For Celtic, summertime business is every bit as important as the more traditional cup finals and league deciders held later in the season. We face qualifers for Champions League or Europa League group stage, which define our financial health and desirability as a potential employer.
The most important achievement was recorded on Wednesday when we qualified for the Champions League, but now we’re there, how prepared will we be?
Seven players left the squad, Daryl Murphy, who had already spent two years out on loan, Thomas Rogne and Paddy McCourt, who rarely saw first team action last season, and Tony Watt, who seems to be less effective than he was in the opening weeks of last season, and is now out on loan.
More importantly, Gary Hooper, Kevlin Wilson and Victor Wanyama all left, three players who were instrumental in our European victories last season.
Hooper is a textbook big game player who scored home and away against Spartak Moscow but he missed the home win over Barcelona and scarcely got a sniff of the ball home and away to Benfica, or in the Camp Nou, where his role as a penalty box poacher was less effective.
Kelvin Wilson had a disappointing first season at Celtic but as last season progressed there was a noticeable rise in appreciation of his talents. He had an exemplary Champions League campaign.
Victor Wanyama was the most effective central midfield player Celtic have had for some considerable time. We saw little of Roy Keane at Celtic but in Wanyama, you could see a player with the potential to go as far in the game. He is young and still has lots to add to his game, concentration, for a start, but we saw him grow from a place on the substitutes’ bench to a £12m player in 18 months.
It surprised a few that Victor (along with Gary) went to a team often found at the wrong end of England’s top flight, but he is still potential. The acclaim he received at Celtic is similar to that bestowed on Liam Miller nine years ago, whose Champions League performances were breath-taking. I still can’t fathom what happened to Miller but I hope Victor continues to improve; if he does, he could appear in the Camp Nou as a home player.
21-year-old Israeli central midfielder Nir Biton looks like a straight replacement for Wanyama. I don’t know enough about any of the new recruits yet to put my name to them but on paper, Nir works. At 6’5” he continues our current tradition of signing players born to shoot hoops, as well as wear them. A trial at Manchester City fell apart amid a diplomatic incident involving his nationality. He was going to make a move to a Champions League team at some point and, for the player, Celtic will look like an excellent option.
There was a moment during THAT game at Fir Park in 2005 when Craig Bellamy tore up the turf with the ball before looking up for someone to accept his cross, only to throw his arms up in frustration that there was no one in the box. Having one fast player is just not effective.
We’ve had pace-merchant James Forrest for a few years but we don’t play a speed-based game to suit his talents. With fellow-sprinter Derk Boerrigter also in the team now one of the things I know Celtic were looking for in a striker was pace, which is what I expect to see from Teemu Pukki.
Much of our Champions League game will be about playing counter-attacking football so we have to recruit for this model.
Teemu has been playing a supporting role for Schalke since they played against him, then signed him, from HJK Helsinki two years ago, but we have not had a striker who could claim a regular starting place in that company in nine years. He is another one who, on paper, works for me.
Amido Balde has been given some protection from too much responsibility and exposure to allow him to settle into the club, city and language, Celtic is a lot different from Vitoria Guimaraes. I heard that, like Wanyama during his first season, he’ll be allowed to settle into life as a Celtic player.
Virgil van Dijk was simply delicious against Dundee United yesterday. He has height, build, speed, can run with the ball and can pass. Build a defence around him. Steven Mouyokolo is one of those gambles managers like to take on players, who were once lauded but have had injury or other blemishes on their record. Most don’t work but we’ll soon find out if Steven has overcome his injury problems.
Derk Boerrigter has skill and pace. He is another one recruited with Champions League football in mind (not to face 10 defenders in the SP), a competition he has already performed well in for Ajax.
The comment was made to me that the players coming in were uninspiring compared to the three key players who left but while I could contest that, there doesn’t seem much point. We recruited Hooper and Wilson from the lower leagues in England, and Wanyama as a teenager from a small Belgian club. It’s not what you know about a player when he signs that counts……..
For years we have been encouraging Celtic to scout better markets and find value. They have been doing this to great effect in recent seasons. The gap between where we were last season and one stage further in the Champions League was enormous. To bridge it will take a while during which time we need to make every pound work.
Enjoy the ride.
Tomorrow we’ll talk money. In short, while I blogged a couple of weeks ago illustrating the circa £17m operational gap we have before Champions League or player trading income (i.e. we are not a rich club), notions that we are anywhere near being a poor club is laughable.
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Good morning friends from a damp and very, very blustery East Kilbride.
Watch out for those wheelie bins ;-)
So Margaret, if Lenny was to leave? Then which Club would he go too, then?
AKBW1888
06:44 on 2 September, 2013
dunno
Scunthorpe?
Real Madrid?
Good morning Jobo, the weather is to be mince today, but apparently it’s going to
brighten up through the week, then turn mince again by next weekend.
Jobo Baldie
06:43 on 2 September, 2013
Jobo..come on tell us…where’ve you wheelie bin apart from East Kilbride? :)
Given all of the major changes this season, should Lenny catch lightning in a bottle again and get to the last 16, I think some more major clubs will try to lure him away. He may be Celtic minded and maybe not quite as set upon as he was in the first year, especially given that the other lot are nowhere to be found, but I can’t help but think he may move on to a club with deeper pockets. I hope he stays and attains the Stienesque status that could surely be attained, but this is a different era and Scottish football sadly isn’t what it once was.
Margaret McGill
06:45 on
2 September, 2013
AKBW1888
06:44 on 2 September, 2013
dunno
Scunthorpe?
Real Madrid?
Real Madrid, good shout who would knock that job back? But somehow I
don’t see that option viable. As for Scunthorpe? Are you serious?
In the gap between NegAnnon and Paul 67’s respective takes on the transfer window lies the fact that Hooper, admittedly not a ‘proven’ player at CL level, had both a growing reputation and impressive statistics in a struggling championship club.
I don’t know enough about German football to comment on Pukku’s reputation but his goal to game ratio is not especially impressive thus far. I wish him all the very best in his Celtic career and hope he can develop into the 20+ goals per season player we have lost with Hooper’s departure.
Celtic cannot sign established high level strikers playing at their peak. Hooper wasn’t that but he had shown a persistent ability to put the ball in the onion bag. Finbogasson represented a similar proposition. Pukku might be able to make the step up but his stats suggest he is a far greater gamble.
For me, the striking department was the one area where Celtic needed to minimise the risks and no amount of glossing it over can convince me we have…
AKBW1888
06:48 on 2 September, 2013
I really dont know. One year is a long time in football. Look at MON. George Connelly.
I think Lenny will be gone before the next huns game as will 10% of the Irish contingent and 50% of the Scottish contingent of Celtic supporters. The lenny spell will be similar to the duration of MON & WGS who got wise to the boreds 4 commandments. As I said before its all about brand. Not ma kind a brand. The skelfs in the knees on Sundays kinda brand maybe. We shall see.
Tom. Neil did asked for a goalscorer. He has admitted that twice now
He did not get him
He got a 2.4m pound project which Neil admitted was a little further down the project line than Balde
West Wales Celt
06:48 on
2 September, 2013
In the gap between NegAnnon and Paul 67′s respective takes on the transfer window lies the fact that Hooper, admittedly not a ‘proven’ player at CL level, had both a growing reputation and impressive statistics in a struggling championship club.
I don’t know enough about German football to comment on Pukku’s reputation but his goal to game ratio is not especially impressive thus far. I wish him all the very best in his Celtic career and hope he can develop into the 20+ goals per season player we have lost with Hooper’s departure.
Celtic cannot sign established high level strikers playing at their peak. Hooper wasn’t that but he had shown a persistent ability to put the ball in the onion bag. Finbogasson represented a similar proposition. Pukku might be able to make the step up but his stats suggest he is a far greater gamble.
For me, the striking department was the one area where Celtic needed to minimise the risks and no amount of glossing it over can convince me we have…
Time will tell on with that matter West Wales Celtic.
I just hope Teemu Pukki, will become a success
Good luck to the young man.
Margaret –
Martin O’Neill, Gordon Strachan and Tony Mowbray were all on 1-year rolling contracts, as are a large number of football managers in the UK and Europe.
If Lenny decides to quit, he has to give 1-years notice, which is what Martin O’Neill did. If he leaves early, the board can insist on him buying out his contract.
On the other hand, if Celtic sack Lenny for reasons other than indiscipline, eg they just want a more experienced manager, they would be required to pay him 1-year salary.
Tony Mowbray was sacked and put on 1-year’s notice, effectively called “gardening leave”, meaning he continued to be paid until he found alternative employment. If that had taken a year, then Celtic would have paid him for a year.
Celtic and Mowbray were in dispute, because Mowbray wanted to take up another job AND get his 1-year salary. Celtic told him he is allowed to take up another mananement position, but it means his salary would be stopped. He was still under contract until Celtic agreed to release him from it, which meant no more salary payments.
Celtic rightly won that dispute and Mowbray took the other job.
Morning all.
Not been on for a couple of days. Mostly spent visiting my old dad in hospital.
He had a wee turn Saturday night/Sunday morning – got a call from them at 5 30 yesterday morning, and feared the worst. He was a bit agitated, but recovered sufficiently. Not coping too well with the hospital environment – he’s not been in one for years and doesn’t like it one bit!
Keep him in your thoughts bhoys.
Thanks.
HH!!
Margaret McGill
06:53 on
2 September, 2013
AKBW1888
06:48 on 2 September, 2013
I really dont know. One year is a long time in football. Look at MON. George Connelly.
I think Lenny will be gone before the next huns game as will 10% of the Irish contingent and 50% of the Scottish contingent of Celtic supporters. The lenny spell will be similar to the duration of MON & WGS who got wise to the boreds 4 commandments. As I said before its all about brand. Not ma kind a brand. The skelfs in the knees on Sundays kinda brand maybe. We shall see.
Your right Margaret, we shall see.
I personally like Lenny, Johann, & Background Staff.
They are doing a good Job.
So if Lenny was to leave, who do you think would be a good
candidate to replace him? Considering that Moggy was a
disaster.
Tom McLaughlin
07:01 on 2 September, 2013
So the question becomes..how big is Lenny’s garden?
Tallybhoy
He is in my prayers.. candle lit at St brides cambuslang
Sydney Tim –
But why did he not get him?
Was it because the selling club wanted too much money?
Did the player decide he didn’t want to go to Celtic/Scotland?
If you have evidence that the board just said, “No, you can’t have that particular player” then you have a case.
AKBW1888
07:02 on 2 September, 2013
Probably Mjallby He’d be cheap.
Tallybhoy
And st Josephs Blantyre..
Margaret McGill
07:07 on
2 September, 2013
AKBW1888
07:02 on 2 September, 2013
Probably Mjallby He’d be cheap.
Good shout, I would not mine if Johann takes over.
After all, he is doing a grand job along with Lenny at present.
TBJ
blantyretim
Thanks ghuys, much appreciated.
HH!!
I personally think that Lenny will be around for the foreseeable future
& Hopefully it’s a successful future for Lenny & His backroom assistants
Only Lenny knows, when the time has come for him to move on.
Personally, I hope it’s not for a good few years, Lord willing.
In the mean time, I wish him the best of luck while he is at the helm.
Top of the morning to you all from a blustery but dry Fife.
The debate about Celtic buying “cheap” instead of splashing out the cash is interesting, but there is no doubt that Celtic FC, with a few exceptions, have always been a selling club. Bringing players on from lower leagues for low fees or nothing, proving their worth in Scotland, then selling them on to England at a profit.
This is not a new policy it is as old as the club itself. At a reception to welcome Celtic on the first day of the 1931 tour of the USA Willie Maley was reported in a New York newspaper thus:
“William Maley, Celtic manager for forty-three years, made no secret of his intentions’ to recruit any likely looking prospects after being informed of the ability of William Lingleback, center forward of the Philadelphia booters…. …The Celtic manager pointed to his roster. “Can you name any of these,” moving his finger up and down, “who has had any previous senior club experience?
We rarely take finished players. That Is why my present squad is the youngest In Scottish League, first division, and why we’ll continue to recruit em.”
There is John Thomson. He is our goalie, and a right good one, too. I think he is the best Scotland has produced in a long while. He came to us when he was seventeen years old. He has been with us five years. Played International against England this year and was unscored on.
“James McGrory—that chap over there. He has held the goal-scoring record since 1926-27, when he accounted for forty-nine. He made the only two goals against England. He played one of the greatest games of his brilliant career in the first game against Motherwell. What an opportunist!” [ENDS]
What Maley didn’t add was that he would also sell-off his best players to English clubs as soon as they had a value!
He tried twice to sell McGrory to Arsenal, that we know of, and no doubt the rest of the team were available at a price. In the next few years Maley sold a host of Celtic’s best players to English clubs.
It’s what we do, and will continue until we get into the English leagues.
Peter Lawwell might have acted in a pretty shoddy way with Peterborough, but his continuation of Maley’s policy has been a success, and in the likes of Virgil, Balde, Rogic etc., we see it continue.
Some will find the going too tough at Celtic (Kyal) and not realise their potential, but most will make the grade (Victor) and keep the bank manager happy.
Cynicaloldbassacsc.
Have we signed Doyle yet?
Big Nan
07:19 on
2 September, 2013
Top of the morning to you all from a blustery but dry Fife.
The debate about Celtic buying “cheap” instead of splashing out the cash is interesting, but there is no doubt that Celtic FC, with a few exceptions, have always been a selling club. Bringing players on from lower leagues for low fees or nothing, proving their worth in Scotland, then selling them on to England at a profit.
This is not a new policy it is as old as the club itself. At a reception to welcome Celtic on the first day of the 1931 tour of the USA Willie Maley was reported in a New York newspaper thus:
“William Maley, Celtic manager for forty-three years, made no secret of his intentions’ to recruit any likely looking prospects after being informed of the ability of William Lingleback, center forward of the Philadelphia booters…. …The Celtic manager pointed to his roster. “Can you name any of these,” moving his finger up and down, “who has had any previous senior club experience?
We rarely take finished players. That Is why my present squad is the youngest In Scottish League, first division, and why we’ll continue to recruit em.”
There is John Thomson. He is our goalie, and a right good one, too. I think he is the best Scotland has produced in a long while. He came to us when he was seventeen years old. He has been with us five years. Played International against England this year and was unscored on.
“James McGrory—that chap over there. He has held the goal-scoring record since 1926-27, when he accounted for forty-nine. He made the only two goals against England. He played one of the greatest games of his brilliant career in the first game against Motherwell. What an opportunist!” [ENDS]
What Maley didn’t add was that he would also sell-off his best players to English clubs as soon as they had a value!
He tried twice to sell McGrory to Arsenal, that we know of, and no doubt the rest of the team were available at a price. In the next few years Maley sold a host of Celtic’s best players to English clubs.
It’s what we do, and will continue until we get into the English leagues.
Peter Lawwell might have acted in a pretty shoddy way with Peterborough, but his continuation of Maley’s policy has been a success, and in the likes of Virgil, Balde, Rogic etc., we see it continue.
Some will find the going too tough at Celtic (Kyal) and not realise their potential, but most will make the grade (Victor) and keep the bank manager happy.
Cynicaloldbassacsc.
Big Nan, who make a valued point there about the Hoops signing policy at present.
But due to the financial constraints of the modern game, it’s not a bad policy to
keep our beloved Club afloat, and moving along just nicely.
After all, it’s not just about football nowadays, it’s also about survival.
& Making the future bright, and not doom and gloom.
RobertTressell
07:27 on
2 September, 2013
Have we signed Doyle yet?
Robert, you must have a thing about Kevin Doyle.
He’s not a bad player, but also he is not a prolific
goal scorer. & The answer to your question, is ‘No’.
Good morning Bhoys and Ghirls, I’m just getting ready to go to the airport, my Mammmy is not responding to treatment and the family are gathering their strength for the next few days, no stranger to a battle my Mum I never say never but your prayers and thoughts would be appreciated my friends in Celtic….
Starry soon to be in the Shire…
Bless her starry, I hope she pulls through, she’s in my prayers.
God bless, in your difficult time, at present.
SP.
Stay strong ..
She is also in my thoughts and prayers..
starry plough –
Thoughts and prayers for your mum.
weefrathetim –
I just caught your news belatedly on Sunday night. Similarly, your mother is in my thoughts and prayers.
Tallybhoy –
Best wishes to your father for a speedy recovery.
Tom McLaughlin
07:46 on
2 September, 2013
starry plough –
Thoughts and prayers for your mum.
weefrathetim –
I just caught your news belatedly on Sunday night. Similarly, your mother is in my thoughts and prayers.
Tallybhoy –
Best wishes to your father for a speedy recovery.
Well said, Tam.
God bless them all.
I have to sign off now, things to do.
I wish you all, a pleasant day folks.
Lord willing, I will communicate
with you all, later. God bless
Everyone, & hail – hail.
Morning all…..The lady of Shallot has seen some more shenanigans in her wee mirror …our Hero the Whyte Knight sharpening his weapon ……..again …http://i.imgur.com/XZY4XIL.jpg
Starry & weefrathetim, we are all standing shoulder to shoulder for you and yours at this difficult time. Stay strong.
Tallhhoy – I hope your Dad gets better and gets out soon.
My own Dad hated them as well!
Starry – thoughts are with your Mum and your family as well…..hope she wins yet another battle.
Fingers crossed for you both and you too still Weefra.
Tom. Finbogason’s club said they received a bid from Celtic that was not even up for discussion Fact
They received a bid from a German club for 4m. Fact
They stated it would take at least 5m before they started talking
Now u have to assume we bid less than 4m and did not return fact
Whether the player wanted to come is irrelevant as we would not even pay the money we received for Gary as a replacement.
Never mind the vic money which is long gong
Nightshift debating the agenda that the SMSM will be undoubtedly pushing this week- Lenny’s future.
Beat them to it lads, doing their jobs for them.
starry
hope she pulls through ,stay strong for her thoughts and prayers to you and yours h.h