huge risks. The squad depth is minimal as in the bench strength. We saw last year what happens you have guys halfway out the door playing in these games. That will apply to Reo as well.
There’s also our tolerance for injuries in the next couple of games before LASK, which is close to zero. Even one key player missing these games will carry significant risk.
Very little resilience for these games albeit the starting XI looks capable of the task.
It is hard to bring people in of course. It’s just really easy to ship them out.
An Dún (12:51 pm): “AJ unavailable means Donovan or Ralston. Engles unavailable means McCowan starting.”
If you know your history you will know that it took Luke McCowan just one minute to score on his last European appearance. And that was Celtic’s most recent European goal… in a very impressive win, away from home on German soil.
B2B
You omitted Schmeichel.
I agree with much of what you say. AJ, CCV and even Osmand would have made a huge difference last season. As would Jota have.
I agree the squad needed culled back – quality not quantity.
I also agree about 4 additions and the positions. I like Sinasalo so I don’t think we need to splash out hugely on a new keeper, just someone a step up from Doohan.
We need left back cover – Ferry from DU would be reasonably priced.
We desperately need another winger as Tounetki is only good as a sub and Jota remains injured. Yang is a curate’s egg and Jamesy will have limited minutes.
Midfield will need surgery when Engels and Hatate go. We need 6 first team ready options and will be left with just CalMac, Luke and AOC after Bernardo’s departure. It looks like they have a couple lined up in Baur and the Lithuanian lad at Torino. One more quality addition in there and we will be in good – and lean – shape.
Reading back BSR’s list of outs, it could be seen that our coaching bods are really clearing the decks:
Paulo Bernardo; Luis Palma; Stephen Welsh; Hayato Inamura; Shin Yamada; Odin Holm; Maik Nawrocki; Junior Adamu; Joel Mvuka; Tomas Cvancara…. we aint gonna miss those guys, be honest. And we wouldnt miss young Monty or Jonny Kenny should they go either.
It’s a classic clean oot – which could finally be a right good thing. What if Shaun, Foz and Mick feel the way we do, and are gonna restock with better quality ? Big Dr Hogh and Camilo are just that, it seems.
Yes; Scratchy, Kelly Nacho and Araujo would have been great to keep, yet Daizen did us a solid for a few years but his ambitions and wage demands meant he was always going.
What if – and its a big IF – this is the inexorably slow start to something good.
TinHatOan CSC
Good afternoon all from the Tolbooth. Big Kasper Hogh was in for a Guinness after training. He was impressed by the decor and ambience.
quadrophenian on 5th August 2026 1:30 pm
Reading back BSR’s list of outs, it could be seen that our coaching bods are really clearing the decks: Paulo Bernardo; Luis Palma; Stephen Welsh; Hayato Inamura; Shin Yamada; Odin Holm; Maik Nawrocki; Junior Adamu; Joel Mvuka; Tomas Cvancara…. we ain’t gonna miss those guys, be honest. And we wouldn’t miss young Monty or Jonny Kenny should they go either. It’s a classic clean oot – which could finally be a right good thing. What if Shaun, Foz and Mick feel the way we do, and are gonna restock with better quality? Big Dr Hogh and Camilo are just that, it seems.
*and how many on here and other sites used that well known CSC phrase “I wid drive him tae the airport masell” in relation tae them.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 5TH AUGUST 2026 1:16 PM
Good unarguable data to you, too. 🤣
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No matter how you slice it, there are 15 paid salaries less for
the fabled budget, including players that would and wouldn’t have played.
Whether the fix is in, very much remains to be seen especially when there’s millions more to come in the window, with inevitable sales.
It’s a waiting game, ‘quality’ signings, only a very trim squad of 26 including home grown.
Indeed TT.
Yet, for me, it’s with some reservation that we let Maik go. I still saw a CCV-in-waiting in him.
Mibby thats why I never made my living out of pro fitba ! HH
PETERLATCHFORDSBELLY on 5TH AUGUST 2026 1:27 PM
They haven’t even replaced “ Brendan’s Fat Goalie” seen that on here
Quadrophonic @ 1:30, those are my hopes as well , it’s just that we have been let down ( without being entitled about it) by the board it’s difficult not to be pessimistic, one can hope that we do have a strategy and a fresh start HH
I asked Chat GPT to give me a conservative estimate of the annual salary savings from the 16 players who have left:
“Based on the 16 first-team players who have departed Parkhead, a conservative estimate places Celtic’s gross wage bill reduction at approximately £11.4 million to £16.6 million annually (roughly £220,000 to £320,000 per week).The actual savings are higher than a simple squad-player average because the list of summer departures includes several high earners and prominent loanees, rather than just developmental prospects.”
Even at the lower end, 11 million or so is a helluva saving.
But we have a new Celtic Pie to savour.