When an unexpected name flies into the frame from left field there’s always a concern about what you’ve written about him before. I still remember the day we signed Kenny Miller, and an earlier blog with my assessment of the player (subsequently found to be on the money). While it’s important to be fair when assessing players, I’m not in the business of trashing them before they kick a ball for Celtic, so Miller’s signing was not a comfortable one.
With this in mind, I typed “Leigh Griffiths” into the articles database to check what had been written. Apart from match reports, there was only one comment, the day after last season’s Scottish Cup Final:
“Leigh Griffiths has had plenty of uncomplimentary discourse written about him this season, most of it deserved, so it should be recorded that he was the first Hibs player to return applause in the direction of Celtic fans yesterday, closely followed by his team-mates.
“This is the way football should be. For too long our game has been poisoned by the unique kind of rivalry you got in Scotland. More of the same, please.”
He unquestionably did deserve the criticism that came his way last year. If he gets his move to Celtic he needs to grow as a person, as well as a player, which is a big challenge. His move towards the Celtic support at Hampden was a modest but necessary first step towards reassessing other people.
Having said this, don’t go ordering your ‘Griffiths’ shirt just yet, I reckon a deal has no more than a 50% chance of happening. Wolves didn’t invite our interest and our need is to be ready by June, not February. Neither club has an imperative to do this deal, which is often an omen for snags to get in the way. Patience required, as you know………
Reminder to everyone who booked tickets for the CQteN St Patrick’s Day Dinner that they have to be paid by this Friday! Let me know if you can’t find details, celticquicknews@gmail.com
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How many games did it take Wanyama to begin to perform to his potential and to win over those sad followers of our club who wish to find the negative in our players first ?
Many of these ignorant critics enjoy knocking talent not nurturing, thrive on criticising and not encouraging as it seems to make up for their sad personal inadequate situations in life.
As with Sami and Strachan and many others it took Vic a full season to win folk round and show his capability.
Yet we have folk on here already writing off Balde and Pukki after less than a dozen starts between them.
They may be duds or be stars. I dont know. The MSM, as with sami and JvH before him woukd love the former and stoke up that agenda.
But the one thing we have at our club right now is games and chance for them to show their capability or not ?
ASONOFDAN
Good to hear from you again,bud.
My best wishes to you and yours,I hope it all turns out well.
Stay strong,mate.
KTF
Weeminger/Sydney Tim
UEFA rule is 8 home grown players in 25 man A list squad, i.e. you can name 17 players who are not home grown. We have 3 first teamers who count as home grown (played for 3 successive years within national association between the ages of 15 & 21), Brown, Mulgrew & Forrest. This season our CL squad was 20 A list players (of which 3 were home grown) and 14 B list players (although Adam Matthews was counted in this as he was under 21).
Matthews becomes an A list player next season as he will be 22, as does Fisher as he will have been with us for 3 years by then.
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2014/clubs/club=50050/index.html
Anthony Stokes: 22 goals in 40 appearances for Hibs. 38 goals in 98 appearances for Celtic. 0 goals in 8 matches for Ireland.
Sydney Tim
Would signing a 26 goals in 101 appearances in Eredivisie meet your goalscorer criteria??
Driving back from the airport last night and caught some of SSC on Clyde1. Should you allowed to listen to that whilst driving – danger of ‘surface water’ as I was pi**ing myself.
Guidi gives his +ve ish rundown on Big Fraser then says we could get….wait for it….drum roll….about £4M.
Then Plump DJ comes in with his expertise on 21st century goalkeeping and brings it down to about half that amount!!!!
Wow if he gets any cheaper Deidco will be after him……
Now before I get stick for wanting to sell on our best players, I don’t. In an ideal world FF will make his whole career at Celtic and we’ll offer a retirement home to that likeable dud called VVD.
But I’m afraid that Henrik will be the last ‘superstar’ for a while that stays with us long, long term while we’re in the existing set-up so I’m realistic about folk moving on. But I do think we have a right to expect a fair market price to be associated with a player who Barca and their Press raved about.
MSM – their lives must be stinky given where their heads are suck.
HH jamesgang
Sydneytim.
If you start with your highest bid then you have nowhere to go in the negotiations , and you always pay top dollar.
Secondly .
Neil Lennon wanted Balde , Pukki and Bangura.
So the only way to ensure that we don’t waste money on such players would be to tell Neil Lennon that he us not in charge of signing players , and that you don’t back his judgement.
Peter Lawell gets slaughtered for that , without it actually being the case.
Your views on transfer negotiations are naive at best.
The signing of players is a very difficult process , which must be done within budget.
Now if you want to consider some criticism for our scouts and manager .
The ones who actually suggest and decide that we actually signed Pukki, Balde and Bangura.
Them I might have some sympathy for that view.
PL and his board have spent millions supporting Neil Lennon and his scouts bring in players.
They are not the problem.
The scouting and decision making is the problem.
All that being said , the scouting if unearthed talent is probably more difficult to achieve on a consistent basis that any other part of our football operation.
My main problem us that not since Hooper have we signed a really successfull goal scorer.
1 in 4 years is a shocking return.
TT
Burnley. 6.6m for 3 guys who were never goal scorers. If we had bought them for 1m for all 3 it till would have been too much
Would we buy 3 goalies for 6.6m who have never saved a shot ??
BURNLEY78
Like you,I prefer to encourage our players than to shout them down.
Even when a player clearly isnae up to it,what was he supposed to do when the chance came up to join-tell the club he isnae good enough?
I think in most cases the frustration isn’t with the players,but with whoever thought they were the answer to our problems. As has been stated on here plenty of times,the current policy is not working up front. There is no point in saying otherwise.
It used to be when we signed a forward we would all look at youtube and see what he’s like.
Now we are more likely to go-Look at that tube,what’s he like?
And quite frankly,that is not the fault of the fans. Because we all want every Celtic player to be a success.
burnley78
09:39 on 29 January, 2014
If Sydney Tim’s a Tim, I’m Santa Claus….(on, Jingle Bells)……seriously, though, I have NEVER seen a positive post from ST…
Tiny tim indeed 1 in 4 years is shocking
Indeed scouts who recommended these players should indeed be sacked
But we have to agree to disagree about who wanted these players
Neil has not got one of his top three request for a striker
Neil has made it know his frustration about this in the press
ST I’m getting fed up with your lies/mistruths regarding “zero goal scoring forwards” “non scoring forwards” The guys you refer to have scored goals for us so you are just plain wrong. They may not have scored often enough as far as you and others are concerned but give us a break with your repetitive posts. Do you not have the nous to moan about something else? It would be a breath of fresh air. Hail Hail Hebcelt
I see that Rhys Williams, the defender from Middlesborough we were linked with, was carried off injured last night. That might be the end of that.
Snodgrass tells Norwich fans tae “F&#$ off” #Celtic #WorkingHisTicket? http://t.co/sNStX0Mgfl
@AgentScotland: Celtic have had a 2nd bid for Griffiths turned down tonight, both clubs are getting closer, expecting both to deal around £800k by Friday
67 heaven
I said last year chris commons has been our best value for money since Henk
I have said that lustik. Virgil , Mathews and foster have been top class signings
I have said that Neil has tried to bring back passion
But I have banged on again and again about our shambles striker policy
SYDNEY TIM
You should change yer moniker,bud.
I suggest MARK 6:4….
Btw,gorra laff…
margaret mcgill
00:40 on 29 January, 2014
Urban dictionary
Groundhun day: Approx feb 13th every year when the SFA pull the huns arse out of a hat and inspect it to see if the sun still shines.
Bada considering hibs were imo the only other club that wanted him but couldnt afford him good business for wolves imo
Finding the goalscorer that Sydney Tim wants is not easy, obviously.
Finnbogason went to a Belgian club at the age of 21. He was not a success there and was loaned out to a Swedish club.
He signed for Heerenveen when he was 23. He has been successful there. But remember that Sami was also a prolific goalscorer in Holland!
Finnbogasson will be 25 next week. He is a year older than Pukki. His goalscoring record at international level is scarcely better than Pukki’s: Finnbogason 4 goals in 16 matches, Pukki 6 goals in 28.
Walter kidd defo a tim, goes to st johns chapel portobello same as me.
Big sean.
HH.
ST
Pukki had a tidy wee shift at the weekend, scored a peach of a goal and his industry got us another.
He’s not Henrik or Jinky or Kenny Dalglish I doubt he ever will be.
But I operate on the basis of ‘we are where we are’ in everyday life so my preference is to make the best of who and what we’ve got in any instance. In this case it’ll involve cheering this young guy to the rafters along with Balde whenever they do something +ve in the hope that they max their potential for my club.
Simples!
Leave it the Poms (and dare I say occasional (sic) Aussies) to whinge. Get on yar pom poms and do a wee bit of Celtic Cheerleading around the Opera House….and be sure to post it on YouTube cos I’m not alone on here in wanting to save that to Favourites!
PositiveClapperCSC
HH jamesgang
Sydneytim 09.49
I personally asked Neil Lennon at a meeting with fans , Who made the decision to sign Bangura?
He told me that it was his decision.
He is also quoted as saying that he had been watching Pukki for some time and had liked him as a player before he went to Shalke.
If the scouts are serving up duds , then he needs to get new scouts.
Infact he has done that to a certain extent bringing in Peter Houston.
The scouting is letting us down where finding a goal scorer is concerned.
TT
SydneyTim
09:30 on
29 January, 2014
The stats show that Pukki scored 11 in 17 appearances and that his goals per minute ration at similar or higher level was comparable or better than Hooper’s.
You can’t always trust stats.
On the train to Anderston
To those suggesting that ST change his style of posting can in suggest you consider your likely reaction if he came on saying that Murphy, Bangura, Miku and Lassad had all been worthwhile experiments and that both Pukki and Balde to should be given a bit more time . Coronaries all round I suggest.
He’s not much more positive when you meet him in the flesh but he is as big a Tim as I am and he gets his round in.
Jimbo67 supporting Oscar Knox
fritzsong
00:58 on 29 January, 2014
Big Nan,
See how shifty they looked. Fat pompous Brodie, in effect, was saying, ‘Move along, Timmy. Nothing to see here.’
………………………………..
They were trying to give the appearance that they were still in control of the petition’s fate. They weren’t it was abandoned the day before by me. It wasn’t theirs to decide on.
I e-mailed every one of them at 12.35 on Monday advising them of this (not asking them if I could) and posted on here/twitter the letter about an hour later.
What you saw here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nivd4SBIMQ was nothing more than window dressing. Pompous pratts of politicians posturing for the public. [Darryll eat your heart out]
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon, supporting WEE OSCAR..!!.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors
They have history of running stuff like that.
Its like they are placing an advert and trying to manipulate an actual value to a player…..almost as if they know exactly how much the the rangers(they used to it for the rangers as well) need.
McGregor…..how much was it he was worth was it about £7million.
Jelavic……he was about 9million if memory serves me right.
Sure there,s been others but i reckon they create a bidder to make it look like the player is sought after and then name a price that might actually be what is needed to prise them away!
Maybe im just paranoid though and its absolutely nothing to do with them being desperate for cash.
Lol jimbo67 indeed I do mate
Pps. What about that other dud forward we signed
Derk!!!! Remember him. $@@$@&$
SMSM, aweeeeee they do make my day “Rangers play hardball with Nottingham Forrest” honestly Jack Irvine works hard for his money, I don’t care what anyone sais, hahahahahahaha, they have no overdraft, a cash flow problem ( putting it mildly) more money going out than in, there main assets are the players, they are not in any way in a bargaining situation, it’s an any offer take it or leave it situation, only one door opened, and it closes at midnight on Friday, ohhhhhh heavens to Bettsy, what to dooooo?
tonydonnelly67
10:08 on 29 January, 2014
TICK TOCK……..for a second club / time….
thunder road
10:07 on 29 January, 2014
dr just can’t help themselves……bless them..
SydneyTim
10:07 on
29 January, 2014
Lol jimbo67 indeed I do mate
Pps. What about that other dud forward we signed
Derk!!!! Remember him. $@@$@&$
ST even a happy clapper like me will cede you that one mhate!
And if Jimbo67 says you’re a crabbit, round-buying, good Tim then I will with my usual positivity say that 2 out of 3 ain’t bad and mine’s a Guinness!
HH jamesgang
jimbo67
10:03 on 29 January, 2014
We know, just trying to get a wee bit positivity into his ‘portfolio’..hahahahaha
TONY DONNELLY
Included in that report is the following.
*******
“A Forest insider said: “Billy was keen on Wallace and the offer was close to £1m.
“When Rangers said they would only do business at £1.4m they effectively killed any deal stone dead. They may think they are playing hardball and Billy will be back but they are wrong.
“Forest won’t pay another penny for a player from Scottish football’s third tier.”
******
Looks like hardball is not something the huns are very good at!
Now that someone has made we Barry a manager can we expect to see multi million pound bids coming in for The Rangers’ “superstars”?
SydneyTim – I know Derk’s a forward but I do think it’s unfair (as you do) to lump him in with the striker’s. He’s a winger, he was never bought for his goal-scoring record.
He’s looked decent when he’s played, but I accept that it’s rarely and it looks like he might be living up to the “sick note” billing.
Jamesgang. Derk reminds me of Gary Gillespie. Justs sneezing got him injured
I remember one cold night at brockville and Gary Gillespie who was due to return to 1st team after being injured again, was walking up the stairs in the stand beside me
He tripped. Some old guy beside me said ” Jesus that’s him out for another 3 months”
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS ………FC not PLC
10:14 on
29 January, 2014
TONY DONNELLY
Included in that report is the following.
*******
“A Forest insider said: “Billy was keen on Wallace and the offer was close to £1m.
“When Rangers said they would only do business at £1.4m they effectively killed any deal stone dead. They may think they are playing hardball and Billy will be back but they are wrong.
“Forest won’t pay another penny for a player from Scottish football’s third tier.”
******
Looks like hardball is not something the huns are very good at!
*************************************************************************************
more numbnuts than hardball i would contend!
HH jamesgang