The impact of our new signings is already evident. Kieran Tierney did what Kieran Tierney does: knocked the ball beyond his defender, beat him in the sprint and threw in a dangerous cross. Benjamin Nygren found space inside the box and made no mistake when he met Kieran’s cross.
Benji turned provider for Reo Hatate to double the lead midway through the second half as Celtic eased to the win with no sign of the trouble they had last time against Aberdeen.
Despite the control they had in the game, Celtic still looked rusty. Daizen Maeda was unusually quiet, then he was oh-so-usually wasteful when clean through with only the keeper to beat.
Whatever the plan is to get the ball to Adam Idah, it is clearly not working. The big striker cannot be singled out for blame on this point. This term has started with Brendan Rodgers benching two of last summer’s expensive signings, the manager will be reluctant to sit Adam alongside Auston Trusty and Arne Engels.
Declining the opportunity to postpone our next league fixture (home to Livingston) now looks like a good call. We have the incentive to put clear blue water between us and others. The season may only be two games old, but it already has the juices flowing.
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Morning all.
Back in the fold and routine.
HH!
Whoof!
Blog’s broke?
Got it, eventually, after error 404 message.
THE BLOGGER FORMERLY KNOWN AS GM re: Blog’s broke?
It was just needing some caffeine.
saint stivs @ 11.48
I referenced SPL rule C36 (which I have actually read) early doors which does not appear to state that.
Maybe you could point me to your own source which says that it does….
Good to have Aipple back in the saddle.
I couldn’t work out what day it was at 6am all last week – welcome back pal.
Tex
Those questioning the board for not signing Lennon Miller are forgetting one very important element in any transfer — the player has to want to come to Celtic. Evidently Miller has no interest in a move to another Scottish club and prefers to move abroad, and who can blame him?
Cheers TEXASTIM and a very happy MONDAY to you.
HH!
MONDAY?????
Better get to work!
Why would Celtic want to sign Miller, has anyone studied him to see what he would bring, Motherwell supporters want the money but when you say to them he is 18 what decent league that could afford to buy him would provide him with the amount of first team football he clearly beieves he is ready for, I hope Celtic do not go near him, all the hype from the Scottish media that surrounds this guy is just that, he will continue at Motherwell of that I have no doubt, or move for half the fee they want.
‘Whatever the plan is to get the ball to Adam Idah, it is clearly not working.’
Perhaps those new wingers the manager has been crying out for all summer would help?
They cant answer is missing
The juices flowing let the bedwetting commence
Sevco getting another CH from Betis, some size of squad they’re carrying.
CELTIC MAC
Anyone who knows anything about football knows if two teams are level on points and foal difference, the team with the higher number of goals scored is top.
If that is the rule at the end of the league campaign then it is obviously the rule throughout the season.
It really does beggar belief that someone would object to Hearts being elevated to top spot on goals scored after two games. Would you prefer alphabetical order, or perhaps the toss of a coin?
Tom Mac
I agree that Hearts are top of the league.
Early days but I welcome the competition.
Foal difference ? Neigh chance !
This blog’s poisonous anti-Rodgers agenda now verges on self parody.
Even the writer isn’t going to defend this window; the pitiful headline nods in that direction but he’s not going full-scale. Still, it has not stopped him taking shots at the boss again.
It’s pathetic. Who needs the mainstream media with this going on?
What did one click bait say to the other?
Answers on a postcard.
Clear difference from the cup final with the width provided by Tierney. Getting round the back and in behind, rather than everything coming inside into the congestion.
Been shouting for a goalscoring midfielder since MOR departed. Think Nygren might be the answer. Looks like he has a good instinct.
Hearts are top??? I’m sure I read on here that we were four points clear.
Stephen McGowan of The Herald – filling his boots
After a comfortable win over Aberdeen, Celtic’s directors might be asking themselves what all the fuss is about. All that pressure, all that grief over transfers comes as their biggest rivals spill points against Motherwell and Dundee.
Come August 31, the lead over Rangers could be 10 points if the Ibrox side pursue the option to cancel their game against St Mirren ahead of a Champions League play-off and lose the first Old Firm game of the season at Ibrox. Good luck persuading the Parkhead board to start chucking their money around then.
Rodgers wants to see more ambition than that. The last four windows have ended in some expression of mild public dissatisfaction from the manager and you can put the kettle on for five-in-a-row if the aspirations for this window span no further than taking part in the Champions League and being slightly better than Rangers.
Despite signing seven players, only two of Celtic’s new bhoys are first-team starters. And when Kieran Tierney and Benjamin Nygren combined for the first goal at Pittodrie it illustrated the point that, in football, you get what you pay for.
Five minutes into his second stint as manager Rodgers was asked for his thoughts on the window which delivered Nat Phillips, Paulo Bernardo, Luis Palma, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Maik Nawrocki, Kwon Hyeok-kyu, Yang Hyun-jun, Tomoki Iwata, Marco Tilio and Odin Thiago Holm.
“I think if you ask any manager they will always be wanting more,” he said diplomatically. Two years later, Yang and Bernardo are the only two left in the same postcode as the first team.
Nicolas Kuhn was sold this summer but has not yet been replaced (Image: SNS Group)
The following window passed with just two new signings. Adam Idah arrived on loan from Norwich and Kuhn signed in a permanent deal. Once again, supporters – like the man who signed them – felt short changed.
Rodgers offered the view that the club “could be a little braver in terms of bringing in another level of player,” adding “you bring in players for a minimal fee and then they make the club a lot of money.”
Persuading them to reinvest it is the hard part. Last summer, procrastination over signing players provoked some exasperation from the manager heading into the final days of the window.
“We shouldn’t have been getting into this last week in the position we’re in,” said Rodgers in the midst of a late scramble to sign Idah, Arne Engels and Auston Trusty for a total of £25m. “That’s the reality.”
Engels and Trusty arrived for over-inflated fees on August 30, taking a hammer and chisel to the boardroom view that the best deals are done in the final days of the window.
At the beginning of this year, Celtic sold top striker Kyogo Furuhashi and failed to replace him. Rodgers acknowledged that the window, “wasn’t ideal,” adding, “we have to, as a club, now go away and look at that like we do every window.”
The champions reported cash reserves of £65.4m last December and, two months into this current transfer window, have raked in around £25m from sales. As yet they have spent around £3m on new players and while they’ll bring in more in the final weeks, it’s far from clear that they’ll do it in time for the Champions League signing deadline.
The failure to get a couple of wingers in the door already is hard to fathom. They lost Jota to serious injury and sold Kuhn to Como for £17m. And as soon as the football department identified Jakob Breum of Go Ahead Eagles as a player worth signing, it was up to the men in grey suits to get the deal done instead of sucking in their breath and kicking the tyres like time wasters on the forecourt of the local second-hand car showroom.
Fixated with securing ‘value for money’, offers of £1.5m, £1.75m plus add-ons then £3m went in for a player valued somewhere between £5m and £6m. As yet, Breum is no closer to moving to Glasgow and and he’s not the only player to be scouted, approved by the football department then vetoed by money men who don’t appear to trust their judgement.
The seventh anniversary of Terminado Day passed on Saturday. In August 2018 Rodgers sat, arms folded, in a breeze block changing room in the Lennoxtown training centre and began the Long Goodbye.
Failure to land John McGinn from Hibernian was less significant than what it said about the bigger picture. Asked what might happen if he felt the club were failing to move forward and progress Rodgers was emphatic. “My job is done then. Terminado. Gone.”
A niggardly reticence to get deals over the line nudged Rodgers towards the exit once before. It’s not difficult to see it happening again.
Asked if he planned to extend his contract beyond next summer, he said that he would only do so if the club continued to move forward and show some ambition. The clock is ticking.
Celtic will spend money between now and the end of the window, probably on four new players. As things stand, however, they’re giving the impression that they’re hardly bursting a gut to keep their manager. If that’s the case they can hardly blame Rodgers for bailing out again
Lennon Miller to Udinese
AIPPLE on 11TH AUGUST 2025 12:39 PM
What did one click bait say to the other?
Answers on a postcard.
———.
Sir Isaac Newton told us why an Aipple falls down from the sky
With my comment yesterday about the team talk before our game at iPox at the end of the month, I forgot that rangers have chosen to postpone their next SPL fixture, while Celtic haven’t. So the team talk can now be simply: “Win this match Bhoys and you’re TEN points clear of The Champions Elect ®”. Nothing more should need to be said.
Would this be the first time ever that rangers have been TEN points behind Celtic after their THIRD game???
Shifting blame onto Rodgers for the Board’s dithering on Engles and Idah is pitiful.
More duds like the Lawwell window please. Psss another £20M up against the wall provided it’s in small denominations.
Lennon Millar is a good player but not what we need. Our goalkeeping, defence and midfield departments all in great shape. We need two,wingers (one a loan till Jota’s fit). If we get that I’ll be happy because we’ll have a million centre forwards if you include Daizen amongst the options.
BSR
Sir Isaac has never failed to let me down!
dessybhoy- spoke to a guy a couple of weeks ago who works at the Club, I asked him about LM,he said every club in UK have been aware of him since he was 11- 12 years old, and have all been monitoring his progress, every scouting report came back with one negative- no pace
tom mclaughlin
Might help if you have actually read my earlier post and also SPL rule C36.
The rule refers to the end of the season, (and also to the position after 33 games)
It does not refer to the relative position after two games. That is not the “rule”.
Alphabetical order does apply in certain situations, but does not confer presidence, and matches are still subject to the toss of a coin under IFAB Law 8, at the start, but no longer at the end of a match such as Benfica-Celtic, thanks to Bob Kelly if my memory serves me well.
Other than that Tam keep up your good work
Adam Idah has averaged a goal for Celtic every 117 minutes per playing time.
Lies damn lies and statistics CSC
James Forrest on 11th August 2025 12:37 pm
I agree that Paul67 has a gripe with BR
I can only guess its because BR left us
I can speculate there is friction between Peter Lawwell/Mark Lawwell and BR and Paul67 takes their side
But the honest truth is it bothers me that our editor consistently has a go at BR
If he reads this perhaps he will answer
If not, you can share your view
67ECW
No pace no use then.
PeterLatchfordsBelly on 11th August 2025 12:53 pm
Yep 100% agree
67ECW
Sir Isaac got a knighthood jist for noticing that things fall doon the way ???!!!!
James Forrest
Go get a semblance of a life outside of abusing Celtic.
Cheap click bait shock jock of zero substance.
Nothing gets clicks more than negative crap about ‘suits’ and authority figures.
Any suggestions about £20m players ( seems to be the magic number today ?) who would actually come to play in our wee backwater ? I am sure our manager would love to find one to spend his budget on.
Personally rather than trying to persuade some supposed £20m players to come to play here I would rather our manager focused on keeping our current £20m striker happy and maybe even motivating him back to his electric best.
A bumper deal to secure Japans national steicked for another 3 or 4 years might be time and effort well spent. If it gets him back playing to his best again.
Then maybe focus on some good wide players, even one signing and one quality loan until Jota returns.
To me Adam is working hard and just needs a wee goal or 2. His work rate is def a lot higher than previous and in time he will get the reward.
dessybhoy on 11th August 2025 1:01 pm
No pace no use then
FWIW I would have signed him