Last month I wrote about the highly-effective transfer windows culminating with the capture of Mikael Lustig in January 2012. The list of those who arrived over the next 18 months, culminating in the signature of Teemu Pukki on 31 August 2013, is largely a catalogue of expensive mishap. If only one of of the strikers signed during that period: Miku, Lassad, Balde or Pukki had made the grade, we would have been in better shape for the Champions League qualifiers.
Those mishaps sowed the seeds of where things went wrong recently but we brought in six players this summer, and in order to compete in the Europa League, we pretty much need five of them to command a regular starting place.
Craig Gordon is an excellent piece of business. Fraser Forster overcame almost all those doubters who would rather we bought Stipe Pletikosa in 2012 instead, but we have replaced Fraser with an equivalent, and banked the lion’s share of £10m in the process.
This alchemy is only possible due to doubts over Gordon’s fitness. We’ll find out how well-established his recovery is in the months ahead but the signs are good on this front.
Jo Inge Berget was signed on loan, like Amido Balde a year ago, he early in the transfer window. There is a great misunderstanding that there’s a shortage of players available early in the window. There are lots of players available the moment the window opens. For a reason. Jo wasn’t wanted by Cardiff City, who he made only two appearances for since joining in January.
He was given an unfair burden on his debut, in a highly-dysfunctional performance by Celtic in Warsaw, and, a solid performance against Dundee United apart, has been one of a number of players who have appeared lost in our game-plan since then. He has until Christmas to make his mark before he is due to return to Cardiff, but his chances will be limited by the subsequent signing on Wakaso Mubarak.
Wakaso is here on a year’s loan, with Celtic having an option to make the deal permanent, if he proves his worth. I hear good things about him; he has pace, strength, skill but his most prominent attribute is attitude, which he has in spades. This didn’t sit will in Kazan, where he was somewhat isolated.
Bulgarian midfielder, Aleks Tonev, bounced straight from medical couch to treatment table after his loan move from Aston Villa. He’s now fit and will be available for selection when play resumes after the international break and I hear Ronny Deila is keen on the player.
We now know that Manchester City teenage central defender, Jason Denayer, was brought in to play first team football. The player is highly thought of by City and Ronny, but I wouldn’t expect too much from him in what is his inaugural season of first team football.
Stefan Scepovic has the distinction of contributing 100% of the money spent on players signed by Scottish clubs this summer. He was Celtic’s first choice striker, and, as we discovered late in the day, was wanted by scouts in Spain, so the indicators are reassuring. His experiences over the past week have not without trauma for the player, but he kept focus and his word to join Celtic.
The overwhelming observation from our activity this year is the predominance of loan signings, which is a strategy I suspect was hatched after the ‘No refunds’ deals for Pukki, Balde and Boerrigter last season. We will get more from some of them than others.
Taking Berget for six months was clearly a short-term fix to an immediate gap in the squad. I don’t think we’ll see too much of him from now on. Despite the fact that Jo didn’t make a perceivable difference during our European qualifiers, I don’t have a problem with short-term deals in principle. We could have benefited from one for a target man.
Denayer will almost certainly return to Manchester next year, a more mature player, having pushed Efe and Virgil for a year.
Aleks Tonev and Wakaso Mubarak are here to impress, both are working for a permanent deal. I expect Mubarak to play in his favoured position on the left, with Tonev behind him in a more central role alongside Brown and Johansen.
Ronny has been putting apples in orange crates so far this season but with a central three of Tonev, Johansen and Brown, behind Mubarak, Scepovic and Forrest (or McGregor), he’ll have the personnel to play his favoured 4-3-3.
Two first team regulars left the club, the thoroughly professional Fraser Forster and Georgios Samaras. It was time for both to move on. Fraser, as Southampton was the right club for him, and £10m was the right price for us, Georgios, as he had become increasingly peripheral to team plans under Neil Lennon and would have been even more out of the picture under Ronny. Would Georgios have made a difference in our Champions League qualifiers? There’s a good chance he would have against Maribor but the gap against Legia was bigger than 6’3”.
Pukki and Balde were sent on loan, in the hope they impress and move on. Bon chance. Tony Watt was sold for £1.2m to Standard Liege, who will fancy they can take Tony’s undeniable potential and turn it into an asset their manager wants to work with. It’s been years since we’ve produced as exciting a young player as Tony but he’s now been shipped on or out by three managers.
I would still like to see John Guidette added to this list, even without European football – especially if he is prepared to stay beyond the end of the season. The incumbent strikers, Stokes and Griffiths, will continue to get game-time, but neither is suited to the lone-striker role.
I’m not going to sell a Europa League campaign as anything like the Champions League, but it is very important this squad is ready for Europe. Without much domestic competition (I’m ignoring Inverness and Dundee for a moment) we need to be competitive in the group stage and aim to progress to the latter stages of the competition.
Thumping Dundee United 6-1 taught us nothing, we need to mature as a team against European competition and exorcise the ghosts of Legia and Maribor. No matter how good the new arrivals are, there’s no way they would gel well enough to allow us to do anything more than endure >80 minutes of defending our 18 yard line in Champions League football this season.
We’ll miss the money, prestige and Zadok the Priest, but the Europa League is a better level for us right now.
My thanks to Canajunbhoy, who retires after running the Quick News section for the best part of a decade. Quick News will be back in a different format in the future.
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darwinsbeautifulidea
12:47 on 3 September, 2014
granny shagger salmond and the black witch sturgeon
================================
Those are massively-popular Hun terms for Salmond and his sidekick; Even mouthed by Orcs on the classic youtube vid ‘Rangers fans on Scottish independence’… You’re not one of those demented Zombie chaps by any chance?
Twardzik at left back is a disgrace, the bhoy should be given the chance in his preferred position attacking midfield
Celtic Football Club @celticfc 5m
Subs: Fasan, Mcilduff, McCart, Miller, Hendry, Higgins
TET
That has been denied and source is questionable. Somebody is keeping them going (but might be running out of banks to rob.)
Just heard on Clyde Imran back in to get his £600k from any share issue and unlike before his case has not been dismissed on the grounds there is no possibility of administration.
Tsfm will be all over it.
I’m over your way from 23rd until Xmas if you fancy coming on down our way.
Embra mike
Ronny doesn’t appear to think izzy needs a rest
ONE FOOTED PLAYERS?
What about the only known 3 footed player Jake “The Peg” Harris? Eventually he wasn’t allowed near the kids to “coach” them on anything.
I think there is a genuine question there why if Scotland votes for Independence do we keep the British Royalty ? H.H.
Bada Bing first ever post.hh.
Sipsini
Sinisters ar la my Fhriend!
Tony!
There’s an empty room looking for a fight. I believe it had your name on it!
Voting age of 16. IMHO quite shamelessly introduced by SNP govt in the belief that teenagers today are more inclined to radical than oldies n boldies like our good selves.
Ironically I think it will backfire as I’ve been really struck (and I’ll confess, disappointed) by the level of ‘no’ intentions I’ve heard from young people.
HH jamesgang
Joe Filippis Haircut: A rather quick Google search says the current rightful heir to the House of Stuart is a good Catholic girl from Lichtenstein …
Read George monbiots latest today. Google it. Very good. Pro independence.
Talks about ‘system justification’ – the reason why people continue to justify things that harm their own and their group interests.
I’m not pasting it. It’s in the guardian or on his website http://www.monbiots.com
Thanks Bhoys
Hail! Hail!
http://www.monbiot.com
No s….
Natknow
Bad craic- red card !
The No supporters consistently use ‘uncertainty’ as their reason to vote against an independent Scotland. But don’t be fooled this is nothing more than a tactic. We have ‘uncertainty’ no matter how this vote turns out but let me make a prediction. In years to come Scotland will be one of the wealthiest nations in the world regardless of how we vote in the referendum. All the major financial analysts accept that with our resources we are/will be very rich. In other words this time the debate is not really about the ‘economy’. We’ ll be fine whatever we do.
The debate is about how our great wealth is used. In a independent Scotland Labour supporters like many on this site will be pushing for social reform and a reduction in military spending. We will try to be fairer nation that avoids going to war.
The devil is not in the detail. If our new country sets out to be a fairer place we will achieve it. We have the resources to do that.
Labour have been weaker in Scotland recently but a left wing party free of London control will emerge if we achieve a Yes vote.
Kingsnake.It seems daft to break away from the uk but keep the uk monarchy and continue to contribute towards them.I say get rid of Nuclear weapons and the Monarchy at the same time.H.H.
tonydonnelly67
18:46 on 3 September, 2014
Mind you, that Nicola Sturgeon, she no easy on the eye, jist saying like.
___________
Here, wee Nicola was looking rather tidy last night ;)
Jamesgang
Was thinking that, I was just about to ask if you think that the 16 year olds who run with the GB will be told who they have to vote for from the Uni. Mob.?
Picking up on something from previous threads, I feel the current side sadly miss the basic concept of good delivery. And I don’t mean a good beef curry fae the Cantone Express…
MON recognised the value of good delivery in the final third… Alan Thompson was the king of assists.. O’neil even brought average players to the club, S.Guppy and S.Gray, purely on the basis that both had good delivery from the left….. Even going back to the days of Tosh McKinley … No world beater, but the bold Tosh could wip a good ball in.
Of the current side, mulgrew has decent delivery… But is he really the answer. Izzy’s all round form is patchy, never mind his crossing ability. And down the right, I don’t think either Matthews or lustig, provide the type of amunnition that we got in years gone by from McKinley and the rest.
cultsbhoy
19:02 on 3 September, 2014
Natknow
Bad craic- red card !
——————————-
Eh?!?
There’s people on here swearing every day now. I got a telling off from Paul about 7 years ago for stating (of the huns) – “they don’t like it up ’em!”.
Gimme a break!
MONARCHY
Trick with the old monarchy is they have more Scots blood than English
Lizzy the first of Scotland would be her title
Auldheid
@18:44 on
It’s potentially quite frightening isn’t it?
If the Bawbee in your pocket doesn’t buy what you thought it would buy or the bank holding your Bawbees goes down the plughole, what happens then?
I think older people who have budgeted their retirement on the status quo (umm, me) will be quite anxious.
tonydonnelly67
18:38 on
Why you so interested in “thems”?
Just incase you turn out to be one of thems GIRFUY
sipsini. You either need new specs fella or your sick.H.H.:-)
Playing Izzy in that daft friendly …is just plain daft
He needs a break …one left back at a club our size…nonsense ..
Good Left Backs
Danny McGrain
Tom Boyd
Jackie Mac
jamesgang,
Re: sixteen year olds voting no, I’ve found it the opposite with my kids and their friends, then again, it’s hard to make them out when they are blasting rebel songs ;))
Are you allowed a pass out from your good lady for October?
….PFayr supports WeeOscar
Playing Izzy in that daft friendly …is just plain daft
He needs a break …one left back at a club our size…nonsense ..
————
I’d guess it means that Izzy isn’t going away for any of the international games
Ahmed should be grated his arrestment …then again I said he should the last time too
Kevtic
Seriously ???
Do you know ur left from ur right….. Of ur 3 only Tom Boyd was a left back
Sipsini
Tidy? Hahahahahahaha, a well, wut ever rattles yer cage, she looked like wee jimmy crankie.
joe filippis haircut
18:56 on 3 September, 2014
I think there is a genuine question there why if Scotland votes for Independence do we keep the British Royalty ? H.H.
/—
Technical reason? Cos Lizzie can kinda un transubstantiate and become queen of England, Scotland, etc.
Kinda like she’s also Queen Skippy 1st of Australia.
Real/political reason? Cos they decided to make a yes vote seem a little less dramatic, radical even.
And perhaps as a sop to our ‘loyal brethren’ who I believe also have the vote.
It’ll be funny for them…..scrawling a big X on the spot …. and thinking they’ve actually just signed there name!
ThinkAboutItCSC
HH jamesgang
….pfayr supports weeoscar
19:08 on 3 September, 2014
Playing Izzy in that daft friendly …is just plain daft
He needs a break …one left back at a club our size…nonsense
******
I presume he’s over there because he speaks Spanish.
On the other hand…………….whilst it is blatantly clear that Darling wants to remain united as he can see his only chance of ever getting back into power in Westminster is to retain the Scottish Labour seats, what is in this for Cameron?
I mean if Scotland departs then the Tories would be looking at unencumbered power south of the border for years to come if current voting trends on the rest of the island stay even remotely static.
Why are they not paying lip service to avoiding this proposed divorce but quietly ushering it through behind the scenes? (maybe they are….what do I know?)
I have another theory here.
I am of the opinion that the Tories are in possession of reasonably detailed and accurate forecasts of future Gas and Oil reserves and are very loathe to take the risk of losing the subsequent tax revenues that would bring.
I can only conclude however that Salmond does not have that info, for if he did then it would be the trump card of all trump cards and he would be shouting it from the rooftops.
And due to the fact that he does not have the wit and tenacity to have unearthed that data, I would suggest that he lacks the skill and ability to take the helm of an independent Scotland.
Just a bit more of my 2p worth you understand.
HH
TET 18:44
Not at all surprised if that is true. They won’t allow another 2012.
Will do whatever it takes. Get them promoted then let them have their insolvency event, then hit them with a puny points penalty. They WILL be in the premiership next season.
NatKnow
18:11 on
3 September, 2014
I have often wondered how many Labour MPs whose conscience would not let them vote for Major’s Iraq war when Saddam had clearly invaded iraq, voted for Blair’s war to look for non existent WMDs.
Sounds like Sipsini is wearing his ole sherry monacle…. :-)
‘Their name’
EmbarrassingTypoCSC
HH jamesgang