It always stings a bit when we lose a good one, and there appears to be universal agreement that Victor Wanyama is a good one, but there are compensations. We lost him for the asking price (a club and Scottish record) and lost him early enough in the transfer window for the cash to be put to good use. Technical note, £12.5m and freeing up a very small wage will not provide £12.5m for transfers plus wages for either a £12.5m player or a collection of players at that value. It will free up a lesser transfer budget and provide a higher wage budget.
Victor goes with our best wishes. He joins a club who signed Celtic fringe player (I’m being generous), Jos Hooiveld, two years ago, and who also employ former Celtic misfit, Danny Fox. It’s not a sexy move but Victor will be as well compensated as Celtic by England’s bling. There could be claims about the move being about football, but it’s about the money, honey; not that there’s a problem with that, Victor didn’t pack his bags in Nairobi hoping to end his days in Glasgow.
He only became a first choice player after Beram Kayal was injured so comprehensively by Elbows McCulloch and played less than 30 games and was a first team choice for less than a year before declining a contract extension for a substantial wage increase (several times the wages he was on). This, when he had almost three years left on his existing deal. There’s a lesson there for future negotiations.
If you are feeling less than happy about this development, I could suggest a reason or two. Back in the 70s and 80s Macari, Hay, Dalglish, Nicholas and McClair were sold for competitive fees but the Cavalry of reinforcements didn’t arrive. Instead Celtic hoped a new generation of youths would fill the gap. Those of us from that generation were condition by the experience.
Things worked differently when Jock Brown was in charge (aye, you read right). Within a few months we lost the league for the ninth consecutive season and sold the Three Amigos for a substantial amount of money. In August 1997 I was distraught but 10 months later the penny dropped. The challenge now for Peter Lawwell, Neil Lennon and the Celtic scouts is to outperform Jock and Wim………….
Easy, right?
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istanbulcelt
20:55 on
12 July, 2013
Why does the dude keep calling Sammy a ”striker”? There are goalkeepers with a better scoring record than the big guy!
=======================================
Name them eejit.
Fascinating points being made on the olde moonhowlin shift…..
Who would argue that…
The Bankers have SFA to do with the awful predicament Scottish Fitba finds itself in…?
OldiesRGoldies CSC
Btw…
I am not a complete cynic…. Just need a little perspective.
Best post of the day, IMO, needs repeated….
Articulated my own feelings towards the end of watching the sparring bout earlier.
—————————————————————————————
Celtic_First
23:26 on 12 July, 2013
Well, I may be in a minority of one but I enjoyed what I saw of the game tonight. Not because I like to see Celtic lose. I do not. One of my brothers went in the late 70s to a Q and A with Bobby Lennox and reported back that Bobby had said that every time a Celtic team at any level went onto any pitch anywhere, he expected a victory. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was a genius doing what geniuses do, articulating for you what you kind of already know but don’t know how to express it.
Tonight was a bad result, but it was a much better performance and the young Bhoys who stepped into the breach were exceptional. Jackson Irvine, Tom Rogic, Calum Waters (do we need the ‘u’), Mikey Miller, Bahrudin Atajic and Liam Henderson. Take a bow, bhoys. Superb. You played with your heads up, you played intelligently, you were strong, fit, positive and you have a great future.
Jackson. Immense. Every bit as good as any central defender who has played in the hoops this pre-season. Strong, confident, positive and willing to take responsibility.
Tom. Another one of those runs in which, in the blink of an eye, you’re no longer on the edge of our box but on the edge of the opposition’s box and no time seems to have passed and no one even seems to have touched the ball, not even you. How do you do that? Tremendous.
Mikey. You didn’t deserve the blame for the second goal as the lad who scored ran from deep onto a hoof up the park and it bounced off his instep into the net. Plus, and this, in the context of the discussion, is the important thing in my inexpert opinion, you were not the last Celtic defender to get out. Emilio was, and he’s a great player. Heid up. You were tremendous down the right. There was great pace and, usually, precision on your passes and they nearly all went forward and they nearly all went to a Celtic mhan. You did brilliantly.
Bahrudin. A very nice drag-back and a half decent attempt on goal. I liked it. Your best contribution in your wee cameo? If you’re asking me it was how quickly you took the free-kick when you were fouled in the last third. Briliant thinking, which I’m not sure you can teach. Loved it.
Calum. You’ve had a great tour. The penalty against you in the previous game was a joke. No mistakes tonight and you showed again your desire to get forward, to be in the opposition’s half, to get the ball under control and to think about what to do next. This is essential for Celtic players as nearly all the teams we play accumulate lots of bodies very deep. You look to have overtaken older lhads as a result of your performances on this tour. That’s a tremendous achievement. Congratulations.
Liam. Tremendous performances all tour. A cameo tonight, but still the desire to get on the ball and the appreciation that the key is to keep it. I also liked your insistence that you were taking the free-kick in the last third late in the game. Very well done, young mhan.
All of these bhoys are a credit to their families, their coaches, their teachers and the people who have helped look after them during their years at the club. Will they be a new Quinta del Buitre? Who knows. But they are tremendous footballers and let none of us down for a second.
What a tremendous experience for them. What a future the club will have if the academy keeps producing young mhen of this calibre. They did brilliantly. If you look to see when and how Celtic lost possession tonight, you’ll see that for the most part it wasn’t one of our teenagers who relinquished the ball.
Come on the Hoops.
G’Night/G’Mornin
PJBhoynyc
Thanks for reposting.
Comforting to see as I do a drive by scan through the blog.
KTF & HH
PJ
G’mornin,
Manhattan-like temps here in Corcaigh. without the benefit of AC.
CannaeSleep CSC
CELTIC crashed to their fourth pre-season defeat last night — and Neil Lennon admitted Gary Hooper could be on his way.
QPR and Norwich have both tabled £4million bids for the striker which have been booted out by club bosses.
But Lennon — whose team turned in another dismal display — was forced to admit Hooper’s days at Parkhead are all but OVER.
He said: “There has been interest in Gary from two clubs, QPR and Norwich, and I think that will rumble on for a week or so.
“Can I convince him to stay? It’s a difficult one. He’s not featured much for us this pre-season. He’s got a bit of catching up to do and I don’t know where his mind is at the minute.
“I’ve not had the chance to speak to him yet but it could be difficult for us to keep him.
“Has he played his last game for Celtic? Never say never, but it’s looking more and more that way just now.”
Celtic lost 3-0 in Berlin and now have five days to prepare for their first Champions League qualifier with Northern Ireland outfit Cliftonville.
Lennon added “Scott Brown got his first start since the Scottish Cup Final, James Forrest got a bit more time and Tom Rogic played really well.
“I’m not happy with the result but it’s a fitness exercise.
“The injuries are heavy. We have Hooper, Joe Ledley, Adam Matthews, Filip Twardzik, Charlie Mulgrew, Virgil van Dijk — they’re all out injured.”
Lennon still hopes to add to his squad but doesn’t expect any arrivals before next week’s Euro opener.
He added: “I’ve not spoken to Peter yet. We’ve done a lot of work on the Victor deal and we got there in the end.
“But I’d doubt we would get anyone in before Wednesday.
“I’ve no idea how much I will get from Wanyama. I’ll maybe have a better idea next week.”
HE’S got cash to spend.
But right now boss Neil Lennon can’t buy a win.
Celtic lost again last night and return home to Scotland from Germany today without a single win from four friendlies.
Forget loadsa-money from the £12.5million mammoth sale of Victor Wanyama.
For the Celtic boss it’s now beginning to look like loadsa-problems.
There are just five days before the Champions League qualification campaign kicks off against the Northern Irish outfit Cliftonville.
And with a handful of key players still OUT of contention it’s the group of players who have got into this losing run who mustn’t slip up when it really matters next week.
Losing to the Irish minnows over two legs is UNTHINKABLE for Celtic — but their displays over the last two weeks have not gone to plan.
Played four, lost four, scored three, conceded 12.
Union Berlin earned everything they got from this in front of a sell-out crowd.
You can say one thing about the Germans. They know how to do their football.
The local punters here were crammed into their cracking little stadium like sardines in a tin. They’d been outside for hours, drinking from beer bottles in the streets and woods around the ground, without any hint of trouble.
Long before kick-off they made their way through the turnstiles with the atmosphere building like it was a national cup final.
Honestly, it was jumping. And three of the four sections of the stadium? Terracing.
Remember the days you used to be able to meet your pals at your favourite area and STAND to watch the game.
Well, the vast majority of the 19,000 crowd did exactly that.
All-seater stadiums were brought in for all the right reasons but nights like these make you think it’s time to turn back the clock. It had to be a good thing for the Celtic side that they were playing in a game like this ahead of next week’s Cliftonville clash.
Pre-season friendlies are notorious for being non-events, but this was anything but.
Read what you like into the final result, but it felt like a competitive game.
Not that Scott Brown knows any other kind of match.
The skipper was back in the Hoops’ starting line-up — having sat out three previous bounce games — in what was a major boost to Lennon.
The Celts boss needs all the experience he can get right now.
Key men Adam Matthews, Joe Ledley, Charlie Mulgrew, Gary Hooper and new signings Virgil van Dijk and Steve Mouyokolo all missed last night’s game. And central defenders were so thin on the ground Lennon had to fly youngster Jackson Irvine across from Scotland on Friday.
The 20-year old Aussie kid didn’t just help fill the bench, he was thrown straight into the team. How did he do?
Fine. There was enough in his performance to suggest he’s a player in the making.
But what his gaffer needs more than anything in the weeks to come is men he can rely on NOW.
Backed by their big home crowd, Berlin looked a very decent side.
They took the lead after 12 minutes with big frontman Simon Terodde smashing an unstoppable shot past Fraser Forster from the edge of the box. The ball dipped and swerved through the air to give the big keeper no chance.
Had it not been for Forster Celtic could easily have been a couple of goals behind by the end of the first half.
He had a great reaction save to tip over a shot from Patrick Hohlmann after three minutes, also denying Martin Dausch when Berlin were one up.
At the other end Celtic just didn’t click.
Anthony Stokes had a half to forget with nothing going right for the Irish striker.
Kris Commons, Georgios Samaras and James Forrest weren’t much better.
The best goalscoring effort actually came from Mikael Lustig with the right-back unlucky to glance a header wide from a corner. Ironically the Swedish defender didn’t reappear for the second half, another youngster Mikey Miller given a run out.
But like the opening goal it wasn’t any of the youngster’s fault that Berlin were allowed to force a way through and score their second.
Emilio Izaguirre played striker Soren Brandy onside after a cleared corner was hooked back into the box.
With only Forster to beat he didn’t miss.
Celts tried to claw their way back into the game and had their best spell of the game.
They tried to get the ball down and pass it and began to look like their were capable of scoring themselves. Stokes and Commons both had efforts from distance which keeper Daniel Hass did well to save.
Tom Rogic also came close with a decent effort.
But the German outfit always looked more dangerous and more likely to get another goal rather than concede one.
They were raging they had a third strike disallowed for off-side when Marc Pfertzel was denied by a late linesman’s flag.
But with four minutes left they did hit the net again.
Hitman Damir Kreilach jumped highest inside a crowded penalty box and then powered a superb downward header into the net.
It ended a pretty miserable fortnight on the pitch for Celtic who now have a lot of work to do to get things right over in Ireland next
Given that we have been actively punting VW for weeks…now that he has been sold ….any idea of who the players are that we have been lining up are ?…. Do they exist ? ….are they already signed ?
IMO any significant cash will be spent only if we qualify if the CL ….
Morning,all.
Just skimmed through the blog.
Canny believe some posters questioning Neil’s position.
Obviously we should be getting better results in pre-season,and I expect we would if we fielded anything remotely approaching NL’s optimum XI.
BUT WE COULDN’T!
So no panic here,just dismay at some of the opinions.
Thankfully,the moonhowlin’ shift put some sense back.
And VOGUEPUNTER’s was classic!
TWISTY
PF AYR
Good luck this evening.
Want some tips?
Naw?
Canny say I blame ye!
Bmcuw
Aye! One I will be betting tonight is Findog. Think this is his night.
PF
Heading out soon for the racing paper. Chris has got some fiver off vouchers for tonight. ( sell ye wan for 4.99?)
Bmcuw
You need to get my addy or get me yours, somehowGot some very interesting news from stable yesterday for 10 days time. Big price big chance basically sums it up.
Coffee and paper…back soon.
Twisty
Norton has one mount only tonight …20-50… Special Meeting ..a way to travel for one shift
PF
On similar theme, channon sends the longest traveller all the way for the first. Been second 7 or 8 times from 10 runs, and is still a maiden. Hope it stays that way…cos I think I’ll be on makin’s in the opener
Hey Drambowie celt
I thought your Weefree bit was Funnee Harmless but pretty funny.
HH
TWISTS N TURNS
Magic-except I’ll probably jinx it….
If you mail me at
bmcuwp@gmail.com
I will reply from my hotmail account.
Cheers,thanks,and good luck!
PF
By the way, I’ll bring the paper, pens and chris. If you just bring the money. Eh? Don’t you dare thank me. No problem, honestly.
Bmcuw
You hopefully have mail.
PF AYR
Special Meaning,half-sister to Oaks winner Speciosa.
150,000gns
Slowly away at Ripon two races ago.
From Racing Plus which mentions it as one of two choices from the meeting.
The other is Lexington Place 715
TWISTS N TURNS
Nope
Note the p in the address.
Mind,might be my network-I’m still waiting for one I sent from my work address an hour ago…
Bmcuw
Seen both those last night. Think special meaning might get backed off the boards.
TWISTS N TURNS
I think you unblocked it-yours arrived,followed by another five!
Thanks.
Just attaching the reply to my carrier pigeon….
Bobby
Tried again, so you’ll probably have another now.
TWISTS N TURNS
That arrived quicker!
Blinkin phone signal is atrocious within about 300 yards of my house.
Easier to move house than supplier?
Not with the amount of clutter in my place.
Just reading back,
well that’s you 3 bet every winner atHamilton Park and the bloody stalls are not even across the track yet….
Sky sports suggesting mick Channon and Philip makin are seriously considering withdrawing their horses following the news you are tipping them.
Bmcuw
You have mail
Che
Instead of your cheek why don’t you just come and make yourself useful by helping us carry the money home?
Belfast looked wild last night.
Incredible to hear UU politicians appearing to excuse the OO and its members of any blame, and blaming the Parades Commission.
Strikes me the loyalists population in Belfast are treated like our own Huns here – never to blame, always someone else’s fault, violent behaviour excused at every turn…
Right, Deffo off to get that paper (and the rolls from greggs.)Will say hi to ally for you all.
Twisty
Wish I could have made it, unfortunately too much on this weekend, avoid the perrat horse in the last that’s my meeting banker, over 1m after running staying on and winning over 7f
Yer man makin up again for the lovely Linda.
Good luck bhoys.
PF/TNT.
Oldtim wasn’t good yesterday and said he was unable to make it today.
Haven’t read back for obvious reasons so not sure if he got online..
Have a good day and evening bookie bashing. .
BT
Thanks.
Hope you are we’ll.
Right, as Kevin says…aff oot
BTW.
You could gey yourselves to KSC next Friday for a q&a with Phil mcG. P67 &
P mcConville.
Thrse nights don’t come cheap so any support would be welcome.
KTF.
While I’m at it I would like to wish the oldyin a happy birthday.
Happy birthday oldtim67
On occasion when the mid morning mistral refuses to provide the cooling breeze, a return to the sea is the only real option. Morguuss and I made our way to our favoured point of entry. Mrs EC was already there at the far end of beach, turning rocks in the shallow and trawling for any form of marine life with the net and bucket and spade I had so lovingly provided for her. My generosity of spirit is legend in these parts but sometimes you must simply look after your own.
I saw him sitting there, precise and neat in his wee folding chair, at the exact spot where he always was, earnest and watchful, paperback in hand, binoculars close to hand, awaiting for 11.00am, for it was then that he would enter the water to conduct his constitutional bathe. A small man, not unlike BlantyreKev, not as diminutive, more hirsute perhaps, but without Kev’ open welcoming demeanour. His stare was cold, not cool, his stare fixed as he addressed people, definately Germanic in origin. It was quite a surprise to me when Morguuss planted himself at his feet and obliged me to engage in perfunctory pleasantries with this gentleman.
Gerard is an Austrian who has been visiting the island for the past twenty years. Originally he had visited while studying to become a marine biologist, fell in love with the place and has since purchased a summer house to allow him his, possibly only indulgence. He is not man who has imbibed copious amounts of Ouzo and Retzina, his is not a body be spoiled on Cheese pie, baklava and moussaka. Gerhard is a professor, head of faculty at the University of Vienna in Marine Biological Studies. He has a budget of millions and is quite possibly one of the most intelligent people I have met. Think The Battered Bunnet in terms of intellect. However where our CQN Cathkin contingent has wit and humour, personality, intrigue and worldly handsomeness to support his undoubted intellect, Gerard does not.
He is terminally dull, his fascinating discourses on how marine microbes, linked to bio geochemistry and there interactions with various aquatic organisms are major ecological factors affecting the whole of humanity as we know it are not really the topics I wish to discuss on an idyllic beach holiday, so I have already provided Gerhard with a suitable acronym, TBB. The Boring Bas…d.
Morguuss is still slouched, head resting on his crossed paws, doing the right raised eyebrow, left raised eyebrow thing that dogs do when they suspect they have done wrong and I am h
Mindful of giving a swift big toe jab in the ribs when Andreas happens by, his gigantic, gnarled fists, stuffed with figs and almonds, he has relieved from the neighbours garden, and two not quite ripe yet pomegranates. He motions to me that they are gifts for my lovely wife currently dredging the seabed with her toddler’s net. Frustrated as I am my ire can only rise further as I know that by now, Andreas has mentally removed MrsEC’s bikini top and soon he will, in his mind’s eye, have her fully naked, cavorting in the shallows.
My thoughts return to Gerhard though because it is fast approaching 11am, when I know I will escape, but the real reason I really dont believe Gerhard will ever be my cup of tea, will to my eternal shame, will be upon us. I hate the way the Teutonic twat swims. As my anxiety rises at my impending rage, I feel a certain empathy with Mr Zimmerman, as surely this level of rage was evident within the great poet when he penned the clasic, Idiot Wind.
No Gerhard swims the same way everyday at the same time. He swims east for exactly 750 metres, using a breaststroke, 23 strokes per minute, breathing on every third stroke, even, poised, exactly horizontal with the surface of the water. Graceful and silent barely rippling the foam, economical and efficient. The total bastard even puts his whole face in the water, in the f@& kin briny sea water. I cannot stand the man. On his return he further infuriates me with his pretend frivolity of alternating butterfly and front crawl stroke patterns.
My favoured stroke pattern and swimming style are generally akin to those sequences in the Spielberg tour de force, Jaws, when the great White has struck at an unsuspecting victim from beneath waves. You see I swim at an angle of 65 degrees from the horizontal sea surface. Goldstar 10 opined that with the gravitational pull of my humongous erse dragging my torso towards the the seabed and the weightlessness of my empty head acting as a buoyancy aide, the chances of me parrallel paddling horizontal in line with sea surface in all probability is zero. I however enjoy my cardiovascular aquatic workouts immensely and I probably gain from them than my new Aryian brother will ever do.
Morguuss is now shifting very uneasily as he knows from the steam coming out of my ears that a swift boot up the jacksie is becoming a distinct possibility. Andreas is slavering at the mouth at his own mental imagery and that Teutonic twat is now swimming underwater and he no’ even got goggles on.
The yelp, off to my left, breaks the spell, Morguuss swiftly darts out of hams way and Andreas cools his ardour significantly as Mrs EC67 emerges from the Aegean with her latest capture. For in her little, bright yellow, plastic bucket, adorned with an assortment of marine life images and a variety of crustacea and Malacostraca, swims a mollusc of indeterminate nature. It is about three centimetres in diameter and looks almost like a clam only in has the most colourful lilac and pink Mohican style protruding has its circumference. It looks like one of the extras from the muppet show. It is quite divine and causes quite a stir among our beach mates, none of whom have seen the like. Our exhibit is displayed for our resident marine expert to name and no doubt give us a lecture on organisms and molecular ecology. But no, Gerhard in his 25 years of study has never seen such a creature and therefore as of now we have a new wee Muppet Mollusc in the name of Mrs EC67
All your millions of research budget or a plastic bucket and a fishing net.
How could I ever have doubted Morguuss?
Kalimera,
EC67
Saturday morning, up with the lark.
Think I’ll take a walk…..back to bed.
Twisty, can you pick up a couple of RP’s if you’re about? Got a few errands to run first thing this morning