There should be lessons for Celtic from what happened to three forwards who started last month playing in Belgium. Anderlecht’s Kasper Dolberg seemed to be on the hook for a move to Celtic, but he was a player in demand. That has consequences.
Kasper and his agent knew that players in demand often receive bids late in the window. Why would they move before everyone has shown their hand? While Celtic tried to get the deal over the line, Ajax moved in with an offer. The player had a choice and chose to go back to the Netherlands. This is not an exception, players will often make choices like this rather than come to Scotland.
Michel-Ange Balikwisha had a good season at Royal Antwerp. With a deal to Celtic in the offing, Balikwisha’s agent had a duty to offer him everywhere north of Scottish football in the food chain. We can assume that Michel-Ange had little prospect of a bite, so signed with Celtic.
The lesson: try to recruit top players with years’ experience in highly scouted leagues and you will often fail. If they have offers from better leagues, they will go there rather than come to Scotland.
A year after Genk paid Celtic £2.4m for Hyeon-gyu Oh, he was subject to a €28m bid from Stuttgart. Reports on why the deal fell through are vague: a medical issue was reported, promoting Stuttgart to reduce their offer to €20m, which Genk declined.
There are so many lessons from Hyeon-gyu Oh’s year in Belgium it is painful to go over them. We had a player in the building who did not get the development support at Celtic which was available to him at Genk. Adam Idah was the recipient of that help, which resulted his sale on Monday for a £2m loss. You can get recruitment perfect, but if you don’t get development right, you are wasting your time.
If we want a striker who Stuttgart are prepared to pay around €20m for, we will not find them in Belgium. Recruitment is difficult, requires proper resourcing and absolutely cannot be done well working the agent circuit.
Scottish football is about to get a lesson on how it’s done by Tony Bloom’s Hearts. If we persist in trying to sign top strikers from Anderlecht, they will soon overtake us.
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Remarks about fellow fans earlier was a real low point on here.
AloofinatiCSC
BSR
Keep on keeping on 👍
Interesting that there’s (as yet) no Iheanacho interview with Gerry, not even a new photograph. Is his physical shape as bad as Middlesborough fans have warned us?
Whatever, it will be a measure of BR’s management skills to get him fit and scoring (and Shin and Kenny too). We have a predicament (whatever one thinks of that) but we have to make the best of it.
CHAIRBHOY on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 2:36 PM
Celtic40me @ 1:36 pm,
“We seem to have given up on development, for now at least.”
Well, I guess this is a response to the lead…”
I can’t talk for Paul67, only about what I think
Brendan isnt doing any more than giving the appearances of being interested, and not even bothering much about that now. We heard we had signed players who Brendan would take look at, decide if they were good enough for the first team now, and send out on loan if they weren’t. It hasn’t happened. Hes given up on it
I’m not a football manager, and I don’t see him in training but I didn’t see Inamura do anything wrong, but finds his development blocked by a loan from South America. Third choice for the season, not in the Europa squad, not on loan. He must wonder what the hell he’s doing here
Same for Shin, played against the Huns ahead of Kenny, shifted down the pecking order when we signed Iheanacho as a short term stop gap, left out of the Europa squad. He’s in his second season of senior football, his development will stall as our fourth choice striker.
Same with the lad from Fulham. Stuck in the B team after being promised a route into the first team by Brendan.
Saracchi, Simpson-Pusey and Iheanacho brought in on loans or short contracts, taking up a place in the squad that could be taken up by the next CL player.
If development isnt a real thing we’ll stop producing cl players and they’ll stop coming at all.
And we can’t rely on the academy. We’ve lost Cummings and Glancy left for the EPL since the great overhaul you suggested would make all the difference. Cummings even commented on how the pathway to the first team at West Ham convinced him to leave Celtic.
Ray Winstone’s Big Disembodied Heid on 4th September 2025 2:18 pm
ONIL. I totally agree. The egregious arrogance of that post is only outdone by its utterly breathtaking stupidity.
……………………..
SPOT ON Mate.
Its NOT the first time he has chosen to INSULT many Folk on here and beyond.
He should be BANNED from here.
HE BELONGS on FF thats for sure.
We’re in early September so I hope the board and the scouts know that the winter window opens in only four months time. Just in case they forget and it simply creeps up on them.
The notion that Celtic’s commercial operations are in the hands of cretins doesn’t hold water. A very healthy bank balance runs very much counter to that argument. That doesn’t alter the fact that Celtic’s most recent activity in the transfer market has been hugely disappointing. The team requires freshening. Most of our key players were either inherited by Ange or brought to the club by him. That was four years ago.
The recent failure, and it is a failure, was not an act of God beyond human control. Someone or some people fouled up. It’s pointless now to conduct a witch-hunt to identify the guilty party or parties. But we need assurance that there will be no repeat of our 2025 shambles.
Judging from the past supporters are highly unlikely to receive any such assurance. Celtic’s communications with its own supporters are appalling. It’s so easy to improve dialogue between fans and the club. For example, why can’t they make Celtic TV subscription-free to season book holders and use their own platform to promote an exchange of views?
PLC: “But….if they believed the krankie grifter for 17 years????”
PLC again: “But….if they bought £49 hun tickets to help us with the David Murray HMRC Scandal were they were cheat out of 20+ trophies, cover up????”
PLC again: “But….if they fell for Covid, BLM Money Launderers, Wokeism, Cancel Culture, Grassing up folk with alternative views????”
PLC again: “But….if Rodgers has the players ignoring the GB, including sick note Tierney, and they still canny see it????”
PLC again: “But….if they are just going to send emails to Paul67 to delete KevJungle every time he tries to waken the dumbfks up with wann of his outstanding truth bombs????”
PLC again: “And…..agent Phil the shill is taking them doon another one of his wee walks, doon wan ae yon country lanes again, and the daft erses believe every word that he says….Hahahaha…How many trophies is that that huv been stripped noo Phil, ya Scoattish Indy sucker….Ahahahahahahahahahaha….Oh ffs?????”
PLC again: “But….if they are completely ignoring KevJungle’s calls to [empty the park] and they think that Auldheid will save them by reading them Bible passages when he dizny even know who wrote the fkin thing, HAHAHAHAHHA, and they are falling for the guff on boring as fk, punch pulling podcasts full of happy clappy suck ups?????…..Hahahahhahaha….We’re fkin home and hosed! HaHaHaHa its like fkn kicking doors at Halloween and daft Teary mann comes charging oot the front door, swinging a golf club above his heid, whilst wearing 2 Covid masks that don’t fkn work, Ahahahahahaha, and he has a new ‘I love Nicola’ T-shirt oan….AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…FFS…Ah canny take anymair ae this….Hahahahaha.”
And still….they don’t listen….
The idea that Celtic can’t attract the Dolberg’s of European football needs to be fiercely resisted. Yes we can – we just have to pay the going rate – not spend days bidding half the asking price. Act with speed. Then move on if it doesn’t work out.
We can sign the Breums as well – but rather sign him for 5 million, we’d rather sign a left winger to play on the right for 5 million !
It’s been a shit show. Directors of other clubs have laughed at us this summer ffs.
Get Nicholson out and let’s begin to repair what’s left of our Club’s reputation.
Chairbhoy – agree. I think having the core consistent staff could work if they were in addition to the manager’s team – a bigger background staff would enable more development. Also agree that BR has developed players – the likes of Scales he’s developed to being good enough for us but we’re a ceiling which is why I think we need to either focus less on those sorts and more on first team ready or revamp the coaching structure. We don’t make players who aren’t good enough for the first team into CL standard large sales.
AN DÚN on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 3:37 PM
The idea that Celtic can’t attract the Dolberg’s of European football needs to be fiercely resisted. Yes we can – we just have to pay the going rate – not spend days bidding half the asking price. Act with speed. Then move on if it doesn’t work out.
In the example you’ve given we weren’t able to attract the player.
If it comes to Bloom’s taxonomy, sorry Blooms analytics, I think I am going to trust a manager who has brought us success. I am as blind as the next person with regards who we were after or didn’t get. That time has passed right now and the best we can do is get behind our team and OUR manager, like we have done in the past. Our supporters clubs are trying to band together and ask questions of our board, which they are entitled to do. We are the lifeblood of Celtic FC, and will continue to be so with our developing our kids and our grandkids into good Celtic supporters. Let get behind our players and give them the support they need to get through this season.
if it doesn’t work then we can always bring that most successful of managers in, Derek McInnes, to show us how its done:)))
Cmon the Bhoys in Green.
Sean
Celtic Mac – I don’t think you were the only one suggesting Davies as a future manager so was a general comment rather than one aimed at you personally. Sorry that you felt it was.
My point was Davies is at a club where he’s been backed with a net spend of £45m or so over the past three windows. Unless he has an epic fall from grace, I can’t see him wanting to move. He’s also got BR’s phone number and would no doubt ask for advice – can’t imagine Brendan will be suggesting Davies leave Birmingham where he’s backed by the Board to join us after this window.
Then move on if it doesn’t work out…
Whay happens if it doesn’t work out on the last day of the window:
“The moment we knew we had a chance for Ajax, it just felt like it was right.
“When it was real, it was probably before the deal went through and even then I didn’t think it was going to be possible because of time maybe finances.
“Nobody knew at that point what Brobbey was going to do.
“He [Kasper] got a good sensation over the last 36 hours, so happy so appreciative of the efforts everybody has made.
“A big thank you to Anderlecht, he had a promise with the club he could leave for a certain price.
“They could have done something earlier in the window but the right project, place and club was not there.”
“A lot of respect to Anderlecht who honoured their word with him and that’s because he is a good guy, a professional guy.”
i really dont know what is for the best whatever action we choose whether to starve the board or whatever , i really am at a loss at the way i am feeling about a Football club i used to love & a total hatred of the board of Directors ,
i really dont know what is for the best whatever action we choose whether to starve the board or whatever , i really am at a loss at the way i am feeling about a Football club i used to love & a total hatred of the board of Directors ,
CELTIC40ME on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 3:45 PM
You’ve quoted me buddy but seeming haven’t read my comment.
Spidey101 at 2.14
Well said
Celtic40me @ 3:09 pm,
OK, I thought you were responding to the lead…
“Brendan isn’t doing any more than giving the appearances of being interested, and not even bothering much about that now. We heard we had signed players who Brendan would take look at, decide if they were good enough for the first team now, and send out on loan if they weren’t. It hasn’t happened. Hes given up on it
I’m not a football manager, and I don’t see him in training but I didn’t see Inamura do anything wrong, but finds his development blocked by a loan from South America. Third choice for the season, not in the Europa squad, not on loan. He must wonder what the hell he’s doing here
”
I know you dont listen to his pressers but he has said quite a bit about that and on his Celtic TV interviews.
Brendan spoke about players going out on loan he had to choose which ones as you are limited in the total number of players you have out.
It was also the case of whether you sell a player or he goes out on loan or if he will be better off as a first team squad member.
Inamura, Osmand and Welsh are players he talked about in that regard.
However Shaun Maloney would be doing a lot if this now, he only started in June, so it will be interesting to see how that pans out.
“Same for Shin, played against the Huns ahead of Kenny, shifted down the pecking order when we signed Iheanacho as a short term stop gap, left out of the Europa squad. He’s in his second season of senior football, his development will stall as our fourth choice striker.
Same with the lad from Fulham. Stuck in the B team after being promised a route into the first team by Brendan.
Saracchi, Simpson-Pusey and Iheanacho brought in on loans or short contracts, taking up a place in the squad that could be taken up by the next CL player.”
Brendan didn’t bring many of the players like Inamura or Shin in, he has spoken of their strengths and weaknesses.
However, they are not going to get a game ahead of Kelechi and Johnny who have European experience – I watched Johnny a few times for Shamrock Rovers in the Conference – he did alright but the game against Chelsea suggests he is a long, long way from CL level, as 90% of our players are.
“If development isnt a real thing we’ll stop producing cl players and they’ll stop coming at all.
And we can’t rely on the academy. We’ve lost Cummings and Glancy left for the EPL since the great overhaul you suggested would make all the difference. Cummings even commented on how the pathway to the first team at West Ham convinced him to leave Celtic.”
As stated earlier Shaun only started at Celtic in June.
Cummings was offered a first team place and new contract by Celtic and was expressly asked by the manager to stay, he then signed a pre-contract agreement with WHU.
That’s a Club structure, finance issue that hopefully they are addressing, it has been happening for years – did you blame Ange for Doak?
Not sure where developing CL players comes into it, how many of them have we produced?
Also, we sell all our HVPs it’s the PLCs business strategy to do that, so difficulty in developing players to that level then selling them when they do, with a recruitment strategy not fit for purpose.
That’s why we need to be run as a football club and not a PLC.
Spidey101 @ 3:45 pm,
Agreed, your idea of a first team development coaches and staff with their own structure within the first team is an excellent idea.
While getting a Scalesy level player* is good it does show the limitation of our current player development set up – no way do we get a team capable of beating Brugge with that approach alone.
*And remember, he was a record signing from Shamrock Rovers.
Hail Hail
SPIDEY101 on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 3:51 PM
“Backing the manager” isnt something that people like the owners of Birmingham think about
It’s outdated football talk that is meaningless to big club owners. They spend money as part of a strategy not to keep a manager or coach
Ah go easy on Burnley , lads.
I suspect his mood will get better the moment Nawrocki moves of zero minutes for Hannover. We’re still sadly waiting.
CELTIC40ME on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 4:04 PM
SPIDEY101 on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 3:51 PM
“Backing the manager” isnt something that people like the owners of Birmingham think about
It’s outdated football talk that is meaningless to big club owners. They spend money as part of a strategy not to keep a manager or coach
Fair point. Still struggling to see why he’d swap that to come to Celtic though.
Boondock Saint @ 3:51 pm,
Good post, Totally agree…
Without wishing to open old wounds.
Your point is exemplified by two concurrent transfer windows.
The summer 2023 and the January 2024.
The six or so players we brought in during that summer were analytics driven.
In January, the same “model” was used but the manager had a veto.
He rejected all the players the analytics threw at him except one, Nic Kuhn.
He was by far our best recruit of the period.
Of course neither the analytics nor the manager sussed the young German’s temprement, maybe we need a psychologist as well:)
Hail Hail
Removing Nicholson is a must, for practical reasons as well as accountability.
There are now agents and football clubs that simply won’t answer his calls going forward.
He’s a clown and needs to go.
Celtic4Me….you still think we were serious in wanting Dolberg…lol….even though the player himself said he didn’t think we were ….if we were serious we wouldn’t have offered 50% of players value a whole 4 days before he actually went somewhere else on the last day.
I see Celtic has settled the group action by 24 then kids who were sexually abused at the boys club in the 70s/80s/90s.
Good. It’s been too long disputed.
There are a further 9 individual cases still live. Hopefully these will be settled asap too.
Should have happened years ago.
I hope the men affected get some sort of peace in all of it.
CHAIRBHOY on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 3:57 PM
It was from his presser that I understood Inamura was going to be loaned out if he wasn’t ready for the first team. And from the Fulham kids presser that Brendan that Brendan had a pathway for him into the first team.
It was bullshit wasnt it. Empty words to give the impression that he was committed to development but he hasn’t backed it up.
“did you blame Ange for Doak?”
Again with Ange, again with the blame. I’m not blaming anyone, it’s the reality. You did tell us that things would be much better now but the first player who left after that had a dig at us about our pathway. So Im blaming you (not really)
My point was that it cant be relied on, it’s magical thinking that they’ll want to stay at Celtic when theyre offered a deal from an EPL club.
SPIDEY101 on 4TH SEPTEMBER 2025 4:08 PM
It’s unlikely that any young coach would leave Birmingham City right now.
It’s a dream job for Chris Davies
Why would CQN add its name to the list.?
I’m not even convinced that some of its prominent posters even think there is any concern.
On the subject of unanimity, tolerance is key. I have stated for many years, dIversity is the blogs strength.
I see a poster lashing our with unadvised posts due to a gang mentality.
HH.
Enjoyable read as always Paul.
Quite a few themes.
Tony Bloom? Clearly, you know his methods better than I do and you fear him more than I do.
Time will tell. Feel free to stick it to this skeptic if it comes to pass.
I’m torn on Oh.
Maddeningly, there looked to be a player but we couldn’t find it fully.
(Perhaps that plays into your point about lack of development)
On Adam Idah though … and apologies if this has been said already, I haven’t read back …
… although I’m bitterly disappointed in his parting words and frustrated by his lack of professionalism, equally I can acknowledge his significant contribution in winning us the double in 2023/24.
On that period, Brendan Rodgers did not have the luxury of development time.
I don’t believe Oh would have scored the goals Adam did.
The team were average until February. Brendan’s response to that crisis was highly creditable.
Putting it all out there, some might argue the team were poor in part because he appeared to reject completely the majority of players signed in the summer of 2023.
His call … but this is a fault line across entrenched camps.
Personally I believe if we hadn’t signed Kwon or Tilio the perception of that window would have softened.
These two lads were clearly two too many.
Going back to Idah? Hindsight is overused by those who didn’t own the outcome in the first place.
He was a hired gun. Perhaps we should have thanked him for saving the town, then let him ride out into the sunset.
Spidey101 on 4th September 2025 2:14 pm.
Sound post Spidey,Thank you.we have to define who/what we are as a club,before we define who or what type of project/player is needed to show a direction of travel where we talk the talk and walk the walk re our ambition
HH
..
Celtic40me @ 4:18 pm,
“It was bullshit wasnt it. Empty words to give the impression that he was committed to development but he hasn’t backed it up.
This is just anti-Brendan spin isn’t it?
BR spoke several times about Inamura.
He said he wasn’t at the level so will probably get loaned out.
He thought that the Club had sold Stephen Welsh to Plymouth Argyle.
When that fell through he said he had a limited number of loans he could do, so he’d choose between Inamura and Stephen.
Add to that we didn’t get our left back cover in until 29 August, so Inamura was in the UCL squad.
Marcelo Saracchi said in his interview, he had known for some time he was coming to Celtic.
So why was this BULL$H!T by Brendan Rodgers.
You are calling the guy a liar, when he made the positions clear.
Also the uncertainty was down to the Board’s incompetence as usual.
So your slagging of a guy to protect the dysfunctional Board.
Par for the course…
Hail Hail
I assume Breum was out scouted first choice as right winger.
A) because he’s a right winger
B) because we made three formal bids for him some weeks back
Breum is 21 with over 60 Eridivse appearances. We refused to meet his modest 5 million asking price.
Instead, last day of the window – we bid 5 million on a 23 year old left winger with 20 odd appearances in the Danish league.
The whole thing makes absolutely no sense.
Kazakhstan 0
Wales 1
I don’t think Bellamy would work for these clowns either….
Let’s all be honest here. It’s a lot easier to kid on you are interested in a player than actually being interested in signing one.
Dolberg 27 not under 23/24 in fact 28 in Oct
10 million Euro …a 4 year deal would probably have cost another 5 million quid minimum . Was never happening in a month of Sundays …I hate bsht sometimes seeing people fall for it is even worse.
The only real hope of getting Davies is if the owners get twitchy fingers and harshly fire him – Birmingham have previous for that.
KEV….and BURNLEY…
TWO CRACKPOTS who deserve Red Cards from here for constantly insulting many of the Celtic support.
I was BANNED TWICE from here for a whole lot less..in years gone by.
Oh and I should have added I have no problem in celtic not buying him I’d much prefer a 20/21/22 year old but for the same spend as Dolberg !!!