Ismaila Soro joined Celtic yesterday after two years in Israel with Bnei Yehuda. He is a year younger than fellow Ivorian, and fellow central midfielder, Eboue Kouassi, who this month left Celtic on loan to Genk, having failed to make any noticeable impression. The biggest difference I can discern between the two is who recruited them.
Kouassi was brought in by Brendan Rodgers, just before the arrival of chief scout Lee Congerton, but while Lee was in dialogue with Brendan and the club. Soro is here courtesy of Neil Lennon and his chief scout, Nick Hammond. There’s your difference – and why we should expect a better outcome this time.
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Gene
Worse than that
A game changing signing is unlikely for Celtic and impossible for Sevco. They tried it last year with Defoe and Davis – the game changed in our favour.
Who are the established names who will come to Celtic, walk in to the team and be affordable?
Does anyone ever consider that signing a player who is guaranteed a start immediately causes one player to be peeved and possibly his buddies in the team/ squad too?
If we’d spent the wages on Defoe and Davis or similar instead of investing in 4 or so younger players, for similar spend, with a career ahead of them and a name to make, I’d be very unhappy
I puzzles me that Defoe was signed up for another year by the way. They could have 4 decent spl players for his wages with a sell on value and chose to keep him instead. Smacks of short termism – maybe someone thinks he won’t be seeing out his full contract or the club can send him back to Bournemouth when the cash dries up? Who knows but it’s a crazy move.
The biggest story of this window is Sevco being unable to bring in cash for any of their galcticos – but you won’t read that anywhere.
I think Celtic will add another two to the squad for what it’s worth. Oven ready or not, that is good enough for me.
Difference between Kouassi and Soro
Apart from they are 2 completely different individuals.
Poor Kouassi might state that a severe bout of Malaria and a cruciate ligament injury, might be the significant differences in these guys careers.
P67, while we’re on the discussion of poor recruitment officers, as i agree Lee Congerton was on the whole one of those, are we getting one on our other recruitment person?
Given Brendan Rodgers knew nothing of the recruitment of Arzani and Shved, when can we expect the critique on the mystery, nameless, secret, rectuitment officer who signed both players?
Both players have contributed the square root of hee haw, nada, zilch, seems only fair us supporters and shareholders know who this.
Ruggyman
Agree. 100%.
Neither are exactly conducive to establishing yourself at a new club and environment.
HH jg
A few opinions re our defence:
Forster: Top class;
Frimpong: Superbly entertaining and dangrous going forward ; posibbly 1st choice at Celtic Park in SPL games:
Bauer: Gives his all but I am not sold on him;
Elhamed: probaly the pick of the bunch. I hope his time out injured is only a blip.
Jullien: Great in the air and, with Griffiths delivering, should add to his goals for tally.Defensively, I am not very confident and his passing can put us in trouble;
Simunovic: A strange one. Sometimes he looks classy , other times a bit of a worry;
Ajer: I am a fan. Needs a calming influence;
Bitton: Not a CH but he does a good job at Celtic Park;
Bolingoli: Exciting but worries me;
Hayes: A trier, no doubt but not a full back for me;
Taylor: I like what I have seen of him. He would be my pick.
So, for me, our defence would be:
Forster;
Elhamed; Jullien, Ajer, Taylor.
Frimpong and Bitton would feature quite often as well.
Jim….agree with pretty much all of that.
What about Frimpong as an out and out winger. Unleash his greatest assets…..
HH jg
Earlier thread;
There’s no limit on loan players coming in from outside Scotland.
Neil Lennon: “If I don’t do anything else I’ll be happy. I have a great squad with real quality in it. We’ve got a couple of players in and we’ve streamlined the squad a little bit.”
JAMESGANG on 28TH JANUARY 2020 3:10 PM
Jim….agree with pretty much all of that.
What about Frimpong as an out and out winger. Unleash his greatest assets…..
HH jg
======
Thought the same. He does it anyway, make it official! At the very least could be tried when Elhamed and Bauer are both ready and competing for a place, no need for 3 RB’s in the squad.
HH
Jamesgang / HS,
Frimpong has been a revelation ( going forward )
Out and out winger sounds good to me. ( Does he get to wear the invisibility cloak if he takes up the mantle ) ?
HH.
BSR…”Three days still to go £5.5M spent the only real money spent in Scotland, once again.”
Don’t know about that…I spent 30 quid on petrol this morning…
JG
As Siempre said, `He does it anyway, ` !
WBC
:-)))
Cheerio for now.
Nice chatting ( amazing what a Celtic win/ Hun defeat does for the tone of the Blog !).
Paul67…can’t you and Peter just forget about Brendan Rodgers?
Seriously, you’ll both feel better for it…
Bada
He went on to say
“I’ve got my favourites so everyone else is just a potential bench warmer”
WEEBOBBY
Wise, you just never know which escape goat is going to need lift to the airport 👍
From ETims
A SHAREHOLDERS TALE
Ralph Malph / January 28, 2020 / 3 Comments / Latest
Mike tells us why he bought into Celtic, and why he wants to believe it’s Celtic he bought into.
When Fergus McCann offered the Celtic supporters the opportunity to purchase shares in the club, it was an opportunity that I did not want to miss. So I skimmed the housekeeping money, watered down the mince and went for it. A chance to buy into childhood dreams of past legendary players and managers, a tiny part of the club that is known and valued throughout the world. A club with a proud history with a charitable ethos that continues by the supporters to this day.
Celtic F.C. Foundation: Football for good.
These are the bricks that bind us all together, our history, our charitable works, our community spirit that is why we say “more than just a club”.
Having watched their 9 I.A.R. celebrations, always knowing about the blue bias, being laughed at and called paranoid and then, incredibly to watch as their world collapsed, pictures of coffins, hearses, wreaths and all the accoutrements of the dead, LIQUIDATION- RIP. “RANGERS.”
Revelations of massive scale cheating, E.B.T’s Bank Assistance, huge outstanding debts, the castle “grey-skull” was built on sand, we were not paranoid enough. As documents emerge in the summer of 2013, questions were raised at that years Celtic A.G.M. by a small group of shareholders. Questions pertaining to the awarding of the licence to Old-co’s participation in the 2011-12 C.L. Qualifiers. It seems that they had not paid their social taxes, the licence was awarded by lies and deception committed by those in charge of Old-co and their place-men at the S.F.A. All of this done at Celtic’s expense. As a shareholder this meant that your club was done out of millions of pounds and would have an affect on the Celtic share price. It was not the share price that meant that much, of course it mattered, it was how and why it was done.” SAME OLD “RANGERS” ALWAYS CHEATING”.
Lets be clear, it was the governance that the Resolutioner’s are questioning and the way all of this could be allowed to happen, they like we only want a level playing field an open, honest and transparent game. It seemed at the time that the Celtic board agreed with them, they after all are a very powerful force in Scottish football. I was confidant as a shareholder at that time that the truth would all come out.
We all waited for the Lord Nimmo Smith Commission and were shocked by his verdict. The THIRTEEN titles and trophies won through the E.B.T. years were not to be stripped. Later again it emerged that a former “Rangers” director and E.B.T. recipient and also an E.B.T. instigator, the then current S.F.A. President Campbell Ogilvie had directed the inquiry to investigate a specific time line. The construction and the contortions continued to reach the most HUN-believable verdict, a verdict that they wanted. “Going for 55” was still in play. One of the most bizarre verdicts ever reached.
Of course the final tax cases blew that decision right out the water. The lies and deceptions continued, the truth finally emerged in the results of the court cases. Mr. Black spilled the beans.
In later years A.G.M’s came and went, talk of silver bullets being fired Persistence still met with Resistance, the Resolutioner’s like us all became frustrated, the gun remained in its holster, it seemed to be firing blanks. The Celtic board back-tracked, suspicions continued something seemed quite wrong. We became confused and dismayed, it became apparent that not all of the Celtic support thought the same way about Res.12 as we did. PERSISTENCE MEETS RESISTANCE.
Persistence again at the 2019 Celtic A.G.M once again meets resistance from the Celtic board, in your face resistance this time, in fact downright opposition. They did not want to pursue it. But what is it? It is about the governance of Scottish football, why do they not want to pursue such an obvious wrong?
Suspicions are raised, are they somehow involved in the cover up? Suspicions are heightened when a questioner from the floor of the A.G.M. asks this:
DID THE BOARD KNOW ABOUT THE 5 WAY AGREEMENT?
ANSWER: NO, THIS IS JUST SPECULATION.
This is not about Old-co or New-co or Orino-co.
This is about supporters of all clubs paying to watch a rigged game and not in our favour, we do not look for any favours all we ask for is a level playing field, nothing more, nothing less. Since then the anger and suspicion remain, that our board are guilty of assisting to preserve the cheats, giving them a helping hand, the “Stand Alone Club Myth” is just that, a myth, everything must be done to continue with the Bigot pound at the expense of sporting integrity. That our shares are meaningless in the bigger scheme of things, just a heartbreaking reminder of our bye-gone times, when the Scottish game was less tarnished and was called “THE BEAUTIFUL GAME”.Well that game is now gone unless we all invest in the truth.
As a small shareholder, the shares are a piece of paper, a reminder of all I once held dear in Celtic, is the Bigot pound worth all of the lies and cheating, hate, anger and angst? I would say that it is not. Its a new decade, 2020 nothing has been done yet to rectify the lies and the bias and in the windmills of my mind this is what I-we should all aspire to:
I understand that a part of the club is a business that must be run well to protect and to keep it safe.
I want the business part to invest the monies raised mostly spent on the team and ground. The football team is what the club is all about after all, it is what we are all emotionally attached to.
I want our charitable heritage to continue and grow, that is the reason why Celtic was started.
I want our custodians to receive a fair salary but it must be kept within a reasonable amount.
I want the clubs staff to receive more than just a fair living wage.
I want Scottish football to be run honestly, fairly and to be open and transparent.
I want our custodians to stand up for all aspects of the club, to fight continually against those who want to do us harm.
BUT MOST OF ALL I WANT TO BELIEVE IN MY CLUB AGAIN.
Goalkeeper : Forster (short-term solution) . Beyond May we need to be planning for the big mans return back down the road
Right-back : All day long its Elhamed and/or Frimpong. A horses for courses scenario. Ample opportunities for both to rack up appearances. As for Bauer. No just no. An exceptionally limited player. No where near good enough for us
Centre-back : Jullien = 1st pick. I see various opinions on the big man, but when I assess our season to date, Jullien is a serious player of the year contender. I genuinely can’t think of too many others. Forster possibly. Edouard also. But to my mind Jullien definitely in the running.
Beside Jullien, its Ajer or Jozo. A fully fit and focussed Jozo, is essentially a better and more natural centre half than Ajer. However until Jozo puts a consistent run of games together, then it is still up for debate.
Left-back : Like many fans, it has to be Greg Taylor for me. I think he is over-trying / over-thinking when opportunities come his way at the moment. Some rough edges to iron out. But c’mon, Johnny Hayes is woeful, and Bolingoli is far too eratic in his play, to be seen as reliable.
Analysis done .
Jamesgang/Hot Smoked
Tend to agree regarding Jeremie Frimpong’s ‘position’ makes you wonder why Manchester didn’t develop him as an out and out winger, given he was there since he was nine?
Maybe they did and dismissed it.
Hello again all you young rebels.
Has Boyd the balloon had his nuckles rapped yet for his tirade
against our player.
Naw?..didny think so.
Scunnered.
H.H . Mick
Gene @ 3.27 👍
Neil Lennon…”If we don’t do anything else, I’ll be happy…but big Peter will be even happier…more dosh for his bonus.”
🎙️ Neil Lennon: “If I don’t do anything else I’ll be happy. I have a great squad with real quality in it. We’ve got a couple of players in and we’ve streamlined the squad a little bit.”
More from the manager on http://Celticfc.net soon.
Now we know why Lawwell wanted Neil Lennon, disgusting if true.
Huddersfield 1 Celtic 3
Development game
https://mobile.twitter.com/CelticFCAcademy
HH
Anybody we sign by the end of the window will be a nice bonus. The January transfer window isn’t the same as the summer window. Hardly anybody is doing any business at this time of year.
Would be happy enough if we only managed to get a centre half in before the window closes
Wanted a striker and got one (although still to be seen what he’s like)
Wanted a defensive midfielder and got one (see above)
These two signings were NEVER going to be players we had previously heard of or household names
Elhamed and Elyounoussi (two very good players) coming back will be like two new signings and, given the length of time they have been out, they will be bursting to get going again (just hoping they can stay fit this time)
Alongside Almore’s cafe we should have an ‘Airport Express’ taxi rank…
A winger to give Forrest a bit of competition would’ve done me just fine.
I wanted a manger who didn’t tell lies or talk pish.
Ryan Jack best midfielder in Scotland
In the bigger picture of (much) bigger trading pictures, it does seem to have been a quiet window.
Downside, fewer crumbs trickling from the EPL table down to ours.
Plus side, Jim White will have less opportunity to speak shoite.
HH jg
And the window ‘slams’ shut.
A winger to give Forrest a bit of competition would’ve done me just fine.
was that not what shved or arzani meant to be ?
Neil Lennon: “If I don’t do anything else I’ll be happy. I have a great squad with real quality in it. We’ve got a couple of players in and we’ve streamlined the squad a little bit.”
Smart from Neil Lennon.
Not giving anyone any room to drive a wedge between him and his players. Can only imagine the headlines if he’d come out and said something like “I need more players, we need to strengthen.” Maintain the confidence of the existing squad and if we do get a bod or two coming in, even better….
BOB LOBLAW 👍
Lenny saying that if he doesn’t sign anyone else,then he is quite happy with the Squad he has,That reminds me I Have to go to SPECSAVORS
James Forrest seen off Paddy Roberts
The key word in Lenny’s statement, is the word “IF” .
He’s naturally managing everyone’s expectations just in case that is the end of business this window.