Toure’s ocean, The Pink Pound

The capture of Kolo Toure (35) on a free transfer following his release by Liverpool, goes a long way to addressing one of my key concerns for the coming season. In the last 12 months we’ve spent £6.5m on three central defenders: Dedryck Boyata, Jozo Simunovic and Erik Sviatchenko. They joined Efe Ambrose and Charlie Mulgrew, but the mix was far from right.

Dedryck and Jozo are both long-term injured. Jozo may yet establish himself as a top defender, but Dedryck has already caused performance concerns. Charlie is now out of contract, and with the arrival of Kolo, I don’t expect he’ll re-sign.

Efe put in an excellent performance against Leicester on Saturday (aside from his first 30 seconds) but his consistency and susceptibility to make crucial mistakes in important games, makes him unsuitable for anything more than a backup.

The manager needs someone he knows he can rely upon and who can bring an ocean of experience to help develop what is otherwise a young central defence.  Kolo will do that and more, just as soon as he’s match fit.

The Pink Pound.

I’m unfamiliar with fashion blogs but if the debate on the pink shirt is a guide, maybe I’m missing out.  Third strips are fashion items, the football strip equivalent of bling.  They’ve been so since someone invented the need to invent a third strip every season.  It was never in case your first two strips clashed with an opponent.

I remember a similar reaction when we released a third strip with tartan shorts a few years back.  Despite some heavy weather on release, the shorts sold out.  In it’s online coverage the pink shirt already has a higher profile than most of its predecessors.  Bet it sells well.

I had a brief chat with some people at New Balance last year and the colours we use at Celtic cropped up.  There’s green, white, yellow, black and silver/grey.  Before the 1970s it was pretty much green and white only, then the palette boundaries were pushed.  The New Balance people were all from England, so the nuances of orange, which was used as trim on a well-received black away strip, were lost on them.