The final dice on what could become our second nine-in-a-row season is set to be cast. I expect business to be done but the usual caveats apply, it takes agent, player, selling club and buying club to be in alignment for a deal to happen and if one gets cold feet a deal will not happen.
For me, the position of greatest need is central defence. Jozo Simunovic and Nir Bitton are enduring injury problems which have forced their absence for much of the campaign. The loss of multiple wingers is less a concern, as I realllllly hope we play three at the back and two strikers for much of the remainder of the season.
Buckle in!!
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Okay, so I’m normally a kecks-dry kinda Tim
but with definite bam traits ( obvs)……………however…….can’t help but feel a little……
…………………………P. T. Barnum(b) this dreich morn’………..
While knowing nowt about fitba’ – do we not miss a lot of open goals, easy lobs an’ tap-ins?
I know we’ve got the two lads in early – greatstuff, quality products both – no doubt. proof, pudding etc etc……
But……., but……any chance of some “razzamatazz” ? Some wee bit o’ “rummle thum up”?
Back to the boul’ PT Barnum –
” Clowns are the pegs on which the Circus is hung”
this wan
” Every crowd has a silver lining”………….
an’ this wan….
” Without promotion something terrible happens………nothing.”
C’mon Bhoys!
SendintheClowns CSC
HH
Gods Story.
Celtic is exceptional.
Lizten up And Listen gòod my name is Lenny,…. wow.
Check it out..
Good morning CQN from a wind and rain battered Garngad
So we go with what we have.
Let’s move on and get behind the team.
Another couple of tough games coming up that will test our already threadbare squad.
No reason why we can’t keep our unbeaten run going.
COYBIG
HH
D. :)
Well another peter lawwell transfer windows shambles Copy and paste
No 1st team players signed Why
Why are keeping all this money in the bank
Approx 45m sitting there and we know Eddie is off in the summer for another 25m
Cl qualifiers again we go in unprepared
Why?
Bankiebhoy ` While knowing nowt about fitba’ – do we not miss a lot of open goals, easy lobs an’ tap-ins?`
I have often wondered about that myself.
Obviously, we create more chances than other SPL teams so should miss more, I suppose. Also, our chances are against packed defences so may have to be rushed a bit whereas opposition opportunities are usually against a sparse defence ( breakaways).
Even so, I , too, feel we miss an extraordinary number of chances.
I don`t know the answer. A lack of confidence would be the obvious choice but we miss even when we are leading comfortably. I keep expecting a barrowload `next game` but while our Goals For column is healthy, the deluges are still infrequent.
ST
I think I have asked before but:
1. Who in our starting eleven is not good enough for achievement of our realistic aspirations?
2. With whom would you replace him/them?
3. How much would that improvement cost?
4.Would selected player/s come to the SPFL ?
Have to go now. Will look for any response/s later.
Cheerio for now.
PS Have matters improved in Australia re fires etc?
The only players who want to come to Scotland are those who are looking to move to the EPL and know that Celtic are a giant step to doing that or, are running down the clock on their careers. Not one Top quality player or his agent would give the SPL a second glance, not one. Yet some supporters on here think all Celtic have to do is offer money and up they’ll come. A bit of realism is required here. What Celtic are doing is trying to swim against the tide by looking for players who may offer something before they get noticed elsewhere and in doing so will make mistakes in hoping to find that unpolished diamond. They have in the last 12 months increased the contracts of a lot of our younger players and some others as well in order to try and keep some sort of continuity going, but, the cream always rises to the top and they then come to the attention of bigger leagues than the SPL, if Celtic started to stop allowing our cream to leave when they choose to do so, then we will negate the reason why so many promising youngsters want to come here. It’s not ideal, but it is what it is and only elevation to a better league would change those set of circumstances and that isn’t happening anytime soon. The first 30 minutes on Wednesday showed the quality that is there within the pool of players that we have and I’m hopeful it will be enough, more than enough, to see us get the 9 por cierto
Hot Smokie…………
A very good morning to you sir.
I really don’t have a clue about the tactical side of the game.
I was attempting ( and failing!) to make a point on our approach to entertaining the troops at significant times throughout the season…….transfer deadline days as an example in particular.
I’m not talking Rekord guff proportions…not talking “Jim White”….just evidence enough that we appreciate that we are in a results and entertainment business and that it’s also good business to keep the paying public onside.
HH
the_huddle on 1st February 2020 2:25 am
Johnny Marr – Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
https://youtu.be/_JU3bogr4oc
####
Sums up the whole Brexit thing, doesn’t it.
Though the Morrisey version maybe does it better (more plaintive).
Last night disappointed me twice leaving the EU and PL sitting on our hands
On both situations I (we) simply have no choice but to support what exists
But my support for PL will turn to absolute hatred should we not win 9
Peter I hope to God you know what you have done
Hail hail and onwards to 9
Poor window but Lawwell doesn’t give a flying feck. Give us your season ticket money customers……
Lennon made to look foolish with his “expecting players’ comments as well but he will be the fall guy should the unthinkable happen….
Surely we won’t allow that?
Spot on Bankie.
I’d have had no issues with 2 projects if Neil Lennon had been talking about being happy with his squad and going with the flow at the beginning of January.
Alas, that’s not what he was saying.
The expectations management during this window has been appallingly.
I’m generally happy with the way Celtic is run, but In this instance those who run the show have created a rod for their own back and deserve all the criticism that’s coming.
Hot smoked
1. Ayer , Forrest , McGregor come up short when against better opposition
2. Europe is full of players who given the right salary ( we have a cap for players but not CEO’s)
We lack an experienced football department with top coaches We even had the boy who put out the cones for BR as our assistant manger. A while football department who are scared to say no to peter lawwell. We struggle there
Oh and no right back. The best one we have is constantly injured
3. 20-30m. We would hardly make a dent in our bank balance
Remember BR after a shambles t/f window and he demanded a internal inquiry into what went wrong. Was the result ever published
I know the answer. It’s called peter lawwell
It was Jock Stein who was the first person to ever put cones out at Celtic park, wonder what ever became of him? :))) por cierto.
Onenightin…,
“Surely we won’t allow that?”
Got to chuckle at the naivety 😃
You think the people who support war crimes, support their loss freedom, support corruption at every level of every institution, by ignoring or paying lip service and getting lost/distracted by football are going to take any action or do anything constructive. There are far more important matters out there they are running away from and that demonstrates exactly what they will let happen.
Por Cierto. Indeed he went on to manage two teams before he came back to us
Jk has no experience in tactics and he is our no 2
Sums up the football department that as long as long as your Pete’s man you can go places
Can’t remember which player it was maybe stokes who was a bit of a bad boy who said don’t say anything to jk as Pete will know soon
Hmmmmm……..
El Hamed and Jozo have chronic injury problems and can’t be relied on to any great degree over the title run in.
With that in mind, our failure to acquire a new CB in this window looks like a big failure and a big risk.
Good morning, friends.
2 tin hats on here but there’s an argument that time will show that we have indeed come out of this transfer window stronger than we went into it. Klimala looks as if he could play right away if asked. Soro should be the same (didn’t he play for his previous club 2 days before we signed him). Those 2 have replaced Sinclair who was on the wane and Morgan who was sitting 22nd in the ole CQN POTY table.
I’ve not given up on Bayo and so we have 4 strikers to cover the 2 slots.
Going 3 at the back is my hope for most of this season and, yes, 1 more always ready to play addition would certainly have helped.
On the squad as a whole I’m hoping that it’s more likely that some of our current injured players are nearing a return rather than some of our current stars picking up injuries. But of course that’s up to the Gods.
Our nearest rivals have just learned that 1 of their 2 strikers is likely to be out for 5 weeks. Just because they signed 2 loanees on the actual deadline day doesn’t mean that they had a better window than us.
By the way, I have no positive feelings at all for our current Board and I don’t just mean in terms of transfer windows and for that reason I do feel that I’ll soon have an important decision to make. But for now let’s at least back the team and trust Neil Lennon to win our 9th title in a row and maybe even our Quadruple Treble.
Rant over, harrrumph!!
Sean Fallon was our no.2 then, care to tell me what experience he had in that role, tactics wise etc? por cierto.
Couldn’t care less who we didn’t sign or the reason why. The squad and manager have demonstrated we are capable of winning the league, with ease.
Whatever we may have done in the transfer window doesn’t guarantee anything. It may have reduced the risk, or perceived risk. Injuries could scupper the best laid plans.
One minute we have a right back problem, next we have 3 super right backs. Blink of an eye, two are injured, the other is less than convincing.
I’m comfortable with what we have. Including money in the bank. It’s not a club to beat us with. It’s a credit to how well we are run.
10 trophies in a row while securing the finances is a GOOD THING.
And when it comes to an end we can look back on how good it was, not how bad our January transfer strategies were. They’ve all been rubbish.
CANAMALAR IT LOOKS LIKE OCD OBSESSION on 1ST FEBRUARY 2020 9:17 AM
Onenightin…,
“Surely we won’t allow that?”
Was tongue in cheek CANAMALAR….
With reservation the statement still rings true :
What is the point of making money if you dont spend it.
Translate to football
What is the point of signing players if you dont play them.
Subsequently the jury is still out on our signings.
When all the players return from injuries ,We will have a good squad off players capable off winning the League this season,It’s the the team formation and Tactics from the Coaches that worry me at times.
” We`ve got aw this money in the bank “.
Well , no. Not in comparison to the best European football clubs. Which is where we aspire to be .
Thank God the professionals tasked with husbanding the resources of our Club haven`t given in to the demands of the CQN ” spend spend spend ” socialist clique , best summed up by Margaret Thatcher`s characterisation of socialism.
” After a while you run out of other people`s money “.
Now go for it Lennie.
Stick it to the doubters .
I seem to have missed the 2 experienced first team ready signings. Who were they
St Tams
IT’s very possible that both Klimala and Soro are ‘first team ready’. But as the players currently occupying those positions are doing just fine then we have a dilemma. Maybe Klimala will get a start tomorrow? AS for Soro, who should be drop? A lot of us are quick to recognise the number of games played by Brown and McGregor. But our captain is currently miles ahead for player of the year (based on the votes to date!!!) and McGregor has, in recent weeks, started to rediscover his top form.
I’d have liked another ‘natural’ centre back. But I’m not as disheartened as many others.
Good morning all.
Glad that’s over. Back to the football.
We almost always lose the transfer window.
Since Brendan Rogers came in we’ve had seven. I reckon we drew his first and his last and lost the rest.
I’ll now get behind our manager – IMHO a good guy.
Not my first choice for the job but is doing very well indeed.
I hope he gets the 9.
If he gets key players back into the squad, I firmly believe he will.
Hail hail
Keep The Faith
Macjay. We have 2 to 3 times the income of our European rivals. But we fail more often than not due to lack of football planning and investment
It was arsenal who were last team to put us off of cl qualifying that had a greater turnover than us
We are hampered as our income does not translate into results against lesser teams due to peter lawwel
Macjay…,
Except when she redirected taxpayers money to subsidise failed banks and corporations, who have failed at every turn since then. Thatcher’s double standards led directly to the crash of 2008 and the oncoming crash which will be far worse.
No doubt you’ll look to blame the “socialist clique” for that as well.
I’d love to know what you consider a success when it comes to capitalist economic implementation?
I’ve come up with what we can consider a successful implementation of socialism, it would be where capitalists decide to overthrow democratically elected socialist governments, now we can answer your usual question about naming countries where socialism has worked. In fact it makes it very easy to answer.
It demonstrates the fear of advocates of capitalist totalitarianism like yourself that it cannot be allowed to be successful which at that point already has proven successful when it needs to be forcefully removed.
Morning tims
Brexit parties ,transfer window closing …
I went oot… Special Announcement…Felice Brothers
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TKR3f-4UlAg
Syneytim,
Another point is that the so called “best European clubs” do not hoard money, they are in debt because they invest in their teams, their policy is to ensure their debt is manageable, it is our policy to ensure the value of the club is as high as possible to ensure the top of the pile get massive profits when they decide to sell up. The corporate investment is not justified by the dividend so it must be based on the sale value.
JOBO BALDIE
I got a good view of Klimala at St Johnstone. In the warm-up he was firing in ferocious shots. And he looked extremely quick for the few minutes he played. Hopefully will do the biz .
dest
Boris Johnson is considering renationalising the rail network 😂
Socialist entryist 😂
The James Forrest Celtic sacrifice that winger’s critics failed to spot – Chris Sutton
Chris is baffled by the Hoops star’s detractors and insists there’s an under-appreciated element to his game.
James Forrest has been there and done it.
The title race is on and Neil Lennon will look around his dressing room for big characters on whom he can rely upon to win it.
Forrest is most definitely one of them and I can’t understand why he’s constantly written off or dismissed.
Undervalued outside of that dressing room and the gaffer’s office in some quarters, I’d even suggest.
Watching Forrest against St Johnstone in midweek, something struck me.
Operated as an advanced wing-back on his favoured right flank, he was dynamite for the opening 45 minutes.
Forrest created the first goal for Olivier Ntcham and then scored a second of quality
with a typical shift of the feet and finish.
It was a bubbly showing and, on the indications of what had been seen in the opening period, you wouldn’t have bet against him going on to score or create more after the break.
However, with Jozo Simunovic being nursed with a knock and the game won at 3-0, manager Neil Lennon had to make changes.
Once again, it was Forrest who was affected the most.
Scott Brown and Olivier Ntcham both dropping back down the pitch didn’t really make a big difference to them in the same way.
As Moritz Bauer was asked to play on the right flank, Forrest was switched from his favoured place on the park. Lennon does it because he can trust him.
He has an adaptable player who can slot into various positions and do a job.
Forrest might have his individual talents curtailed but it is for the good of the team and he’s unselfish in his work.
The events at McDiarmid Park got me thinking about Forrest’s season overall.
Let’s be absolutely frank, he won Player of the Year last term and was heading in the same direction again through the first four months of this season with some outstanding performances and big goals.
Forrest netted in both of the Champions League qualifiers against Cluj.
It’s not his fault the backline collapsed. Into the play-off against AIK Stockholm for the Europa and he scored the priceless opening goal in both legs. Huge moments in the season.
Celtic enjoyed one of the best results in their recent European history with the magnificent win over Lazio in Rome and no one needs reminding who it was who scored the equaliser that night to set up the team’s fightback success.
Forrest had 13 goals and goodness knows how many assists before the end of November.
But it was at that stage of the season where things started to dip for him and circumstances played a huge part.
Lennon found a beautiful attacking balance in the wake of the summer transfer window.
The capture of Mohamed Elyounoussi left the team strong on the left, Ryan Christie was flying in the No.10 role and Forrest was doing the business on the right.
However, Elyounoussi’s injury and setbacks for Mikey Johnston forced the manager into a reshuffle. At various stages, he had to try various things.
Forrest’s adaptability was utilised. He swapped to the left-hand side for a few games, he played central just behind a striker and it looked as though he was almost right up top against Hibs before Christmas alongside Odsonne Edouard.
That’s got to have an effect. You do it to help the team and Forrest did so, but there is a strong case to say that’s why his levels dropped off and there was a slight dip towards the break.
Two weak displays against Rangers in the space of a month in December didn’t help but although Forrest was far from alone in underperforming, he seemed singled out for criticism.
It does seem that the local boys get the stick first. It’s the same at every club in the UK. I saw it myself with Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney.
Others would be cut more slack than the two homegrown boys. We say that it’s wonderful for clubs to produce their own, yet there’s a section who get on their case first.
Forrest is the type who has been there for so long that people won’t appreciate him until he’s gone.
He’s not even in his 30s and he’s got 18 winners’ medals. He’s amongst the most decorated players in the club’s history.
He’s come through his development years and turned into a classy senior professional.
He’s scored big goals and produced big performances for the past three-and-a-half years.
Forrest has been part of the core who have driven the success alongside Scott Brown and Callum McGregor.
For all the tweaks, changes and alterations made during the transfer window, you can guarantee there won’t be much rotation when it comes to those three from now until May.
Lennon will count on them and chances are they will keep delivering.
Forrest’s strike against St Johnstone was his 15th goal of the campaign. He’ll sail past 20 before the end of the season and create just as many and it would have taken £12million or £15m to find anyone during the transfer window who could have replaced him.
If that doesn’t give a sense of his value, I don’t know what does.