Those of us wanting to bury the memory of the January 2009 transfer window now have the opportunity. Summer 2018 eclipsed not paying £4m for an injury-prone Hibernian striker, while capturing Willo Flood in what appeared to be a reluctant afterthought, by some distance.
To wonder where it started to go wrong, we have to look back at this January’s window. Celtic knew Dedryck Boyata was about to enter the last year of his contract and had been unable to get him to sign a new deal. An acknowledgement was made that this summer was the right time to sell him, so the priority for January was to acquire a direct replacement.
To this end, Marvellous Marvin Compper (then 32) was recruited from Leipzig, where he had been completely out of the picture, having suffered an injury last summer. While Jack Hendry also joined the club in January, he was considered a player with development potential, it was believed Compper would slot straight into the role Boyata filled.
It took Brendan Rodgers 83 minutes to realise this was never going to be the case. The player made two 45 minute appearances in the previous six months, the most recent in September, and was well short of what was required at Celtic. Scouting opportunities must have been limited to reserve football, if that.
Having missed the target so badly in January we started this window playing catch-up. Dedryck was denied a transfer to Fulham, which would have been accepted if Marvin was up to the task. He is not the first Celtic central defender in recent years to declare himself unable to play because he wanted a move, but his agent threw the matter into the public domain. The goals we lost against AEK will hang over the player.
Hibs John McGinn joined Aston Villa when Celtic thought he was coming here. Brendan Rodgers made his displeasure known on the next three occasions he met the media, sparking a media feeding frenzy. Unlike Boyata, McGinn would not have made a difference to our Champions League qualification campaign, but we are short for backup in his central midfield space.
Deadline day started with nothing more than a training session planned at Celtic but Moussa Dembele threw a strop. Late the previous evening he used Twitter to imply he had been lied to, then liked a Tweet by Chris Sutton asserting he was having a go at the manager. Ironically, and before witnesses, a few hours later he told the manager no one had lied to him. We lost our best striker on deadline day without replacing him, and most fans were glad to see him off the premises.
Amid all of the angst, the almost forgotten fact is that this was the window we broke our transfer record fee for the first time in 18 years. Odsonne Eduard arrived for £9m from PSG, but as he was here on loan last season, so not an enhancement to the squad.
We lost Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts ended his multi-year loan. Both played less prominent roles last season than earlier, so their departure will not weaken our first choice line-up, but limits options the manager has, when tactics, injuries and suspensions require a change.
Lewis Morgan arrived from St Mirren, while Daniel Arzani came in on a two year loan from Manchester City. Hopefully one or both can fit into the Roberts role. Youssouf Mulumbu was a player who begged the question, ‘How did he end up at Kilmarnock?’ last season. The player looks the genuine article, and at 31, is younger than others who have arrived late in their career and excelled, but it remains to be seen if he can deliver for Celtic.
With central defence looking as vulnerable as we have seen it in years, Filip Benkovic arrived on loan from Leicester City.
By any measure, this was not a good transfer window. Last season we were schooled in the Champions League, not just by PSG, but by Anderlecht, at home. Granted, we outplayed Anderlecht in Belgium, but when the Belgians replaced their manager, they looked streets ahead.
My hope was that we would do a fair amount of trading. Move on those who would produce high fees and acquire players who can immediately enhance the first team. This did not happen and players like John McGinn would make no difference.
Progress in football is never linear. We had two years of unparalleled domestic success and Champions League football, but are still largely playing with a squad Ronny Deila had. Only Ntcham and Edouard were added to Sunday’s team by Brendan Rodgers. In short, it is not only the last two windows we need to analyse critically, the squad stopped improving after Scott Sinclair arrived in 2016.
I am sure lessons have been learned at Celtic but doing something about it is not always straightforward. Our scouting and recruitment resources do not match our Champions League ambitions. My expectations are the wage bill will be eye-watering hits a new peak when we see the accounts, I don’t think we can safely overhaul the structure and, say, offer the £50k/week levels now standard in England, but there is money for transfer fees, as the accounts will also show.
Despite that critique of our scouting, we acquired Dembele, Edouard, Ntcham and Sinclair over a short period. We have a model that works for us, but not this time. It is perhaps a mercy that the Champions League music will be missing this season, as we are miles short of what is required.
Petrov v Milner
More positively, get along to see the Petrov Milner game on Saturday. You can indulge in watching many of the greatest who have worn Celtic shirts over the last two decades.
And you get to support your Foundation. Ticket’s here.
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Another poster attached a link to this the other night: http://app.football-italia.net/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.football-italia.net%2F127532%2Fronaldo-tops-serie-earnings#article/footballitalia-127532
I wonder where we would sit in this table – I suspect probably somewhere between Udinese and Fiorentina. Do we think our team is better than any of those? While Italy offers a more competitive league and better climate/lifestyle, there are players there who ought to be within our reach…
Simlarly, there is this: https://www.statista.com/statistics/675490/average-bundesliga-salary-by-team/#0
Again would be interesting to see where we would sit – are we getting better value than Werder Bremen or Stuttgart? Do we have an understanding of how affordable Bundesliga players are (Comperr aside)?
England is always the benchmark for us – it shouldn’t be as the club’s in the EPL routinely comprise 10-15 of the “richest” club s in the world. We need to look elsewhere and use the “prove yourself with us for a couple of years and get yourself a Van Dijk move” sales pitch more effectively.
Good morning, friends from hot and sunny Xabia. Market Day, woo hoo – get embdy ending?
SFTB at 1120pm and Larssonse7en at 2.18am – good stuff there.
Morning Tims…
I see the ray of sunshine that descended on here at the weekend has clouded over again.
H.H
Reading in morning paper’The Irish News’s ( Belfast publication )Celtic fan blinded in one eye in girvan.The fan Charlie Phelan was attacked by a mob,after he and a friend had purchased food from a takeaway.Mr Phelan said the ‘man’ who inflicted the most damage ( broken eye socket, cheekbone and nose ) wore union jack shorts.A eye witness to the attack said the mob had came from a bus and were scottish.Mr Phelan from Derry was with 14 other Celtic fans returning from the game at Celtic Park.Wait for this……,Police Scotland said they are investigating but they are not treating the attack as ‘ sectarian or football related’.
PS Mr Phelan believes he was attacked because he was wearing a Celtic top and scarf.
Studies have shown that the happiness index on CQN drops by 64.8% during international breaks. More online relationships end at this time than at any other during the season and that the phrase ‘Lawell puppet’ is the most commonly used one during the period.
– CQN Daily Stat
Word of The Day
adjuvant
adjective
1. aiding or assisting
2. serving to help or assist; auxiliary.
noun
3. something that aids or assists; auxiliary
4. med a drug or other substance that enhances the activity of another
5. immunol a substance that enhances the immune response stimulated by an antigen when injected with the antigen
Word Origin
C17: from Latin adjuvāns, present participle of adjuvāre, from juvāre to help
KTF
Just saw the story about the Derry Celtic fan blinded in one eye on the way home from the match. Police Scotland are not treating the crime as sectarian or football related!!! One of the attackers was wearing Union Jack shorts!!!! I wonder how many other attacks are knocked off the stats. Least bigoted wee country. OBFA truly working.
Oops! too mad to read back. Worth saying twice.
“orange jump-suit”
is also what Melania calls his naked body!
smiley trump is toast ..lets hope we are nae thing
Braw
Some guy with a moniker I hadn’t seen before logged on here pre the Hun game and made a claim that he had been in the Company of a Celtic Director who gave him the lowdown on background issues at the Club and told him that Brendan was disparagingly known as Mr. Chocolate behind the scenes at Celtic Park.
He was challenged to name names or piss off, he pissed off.
He Neg & MIT gave us a few days peace in the aftermath of the Derby win but I see last night they are all back & Kev has taken a liking to the Mr. Chocolate nonsense and is going to bore the pants off everybody for the next few months with his stunning wit & originality.
As I see it according to the Negs, everything that happens in Scottish Football be it Willie’s decisions, McGregor’s scumbag violence, Compliance panel’s decisions etc etc are all twisted into a stick to beat Celtic.
Anyhow I’m off to YouTube to rewatch the latest Hun Skelping and to marvel at the pure joy on the real Celtic Supporters faces.
God Bless ye all.
Anyone been on to suggest that Lawwell was responsible for the stabbing yet
Dont worry give it time
Lawwellls Pupperts No.1 CSC
My friends in Celtic,
Yes we know our shortcomings.
We also know our successes.
Most of us get joy from watching and supporting Celtic. It is what we do, if I didn’t get joy I would take up croquet or something.
HH .
C’mon the happy clappers!
Reclaim the blog as a natural place for Celtic supporters to visit.
I’m off to foreign, for the first time since Lisbon May 2017, but back to support the Champions v Aberdeen.
Adios mi amigos.
Eurochamps67
BhoyJoeBelfast
This will be the same Police Scotland who initially said that the assault on the PP and the parishioners during the OO walk was ‘minor in nature’ only to be changed to a ‘hate crime’ when there was a public outcry!
Chancers and jobs worth the shower of them!
So, The currant buns are unhappy about the “Beautiful Sunday” song?
Get this one roon’ ye’s…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMARq533RIY
HH
I see there is new plans for the area surrounding Celtic park submitted for approval, ie a concert and conference hall, that should give Mal and the contents something to chew over during the international break.?
H.H
BELFASTBHOY/SILVERCITY
Like you i found out about the attack on the Celtic fan from Derry this morning , i live in Girvan and the place is full of huns , he was attacked by somebody off a bus of Scottish huns so either some of them getting dropped off here or the Wigtownshire contingent . As for Police Scotland not treating it as sectarian no surprise there !
WITS
Lawwell was seen with a big chain and padlock around Janefield st on Sunday before kick off. Later spotted at Hamden whispering something about a strong ranjurs to the ex refs before Mcshaggers case.
In other news as predicted Brendan left on Monday, oh wait a minute he’s now going at the end of the season and if not then he will eventually go sometime and someone will come on and tell us exactly why as they know someone with inside knowledge but obviously can’t name them.
new article posted.