Over the last few days of the European transfer window I was keen to find out what business Ajax would be able to complete (what Milan and Barca did is of scant interest). Between Friday and yesterday Ajax lost two players, Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen moved to Tottenham, and yesterday, Belgian defender, Toby Alderweireld joined Atletico Madrid.
Both were big players for the Dutch champions, who could realise €20m from the sales, but attempts to sign Ola John from Benfica and Eljero lia of Werder Bremen failed, instead they paid Heracles Almelo €2.5m for midfielder Lerin Duarte.
The Amsterdamers had a frustrating final few hours of the window. No doubt potential targets were worried about having to face three huge teams in the Champions League. In a difficult group, this is what counts as a break for Celtic. Only five games into their league season and without Champions League qualifiers to use as a yardstick, the group stage will come early for Ajax.
Living adjacent to an over-monied behemoth has considerable drawbacks as even our top clubs struggle to retain teenagers in the face of English lower league competition but such a rich market can also bring enough transfer income to make the difference between feast and famine.
The English Premier League spent £445m on transfers outside England but apart from Celtic and Hamilton Accies, who between them will earn around 4% of that total, I don’t think anyone else in Scotland got a piece of the action.
Nurturing and selling talent to England has to be a strategy for dozens of clubs here. Paying (for them) top wages to players who are no longer able to gain employment in England can only be considered a waste by comparison.
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Awe Naw
I have to say though that its the happy clappers that do this the most 90 odd perecent if we were to get an honest show of hands. It mainly arises I feel due to the inability of the offended to understand the argument that is being presented.
…………………..
A fine line here.
When defending aspects of the current way Celtic do business is considered by some as being less of a supporter than attacking the same thing. Seems counter intuitive that supporting your club (albeit blindly to some on here) is thought to be less supportive than criticising it. The reality for me is that for any supporter, blind support without questioning is just as bad/as good as fault finding just about every move the club makes.
Personally, it is less about not understanding the argument and more about getting the argument but not accepting the rationale. I get it but choose to reject it. But that pre-supposes that I genuinely understand the argument I have rejected. Sometimes it does seem that some have a poor grasp of the others argument.
Each “side” in this discussion is obliged to take a leap in their argument. You know the point where it really boils down to just what they think/feel/judge. That’s where the two paths usually diverge, because I can’t take your leap and you can’t take mine. I have seen it so many times on here where two posters go at it for hours and eventually they agree that their views are just so different that they agree to accept that.
Hope your weekend was great.
HH
Summa of Sammi….
14:26 on
3 September, 2013
They may have been talking about De Jong who is out with a collapsed lung. Eriksen & Alderweirald were their most creative player and best defender and they were both sold. Cuenca also returned to Barca although Bojan replaced him.
AWE NAW
You were having an exchange of opinion with THM,no great problem.
For some on here,you may have been winning. For others,not so.
Your post at 1350 was not your best. It let you down,it let your argument down. It was personal,unwarranted,and unnecessary.
It detracted from every other good point which you had raised before.
And pigeon is the correct spelling,but I’ll give you it as a typo,as you have allowed me in the past!
Summary-I don’t like stuff getting personal. Maybe I’ve got too many skeletons in the cupboard.
Paul…..
Would I be correct in saying that we would be in the top 25 teams worldwide in terms of expenditure in this transfer window ?
…what we aw need noo is anurra ootburst fae ra Bomber……..oan ennihin he waants…….
right?
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS forza Oscar and Mackenzie
13:54 on
3 September, 2013
oscar knox is my hero – rwe
13:39 on 3 September, 2013
BMCUW
Late again
……..
Fine Gerry Rafferty song though …
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Haha,canny argue wi that…..
Hopefully,I’ll Get it Right Next Tim
……………………..
Could be worse, you could be
Stuck in the Middle…….Naw, forget it – this could run for hours.
:0)
bankiebhoy1 – I think I read somewhere that Dundee had told him not to make anymore comments……. Killjoys! :-(
Raspar
I don’t know of any plans, but it would seem logical (never catch on).
Perhaps after yon Empire Games in 2014 we will see some movement.
HH
oscar knox is my hero – rwe
14:30 on 3 September, 2013
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What you say is effectively the same point I make to my Mum when we are in disagreement.
No point in arguing black and white unless there are grey areas over which we can agree.
Without those,a total waste of time,as opinions are too entrenched.
That’s why I rarely engage some posters on here. That’s also why I’m sure that AWE NAW and I will disagree today,yet agree tomorrow.
And also why I’m pretty sure that the dayooooot on 28/9 will contain little dissent about Celtic.
Because when we actually meet up,well,we are Celtic supporters.
And it’s a faffin great way to be!
Sneddoni
14:24 on
3 September, 2013
I´m really looking forward to the Champions League games. I was worried we had lost our ´spine´, but less so now. VW is a huge loss, but we were well compensated. It´s impossible to replace him, but we can and did bring in someone else, which is as much as can be asked for.
Hooper, won´t miss as much. His goals yes, but I always felt the rest of his game wasn´t good enough. He didn´t have a lot of pace, didn´t hold the ball up too great and was more of a chance converter, than having the ability to make and finish goals. We seem to have bought 2 replacements for upfront. One is a young big and strong looking guy, who if he works out, could score a lot and make us a great ROI. The other is someone who wasn´t currently getting a game for his club, albeit in a very strong league. He seems to have good abilities though, and if he gets of to a good start, could improve his goals to game ratio by some way here in the SPHell.
We are taking a chance of course, by not buying a ´proven´ goal scorer. But just how do you get one of these at a good price, with good sell on value? I liked the ratio of the guy we missed out on, but why should we pay way over the odds, for someone who might not even score loads in our league, never mind the huge step up to the Champions League. We didn´t get to the financially stable postion we are in today, by paying over the odds. We need to find ´misfits´, guys who are not getting a regular game at other clubs, but have potential that we spot, to maybe do something different for us. Sometimes it won´t work at all, but other times it will be great, its just one of those things.
We also brought in a couple of defenders, so hopefully we actually end up stronger in that department over the course of the season. And we brought in the winger from James Remar´s team. Which hopefully makes us more creative, and creates more chances. But its another option for us anyway, which is always good.
Sure, I would have prefered more players, and maybe a couple of big names. But it just doesn´t seem to work out in the long run. It´s better to pay low fees for players, and try to make them better. Paying big sums, for players who won´t increase any in value, just doesn´t appear to be a good strategy long term.
We got to where we are, (looking forward to 6 huge games in the Champions League), with this strategy, and I don´t see any good reasons to start changing it now. Of course we want bigger names, and more quality, like any kid who wants more toys or chocolate, but the people in charge have to be responsible. If they start acting like the fans, and making decisions based on their hearts, it will end in disaster. They have to be the ´parents´, and make the responsible, boring decisions.
For me, Celtic need to do their upmost to qualify from this group, 3rd if not 2nd. Not saying it will be easy, far from it. But we have seen just how hard these groups are when you are a pot 4 team. The aim is to become a pot 3 team as quickly as possible in my opinion. But we can´t go spending loads to realise this. We have to try to be smarter than the teams around us. Simply trying to spend our way to Champions League success, is a sure way to financial ruin and failure in the long term.
Well done to our existing players for last seasons run, and qualifying this season. Good luck to our new guys, and although it will be very tight, the games against Ajax will be a huge contribution to who goes through. But I think our new team are quite cabable of getting positive results in both those games. And I doubt Barcelona and AC Milan are looking at their games against us as an easy 3 points, especially our home games. And lets face it, they need to be looking at securing 12 points, which includes and away win. So it could be a very tight group overall. But I really hope we can get 2nd or 3rd, because we need a lot more co-efficient points to get from pot 4 to pot 3, or things are just going to get even harder for us in europe.
You’re damn tooting about getting up Scotland’s coefficient rankings, because we
can’t rely on other Scottish Clubs, to help us with that matter.
As for the Hoops present transfer dealings, is like the tune about the wee fellow
that Santa Claus forgot, and having to wonder back home to use last years
broken toys. I like you, and the rest of our Family minded Club supporters, just
hope that these a bit of ify signings, come good fast, or it’s a case of how long will
it take to see an improvement, with patience being the key.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS forza Oscar and Mackenzie
14:33 on 3 September, 2013
Maybe you should have a quiet word in the ear of your mate then it would be far more productive me thinks
HH
.
bournesouprecipe
14:23 on
3 September, 2013
Guy on the Rug’len trains got a Bluetooth Headset on, and at least three electrical gadgets on his belt, – How can you take him seriously, when he says ….tickets please?
Inspector Gadget CSC
..
Was he Bald as a Koot..?
Summa
67heaven
Sevco may have a cash flow problem, hence they haven’t registered more than Nicky Law.
Another reason for not registering their seven, I think, players, is that they were signed to appease the support, sell season books, and never had any intention of signing them, maybes the pie man didn’t know what was happening behind the scenes, maybes they are not acting all dignified n that.
Who knows, the media won’t ask them, so all we can do is guess.
HH
So constantly attacking a board that… ‘ have done a great job, its just that sometimes they could do that wee bit more’…. is the new way of showing support.
Curiouser & curiouser.
I suppose it’s all a question of perpective. I always thought that you would get more by encouraging than by finding fault. Maybe that is old fashioned.
Oscar Knox is my Hero – RWE
I can understand within heated debate why it becomes personal. It´s called losing the argument.
But the less of a supporter …. hun interloper is tiresome especially when it is clear and historically clear that the person is neither.
It detracts from the blog entirely.
HH
.
Bobby..
Got your email..l know the Fella very well had Him and his Wee Ghirl to my House for a Match when he first came out..a Gentleman.
Not seen him for a While..
Yea he is Not the Ex-Celt.. but he Did come out here to Play Football unfortunately the Club went under about a Month after he Arrived..
Summa
I once wrote a post about taking the air out of a balloon.
It really let me down.
Rascar-with respect,we can’t sell out stadium just now ,never mind increasing capacity.
johnnyclash
14:29 on 3 September, 2013BSRRutherglen train – One of the gadgets’ll be a taser then?
VG.
Sneddoni
I take it in your post you are talking about Finnbogason?.I really dont know where to start with your post.You ask”Where can we find a proven goalscorer at a fair price?.Many would argue that £5 million for Finnbogason was a very fair price.You go on”he might not even score the goals,especially in the CL”.In the SPL,I would put my house on him getting very close to the 30 goals we want.As for the CL,Ajax are one of our opponents.In his last 5 games against them Finnbogason has scored 6 goals.I think Ajax will be delighted they are not facing him in a couple of weeks.
While trying to put up reasons for Celtic not buying him,you then go on to say that Pukki and Balde MIGHT get the goals we need.The combined total of the two players would maybe have got us Finnbogason,and there would have been no “Mights”about it.
You said at the start of your post that all Hooper really did was score goals.H,mmm,not that impressive for a striker that ability.
Its all water under the bridge now,and I really hope wee Teemu does the business,
Hail Hail.
I’ve found out from a Sevco neighbour, that a Sevco Season card costs £200
per Season, £10 a match.
Charlotte Fakeovers@CharlotteFakes1h
Despite the 5 way agreement published earlier, the SPFL are considering transferring the 250k fine from oldco to newco. #AskSPFLNoDenial
______________
If true how can this be ?
confused(not for the first time) csc
can only be to help some brother in some way IMHO
rascal capac- I believe the club should improve the seating, phase by phase, remove all the seats being pillars, the very upper rows, decrease the density in front main stand then elsewhere and in time reopen the LL upper.
Anybody who has been in Emirites will appreciate how good the seating is there. No bruised knees in there.
May reduce the capacity by 5000, maybe 10000 but will improve the experience.
SUMMA
Delighted to hear that but not so much about the football,obviously.
Next step is to get him to stop lurking!
I hope you fellas hook up sometime,always good to have fellow Tims around.
Wish I could find some in Swindon,they’ve largely disappeared like snaw aff a dyke!
Kilbowie Kelt
Look up opinion in the dictionary.
If somebody thinks that going 100m in debt to buy Bale is the best way forward for Celtic then that is his perogative. He may get argued down. Educated like gebhoy yesterday ..along with being ridiculed. Its not very Celtic like if you ask me.
And who knows he may EVEN be right !!!
btw I know gebhoy was not advocating the purchase of Bale
OK I am going to leave this one as I geunuinely think I have made 0 progress on it.
New dogs old tricks horses and water etc
HH
I watched Celtic play Barca,Benfica,Spartak Moscow , and Juve last season.
However the best foreign opponents we played were Ajax in a pre season friendly.
They totally dominated us and in the second half substituted almost all their entire team.
I left that stadium totally deflated at the gulf between the two teams.
I am aware that it was a friendly, but I can’t remember ever feeling so outclassed by another team in every outfield position.
Well I can , but that club is dead now.
TT
read last week somewhere.
“If a cock ruffles up his feathers, it is easy to pluck him. If a man gets angry he is done for”.
makes sense tae me csc
Bada Bing!!!
That is excellent news! Could you do me a favour, and pick up eight tickets for the games against Barcalona, Ajax and AC Milan for me? I’ll square you up later.
Summa of Sammi….
I think the other two big losses for Ajax this window were Miralem Sulejmani (Benfica) and Ryan Babel (Kasimpasa SK) both left on Bosmans.
TT
I don’t ever remember the Huns dominating us in the manner that Ajax did that night.
I am much younger than you mind :-)
Finnbogason was a missed opportunity, but so was David Viella who
went from Barca to Athletico for around £3,000,000 now that was a
really missed opportunity, although I could not imagine us wanting
to cover his wage packet.
LEFTCLICKTIC
Don’t get angry,get even.
Took me a while to work that one out.
MachiavelliCSC
The chasm widens, on one side of the divide, stand your brothers and sisters, on the other side of the divide, there, mirrored, stand your brothers and sisters too, looking right straight back at you; brother and sisters, sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, of the same seed and blood. One fist beats the heart for socialism whilst his or her own brother’s/sister’s fists a straight armed salute to the dollar.
You’re just a sibling scared and disgusted by the squabbling, but you’re neither the patriarch nor the mother either, and nobody with a voice that can be heard , or respected, speaks for the top of the table… semantics reign, nobody has a clue what they are talking about, innuendo is rife and rumours mate, thought some try to despot their prejudices with aggressive FACTS , others, from within their own, with eyes and hearts wide open, respond from the pain of their scars. And nobody knows who is right and who is wrong and what is right and what is wrong. Are we the new huns and nobody has told us? Are we the new huns and we’re happy in their skin?
And there is no bridge across the chasm, and even if there was, it’d ne’r unite the family, because within the family there are some with understanding of outsiders and there are some who just hate, how much do we hate the hun? How many footsteps did we ever walk in the shoes of the hun? And yet we hate; and the empathy and the hatred and bigotries of the most don’t recognise the chasm as a moral or ethical border, they merely see it as an obstacle to their opinion being rammed through the heart that they despise with their very being; and within the family that stood against supremacist and oppression… we have spawned supremacist and oppressors in their (sic) own like.
It always comes back to money and blood, or blood and money, if you like.
Which side of the chasm claps the loudest, when one, not of their blood… dies?
And who’ll drop their head in shame, if shame knows a meaning, or a friend?
Bada Bing
We can’t sell out the ground for league games.
But for European games very easily.
Hibs finished their stadium to a capacity twice that of their average attendance, perhaps looking to the future of being the big team in a wealthy city.
Full for the big occasion, 70% full and cheap other times would be fine for me.
Wee note on ticket allocations for Ajax, previous post was correct that away teams should get 5% of an allocation, the Ams Arena hold 53k so we should get approx 2.6k if segregation etc is ok, additionally the club can purchase 200 ‘ premium’ seats fir sponsors etc.
Still be hard to get a ticket, btw take care if u get a ticket for the home parts of the ground. Some of the Ajax boys have a reputation fir being a tad nasty.
Rascar ,
Every unsold season ticket seat at Celtic Park is a possible disincentive to future Season Ticket sales,
Currently 10,000 supporters will be able to walk up to the ticket office and buy a 3 match package for champions league whilst not being season ticket holders.
If that was increased to 20,000 (after any extension was built ) there may be a drift away from the current number of season book holders and we would have tumbleweed blowing through Celtic Park against SPFL opposition.
There would be no premium or incentice attached to having a season ticket , the club would take a huge hit in revenue, and the stadium would be a white elephant
The Onlooker
AWE NAW
No intention of falling out with you.
You have your opinions,he has his.
I don’t think the discussion was about opinions at the end-up.
Read this slowly and savour it. My favourite line “Carefully saving the blood to buff into my brogues!!!”
I looked down at my plate and assessed the meal prepared and placed before me on the table by my wife. It looked fantastic.
Steak; rare. Roast Potatoes. Asparagus. Peas.
I pierced the juicy steak with my knife and watched as some blood ran from the small incision and stained my roast potatoes crimson which immediately fired my imagination.
I stopped for a minute to picture the Battle of The Boyne and imagined that two of the potatoes represented the body of Duke Frederick Schomberg and his mighty steed – cut down at the beginning of the battle by the forces of taigery.
Angered by the death of such a respected General I made a fist with my left hand and smashed it down on the table before angrily cutting through one of the emerald shoots of asparagus with my blade. The urine-tainting vegetable representing the hordes of King James.
I picked up my fork and used the underside of it to roll a few of the peas across my plate and then pressed down on my wounded steak, releasing more blood. I smiled as I pictured the severed heads of these Vatican fighters drenched in blood and pressed down with my fork, crushing a couple of them for good measure.
I was in the process of fashioning King William’s white horse from the soft, fluffy inside of a roast potato when my wife re-entered the kitchen.
“Are you gonnae fecking eat that ya total dick?”, she bellowed.
Well let me tell you I would have administered the back of my hand right there and then but there was a war to be won and won it would be!
The battle unfolded exactly as it did back then and I am sure you are all familiar with that glorious tale. The only difference being that it was staged on my Presbyterian dinner plate; Asparagus and pea vanquished by steak and potato.
Now, all these years later it has come full circle with asparagus and pea holding positions of influence and power with the clenched fenian fist held threateningly above steak and potato. How has it come to this and when will we rise against it?!
The wife came in again and scraped my freezing cold food in to the bin. Carefully saving the blood to buff in to my brogues.
I retired to the lounge, put on a Davie Cooper DVD and managed a brief smile.
Last minute goal again. Jammy barstewards.