Adam Idah changed Celtic history. He arrived at the club on loan during Brendan Rodgers’ first season back in January 2024. Philippe Clement had not only stabilised the wreck Michael Beale left Newco in, he hunted Celtic down, went top of the league and made his side favourites for the title.
A week in the door Adam scored with two penalties against Hibs, to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 1-2 win in the 92nd minute. At Motherwell two weeks later and he again scored twice, his second to give Celtic the lead on 94 minutes.
He will be better remembered for his Scottish Cup Final winning goal against Newco in May 2024, and our third goal in a 3-3 draw at Ibrox the month earlier, but the goals at Hibs and Motherwell were just as crucial in picking a Celtic team off the canvas and making us champions again. We would have won neither without him.
The club spent £9m to take Adam permanently from the Norwich City bench to Glasgow. It was a decision based on a small sample size (the fee was due to Brendan Rodgers publicly naming Adam as his No. 1 target early in the window). A statistical error was made; always check the sample size.
I doubt anyone is motivated to explain why Nicolas Kuhn was allowed to leave without backfill secured. Signings are notoriously difficult for all clubs and all know not to make assumptions, which is why Kuhn’s sale is so unusual. A bit of bloody mindedness was involved. Contrast with Adam’s departure. Adam could have gone earlier in the window but was kept until backfill was secured.
Two weeks late, but Royal Antwerp eventually got their backfill for Michel-Ange Balikwisha (24), who joined Celtic last night. The right-footed (predominantly) left-winger has been at Antwerp for four years and I expect will see some action on Sunday. Celtic have scouted for a long time, so he will surely fit what we need.
Michel-Ange played the same role in Belgium as Jota played at Celtic, and Daizen Maeda has played in Jota’s absence. Brendan likes to swap out both wingers during games, so I can see scope for at least five in the squad.
Welcome to Celtic, Michel-Ange.
Our Europa League draw:
Roma (home), 5th in Italy last season
Feyenoord (away), 3rd in Netherlands last season
Braga (home), 4th in Portugal last season
Red Star (away), Serbia champions last season
Sturm Graz (home), Austria champions last season
Midtjylland (away), Denmark runners up last season
Utrecht (home), 4th in Netherlands last season
Bologna (away), 9th in Italy last season
There are easier games in the Champions League than any of them, but there’s lots we can achieve with that draw.
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Thanks Adam – good luck 😉
Hail Hail Adam Idah
HH
Roma H
Feyenoord A
Braga H
Red Star A
Sturm Graz H
Midtjylland A
Utrecht H
Bologna A
slow lane right enough.
pricing.
HH
Lots we can achieve: if our old grey men sanction some meaningful spend.
YAWN i’ve no idea who, but I’d start with goal scoring forwards…………and wingers who can get balls into the box
Mmmm……. “which is why Kuhn’s sale is so unusual”.
I prefer: which is why Kuhn’s sale is so incompetent.
We’re not a Champions League team at the moment but shouldn’t be used as consolation for not being able to beat Kairat, ( neither are they. ) It’s not an excuse either, for having the cavalry reinforcements arriving too late. What you see is what you get of Brendan Rodgers diminished squad since peaking in Munich, then decimated by injury. Kairat’s ‘achievable plan’ ©️ Paul 67 could have been copied from Aberdeen in the Cup Final, with penalty bingo, no matter the team permutations scoring a goal always looked in jeopardy.
No excuses, no clinical striker either, not signed never mind bedded in, but Celtic hierarchy were just as shocked as we were, that we couldn’t and never looked like scoring in the first leg at Parkhead. Signings for the CL became signings CD for the Europa, but no matter what way you slice it, we have a massive Artemedia ( are they still a club ? ) clanger, that delights SMSM and all its reservists.
Win a qualifier – ‘You had one job’
Agree with Paul there are easier games in the Champions League than any of them, but there’s lots we can achieve with that draw.
Some nice trips with Bologna tops for us who are anti-fascist minded
Hail hail
“I doubt anyone is motivated to explain why Nicolas Kuhn was allowed to leave without backfill secured”
Aren’t you motivated? There’s certainly sufficient motivation to repeatedly make what otherwise appear unfounded inferences. If you have something to say on the matter just say it.
Are we still pretending our recruitment model is anything other than a shambles?
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2018-10-02/bologna-again-takes-center-stage-resisting-fascism/
At least we don’t have to play FC Kairat…..
That’s a bit disingenuous blaming Rodgers for overpaying for Idah. Is he also to blame for the poor state of the stadium and broken WiFi?
It’s well accepted we could and should have gone in early with a sensible offer. Instead we lowballed as usual and overpaid because Kyogo was injured and we then became desperate. Unfortunately for Idah, that price tag did weigh heavy on him, even though he had no part on setting it.
I’m sad to see him go because he does have a lot of the attributes you want in a striker and, as you say, he had a huge part in the league and cup wins during his loan. He just wasn’t very good at pulling all those attributes together very often.
A fresh start will do him wonders and I wish him the best
Thank you Adam Idah, you certainly scored some important goals, but there were too many occasions when your touch let us down.
I wish you well with Swansea, the manager, Alan Sheehan, is the son of an old team mate of mine, Micky Sheehan. Good Athlone Town AFC people.
I have to admit, when we get European draws my first instinct is, where would be a new/interesting place to visit. Not too sure about these away fixtures.
Regarding our chances, lets see how the new bhoys fit in. I still think we need far more phyical strength in midfield.
About what you expect in this tournament, which is why the Ibrox side has consistently done so well in it. A lot of second tier (and some third tier) slop. Still, I look at our squad as it is right now and I would not be confident of picking up more than ten points until we see MAJOR reinforcements.
Our host continues to absolve the board of blame for this mess. You wonder what it would take at this point. We’re actually on the brink of going to Ibrox weaker topside than we were at the start of the week … you actually could not make that up. Another 20 goals taken out of the team, but this is obviously how the manager – whose reputation depends on us winning – wanted it.
What a club.
PINKMARTIN
Part of the Blog narrative mate ,
You could also have read on here Nicolas Kuhn wasn’t a ‘Brendan’ signing, of course he doesn’t get any credit for selling him for £17M either, it’s somebody else that does all the successful sales and it’s only the manager when the player doesn’t work out.
How bizarre CSC
Does this mean a new CF is signed, a CQN exclusive, or have i missed something. Surely Ballikwisha is for Kuhn?
“Adam could have gone earlier in the window but was kept until backfill was secured”
Celtic Mac 12.47pm, no we don’t (thankfully), but Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Arsenal, Bruges and Spring Lisbon do! 🤔
Spring Lisbon = Sporting Lisbon
…F’ing auto-incorrect!
Decent draw, there should be something in every game for us
The timing of Nic Kuhns departure is strange, but I can’t imagine him being sold without Brendan’s say-so. If Matt O’Riley was told he was staying when Atlético Madrid wanted him, I don’t see that Brendan wouldnt have agreed to selling Kuhn if he didn’t want to
Having seen how disinterested he was even in the big games after Bayern – hooked at half time against the Huns, dropped or ineffective in others – I can understand if it was felt he couldn’t be trusted in our most important game to a move for him. As it turned out I don’t think even peak NK would have made a difference – he was hardly involved when we came up and failed against the same tactics as tge Kazakhs employed.
It might have been helpful if having agreed to sell him so early there might have been some recognition from Brendan about the reality of the situation – replacing a key player might take time, more options might open up later in the window, better players might be available after qualification is finished (see Dolberg). Instead it was all pressure, leverage and constant knocking of the quality of the squad.
Kuhn’s late-season form provided little to suggest that he would have made any difference against Kairat.
Other clubs seem to have been able to bring players in early without too much bother.
One club seems to find it notoriously troublesome, for some reason…..
bournesouprecipe:
I’m sure if you dug throught the archives you would actually find an editorial from when Kuhn saying saying that he WAS a Brendan signing and was nothing but a wild punt with the suggestion that we had veered wildly off script and would regret it. It 100% exists.
Hopefully another winger (more Abada type) to come.
Christ sake. What is wrong with my typing today?
I am sure you got the point of the above lol,
KELVINBHOY on 29TH AUGUST 2025 12:55 PM
Kaspar Dolberg from Anderlecht is the strong rumour
Roma …draw
Feyenoord …defeat
Braga …win
Red Star…draw
Sturm Graz …draw
Midtjylland …defeat
Utrecht …win
Bologna …defeat
9 points
celtic40me on 29th August 2025 1:01 pm
Seen that but we have been known to replace sales with rumours as a poster on here said earlier in window. Hope he is the one, looks the part.
‘It was a decision based on a small sample size (the fee was due to Brendan Rodgers publicly naming Adam as his No. 1 target early in the window). A statistical error was made; always check the sample size.’
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Another embarrassing post by yourself P67. You’re fooling no one with this guff.
A competent transfer negotiator would have had a fixed fee option incorporated into the deal at the end of the loan period. We don’t have anyone competent running our transfer business so that never materialised.
Adam had a successful loan period and Norwich (rightly) could ask for the moon. We ended up paying it due to our incompetence. Nothing to do with BR.
I also remember reading on another blog that Kuhn was definitely not bought as a replacement for Abada. A few weeks later Abada was away.
i remember saying last season that i liked the new league format of the european games i.e not the same team home and away.
i also said however that it was just a massive money grabbing scam by uefa and the clubs to make you play more games (so more income for them) only to find you exit the tournament further away from the final than under the old system.
we played 2 extra home games last season and so cost us about 100 quid more each to attend them, only to get knocked out further away from the final than under the old system.
there was no reason why they couldnt have introduced the new league system but with everyone still playing 3 home and 3 away games.
it was a scam to give fans the illusion that they were getting further in europe (i.e. after christmas) but in fact the opposite was true, we were actually further away from the final than under the old system.
that is even more apparant now that we will have 4 home games in the europa league to pay for, instead of the champions league, at likely 40 quid each.
i think i would take the old system back for the europa league!
JAMES FORREST on 29TH AUGUST 2025 12:58 PM
Thats pretty much the opposite of what those of us who favored the development model said about Kuhn when he signed. He was pretty much a perfect example of the profile of player we wanted to sign, and we said it the time.
The talk of cheap punts and disastrous windows came from those who opposed the strategy and wanted the club to back Brendan, give him whay hexwas demanding and spend big on “quality”
£1.5 m bid for Yang
Think he’s worth more than that to be honest ?
I think the first game is huge…beat Roma and I’d virtually say qualified…lose and uphill battle with pressure as Feyenoord away is a toughie
Blah, blah it’s Brendan’s fault blah.
As it was for Cluj, Ferencvaros, Utrecht, Braga, Maribor, Legia, Malmo, AEK, Molde, Midytlland etc, etc.
We’ll do fck all with that draw because this serially useless Board has sapped all positive spirit from the club, sown division, sold our best players, hoarded our cash, feathered their own nests etc.
The stadium will be like a morgue for all of the home games and I fully expect us to finish in the bottom 12, along with the huns.
Our dusty old Board will be delighted because the huns are their perennial benchmark.
I find it incredible the Rodgers fan boys hold him accountable for absolutely nothing.
What a gig – £3m a year to take credit when things go well and deflect responsibility/blame others when they don’t.
Thanks for everything Adam. Any loss on the transfer fee is massively outweighed by the ECL income you earned us.
I would take £1.50 for Yang. Another Lawwell Jr dud. Weren’t they all?
JAMES FORREST on 29TH AUGUST 2025 12:58 PM
bournesouprecipe:
I’m sure if you dug throught the archives you would actually find an editorial from when Kuhn saying saying that he WAS a Brendan signing and was nothing but a wild punt with the suggestion that we had veered wildly off script and would regret it. It 100% exists.
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Brendan BAD Board GOOD, when he turns it all around as his record suggests , we’ll see how close both the key Irishmen at the club remain .
The ‘good value’ mantra is manageable but they can’t skirt round buying when you’re selling players at £17M bought for £3M