Two players arrived during this transfer window: Rami Gershon and Tom Rogic, with no first team players leaving the club. I don’t know what Neil has planned for Rami but his loan deal and stats at Standard Liege suggests he is here as cover. I expect to see as much of him as we saw of Pawel Brozek last season.
20-year-old Tom Rogic is different. He joins the club on the same runway as Victor Wanyama, Beram Kayal, Adam Matthews, Mikael Lustig and Emilio Izaguirre. I’ve refused to watch his YouTube clips but there is every reason to hope he will be as successful a recruit as our other recent acquisitions of a similar profile.
I’ve been banging on about Asset Management for years. The mantra being – they all have their price and if any club fails to grasp this reality they will underachieve. Against this backdrop, Gary Hooper will either sign a new contract in the coming weeks or there is a good chance he will leave for nothing when his contract expires in June 2014.
A fundamental problem prevented a deal being done for Gary last month. His value to Celtic, not necessarily in this season’s Champions League, but in the same tournament’s qualifiers in July and August, is far greater than his value to any suitor. In other words, his value as an asset is not measured by transfer fee alone. This squad should have enough to reach the Champions League group stages next season, worth the best part of £20m to Celtic. Any deals have to be measured against this target.
The kind of transfer decision Celtic made yesterday, a profitable club holding onto a player and at the risk of losing him leaving for free, is so much healthier than the scenario we previously faced, in an arms race with a rival who was prepared to spend money they could not afford in order to beat us. What a mistake that whole ‘Old Firm’ thing was. Glad to see the back of it.
The ‘big clubs’ in England didn’t come looking for Gary. Instead, a well-run club made several attempts to acquire a good player on a price appropriate for their income. No harm in that, you have to give Norwich the respect any yokel deserves trying to hook up with a beauty queen (nothing implied about people from Norwich, or Gary as a queen!).
There is no guarantee the same club will be playing top-flight football when he becomes available, or that a club with a greater income, or with a more flamboyant approach to spending, will move for him, so there is every chance that Gary and his new agent will figure out that an extra year on his Celtic contract for a hefty wage rise is a decent option.
There is an interesting side plot to the Hooper non-transfer. Victor Wanyama is sitting on an offer of a substantial wage increase to extend his contract from 2015 to 2016. Unless someone comes in with an offer greater than his value to Celtic in Champions League campaigns he’ll be here until 2015.
Chances of both players signing new contracts in the coming months has to be a wee bit higher today. All those meaningless scripts about Celtic being a selling club floating around various places will have to be shelved for another time. We are a selling club, but only at the right price and the right time, just as it should be.
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First !
Second !
A clean sweep !!!
Podium chasers paa
googybhoy ♥ Celtic
Youre right
top 10 ?
Ach, weans,nappies and sick. missed top 5.
KLV
Top 10!
Can’t see how LNS can come to the conclusion other than to find oldco guilty.
Any other verdict will open up the door for other clubs to legitimately make payments ( loans, he,he ) to their players without the knowledge of the governing body and make a nonsense of the financial controls and financial governance for which these rules are in place.
Imagine the anger and frustration if Celtic had signed the win Nic’s of Bendtner and Anelka!
Multiply it by the recent memories of watching Alex del Piero, Zenidine Zidane and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in recent times.
That’s what Juventus fans are waking upto today with their side knocked out the Coppa Italia and having their eight point lead in Serie A cut down to three during January.
There’s little doubt that Antonio Conte’s side will still be strong favourites against Celtic in the Champions League but over the last month Juve supporters have had their faith in the way the club is run tested- they’ve even had stone walller penalties denied.
Conte will watch Sunday’s trip to Verona from the stand after being given a two match ban for his comments about the referee in the recent 1-1 draw at home to Genoa.
Reflecting the mood of the Juventus support is the black and white and read all over website which said: “And once the transfer deadline came and went, the news coming out of Turin had more to do with it being Fabio Quagliarella’s 30th birthday rather than players coming in to boost the squad.
“Rumors on Twitter spread like wildfire. Rumors in the Italian press only added to that. But in the end, nothing happened. The Juventus official website was racking up hits non-stop, but nothing really happened. No striker other than the Nicolas Anelka signing.
“I saw many people expressing their disapproval of how Beppe Marotta went about things this month — which was probably a frustration from how things ended in the summer (i.e. Nicklas Bendtner). A few examples of things are as follows:
“Pathetic., depressing., worthless., uninspiring.
“You pick the not-so-nice word directed towards Marotta and it was probably said at some point in time on Thursday afternoon or evenings. And it’s kinda understandable. Juventini want the best for their team and no moves in the transfer window don’t necessarily inspire those continuously wanting more.”
Other than the transfer of Mario Balotelli from Manchester City to AC Milan none of the big clubs of Europe were heavily involved in the transfer window.
With Gary Hooper still at Celtic hopefully the Juve fans will have more to complain about following Celtic’s visit to Turin next month.
KLV/JJ et al: on Scotland’s Demographics:
I’ve often thought is a missed opportunity that Censuses don’t have a sub-section asking questions of those in positions of authority: viz. ‘Are you a member of a fraternal organisation?’ [cf. in Scotland alone there are thought to be around 150,000 one-short-trouser-leg apron-wearers].
Government Ministers and Senior Civil Servants (themselves [allegedly] no strangers to fraternal gatherings] might thereby discover which areas of Scottish life attract such individuals and might lead academics to question why … and whether or not that is a good thing …
I note also that today is the feast of St Brigid, a saint endowed with an impressively diverse list of patronages (e.g. babies; blacksmiths; boatmen; cattle; chicken farmers; children whose parents are not married; children with abusive fathers; children born into abusive unions; dairymaids; dairy workers; fugitives; infants; Ireland; Leinster, mariners; midwives; milk maids; nuns; poets; poor; poultry farmers; poultry raisers; printing presses; sailors; scholars; travellers; watermen).
Given that she died in 523 (the time when most Celtic fans are trying to hurry through the Celtic Park turnstiles), I would have thought there’s a case for her also being patron of Celtic supporters …
FF
Paul 67
Well said. I am glad that Celtic acted like a big club in the top 16 of Europe and held on to their assets for now.
Financially a win against Juve and/or qualification for CL next Aug are worth more than was on offer for Gary.
Thrilled to wake this morning and see our squad has been strengthened and not weakened by the loss of Hooper or Vic.
It’s been fantastic this season listening to my Danish colleagues who claimed that FC Nordsjælland would go further than Celtic in the CL, claiming that Celtic were a weak side who’d be humiliated in the group stages.
One Danish commentator called our 2-1 loss away to Barca a victory for football, how I cursed that guy to the high heavens. Now come the 12th, I’ll be looking forward to the expert analysis of a certain Brian ‘ambassador’ Laudrup when we line up against a faltering Juventus.
Paul 67
I know that I’m renowned as a malcontent on here and elsewhere
re: All matters Celtic. Well it has to be some way….
…so, I’d like to say that – the last 2 transfer windows would indicate
to me at least, that…Celtic PLC have taken the decision to park
the club in the – lay bye of the football motorway until…the huns
return !!!
Hail Hail
PAUL67
Interesting that you suggest we will hold players to their contract as their value on the field is more than that on the balance-sheet.
This could mean having a settled squad,instead of having to rebuild every damn year,which should bring an increased chance of success.
Are we back to being a football club again?
Great article Paul, Refreshing and full of perspective for a Friday Morning. ; )
KLV
You’re right, Paul. Definitely keep Hooper and Wanyama until after the qualifiers for next season’s CL.
Kev jungle if that was the case they would have stayed with tennents as well, sold hooper and vic, cashed in, pocketed the profit and be willing to talk about the dead co surly, the transfer windows and sponsor deal tells me different mate, it says we are fine on our own, so fine in fact we don’t need to sell our good players at all. tbh i dont think we have ever been in a better position on or off the park at the same time ever in our history. My one wish is NFL would just stop tinkering when it doesn’t need it. ; )
KLV
Fantastic article Paul.
Concise, clear and to the point.
Well done.
Kev jungle
At least we are not on the road to oblivion
Two players in and no one out – seems like an ok window to me. A bit dull maybe, but we know what we need to do for the rest of the season and have the players to do it.
I don’t see any reason why we should “accept” the loss of our players as a matter of fact just because we live next door to the most over rated and over bloated league in the world..
The EPL is a Sky Frankenstein Monster and the lack of activity yesterday in the transfer markets shows that the bauble has fallen from the Christmas tree..
Glad to see that our squad is intact and that we are building a sustainable future for our club and supporters. The CL is the prize we have to offer prospective and current players each season and that being so we will attract to the club the kind of players who want to test themselves there and to build solid foundations for their careers at a well run club like Celtic…
Success is built not bought..
Interesting Folly Folly, St. Brigit seems a good fit for us. A lady after our own club mantra it seems.
KLV
kevinlasvegas
09:43 on 1 February, 2013
_____________________________________
Not looking for a fight but – why is the stadium almost
half empty domestically ?
______________________________________________
Gene’s a Bhoys name
09:43 on 1 February, 2013
Kev jungle
At least we are not on the road to oblivion
____________________________________________
Oh yeah ?…..
Kevjungle
If we were in a lay-by ,there is not a need for Hooper or Wanyama.
Celtic have taken a calculated risk with Hooper.
I believe it to be the correct decision.
Peter Lawells first priority is to ensure that the club is run on a sound financial basis.
He is doing ok on that front.
His biggest problem is falling season ticket income.
He has address that.
TT
kevjungle – murdo macleod – 4-2 – cheerio 10 iar :o)
09:47 on
1 February, 2013
kevinlasvegas
09:43 on 1 February, 2013
_____________________________________
Not looking for a fight but – why is the stadium almost
half empty domestically ?
______________________________________________
Maybe they all fear they will be sat next to you.
;>}
Paul67 – you are forgetting smeone I think. Pretty sure the young Swedish keeper Viktor Noring (who was training at Lennoxtown this week) has signed as well. OK – not the most glamorous of signings, but given the shaky nature of our current goalkeeping cover, we appear to have picked up a young Swedish international (ok… 1 cap) who will be useful cover while we continue to fight a war on 3 fronts.
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon
09:45 on 1 February, 2013
Two players in and no one out – seems like an ok window to me. A bit dull maybe, but we know what we need to do for the rest of the season and have the players to do it.
_______________________________________________________________________
These will be the same players who couldn’t beat St Mirren – took 2 games to dispose of Arbroath – couldny beat Killie in the LCF – couldny beat Hertz in the SCSF – couldny beat TFPLG’s huns at ibrokes on jelly & ice cream sunday to clinch the title etc….?
Paul67,there’s a mister Hooper at the door,he want’s a word with you.
Great that we’re all singing from the same positive hymnsheet (apart from the one who enjoys being different). Thank you, the Celtic Board and Management for giving us the platform to forward to greater things.
Still think Hoops and Vic will be gone in the summer.
googybhoy ♥ Celtic
09:51 on 1 February, 2013
_________________________________________
Yeah, maybe they wouldn’t be so easily had if they sat next to me ?
But hey…I gave my SB to my brother because I was fed-up being taken
a loan of by the Thatcher-types who dine out on being the main big hitters of Celtic FC
so they’ll no find me to switch on the light and expose the biggest…..ach, never mind
if I say the rest…Paul 67 will press the delete button :o)
HH
Good article Paul. The value of Hoops and Vic staying and leading us through the next cl qualifiers is more important than any sale value. Not just on the financial side but also on raising the clubs prestige in Europe again. Just one question Paul do the champions league holders have to qualify.
HH
googybhoy ♥ Celtic
09:51 on
1 February, 2013
kevjungle – murdo macleod – 4-2 – cheerio 10 iar :o)
09:47 on
1 February, 2013
kevinlasvegas
09:43 on 1 February, 2013
_____________________________________
Not looking for a fight but – why is the stadium almost
half empty domestically ?
______________________________________________
Maybe they all fear they will be sat next to you.
=======================================
Kev ,doesn’t just let anyone into his hoose to read his record and watch his Sky.
Kev Jungle,i think we are all feeling the pinch mate, Ive been on night shift for last 13 years now on days, im one of those empty seat mate, no fun. Prudence in a football club is rare but needed approach in a business climate. ; ) The Club is doing everything right by me, Just my opinion though,
KLV
Yaaaawwwwnnnnn……
Call me cruel, but i hope QPR are one of the 3 clubs relegated from the EPL.
If so, they will be in administration at best by Xmas. With a ground capacity of 18,000 there is no way they can afford the transfer fees and salaries that they committed to yesterday.
Oh, and it will finally dispel the myth that ‘Arry is a top manager.
KevJungle,
The same players who beat Barcelona … the same players who qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League …
There are positives too if you bother to look for them.