Steve Clarke made the right call to leave Leigh Griffiths out of his Scotland squad for the right reasons, saying, “I feel we should just give him a little bit more time to settle into the role again at Celtic…a fully fit, firing, sharp Leigh Griffiths will always be good for us.” It is difficult to get a quiet period of normality when you are a high profile football player, but that’s what Leigh needs, while simultaneously getting back to what he does as a top football player.
International football is a tax on Celtic, as more of our players feature in full or youth squads than our direct competitors, most of whom get international fortnights off. It’s a pity Callum McGregor and James Forrest are not also rested.
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Roddybhoy,
Who in our eleven would you swap out for the feared mauling as you put it.
I’m not happy with the seemingly lack of activity but I think we have a decent team and I dont fear them however like all games against them there is a lot at stake.
Keep the faith.
Hail Hail.
Roddy,
I mean like for like replacement.
Hail Hail
Bury takeover off,they look finished
D66- DD- just my opinion, but there’s more chance of Dennis Bergkamp on the flight, rather than 3 new signings.
People who are suggesting that Cluj was a £30m game do realise that we would have had to face Slavia Prague next, right? Probably a better side that Celtic and Cluj…
BB
Agree, all seems a bit strange.
Celtic are 1/25 to Qualify on Thursday; Sevco are 1/3.
Celtic are 9/5 to win on Sunday ; Sevco are 6/4 .
Bada – sadly I agree with you, not that it is sad, to agree with you :)
D :)
Just watched Tommy Wright blowing kisses to the Hibs fans after his St Johnstone team equalised in the last minute of the game. ” It was all good fun, ” said Tommy. I hope it was but I feel there may have been a different take on that kind of action had Neil Lennon been involved .
Cheerio for now.
JJ
Scott Brown also condemned for doing it last season.
A certain player from across the way did it on Sunday and not an eyelid was batted.
HANDS CANT HIT WHAT THE EYES CANT SEE on 27TH AUGUST 2019 3:24 PM
“I think it is difficult to put a lot of that on BR (although he certainly had his faults).”
As time went on, Brendan Rodgers was given free rein to set up the recruitment department with his own people and things regressed.
“It was clear that BR wanted better quality (he talked of it often enough), but what we ended up with was nowhere near what was required.”
The point is, it’s easy to talk about wanting “more quality”. Brendan Rodgers has form for playing fans against ownership to protect himself. It was his pal Congerton who is responsible for identifying the right players at the right market. I believe that the likes of Piccini & Castagne were fanciful targets. Replace Peter Lawell with another CEO and that won’t change.
“In BR’s time at the club we only signed 4 players for £2m or more”
That might be the case but bear in mind that transfer fees aren’t quite the full story. Moussa Dembele’s fee was low not because he was underrated. His open market value was probably something near 10 million. He was paid a big wage. As was Scott Sinclair. Add to the fact that new contracts were handed out for several first-team players.
You don’t get a full picture of expenditure when you look at fees alone.
As for the Bayo stuff, BR at that stage was at it. Trying to distance himself to anything going on
“On not selling Boyata: unsure why Celtic fans do not support BR in this instance. We sold Armstrong and didn’t replace him.”
Have you ever heard of Olivier Ntcham? Tom Rogic? Callum McGregor? Ryan Christie? Errr…. Kouassi Eboue?
Point is, what you don’t want is to have to sell Player X on the 1st of July and Sign Player Y on the 2nd of July. What you want is Sell Player X on 1st of July, already have Player Y in the building ready to step in and sign Player Z when the circumstances of a transfer are right.
Armstrong was sold, we were already well-stocked in that position and were able to move on. Our central midfield is really still quite strong. I believe that was an example of good recruitment and management on BR’s part.
As for Boyata, we signed 2 CB’s in the earlier window and they were abject failures. Hendry was Boyata’s long-term replacement.
You might be willing to suggest that BR was forced to sign inferior players by Peter Lawwell for the sake of the balance sheet. My perspective is that BR is as two-faced as they come and has only truly been interested in himself. In his final year, he was actively working against the board to shake off his own failures.
Heknowswhoknows
I take your point but sadly games aint won on paper. From middle to front we are decent but our backline is very shaky to say the least. Since our fans were banned from Ibrox we have been like rabbits caught in the headlights . Add that to Neils teams and tactics at times I fear the worst ( hoping for the best) , they score early and it could be a long day . However the bigger picture is of more concern , time after time we have been let down by bad planning , fear of spending money in the hope that we scrape by , those tactics will blow up in our faces eventually and I worry that that time has arrived. A top club shouldnt be continually running around at the close of a transfer window trying to hoover up the scraps in the hope of a “bargain” which probably costs us in the long run . Identify your realistic targets early and be realistic in how you approach them . Lawell seems to have to come out of any deal as the winner or the deal falls flat on its face .
Got to laugh at some posters telling us that Lawwell is doing this and Lennon is doing that, This is all supposition.
We don’t know what negotiations are taking place. Do we believe the Media or the players agents or the selling club trying to maximise the fee?
None of the above has Celtic interests at heart, if anything the direct opposite.
When Neil Lennon says he hopes to have 3 players signed then this only indicates what he wants and not any guarantee.
For what its worth I think that Meling is the preferred LB target and Rosenberg will only let him go if they are knocked out Champs League. If we don’t get him then we bring in another target whoever that is.
I can only see one LB and maybe a loan player
BR Revisionism at its best
Cap doffed
Every transfer window is the same drawn out and underwhelming exercise.
Roddy,
We score first it could be a long day for them.
I reckon it will be a cracking game.
Fingers crossed and all that.
Hail Hail
http://celticbynumberscom.ipage.com/do-lennons-demands-suit-brown/
I showed how last season Brown was adapting his role and gracefully regressing his numbers. Lennon has different demands of the skipper and the numbers show this. What impact is this having on his performances?
GO TELL THE SPARTIM on 27TH AUGUST 2019 4:26 PM
BR Revisionism at its best
Cap doffed
Every transfer window is the same drawn out and underwhelming exercise.
____
Dermott Desmond and Peter Lawwell do not escape criticism. Ultimately, it’s under their watch that Lee Congerton was appointed. Somebody who’s record was very questionable.
They have also failed to replace him permanently. The temporary replacement is also somebody who has been chased out of English football with a questionable record.
The decision to appoint Neil Lennon was a bit unambitious but the failure to reshape the football department around him is negligence.
Lennon should stop bumping his gums.After the game on Sunday ,he and not for the first time said he was hopeful of having 2 or 3 new faces on the flight to Sweden,it’s all Spin,he like the rest of the board treat us with contempt,
Timaloy 29
My point was simply this, that before BR and questionable Congerton, we saw the same thing happening, i feel that if they managed the team / Club better then not only would they make money theyd make a heep more money. They think we can scrape by every single game, and they learn nothing from their previous transfer window tragedies
Amazing analysis again from Celtic by Numbers.
Maybe the “substitute Rogic by 75 minutes” should be used for Broony in his absence. Have some faith in Eboue.
Celtic by numbers
What is pack pass/packing rate??
Great stuff CBN….
I’d hate this season to be the one people turn on Scott Brown but it is beginning to look like a distressed situation we shoiuld have sorted by now.
Are the late penalties conceded due to the fatigue?
Where the hell is Kouassi?
This one worries me. A Neil ‘blind spot’?
My friends in Celtic,
The KT transfer went on for weeks if not months. We negotiated very hard and ultimately very successfully. We haggled over every penny and what date said penny would be paid.
So far so good, we were told we had a contingency plan in place with subsequent signings to follow.
We then blew a potential £30m game. It seemed there was no plan and no contingency.
That is what the fans are bewildered with ; how we can be so financially savy in selling our top players but so inept in forward thinking.
At the end of the day we remain supporters,and in the main faithful through and through. However we should expect that what comes out our custodians mouths should be followed through.
HH to all.
GO TELL THE SPARTIM on 27TH AUGUST 2019 4:45 PM
My point was simply this, that before BR and questionable Congerton, we saw the same thing happening, i feel that if they managed the team / Club better then not only would they make money theyd make a heep more money. They think we can scrape by every single game, and they learn nothing from their previous transfer window tragedies
____
I’m not in agreement with you there.
But that doesn’t really matter. I don’t believe Celtic utilized their resources correctly in Rodgers reign. He relied on a legacy of good (not perfect) recruitment under John Park, Ronny Deila & Neil Lennon.
Pitting the fans & Rodgers vs the boogiemen in the boardroom is too simplistic. It’s certainly what Rodgers wanted in his final season. Manyare aware of his attempts to throw Peter Lawwell under the bus to excuse his own failures.
Peter Lawwell & Dermott Desmond gave Brendan Rodgers the chance to shape the long-term future of the club. Celtic were only ever a stepping stone to that man and that structure has been ripped out.
That’s fine, I didn’t care for what Rodgers was doing. But the failure to replace that structure with something modern is a failure from the boardroom. We look like we are 10 years behind what’s going on back on the continent.
If you are one of the posters who think BR had to leave because the board couldn’t match his ambition then I have some magic beans to sell you.
Criticism of Rodgers does not excuse the failures of others.
Gideon Mensah..
Sound the rumour klaxon….
Suppose we better get used to all the “ITK” transfer speculation for the next week – this time from JohnJames …
I have just been apprised of McKenna and Cosgrove signing for Celtic, with Hendry on his way to Aberdeen. Meling has apparently also been signed by Celtic. I have naturally pushed back as Cosgrove came out of nowhere.
Happy with the Melling bit – might well be true I hope – but the rest ….
EmbraMike
In a world of blogging fantasists, JohnJames is the king of them all y’all….
Thankfully.
GREENPINATA
Transfer Style Guide
(3) Celtic FC do not ‘buy’ or ‘sign’ players they ‘finally complete’ deals. The hugely dull nature of this event should be emphasised at all times by using at least one of the following terms – ‘protracted’ ‘long-running’ ‘long drawn out affair’ and always a degree of ‘dithering’
Nakamura played tonight. Maybe we could loan him until end of the season.
In fact*whats Vidar Riseth doing these days?
Closethewindownowcsc
GO TELL THE SPARTIM @ 4.26
” The board have been great with me ”
Brendan Rodgers
” The board have been great with me ”
Neil Lennon
Yada
Yada
Yada CSC
Good luck to Celtic legned Cristian Gamboa at his new club, Bochum.
How come on CelticNewsNow our signing targets are always set to join somebody else?
The only first pick players gone that we might have held are P.C Lustig & KT. We also lost Boyata & Benkovic, The remainder who left were not contributing anyway.
We have Julien, Boli, Shved Forster & Elhamed in. I’m not including Luca or Afolabi as I see them as projects albeit promising ones but they won’t contribute this year.
On first glance comparing the ins & outs our squad looks weaker, however, Bitton, Christie,Griff & Bayo were all injured in the run in last , they are now all back & all shaping up well.
Mikey has stepped up & now a valuable first team squad member. Chritie & Ajer have lifted their game to new heights, but on the negative Brooney is showing signs of wear & tear. Sincy looks like he will play little or no part, we do have Morgan but I think the jury is out on him..
We just don’t know what part,Arani, Kouassi or Rogic might yet play in the season.
Finally we have Lenny instead of Rodgers.
It is hard to say whether we are stronger or weaker overall ,
I think with the injured players back we are stronger right now but there is no doubt there will be fresh injuries as the season progresses,
Are we weaker or stronger as a squad
TIMALOY29 on 27TH AUGUST 2019 4:37 PM
i dont think the head of recruitment at Celtic is an easy job at all, just like I think recruiting someone to do the job as well as we would all like is far from easy as well. The best want to work in bigger leagues, with bigger budgets and larger networks. We all like to imagine the “magic leader,” who will walk in and find us gems from all over the world but the truth is that there is no substitute for an extensive expensive network.
From 2013 and until this season EPL clubs were not allowed to use any increases in tv revenues to increase their wage bills above 7m a year. Any increase above that had to be funded from a year on year increase in revenue that didn’t include tv money. It could however include any profit from player trading. You can imagine why they would look to spend some of the huge amounts of cash they were receiving on player recruitment.
Putting aside judgements of individual windows and looking at the bigger picture we actually do better than OK. Nobody could argue its been perfect but we have got value for money from our scouting, we’ve had domestic success while making big profits from trading. We might be at looking at a dip in the quality of the team as a result of a series of “transfer window tragedies,” but we’ve been hearing that pretty much every year since 2003 or 2004. I’ll still be looking at what really matters at the end of the season – the performance of the football club on the pitch and our financial security in the short and medium term.
Heknowswhoknows
I wish I had your optimism mate lol
Hail Hail
Good evening all. Wait till you see what’s on page 4……. ;-)
*** CQN PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2019-20 ***
Just for a wee bit of fun, I thought it’s be a good idea to collate opinions, on a game by game basis, with a view to determining CQN’s Player Of The Year for season 2019-20. Paul67 is happy for me to do so. My idea isn’t rocket science but is simply to collate each of your individual opinions on who our best 3 players are on a game by game basis. You don’t need to show the players in order, just the 3 who impressed you most on any given day. I’ll collate all of the votes, tally them up and then award points to the top 5 players that have been nominated – most votes gets 5 down to 5th placed getting 1.
Votes should be sent by email – nothing long winded, just 3 players’ names! Voting will be open for (approximately) 48 hours after the final whistle for each game by sending your (up to) 3 picks to me at CQNPOTY@GMAIL.COM . This will start with this Thursday’s game against AIK. For that game you can vote up to 10.00pm on Saturday and I’ll then post the first ‘league table’ in plenty time before game 2 against you know who kicks off.
I’ll re-post this a few times over the next few days so apologies in advance! Provided the idea generates a wee bit of interest I’ll run it for the whole season and I’ll stick out a wee reminder on the blog as each game comes around. You don’t need to sign up or anything, and you don’t need to vote on every game (please just do so for those games that you actually see the whole 90 minutes!).
Whilst it would help if you also mention your Blog Name in your email, there’s no obligation.
As I said, just a wee bit of fun to maybe give us another topic to discuss as the weeks go on.
Thanks for reading this far.
Jobo
Jobo,
Will all be revealed will it :-)
Hail hail