Sun setting on striker flop, Football for Schmucks

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News that the sun is setting on Amido Balde’s Celtic career will be welcomed far and wide.  His arrival on the back of a few YouTube clips and what now appears to have been a Portuguese marketing scam is a salutary lesson on how easy it is to expire transfer and wage budget, while incurring the even greater cost of poor recruits – Champions League failure.

We will never get them all right, but the processes Celtic went through to recruit a striker in the summers of 2012 (Lassad, Miku), 2013 (Balde, Pukki) and 2014 (Guidetti, Scepovic) are worth some urgent revision.  None were able to hold down a regular place in the team.

In mitigation, it’s easier to recruit a keeper or a defender (which we’ve done very well at recently) than a striker, but there will be lessons to learn from those six signings.  Quickly, I hope.

On the positive side, all of the aforementioned arrived with a degree of realism attached.  I noticed this morning: “Wabara really is in the mould of Barcelona great Dani Alves”.  This isn’t fun anymore.  Honest football fans (many are) are being treated like simpletons.

It’s like that Steve Carell movie, Dinner for Schmucks, where Paul Rudd doesn’t have the stomach to laugh at absurdly unfortunate guests.  Better they are put out of their misery than dragged through an ignominious humiliation before inevitably emptying their pockets at the alter of a Sports Direct retail contract.

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  1. Stars-BobbyM

     

     

    Seems like JJ is in the vast minority, thankfully :-)

     

     

    KDS don’t reckon it’s Jack Irvine, we may never know, who cares tho.

     

     

    HH

  2. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    PAUL67

     

     

    Warbara isn’t going to cost around £10m in transfer/loan fees,agent fees and wages.

     

     

    And tbh he can hardly be much worse than those you mentioned who burned through the equivalent of 25,000 season tickets.

  3. Paul

     

     

    Are you saying that Pedro and John Park were duped ?????????

     

     

    Well I never, more ammo that Lenny didn’t have a say in who was brought in, not that many of us thought he did mind you.

     

     

    HH

  4. the sooner they are put out of their misery, the better for everyone …

     

     

    cheers BMCUWP hope it raised a wee smile on some faces :-))

  5. CQN article for Dummies.

     

     

    We are crap at buying strikers…………..anyway…..let’s all laugh at Sevco.

     

    Really is he close season. Hopefully something to talk about later in the week.

     

     

    LB

  6. Tricoloured Ribbon on

    tricoloured ribbon

     

     

    12:21 on 29 June, 2015

     

     

    wits,

     

    The Shinners will progess next year my good friend.

     

    I see me auld pal 16 roads was giving the Dubs bit of a pasting last night hahaha.

     

    He loves Dublin ye know.He was at it.;-)

  7. The Pantaloon Duck on

    Guided could have held down a first team place if he had wanted to. He didn’t want to.

  8. What is the Stars on

    Exiled

     

     

    I often scour hunmedia for a laugh

     

     

    Initially it was all “We are Rangers and we will be back at the top of the pile in a year or so and when we win the league will have a great laugh at all those sad Tims etc”

     

    Though usually with plenty of sweary words and they never refer to us with anything as polite as TIM,but you get my drift

     

    The odd poster might try and point out the great difficulty they were in only to be shot down and called ” A timposter” etc

     

    However recently more and more of them seem to be coming around to the view that they are in serious trouble and may never again be a worthy rival to “The Tims”

     

     

    Almost starting to feel sorry for them now.

     

     

    Have they not suffered enough

     

     

    All together now

     

     

    NOOOOOOO

  9. There must…. Surely be …… Some decent finishers in our academy’s

     

     

     

    Give them a bloody chance

  10. HH

     

    from a sweltering Dubai

     

     

    world cup 2022

     

     

    no chance of playing football in this heat .FIFA on the take big time

     

     

    ramadamunited

  11. What is the Stars on

    Tricoloured

     

     

    16 Roads was having a laugh

     

    Its all good fun,giving and taking a bit of banter.No problem with that

     

     

    Shinners however

     

     

    Not sure.these last few years were their big chance,austerity,banking scandals etc

     

    Many many people were appalled at the government cuts while allowing fat cat bankers and political cronies on semi sate boards to take home crazy money

     

    Labour party sold its soul etc

     

    It was a big chance for them.But Adams loses the more votes than he gains

     

    He talks such nonsense,economic policies that they make up as they go along,

     

    Arguing against austerity in the Republic while forming part of the administration that enforces it in the North,

     

    Calling for inquiries into this and that and asking for transparency for everything in politics except of course there own Machiavellian carry on

     

     

    They have some very bright erudite hard working people but they need to ditch Adams and the IRA and form a new open and genuine left wing party.The days of private armies should be over FOREVER

  12. Tricoloured Ribbon on

    Paolo,

     

    I think the young lad Luke Donnelly has a good chance.Looked very good in a couple of games I saw him

     

    Theo Archibald left sided player caught my eye too against Sevco.

     

    Terrific pace.

  13. jude2005 is Neil Lennon \o/ on

    Sadly George my brother in law past away on Sunday morning 24 hours after David his father in law. The world is a sadder place today at the passing of these 2 true gentlemen.

     

     

     

    Please remember Irene in your prayers who is distraught at the loss of her husband and dad in such a short time.

     

     

    Thanks

  14. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    JUDE2005

     

     

    That’s really shocking,such a double hammer.

     

     

    Please convey my condolences to Irene,not that they will be of much help. Poor woman must be crushed.

  15. What is the Stars on

    Tricoloured

     

     

    Yes we have some common ground so we will leave it at that

     

     

    4 Horses recommended to me today are

     

    Samsamsam 2.15 Wolves

     

    Gold Medallion 3.00 Pontefract

     

    Gran Canaria Queen 4.00 Pontefract

     

    Welford 6.45 Mussleburgh

     

     

    They cant all win !!! or can they ?

  16. Celtics recent inability to capture an effective centre forward goes against the grain.

     

     

    I was born in 78, and even including my earliest memories of Supporting Celtic, we’ve always been able to unearth strikers that can score goals..

     

     

    From the days of MCclair and Mo Johnstone

     

    To Centenary forward line of McAvennie and Walker

     

    Even in the doldrum years, guys like Tommy Coyne and Jackie Dzeknewski , knew where the goal was.

     

    At our lowest level, even Andy Payton knew where the back of the net was.

     

    Then Tommy Burns team, with big Pierre.

     

    Jorge Cadette,

     

    Harold Brattback

     

    The King of Kings

     

    Big John Hartson

     

    Big Venigoor and wee Scott McDonald.

     

     

    We always had them….. But now oddly, it is seemingly a struggle to find one.

     

     

    Although if given the full league campaign, I’d back Griffiths to bag 25+ this season

  17. Will pray for the respose of the souls of George and David. R.I.P. At the same time, I will remember to pray for Irene. It is indeed a difficult time for her and her family. May Our Lady of Lourdes pray for them to her Son at this sad time.

  18. Rowley Birkin QC on

    Are we all a bit excited about the Petrofac cup draw taking place at 14:30 today? Wonder if it will be on all the big sports channels!

     

     

    HH

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