Whatever plans Celtic had for the summer of 2020, the pandemic and a 6’ 7” goalkeeper put paid to them. Fraser Forster spent the previous season performing miracles for Celtic on loan from Southampton. Both were keen to extend his stay, so much so that Fraser’s pal and understudy, Craig Gordon, accepted lesser terms from Hearts than were on offer from Celtic to get some football.
A week after Craig left, Southampton gave Celtic the green light on a fresh loan, but on taking the call, Fraser about turned, he had heard of interest from Chelsea and wanted to pursue that option to a conclusion.
Without two keepers, and with a ban on international travel, Celtic had to go to market for a replacement without the ability to watch players. The list came down to the best from the Scottish market, or theimpressive AEK Athens keeper when they eliminated us from the Champions League qualifiers two years earlier. The Є5m plus wages spent on Vasilis Barkas will remain a lesson for years to come.
Fresh from a domestic crisis, Shane Duffy arrived on loan from Brighton. The Celtic supporter suffered a torrid time alone in Glasgow that spilled into his play.
We needed a striker and money was available with two options under consideration: Peterborough’s Ivan Toney, or West Ham’s Albian Ajeti. Toney was banging them in, in the English third tier, whereas Ajeti had just spent a wasted year at West Ham. Ajeti, though, was a full Swiss international, who got the move to West Ham on the back of two great seasons at Basel, where he had also gained Champions League experience.
Albian was the man the manager and scouts all wanted, a rare unanimous nomination, they were delighted to get his signature. How you can score 26 in 32 starts for Basel, then do nothing for four years between spells at West Ham, Celtic and on loan at Sturn Graz, is another red flag. Toney became a sensation in the EPL and a full England international. He is currently serving an 11 month ban from the game for betting transgressions. Red flags, eh?
With Ajeti is set to leave for Turkish football this week, the lessons from him, Duffy and Barkas, not to mention Forster and Toney, paint a picture of the many pitfalls in the sport. It’s only easy on paper, once the whistle goes, normal rules are off. Maybe we should stick to players Benfica are prepared to cut loose after one league start.
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I’d be interested to know how many of the scouting team that crashed the car so spectacularly in the summer of 2020 are still at the club.
This will be worse than covid window due to incompetence.
Celtic knew Ange was leaving for months as he refused to engage on a new contract. He was also approached for Crystal Palace job in March 2023 and he wanted to go.
Considering this regarding manager, need for GK, STK, CDM, LB, CB coupled with exits of Jota, Starfelt, Mooy we had the biggest transfer window in our history with £50M at stake in revamped CL.
We brought in Rodgers and furnished him with 7 projects with none being first picks in an Ange team that needed reinforcements.
Chairman, Boards, CEO, Head of Recruitment have collectively failed. Celtic is still a corner shop and its down to these guys not being able to take a step back and strategically plan a way forward.
This cabal need to be cleaned out as they are not capable.
Shoots…scores?
Exactly Paul.
Barkas was willin The wall wisnae
If the scenario is one where we have scouted extensively, qualified as much as possible and have recognised that this will go to the wire, then I’ll have some sympathy for the club, as I cn appreciate we are a tough (not impossible) sell to the emotionally unattached.
If we are literally rattling agents to know who is unloved and available then we deserve all the crap that a Duffy, Laxalt & Kenny window throws at us.
Time will tell but it certainly feels like distressed purchases.
Lauding the final departures of Soro and Ajeti is so last season. I do think the latter (plus Barkas plus McCarthy fallouts) have spooked an already risk averse board. Better to lose your shirt on small Asian punts than 1 big one.
Tick tock csc
HH
And here was me thinking that PL thought a further loan deal instead of the permanent transfer for Forster from Southampton was the reason he changed his mind – and wasn’t Craig Gordon eased out the door for his involvement with Summer from CTV? Silly me.
Add the big loan fee for Diogo Laxalt as well
We were talking about Barkas the other day. The goal he conceded against the Midgies is one of the most astoundingly poor bits of football I’ve ever seen in a Celtic shirt, and in a absolutely vital game.
Him and Ajeti cost the guts of £10m, 5m each on them should always be part of an argument about how much we spend on players. We seem to have arrived on 6m as the sweet spot for transfer fees, which does conveniently exclude some appalling transfer business just below that figure.
We spend over 6m very rarely and when we do its with extreme caution. We have a higher hit rate because we take fewer risks at that price. You cant say that we’d continue to have a similar hit rate just because we have had in the past, the more we buy, with less caution, the fewer hits we have. An extra million doesnt make for less Barkas and Ajetis, better scouting does
We look to be bidding for around 5m for the young Danish forward. Its not nothing and when added to the fees for Maik and Palma it suggests a coherent strategy at a particular price point.
LUCKY CODY on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:05 PM
Does 5 trebles in 7 years ever enter your thinking when you talk about collective failure?
Or is it all about whats. happened in the last few weeks?
Hopefully get some quality in by the window’s end. But it would be unfair to throw them in to the cauldron of hate that will be there for all to see at the weekend.
Must say. I was pleased when Brendan came back. I thought with the funds he will bring in first team ready quality.
But his body language since arriving has been of a man disheartened. I thought the days of Lawell ball had finally gone. Now Brendan has about 7 projects. But they aren’t ready for the rough and tumble if the SPL and certainly not the CL. .
I think we will win the league as we will definitely improve. As will our projects. Seems to be taking a while for the players to adopt to another way of playing.
We may well lose on Saturday. Something I would never even have contemplated a few months ago.
Who would win a fight between the ‘normal’ pitfalls and a board who can’t spell ‘proactive’ .
Erra pitfalls , two furra poun’ , two furra poun’ .
BIG WAVY on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:15 PM
“Better to lose your shirt on small Asian punts than 1 big one”
We’ve spent 5m on a polish cb, 3m on a danish cb, 4m on a Honduran winger playing in Greece and we’ve bid the best part. of 5m for a Danish forward
17m quid
Perhaps not the best time to remind everyone of the transfer window we signed Barkas, Ajeti and Duffy !
Is this code, P67, for… we’re currently coming up short in our pursuit of calibre candidates ?
A few weeks ago you appeared to purr at our finely honed analytics and scouting system.
I know it’s super hard to get it right but could the additional problem likely to be the attractiveness of the SPFL and a shifty at the players potential-level recruitees ?
PS: Here in Perth WA the boozer below the hotel next door is called Fenians; wonder if they’re thinking of franchising an outlet to the West of Scotland ?? I think Bheaver mentioned it in previous posts years ago?
There are some leagues that are more vital to win than others …I’d put the 23/24 in the vital category. My problem is I’m not honestly sure the board feel the same, it is a long time since I felt excited about a signing, certainly none so far this year.
Where has the pace and power ethos gone ??…the much maligned Starfelt had both, I could have cried when I saw stevie May running away from lagerbeilke…dear God what will quick CL players do ???….sometimes experience can make up for lack of pace again we’re criminally short on that
Seven players in all 23 or under for a grand total of 17-18 million could be written in celtic folklore along with the willo Flood window!!!
CELTIC40ME on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:21 PM
LUCKY CODY on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:05 PM
Does 5 trebles in 7 years ever enter your thinking when you talk about collective failure
Or is it all about whats. happened in the last few weeks?
—-
1. Domestic dominance. Great (and I do mean it) but all relative in a two horse race with economic superiority.
2. European credibility. Poor return, with just a few breakthrough moments.
Can 1 make an impact on 2? We should do better with automatic ECLs and a better trading model. Money in the bank to reinvest properly? Yes it should. And BR has said that’s his objective.
Does 1 suffice for a proportion of our fanbase here and elsewhere as the height of ambition? Yes it does. I won’t change them. They’ll continue to use 1 as the yardstick for success/failure and berate anyone who wants to raise Europe as an ambition.
I don;t even think it’s an ambition anymnore but a necessity in a game that is running away from us each year.
HH
“THE BATTERED BUNNET on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:05 PM
I’d be interested to know how many of the scouting team that crashed the car so spectacularly in the summer of 2020 are still at the club.”
As a matter of interest, T, what would you do with that information?
Is this an outing for the well known ‘we tried but….’ Transfer window excuses we all know so well
Celtic without Ange is like CQN without ernie lynch :-))
This”We have only signed projects” guff.Holm,best player in Norway.Yang,best winger in SKorea,2 for our budget,very good CHs.Palma,best winger in Greece.None of these you could class as”Projects”.
Podence,£ 12 million,would he be any better than the wingers we have.Nobody knows.EPL price,not playing,but not classed as a project.As Paul says,you never know
It just seems to me,this is a problem more down to injuries to our top players.This,new manager,new players,a recipe for things to go off.I mean bring in a replacement for Carl,who plays a couple of games,and gets injured,same time as back up Welsh,meaning we have to blood another CH on plastic FFS,who does not even know his teammates.Bad luck,or what.
Brendan has to take some blame.Kyogo is a penalty box striker,the best.Play him there.
Hatate,is our most dynamic midfielder,don’t piss him off.Turnbull is not a patch on him.
Why scrap the inverted FBs,that our 2 FBs had embraced very well.Especially with everything else going on.
The recruitment.Wait until the weekend before judging.I like who we have got so far,let’s see who else.
Remember when we were always scrambling around trying to get players in on deadline day and it was supposedly because they wouldn’t sign for us until they knew we were in the Champions League……..
BIG WAVY on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:33 PM
“Does 1 suffice for a proportion of our fanbase here and elsewhere as the height of ambition? Yes it does. I won’t change them. They’ll continue to use 1 as the yardstick for success/failure and berate anyone who wants to raise Europe as an ambition”
Not me, I want both. Although I dont see a lack of ambition from the board in Europe I can understand peoples frustration and that they might see it.
Its talk of collective failure after the last 7 years we’ve had that I dont get. Celtic havent failed by any measure.
If something seems odd or gives me an uneasy feeling I always ask myself why e.g. why is an article like this being published now? Why drag up the demons of 2020 3 days before the transfer window closes?
I find often there’s a reason behind things that seem odd and they’re not just sheer coincidence.
VINNIETHEDOG on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:27 PM
There are some leagues that are more vital to win than others …I’d put the 23/24 in the vital category.
There is a school of thought among some of our support , that the board does realise this but that it’s vital for a certain other team in the city.
I suspect the close of the window on Friday will either ease or add to that suspicion .
QUADROPHENIAN @ 12:27 PM,
Yes, we were all given the impression these dark days were behind us as the greatly heralded new model was introduced.
Lots of talk of great scouting and analytics as you say but if we “built” this new model, it surely took into a account what we did wrong during the build up to ten in a row. Then what we did right during Ange’s five trophy double season!?
If after all the hype we are going to back to the same, lame, excuses that is not good, not good at all.
Hail Hail
If we don’t win the league this season the entire board should walk. They should be replaced by people who have the best interests of our club at heart.
We need people running our club who’s priority is success on the field and not cash in the bank and dividends.
Heaven help us if Kyogo gets injured.
Paul 67,
Is it true that even David Moyes told us that Ajeti was a gamble ?
The players you mention in a hard hitting factual article depict an astonishing waste of our resources.
We currently have 44 players attending St Ninians in partnership with our youth Academy.
Note : It’s 14th year 9f partnership
7 projects will sends them a message.
It is sooooo obvious that some serious discussions need to take place.
HH,
CELTIC40ME on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:39 PM
BIG WAVY on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:33 PM
Its talk of collective failure after the last 7 years we’ve had that I dont get. Celtic havent failed by any measure.
—
Europe not the local punch and judy show (which I enjoy us winning of course).
Tell me how you’ve measured success in Europe in the last 7 years, by any measure?
HH
” CELTIC40ME
Its talk of collective failure after the last 7 years we’ve had that I dont get. ”
I would think very few football supporters anywhere would get it !!
Must be the worst support,really.One defeat,Sky is falling in.Every signing,not good enough,not ready.We need to spend “Mullions”. We lost Jota,and have now spent £18 million to add to the rest of a Treble winning team,with more to come.Not good enough.Away an gies fekin peace.
Make me laugh.I was one of the very few espousing the signing of Mooy,against the usual suspects.
Now has joined the ranks of Legends for two thirds of a season.But they’re the experts.
BIG WAVY on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:44 PM
Poorly worded, granted. Our success has not been unqualified, but it never is, thats football.
Benfica and Ajax are held up as the standard we should be aiming for. Benfica won their first league in 5 last season despite being in a three horse race and being the largest club in Portugal. Their fans were extremely angry at the club for selling Darwin and Fernandez last season. Ajax finished third last season and have to qualify for the Europa League.
We could do much better in Europe, but 5 trebles in 7 years does not represent failure.
When the board don’t punt Lennon after successive CL qualifying failures against Cluj and Ferencváros then they’re strongly indicating to me that europe isn’t a vital priority for them.
TB:
Our model seems to grab a mix of the best prospects and a smattering of most-likely-to punts.
Having seen Tilio play live, I do think he’s an Arzani-like punt. So was Scales. Oh. Kwon (Korea Div2) and Berni (still not sure if where he fits into our plan or if he’s another Schedit-like Latino).
IMO, what will bring an EPL name in, won’t be an abandonment of the model for a fiscal splurge, but a move to appease fan discontent while getting someone surplus to requirements at a ‘big club’ – which is a hard game of wait and watch, but clearly a prudent one from a business pov.
As Chairbhoy says, Paul told us we had refined “the model” and Brendan had bought into the plan holus bolus.
Except BR’s now bumping his gums about needing more mature performers.
As are some of us on here, that’s all. HH
“ Will the real ‘pure kwality’ players please wait in the wings – we’re only doing players under £5M today “
Mel Brooks CSC
CELTIC40ME on 29TH AUGUST 2023 12:56 PM
We could do much better in Europe…
—
I concur.
HH
Geenpinta,
“Is it true that even David Moyes told us Ajeti was a gamble”
God give me strength.Greenpinta,does that sound even remotely plausible to you ?
His manager,trying to sell him !!!
THE BATTERED BUNNET @ 12:05 PM,
Nick Hammond our Head of Football Operations has gone.
In his defence, he did go down to Peterborough to secure the signing of Toney.
Barry Fry just took the pee…
He said Nick came down but he didn’t bring any money!?
Imagine that eh!!
A Head of Football Operations without a budget, what nonsense!?
Hail Hail
Can add Ronny and malmo, Maribor to Lennon’s failures.
A pardon for the first one but second time round against this level of opposition, both men should have been shown the door. You do that if Europe is priority.