The trip to the US to play Real Madrid is core to strategy for Celtic right now. It allowed the significant North American support an easier opportunity to see the team, keeps the club’s profile high among the game movers and shakers and will have contributed valuable financial resources.
You know there’s a ‘but’ coming, don’t you.
Gary Hooper, Anthony Stokes and Daryl Murphy all picked up or aggravated strains on the trip. The players are still stepping up their fitness regimes. Muscles are being stressed, then rested, then stresses a little further. Returning from two lengthy flights with a high incidence of non-contact injuries suggests we need to review how we prepare athletes for travel.
Do you like the new-look Celtic Quick News? Some fundamental changes have engineered into the back-end which should make things more solid going forward. More new features will come on-stream shortly. My enormous thanks to Kev, who designed the template and everything new in the engine room.
Don’t forget, if you have an article in you for CQN Magazine email me: articles@cqnmagazine.co.uk and let me know what you would like to write about. I’ll be able to give you some pointers. Next edition coming soon.
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£5m plus Vaughan for Izzy? Gotta be tempting… Who needs a left back anyway?
Speaking of which, embdy know if Blackman is still with us? I don’t remember seeing much of him (or, indeed, Ibrahim) in pre-season.
TPD
Both still here
Vaughn has played 92 league games in a period stretching from 2004 until 2011, scoring 17 goals.
JUST WHAT WE BLOODY WELL NEED!!!!!!
Blackman on a new deal
Italian radio news featured this from The Special One —–
‘ They call me the Special One but I am really The Only One.”
He added that Real and Barca are way out on their own .
Rick Astley CSC -Way down south.
My wee worry regarding Rhodes is that English clubs [who have more money than sense] have not gone in for him, even when they could easily afford it if things didn’t work out; Celtic going in for him will use up most of our mighty warchest.
We still need a centre half who is dominant and robust.
The Pantaloon Duck
You sound surprised, if you know what I mean.
TET and canamalar – thanks.
Just wanted to see my name up ib bold green letters!
ib = in
d’oh
Dbbia
I posted the other week that if was that well rated down south he would be gone by now.
Agreed, a CB is what is needed first and foremost.
Philboy
Surprised at not having seen much of Blackman? No.
Surprised at not having seen much of Ibrahim? More so.
SOTunis- thanks for mentioning Rick. Seeing Jordan on the ole TV this morning he has a Stock-Aitken-Waterman look about him.
Paul67
Well done, sir, pretty damn nifty the new layout.
The internet needs a strong CQN !
Self Indulgent Drivel, (SID), check.
The Pantaloon Duck
The only way we will ever find out if players like Blackman and Ibrahim are good enough for us is if we give them a run in the first team.
That’s why I’ve voiced my concern about Tony Watt, for example.
How many young players have made the breakthrough from the youths in the last five years.
Apart from Aiden, probably not very many.
Philboy
I wouldn’t disagree with that… and I wouldn’t be upset if any or all of those three were given a start in Dingwall…
Bada bing
thanks but tried it no dice:(
The Local papers here in Mayo reports that Celtic are on the verge of signing Noe Baba on a 3 or 4 year contract. This lad is an outstanding talent and was chased by virtually every senior club in Britain (including Old-Co). It was Manchester United who were expected to win the race for his signature after they took him to play in a tournament in Brazil with their youth team. Arsenal thought so much of this player that Liam Brady collected him personally from the airport and brought him to his home.
The Castlebar Celtic player can play anywhere in the middle of the park but centre half is seen as his natural position where he has played a number of times for the Irish under-age teams (which he is also captain of).
This boy is a major talent, rember the name Noe Baba.
http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14751:from-cameroon-to-castlebar&catid=14&Itemid=100008
Ah keep oan tellin’ you folks..
“We Don’ need no more.. Lousy Center Backs.. we Got Enuff.. Already!!”
Whit we DAE need , folks..
Is a High Scorin’ and High Steppin’
STRIKER!!
Kojo
Laughin’, Still. Laughin’
I felt better when we were all in CAPS but now I feel isolated. If I change my moniker to small letters can I bring my history and am I the same moniker or a completely new djbee. Not that my history is anything to shout about.
DJBEE
MayoD
Interesting, very interesting…
Bring on the Swedes…
Philbhoy-I think you make a valid point re making more chances for the strikers we have,we need a creative midfield playmaker,or a good link player between middle and front.Incidentally the best player I have seen in this role in the SPL, is ex Celt Paul McGowan at St Mirren.We don’t put enough crosses across the front of goal,when Forrest is in a position to do so,he cuts back on to his other foot.Sami done it v Helsinki at CP ,but we need more balls in to the box.
The Pantaloon Duck
I’d love to see it!
Who knows, they might turn out be Celtic Greats.
But they never will unless we play them.
Just wanted to be included in the new blog, well done Paul and helpers
Bom dia fae sunny(ish) Brasil,
Still no Celtic news to speak of from here. One day though.
Anyway, a pretty chic’cy new layout here I see. Can I just reserve my comments on how effective the layout is, as I print out the blog to read on the way home on the Metro each night. So will it pass the “Metro-test” I wonder?
Elsewhere, nice touch by São Paulo last week. Flush from the news of Lucas’s record transfer deal to PSG they cut prices in all the “common” areas of the ground to 10R$ (about 3.50 GBP) as a gesture of faith to their fans.
Botafogo have taken ex-striker Tulio (43) back under their wing. Tulio claims to have scored something like 983 goals in his career, so Botafogo are going to arrange a series of friendlies so that he can reach the millenium mark and score it in a big sell-out here. The fact that it’s all stage managed and that the CBF only recognise about half of these goals doesna seem to matter to anybody.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%BAlio_Maravilha
After their Olympic disappointmet, strong rumours abound that national team coach, Mano Menezes will hand in his resignation when he returns to Brasil.
The National team are looking for a moral boosting win tomorrow against Sweden (it’ll be played at the ground where they won the WC in 58). To commemorate the occasion they’ll be wearing replicas of the blue CBD shirts that Pelé and Co wore that day.
Wearing shirts from a team that no longer exist, that’ll never catch on will it? Will it?
Jordan Rhodes’s Wardrobe
Still talk of player sales still talk of player purchases but not a lot appears to be happenning on the signing front.I have said before we dont need imo any new players in order to win the SPL but European football is a whole other ball game but with the state of Scottish football I dont expect us to sign anyone unless we sell first.H.H.
Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire 14:24:
I’ve had enough experience of Strathclyde’s worst to know Thomo has made a good call there. Although in comparison to the Met there is an argument that they are highly efficient.
Huns in uniform is what they are – which is bad news if you are a Celtic supporter.
And Why dar Ah keep oan tellin’ you guys ,this?
Easy!
Fur, a Goal Scorin’ Striker is Woith.. Two New C.Bs… PLUS.. FIVE.. Left Backs..
and Fourteen.. Left Wingers!
Right?
Damn Right.. It’s Right!
Kojo
Still .. Laughin’
Charles green is proving you can fool all of the buns all of the time.
TET – Man U paid Crewe £6M for goalscoring midfielder Nick Powell; Crewe has been an excellent source of young talent for years but ManU could easily absorb the loss if he doesn’t work out.
Celtic can’t afford to lose £6M on a single player, even one with proven pedigree.
A few years ago the talk was all about Billy Sharp [ the thinking man’s Gary Hooper]. He’s in the EPL this season with Southampton so it’ll be interestin’ to see how he gets on.
If we can sell Ki for the figures being reported, £8,00,000 or thereabouts and we qualify for the Champions League Group Stages, where another £20,000,000 pounds await, we could buy out Peter’s Lawells contract and still have loads left for new players, amortisation et al.
Simples.
Celtic……………………………………..Are considering offering supporters a buy a brick scheme from the ole London Rd School
Srs,
as I said, I liked the look of his signing off statement, further comment expected :o)
What exactly are these new signings being told at Sevco?
Rangers’ ambition is to complete a domestic treble this season, according to summer signing Francisco Sandaza.
The striker, recruited on a free transfer after his departure from St Johnstone, says the squad has set its sights on winning both the League and Scottish Cups, as well as the Third Division championship.
“It must be our objective to win both cups and go up to the Second Division, or if they change the law about the leagues to go to the SPL,” he said.
“We have to live in the present and our division is this now and try to go up, and win the two cups.
“That’s why we are signing good players. We will go for it, that’s for sure.”
Rangers’ life in the bottom tier got off to a poor start with a last gasp equaliser at Peterhead at the weekend, securing a 2-2 draw.
Sandaza though maintains his team will up their game and also holds a belief they may not have to work their way up the ladder to return to the top flight.
“I’m not sure about the laws,” said the Spaniard. “More than two years? I don’t think so. Next year or a maximum of two years we will be back in the SPL.
“We know that when we play away, it is going to be different than at home. Even for the clubs we will play against, it is going to be a massive game for them and they will give even more they normally do.
“It was our first game and we know we are a better team than the rest of the teams. But we have to show them respect and try to keep working as always to win games.”
Sandaza previously said he could score 25 more goals at Rangers than he would at St Johnstone if given the chance in Ally McCoist’s side.
Having netted 18 times for the Saints last season, that would mean a 43-goal haul is required from the player this term but he laughed off the prospect of living up to his comments.
BSR
Unfortunately that link to Jordan’s wardrobe includes an image of that horrible horrible horrible away strip with ‘Peoples’ on the front.
For some reason it always reminds me of Gerry Creaney, and I’m never comfortable at being reminded of Gerry Creaney.
Jordan Rhodes
Currently has scored for Huddersfield and for Scotland’s Under 21 side (against the Dutch among others).
Huddersfield play in a league on a par with a lot of what you will see in the SPL. With Service at Celtic I have no doubt he would score a lot of goals but is he much different to Hooper?
Well in one sense he can header the ball a lot better ( I think Hooper has scored 2 headers for Celtic in total) but what is his link up play like? Can he hold off opponents? Does the league he play in require him to do this?
The SPL will be filled with teams who sit deep and for a young man this will be quite a responsibility.
5M plus James Vaughan for Izzy?
If it was 5M plus Grant Holt I’d say yes in a minute but James Vaughan has scored so few goals and had so many injuries that you just do not know.
I think there will be movement in and out over the next few weeks depending on next week’s Euro result but here is what I hope happens:
Celtic get into the CL
Murphy, Bangura and Kelvin Wilson are all punted and we get around 1-2M quid (at the very best).
Ki is sold for the 8M quoted to Arsenal
Celtic take this 10M quid and spend it on:
Markus Henriksen – 2.5M
A centre Half – 3.5M
A striker – 3.5M
The money for the CL is banked and Celtic can afford these 3 players who along with Frazer Forster make up our 4 summer signings.
We have a squad that consists of
2 reliable keepers
2 International Right backs
3 centre halves who can be trusted (two of who are fledgling Internationals)
1 International left back and a decent understudy in either Blackman or Mulgrew
A midfield pool consisting of:
Brown, Ledley, Wanyama, Kayal, Forrest, Henriksen, Twardzik, Commons, McCourt
(8 internationals and one from the development squad)
A forward line of:
Hooper, Stokes, Samaras, Watt and one additional striker
(One international)
I dare say we could even afford to sell one more player from the midfield if we got a big offer.
4 players out, 3 players in (perhaps one more on loan) and business is run properly for those who have the worry of debts.
The wage bill is realigned and the squad are satisfied and ready to enhance their reputations in Europe which could lead them to the moves some of them may want in the future.
Technically with that amount of money coming in we could yet again have zero debt and a side who could win the SPL and make a fist of it in Europe.
My wishlist is likely to be found wanting though given past experiences.