Celtic Banter Archive January 02 2019

 

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02 Jan 2019 20:21:54
Malky two points regarding Police Scotland which you seem to have an issue with. Firstly, after Beautiful Sunday the ex-Police Chief stated is was the fault of Celtic FC that the new Rangers suuport rushed forward and crushed their own disabled fans. Secondly, before our visit to Ibronx on the 29th the current Chief of Police stated that (quote) 'His job was to deploy sufficient resources to make sure the visiting fans FEEL as safe as POSSIBLE'. Wrong-his job was to make us feckn SAFE! They couldn't even make the Celtic FC team bus SAFE. So do I think SOME clubs including the new Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Motherwell, Press and Police Scotland are complicit in 'Operation-Stop-the 10' yes I do. And just because we're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get us. Anti-Irishness and anti-Catholicism are unfortunately very much alive and well in Scotland wholeheartedly supported by the establishment.

Believable4 Unbelievable0

03 Jan 2019 08:42:16
If we think it’s bad just now mate it will only get worse there’s no way they will allow 10! Cheers for the heads up JFP I ended up being first up to ring the bell with Sr Margretta!

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03 Jan 2019 10:16:26
CB i was there sitting up the front left I don’t know if you noticed but Sr Mags was asking me to ring it and I said ‘naw I can never ring it’ then had a shot with her as usual. I was on the bells at the consecration as well I wish I’d known you were there CB!

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03 Jan 2019 11:24:18
Yes mate a know who you are now! A was back right with my old bhoy. It was a lovely time.

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03 Jan 2019 11:42:10
CB glad you enjoyed it Fr. Jacob was excellent it was a great way to end the old year and bring in the new year. The next time your down say hello! jfp 👍☘️.

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02 Jan 2019 21:48:33
I'd love to see big Victor back in the hoops and if he is available surely it's one we have to look at, right?

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02 Jan 2019 22:57:45
He thought Southampton was a step up from Celtic. Wouldn’t want him back near Celtic Park.

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02 Jan 2019 23:57:32
If we get wanyama I'll not drink the rest of the year!

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03 Jan 2019 15:01:38
Wages would probably be the stumbling block.

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02 Jan 2019 21:06:42
Hi Eds nothing in the air to share with the group so far? With all the names been banded about so far by the press there bound to get one right haha. Plenty names so far it’s like there going through the alfabet and seeing what will bite.

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{Ed007's Note - Nah, according to some recent posts I don't know what I'm talking about and don't understand the financial side of transfers so I'm taking my ball and going home....

02 Jan 2019 21:44:06
Who truly does understand the financial side for us. I read an outdated breakdown of our speculative transfer policy focusing just on strikers-the jury was still out on Carlton Cole at the time it was typed. Coulda have been a legend. The amount we've widdled against a post on dross is frightening when you see it. That said quality costs and the modern technology based football scouts don't pick lubos up in Slovenian parks anymore for £100k. Though we shudder at the 90's for more than just the fashion at least there was still some mystery in the, transfer game.

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{Ed007's Note - I 'truly' understand the financial side of transfers and have explained plenty of times how transfers work and who pays what to whom etc . Obviously it was a waste of time so I'll just not bother in future.}

02 Jan 2019 21:51:03
Please Stay Ed we love you in Airdrie! ☘️👍.

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{Ed007's Note - Airdrie!!!! That's it then.................

via GIPHY

02 Jan 2019 21:30:19
ED I bow to your knowledge was it Xmas week u mentioned the fact that Celtic would need to raise the bid for Bayo cause they have already spoke to and a greed a price with another team and the price was double what Celtic reportedly offered but it’s just now that the press are starting to claim these reports now after u told us. Am with u ED.

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{Ed007's Note - Galatasary have supposedly agreed a fee for Vakoun Issouf Bayo of 3 -3.5 million (I'm not 100% sure on the exact figure) and I don't think the lad is keen on going to Turkey but we will still need to pay more than the rported £1.75 million for him.}

02 Jan 2019 22:14:42
It's your commitment to us mere simple fans that will be missed but our loss is Airdries gain it seems.

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02 Jan 2019 23:48:36
I preferred "The littlest Hobo ending". The bottom line is most of Brendan's signings have been underwelming! (I've gave up tourettes for a while) . Hopefully there's a cull over the next 2 windows and we kick on and leave Aberdeen and Victim FC to battle it out for sloppy seconds. Keep the Faith. HH🍀.

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02 Jan 2019 22:25:35
Defo we will Celtic need to start realising that we need to spend money am no talent scout but if reports are right in saying that one of our greats in Lubo are rating this guy then surely this guys club should be respected and be offered a respectable offer and if the player then chooses someone else then we know that we have done everything in our power to get him and not lose out to less than what we could’ve done just my opinion.

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03 Jan 2019 10:33:56
Remember Rich T it was the King of Kings that recommended Mo Bangura 😂.

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03 Jan 2019 11:05:09
Yeah I know unfortunately the boy just couldn’t settle sometimes these things happen but doesn’t make the guy a bad layer cause he couldn’t do it with Celtic. I still think Scott Alan is a player but he’s no getting a chance at Celtic. I would like to see him go out on loan or be sold I think he will do a great job for some other team.

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03 Jan 2019 10:45:42
Ed a hope you didn't get that figure from the papers or Kev will be on to you 😆😆.

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{Ed007's Note - 😁

03 Jan 2019 15:02:44
Oooft Airdrie. I remember the Bluebell. That's plenty!

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02 Jan 2019 17:02:39
What’s peoples opinion on here regarding this window, it’s only early but I think everyone on here presumed after the summer window we would be splashing out a bit, and quite a few have spoken about ready made players who would improve us instantly. With the news that it looks like our forward positions may be filled with a young pretty much untried loan and a forward who before this weekend no one had really heard off. Even their manager has supposedly said he’s a “project “ . I don’t believe that’s what most on here wanted . Some of our signings for the last few windows have been poor and personally I don’t think now is the time to gamble. I appreciate they could turn out great signings for us but I would have thought a possibly bigger name, experienced player would have been more what we needed . What’s everyone else’s opinion?

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02 Jan 2019 17:45:50
The problem is established good quality players now cost more than we can pay both in a fee and wages. A good clear out is required to free up wages and I would hope that would clear the way for established quality to be offered the higher limits of our wage structure if they could be signed pre-contract or out of contract?

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02 Jan 2019 20:35:22
Sign Milner on a pre contract.

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02 Jan 2019 20:38:51
Just because a player is young and hasn’t played in the EPL doesn’t mean they can’t make an instant impact.

I don’t expect us to have a team full of youngsters, we need some experience too. However imagine we spent the £9m on Edouard on a 28-29 year old player instead, we won’t be able to recover that money.

RB Leipzig have a policy about signing players under a certain age, can’t remember off the top of my head. I think that’s a bit extreme but I’d definitely rather we had a majority of 20-24 year olds and a few experienced heads than the other way round. I think that’s the way forward for us personally.

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02 Jan 2019 20:50:09
I’d agree Andy, I’m not 100%sure but Leipzig and Salzburg are signing young players but I’d say they are paying a bit more than we are prepared to pay. (Odsonne apart ) . Also it would seem their scouting dept seems a bit better than ours . They have some top young players there.

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02 Jan 2019 21:33:12
I think those who expect Celtic to sign 3-4 players in their mid 20's and older at approx £5m each are going to be disappointed . The method of getting us our success so far with Brendan, 7 trophies out of 7 domestically will not be changed lightly and why should it, for those who have followed Celtic for over 50 years we have unprecedented success domestically and we should be proud and happy.

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02 Jan 2019 21:53:27
Salzburg record signing is 5million for Dabbur who will go for 4 or 5 times that, Leipzig signed the defender Upamecano for around 10million euro at 18 and now 19 there is talk of him going to Barcelona for 100million euro.

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02 Jan 2019 23:02:59
Good to see you back OMC Angus I agree completely with your post. From some of the ramblings on here you it would be hard to reconcile it with a club who has been so dominant in the last two and a half years.

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02 Jan 2019 23:43:27
Have to laugh when fans moan about unheard of players

How many had heard of Larsson
Lubo, boruc, naka, wanyamma, or big van djyk?

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03 Jan 2019 06:36:56
No one in the above post have moaned about unheard of signings Kev . Everyone would agree with the players you mentioned ( even though at least 3 of them were internationals by the time we signed them ) . But for everyone of the above we have signed a amido Balde etc. My point was with a “project type player “ they can go either way, while maybe we could do with a couple of experienced players but not over the hill . I would say most of our older lads are about to be phased out so we probably need to replace that experience this window, even though I never explained it very well 🙈.

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03 Jan 2019 11:37:04
That’s what happens at every club now because squads are all bigger now. Teams bring in a number of players and a few of them are a success, the rest sit on the sidelines for a year or two and then they move on. Celtic were getting criticism recently for not having adequate cover for the CB position if Boyata and Benkovic were to leave. Now they’re being criticised for having too big a squad. Which one is it guys? You choose!

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03 Jan 2019 13:12:25
All for unearthing players but we need experience too. Especially with most clubs breathing down our necks we need some experience too that'll be up for a title challenge and not wilt under pressure because some of the "raw and one for the future" players would feel the wrath of the fans if they aren't performing on the park.

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03 Jan 2019 15:24:28
I think the way Brendan works, our experience will come from players who have matured as part of the team. Once Broonie and Lustig go, our experienced players will probably be Forrest, Sinky and Griff (and Boyata, if he stays) I doubt BR will buy anyone over 25 year old.

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02 Jan 2019 14:22:30
Whatever happens in this 'window' -and I know there are irons in the fire; I hope we land a target man.
I watched Forest beating Leeds yesterday and a 'stand-out' was Daryl Murphy, making himself available, holding the ball up and playing in team-mates etc etc etc.
Not for one minute suggesting we go for him, but almost every team have such a player eg: (all our opponents) who can take the strain and give the defense an out-ball - that sticks and creates chances.

At present we play far too many dodgy passes across the back and side to side waiting for gaps, unable/ unwilling to alter our style, when pressed/ closed down.
Griff is out indefinitely, while Eddy is not strong enough in the air or the ground to 'bully' like a Hartson, Sutton, JVOH or Henrik.
The midfield is full of talented ball players, but a big fella up top would play them in, pulling defenders all over the place and even weigh-in with goals as well?
Especially at those corners we earn plenty of - but rarely capitalize on.

Of course we would have to have a 'keeper' that can find him with decent kick-outs etc.

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02 Jan 2019 16:12:21
OAB I mentioned this in a post yesterday. Having a player like this is a no brainer for me. It automatically gives you a whole new alternative way of playing and as you say we already have the perfect players in Calmac Jamesie and Christie to do the running . The big question tho is it against Brendans football philosophy to play this way? If it is he needs to change his beliefs until we find 2 centre halfs and a goalkeeper that are comfortable in possession and can pass accurately without panicking when pressurised.

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02 Jan 2019 16:25:55
Stevie your right BR will never play with a target man it’s entirely contrary to his football philosophy.

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02 Jan 2019 16:42:10
Granted it’s against Brendan’s philosophy to play the long ball but he’s been in Scotland now long enough for the opposition to realise that if they press high against us with purpose we will inevitably make mistakes. Likes already been said, if brendan wants to continue to play his passing out from the back and involve the keeper he best get looking for a new back line, with the exception of tierney.

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02 Jan 2019 16:53:07
You know it almost borders on stubbornness with managers these days JFP. They are almost embarrassed to score a goal by a punt up the middle a knock on to a runner and in the net. There is no doubt the way he wants to play is the way fwd but to find players that are capable of playing this way is very costly, goalkeepers nowadays need to be able to play firstly and make saves secondly, preferably they are able to do both which again costs megabucks.

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02 Jan 2019 16:59:17
He was on just last week saying he'll never sign a target man.

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02 Jan 2019 17:58:48
Never knew that Mally. Hope he said he would sign a goalkeeper that could pass a ball then 🤣 Got to trust his judgement he's not done a lot wrong yet 🤞.

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02 Jan 2019 19:11:54
He said it wouldn't suit how me likes his team to play Stevie.

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02 Jan 2019 21:47:23
Is think the problem with a big target man up front, is that the team inevitably becomes lazy and start trying to hit him with the ball from further and further away and becomes one dimensional and he becomes very easy to mark . All middling and better European teams have moved away from big target man decades ago . We have won a double treble without an out and out target man . I think we will win another couple trebles as well.

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02 Jan 2019 21:48:39
Just fire big craigy up top with boyata supplying the bombs. Less danger with that as the two of them at their own end.

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02 Jan 2019 22:51:05
Welcome back OMC, where you been? I don't think anybody's looking to start playing long balls up to a big robust striker as our new way of playing, but to have that type of player as an option would be an asset. Would rather have a big burly striker on the bench rather than Johnny Hayes.

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02 Jan 2019 23:49:06
I think it's the definition of target man, Dembelle was a target man, but so much more also, but he definitely could play as a target man, the only reason The rangers won that last game, was that Brendan made a crazy team selection, I don't know what all this panic is about, The rangers result was down to Brendan's team selection and nothing else, all Celtic need is a right back who will play, and not be cover to Lustiq, if Boyata is sold, play Ajer beside Bencovic, spelling, if he goes back to Leicester, get another centre back, but I read he was staying until the end of the season, play Calmac in centre of midfield, no more of this playing him as a fullback, the only desperate needs are a right back and a goalscoring forward as cover for Griff and Edouard.

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03 Jan 2019 10:57:05
Obviously would not want us to revert to a long-ball team or a punt and hope like vintage Wimbledon (or Oldco with big McCloy ha ha) .
Just think that an alternative option would help improve frustrating matches or change a result like Saturday?
Welcome back Chris; Best wishes and hope you're in good health this new year.

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02 Jan 2019 13:43:53
Depending on how long the Asian Cup lasts I think it may be a good idea to give Ntcham a run of games. I know he's been poor and his performance on Saturday was scandalous but we've all seen how good he can be when he's on his game. A run alongside McGregor with Christie in the No. 10 role could bring the best back out in him.

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02 Jan 2019 13:58:15
Well worth a try.

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02 Jan 2019 14:03:37
He looked excellent when he first got into the side; strong, quick footed, picking-a-pass and a goal or three. However, he was very 'distracted' during the Dembele situation and lost his way and maybe his desire to stay? Whatever reason, he has fallen away, but he is a young guy and maybe needs the arm round the shoulder - or alternative
He did have a shocker at Ibrox - but so did several others and being in and out of the side does nothing for confidence and stability.
The winter break came at the right time for most of players and it's up to him to show BR he is committed/ focused to deserve a place .

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02 Jan 2019 14:41:20
OAB he has certainly lost his way recently but I think the missing Dembele narrative stopped being a reasonable excuse when he signed his new bumper contract. I think a run of games alongside the consistency of CalMac would do him the world of good.

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02 Jan 2019 15:09:30
He lost his desire to stay but then signed a new contract?

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02 Jan 2019 13:07:17
Malky Bhoy,

I'll try and make this simple for you; Would our captain had he raised his boot at least 5ft in the air, with the ball well gone and connected with the Thug's balls, stayed on the Park?

Straight Answer, Yes or No please. don't cloud it by the referee review. I have watched The Tic for 62 years and knew in 1956 what I know now that there is one rule for them and one rule for us.

Here's another example Malky Bhoy that the lengths this establishment will go to; in 1952 they were attempting to close us down by forwarding a recommendation that clubs should not display an emblem or flag that would incite crowd trouble. now they only meant our club this probably was a very similar Referee Committee we have today only admittedly a lot more subtle they tried or did change it from a recommendation to an astute rule and only the Wisdom of Bob Kelly to threaten legal action stopped these idiots.

So malky bhoy, I have never met a Tim that doesn't know that ALL through the decades there is one rule for them and one rule for Us and I don't see it ever changing (I live in hope that it will) so be a good Bhoy and answer the Question above YES OR NO please.

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02 Jan 2019 13:26:34
Maybe?

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02 Jan 2019 13:41:12
Straight red no doubt.

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02 Jan 2019 14:29:07
JMcG your spot on I’ve been watching Celtic a long time and Operation-Stop-the-10 has been underway for the last two seasons with efforts having been ramped up this season. It is evidenced by the lack of protection for Brown and KT in particular and free for all against our players being deemed acceptable. I believe the successors of Rangers, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Hearts, officials, media and Police Scotland are complicit in these efforts and that’s not paranoia. They are not even attempting to hide it now and it’s time those in charge at the club spoke up and called it out.

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02 Jan 2019 14:30:54
Not as long in the tooth as jmcg but I've never had a doubt that we're treated differently from every other club. From refereeing decisions to sfa, spl, spfl or whoever has been running the game actively hindering us and helping them. Be it fixture arrangements to Jim farry holding up transfers, there's never been a clearer case of bias since the cadete fiasco mind u, they've got wise enough to make it less obvious which is how they've fooled guys like malky.

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02 Jan 2019 14:51:36
Straight red card, Jmcg, no question.

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02 Jan 2019 18:37:36
So Police Scotland are part of opertion " stop the 10" 👏👏👏 yous are just trying to wind me up now😂😂😂.

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02 Jan 2019 19:55:05
Malky two points regarding Police Scotland which you seem to have an issue with. Firstly, after Beautiful Sunday the ex-Police Chief stated is was the fault of Celtic FC that the new Rangers suuport rushed forward and crushed their own disabled fans. Secondly, before our visit to Ibronx on the 29th the current Chief of Police stated that (quote) ‘His job was to deploy sufficient resources to make sure the visiting fans FEEL as safe as POSSIBLE’. Wrong-his job was to make us feckn SAFE! They couldn’t even make the Celtic FC team bus safe. So do I think SOME clubs including the new Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Motherwell, Press and Police Scotland are complicit in ‘Operation-Stop-the 10’ yes I do. And just because we’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get us. Anti-Irishness and anti-Catholicism are unfortunately vey much alive and well in Scotland wholeheartedly supported by the establishment.

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02 Jan 2019 20:12:57
I have no issue whatsoever with Police Scotland it's you that seems to think Scotland's finest are going to smash your door in at 6am as part of "operation stop the 10"😂😂😂😂.

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{Ed007's Note - Scotland's finest 😂😂😂😂😂 finest what? Do you think Celtic fans getting treated like this is acceptable?

02 Jan 2019 20:52:46
Ed 007 respect 👍.

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{Ed007's Note - It's honking patter anyone in any circumstances - Celtic fan or otherwise - sticking up for that shower of scum.}

02 Jan 2019 21:12:43
100% jfp.

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02 Jan 2019 10:37:06
The fun and games have started typical Celtic "let's go in really low and see if we can get him "oh but then it creates interest and the fee goes up. bananas imo jyst pay the money we've got it.

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02 Jan 2019 11:30:39
Mally, there used to be a club across the other side of Glasgow that had that gung-ho approach to buying players and they went out of business. There is now a new club in their place who have the same approach to buying players and they will go out of business as well. Thankfully, our club is in more responsible hands and we’ll continue to flourish because of that.

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02 Jan 2019 11:46:55
COYBIG and they would willingly overspend and go bust again to stop 10 in a row resurrecting themselves in their third incarnation thereafter.

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02 Jan 2019 11:53:06
That club is just a point behind us now and just thrashed us .

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02 Jan 2019 11:36:12
If I was them and had watched the Ibrox debacle and saw the glass still lying from our last transfer window being panned in I’d have upped the asking price as well. We can’t afford to dig our heels in and might need to pay a bit over the asking price so as you say pay it. A lot of respect for Peter Lawwell but he must be murder to go for a pint with.

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02 Jan 2019 12:00:14
Correct, JFP, and if they do, it’ll be as much fun as it was last time round. I think the level of overspending required, is beyond them anyway. If we don’t achieve 10 in a row, I don’t think it’ll be Sevco that stop us, it’ll be Kilmarnock.

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02 Jan 2019 12:08:34
They’ve also played a game more and have played more of their games at home than away. I still expect us to finish above them if we go about our business properly. In addition to that they financially in disarray.

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02 Jan 2019 12:11:53
Nobody saying overspend and put the club in danger our board is too savvy for that but we must have money from the summer never mind the profit we've just posted but it's like groundhog day mess about low bids ie mcginn and lose the player unless am missing something.

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02 Jan 2019 12:28:25
Mally did they give you a text and tell you what they've bid or did you read the pish that the press is printing?

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02 Jan 2019 12:32:46
If we had paid the £4.0M that Hibs wanted for him, we’d have paid over the odds as Villa got him for £2.75M. If we did that wirh every player we signed, we’d be out of business very soon. If we’d caved in and gave Hibs £4M, McGinn would possibly be a squad player and everyone on here would be moaning about us buying another squad player. Pedro was willing to match Villa’s offer but McGinn saw Villa as a better move. Personally, I’m happy we didn’t get him.

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02 Jan 2019 12:41:35
It’s a real dilemma.
Almost every Rodgers signing has failed to produce, we have a ridiculous amount of squad players on our books who are on contracts they will never see in their life again.
We need 4/ 5 first team players in to cover a minimum of both cb positions, rb, cf, wide left.
What chance that these 4/ 5 players, if brought in, will be up to the job any better than most of BRs previous signings?

60 million wage bill to be fighting off killie and rangers in the league while being knocked out of cl by a team with a fraction of our wage bill.
Pretty sure I read our wage bill is more than every other club in the SPFL put together.

10 players less and fewer higher quality players is what is needed to compete at a higher level.

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02 Jan 2019 12:52:00
I’d like to think given the poor window in the summer we’d have a list of January players in place for months now, and I’m talking about realistic targets not names that sound good but have no intention of coming to Scotland. I’m with kev83 on this one. Don’t believe everything written in the papers, for1. we’ve got money, and plenty of it, and 2. we will pay what rodgers, Lawwell etc feel any players worth. The one thing Celtic won’t do as was proved with mcginn and that is we will not be held to ransom and pay way over the odds .

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02 Jan 2019 12:53:32
They haven’t failed to produce. Benkovic, Sinclair, Ntcham and Edouard have been very good signings. The others have struggled to get into a team largely because our home grown talent (Tierney, Calmac, Forrest, Christie) have been excellent. Not everyone can play and the fact that these guys are keeping the signings out of the team is good news, not bad.

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02 Jan 2019 13:04:31
Tell you one thing about the McGinn saga. **** him if he wanted to play for us he would have been here. Celtic fan going to Villa over us no chance. Money Money Money.

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02 Jan 2019 13:46:34
Same pish as mcginn and no I don't buy papers but read online how do u get your info. am just amazed some on here are talking about being cautious and don't put club in danger. we can easily spend 10mill this window and it wouldn't be anywhere near putting the club in danger. incase you haven't noticed there's a clear and present danger lurking on the south side of Glasgow and the last a looked were level on points and we have to win our game in hand.

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02 Jan 2019 15:11:50
Few questions mally?

Did Celtic get quoted 4 million for mcginn when villa paid under 3?

Did Celtic match villas bid?

Did mcginn pick villa over Celtic?

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02 Jan 2019 15:17:56
You’re right Mally, we could easily spend 10 mil in this transfer window, probably 20 mil but we need to negotiation hard to get value for money and hopefully we’ll be able to continue to spend in future transfer windows. I bet when we negotiated new deals for Calmac, Tierney, Ntcham, Griff, Forrest etc. that cost us a lot of money. Caving in to the demands of other teams reduces that money and before you know it, we’re losing our best players to the like of Huddersfield.

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02 Jan 2019 15:42:36
Coybig

Benkovic is not a Celtic player. He's on loan and this only came about due to Brendan and Congerton brutal attempts to buy a quality CH. How much money wasted on dud CH.

Sinclair has been a very good signing for us but inconsistent. Which most wingers are, work rate is excellent.

Ntcham has been a ok signing definitely not very good. He's played about 10 good games for us.

Eduardo the same for me been ok. Never very good. Think he will end up a top player and he's one for the future more than here and know.

Not buying other people keeping his other signings out of the team. When they have had there chance they haven't stepped up. Look at Christie he grabbed his chance. Not bought by Brendan and Congerton.

That's the beauty of football everyone has their own views. HH.

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02 Jan 2019 15:33:00
A couldn't care less about mcginn that ship has sailed am using him as an example. But this window is massive our season hasn't started we've got to make it happen and few good signings would give the whole place a lift rb striker and cb are a must and prob a keeper. we can't afford to get this wrong we've got a definite challenge this year.

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02 Jan 2019 23:26:09
A loan deal isn’t much different from a contract, except that it’s generally shorter. To get the services of a player of Benkovic’s quality for 12 months is good business for me. Sinclair has been top scorer for two years. How consistent does he need to be? Ntcham has been poor recently but he’s been better than an ok signing and Edouard has been a lot, lot better than ok. You correctly point out that Christie wasn’t bought by BR and LC but he was developed by them, as were quite a few others who were pish before they arrived. I’m not entirely sure of LCs remit but I’d be surprised if he wasn’t involved in setting up and managing loan deals. Again I’m guessing but I’d imagine LC has been heavily involved in developing relationships with Man City and PSG. The fact that Anderlecht are trying to poach him would also suggest that he knows what he’s about. One wee question to throw out there, does anyone know when Karamoke Dembele arrived and would have scouted him? Ed?

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03 Jan 2019 11:20:23
A loan deal is the same as a contract. No buying that can't remember us getting a big pay day for developing Paddy Roberts for 2 season's.

Benkovic is on holiday and then away to Dubai. If Leicester get injuries in January he will get called back.

No difference c'mon mate massive difference. No stability in building a team with loan signing. We will be up against it in the summer rebuilding again.

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02 Jan 2019 07:34:09
I hear a lit of you guy's saying you want statement signings and signings that will walk straight in and improve the team, I'm just wondering though if that is even possible for Celtic these day's?

Do really good international or calibre of player BR want's want to come to Scotland?

If we manage to persuade them to come here for 25/ 30k a week?

Probably the answer to both questions is it would be extremely difficult to find any, so this then begs the question.
Bearing in mind our club has a wage bill of 60million which in my opinion for a club from Scotland is astronomical, is it realistic to expect more from the club than it is already doing?

💚🍀HH.

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02 Jan 2019 09:10:31
Part of the issue for me is that our signing policy is to get in young players and develop them to then sell them on, problem is they don't develop any further at celtic, the money we pay is too good so we can't then sell them if they don't make it so we end up with a huge squad if players.

I suspect the 2 strikers weah and bayo will again fall into this category. So in some ways it's counter productive.

If we can run with 50+mill wage then surely trimming this squad down and combine the wage of 4 squad no marks to get solid signings is possible.

We have 3 players in current squad who can play left back yet played calmac thereast game. So really that's £10k a week for Hayes and izzy that brendan doesn't rate good enough as even cover.

There inie the problem for me, selling first team player and spending the money on squad padding.

£13mill would've got benko and he'd have come but we'd rather spend that type of cash on 3 or 4 young players in the hope we might get a can dyke. We are now seeing the downside of that policy.

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02 Jan 2019 09:17:00
Excellent post Royjac73. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. I think the best a club like Celtic can expect these days is to pick up young guys like Ntcham and Edouard and try and hold on to them as long as possible. If Celtic and others in the league continue to improve, the overall quality of player coming to Scotland may improve but probably not significantly.

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02 Jan 2019 09:19:10
For me mate it’s a must. Totally get the massive wage bill and that needs addressed. As I said in an earlier post, for me that’s why we need to get the deadwood out the door ( easier said than done I know) but it must happen. For far too long we’ve had guys sitting there on good money and for one reason or another not produced consistently for us. de vries, hendry, gamboa, Compper, Hayes, Allan, benyu, mulumbu,
Kouassi. then there’s guys like lustig (contracts up in the summer) , brown ( contracts up in the summer) , boyata ( contracts up in the summer) , jozo ( don’t think brendan fancies him when boyata and benkovic are fit) , Izzy ( brought back to cover Tierney, Brendan couldn’t trust him at Ibrox) bitton ( just back or coming back from a year out) . Im not for one second suggesting every player mentioned must / should go but when u look at that list, there’s some money in wages I’d say that could be pulled back in by getting some out the door, especially the ones that don’t or haven’t contributed in years, because make no mistake, double treble winners or not the team needs to evolve and freshen up in certain areas like all good winning teams do. We can’t just keep accumulating players.

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02 Jan 2019 09:52:38
I think another problem though with offloading players is obviously the wages we are paying them, take Scott Allen for instance who was on say 1.5k a week at hibs and we buy him and now probably on 7.5k a week at us. So if you were him would you go back to hibs for 1.5k or sit out your contract to maximise your wage? I know what I would do, this is probably the reason we aren't seeing many guy's getting offloaded as they probably just refusing to go. Big Marvin Commper has basically said as much already.
I think it is probably a good thing so many players are out of contract in the summer, I wouldn't renew any of their contracts and include Broonie in this also unless he is prepared to accept he won't play too much with a view to go into coaching. In fact I would probably say to him go and learn your coaching somewhere else and maybe come back in the future.

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02 Jan 2019 09:55:49
Think of this as well as it is actually really crazy. French Eddy our record signing of 9million breaking our transfer record by millions was a youth player at another club!

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02 Jan 2019 10:00:07
Agreed Royjac I came to the same conclusion due to recent failures and struggles in the transfer market. In effect even if Celtic have considerably more financial resources than other teams in SPL if they financial resources aren’t sufficient to attract top players then in reality we have very little financial advantage. Our business model should for me be based on (1) developing our own players and (2) scouting the best players available who want to come for 3 or 4 years to put themselves in the shop window for EPL and move them on at a profit when the time comes given our friends south of the border have no shortage of cash. We accept we are a window to the EPL and embrace the benefits of that rather than bemoan the fact. I question though whether our worldwide scouting capability is currently as good as it could be or was previously to implement this business model to best effect.

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02 Jan 2019 10:21:39
Spot on JFP1888. It all comes back to the scouting system. Some of our buys these past few years have been very poor. There’s a whole world out there, we never paid excessive millions for the VVD’s, wanyamas, dembeles etc of this world. There’s real good gems out there just waiting to be discovered. What we need is to have a right good look at the current setup and staff in there and see if or where it can be improved so we can get the best young talent we can possibly find and bring to the club if that’s the route we’re continually going to go down.

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02 Jan 2019 10:54:40
Good post royjac73. Unfortunately a major bargining chip for us to attract the type of player we need to take us to the next level is Champions League football and we need to overcome 4 qualifiers before we can offer that.

The powers that be are doing a fantastic job in terms of keeping us on a sound financial position even if we fail to progress from the qualifiers and a lot of this down to our transfer policy which I posted on here the other day is a massive credit to the club.

Can we expect more from the club? Look I think we should all be grateful and take comfort in the fact that we have the best possible people at the helm who will make every decision they make based on the best interests of the club.

One a seperate note I saw a tweet last night regarding renaming the North Stand, I think " The Fergus McCann Stand" would be a fair shout👍.

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02 Jan 2019 11:12:39
Garry, you say our scouting has been poor in the past few years and then you mention Dembele. He was in the past few years and we sold him for our record outgoing fee. Sorry but the two don’t add up. We also had interest in Ntcham’s and Boyata in the last transfer window and if the reports are accurate, we’d have made massive profits on both.

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02 Jan 2019 11:13:29
Gary, agreed I think the scouting system is where we’re failing. Am I correct in saying that the guy that scouted VVD and Wanyama et al is away and our failures have been attributable to the current Head of Recruitment Lee Congerton who I asssume Brendan Rodgers brought?

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02 Jan 2019 11:15:18
I totally agree with you guy's about the scouting network and staff.

I do also think the board and CEO do a great job of trying to keep us on the map in what must be extremely difficult for them to do so, haha I remember saying something similar in the summer and being called a spy and a sympathizer lol

Yea they will make mistakes and yea they will get some right, at the end of the day I'll always love the hoops no matter what. A club like no other 💚🍀 HH.

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02 Jan 2019 11:21:16
We’re not seeing the downside of it Kmax. A lot of posters on here concentrate on guys like Compper and Benyu because it suits their agenda. What about Dembele, who we bought for half a mil and sold for nearly 20 mil, N’tcham, who we bought for 4.5 mil and had interest at allegedly 14 mil, Boyata, who we bought for about 2 mil. I think Fulham we’re talking about 10 mil and others possibly higher.

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02 Jan 2019 12:45:18
Coybig

Dembele was scouted long before Brendan and Congerton got involved with Celtic. Boyata was already at Celtic and Ntcham on recent performances will never leave for 14 million.

Brendan and Congerton have been a disaster in the transfer market. No one is mentioning his bad signings to suit there agenda. They get mentioned because it's a FACT .

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02 Jan 2019 13:06:12
COYBIG, yes your correct to point out dembele, and like another post mentioned ntcham, then boyata. The point I was trying to make that for every dembele, ntcham etc there has been some really poor buys aswell, there is no getting away from that. As for boyata, ( who has done extremely well in most parts since his wee huff) if you’d asked any/ most fans prior to that bid from Fulham if we’d get £9 million for him most I believe would laugh in our face, and I stand by what I said at the time and it was a poor poor decision to knock back that money for a player that now can effectively walk away for nothing. I might be wrong here aswell COYBIG but was boyata not brought in during the John Park era and before Lee converting got brought in? It’s irrelevant anyway mate, all I’m saying is we’ve accumulated a huge squad with some that really don’t deserve to be there and it’s now our job to try get them out and bring in better. Easier said than done but it needs to happen.

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02 Jan 2019 16:01:25
Ok, it’s a fair point that Boyata and Dembele were probably brought in on Park’s recommendation, you could possibly argue that it’s too early to judge Congerton’s performance as we haven’t moved many of his on yet. I know, the ones that aren’t playing are unlikely to show much profit unless they show significant improvements and break into the team. However, Edouard, Ntcham, Sinclair and Benkovic have all been good signings and although Ntcham’s form has dipped, he had been very good previously and his value has increased. If BR had sold Boyata, I’m fairly confident he’d have been slaughtered on here for it. He’s made a significant contribution this season and has shown that we won’t be dictated to by huffy players, the Dembele situation was unretrievable. We have a lot of squad players but we need them. A lot of them might be first team players for Celtic in another era but these guys are winning every domestic trophy put in front of them so it’s hard to get into this team. We’d all like to buy players that are better than the ones currently on the Park but that is very difficult and costly. I’d say you can only realistically expect to see one or two that come into that category in any transfer window.

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02 Jan 2019 17:00:54
No one is saying it’s easy to bring quality into a team that’s won the double treble but that’s down to the powers that be to do just that. We must always be looking to improve from a position of strength as all good quality teams do, granted most teams in European football are on different levels, different budgets but the principal must surely be the same. we as fans are not privy to the behind scene going ons, but the boyata and dembele situations were strange. Dembele was always going sooner rather than later it was common knowledge so to leave it right down to the last few hours without a replacement was criminal ( and I know we may have had a very unhappy player on our hands) but top teams across Europe don’t sell they’re best assets without replacements. Secondly boyata, again if he made it clear he wanted to go we surely must have a list of possible replacements? £9 million for him for me, was criminal to knock back. Only my opinion but no way was he ever worthy of a fee that high.

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02 Jan 2019 23:37:40
I’d have been more than happy to get 9mil for Boyata but we didn’t have a replacement and I’m quite sure we’d have been looking. Is he worth 9 mil? He’s playing for the number 1 ranked nation in the world, so maybe. I believe we are probably looking for replacements for every single player in the team because any of them could leave or suffer career ending injuries at any time.

It’s a difficult job because very few will be found that tick all the boxes and would want to come. I don’t know what happened with Dembele but I don’t think anyone at Celtic saw it coming.

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03 Jan 2019 09:47:00
The dembele one I feel was inevitable. If you remember back to his time with us, as soon as he scored that hatrick against rangers he was instantly linked with all numbers of clubs and it was well documented that after a season or 2 he would move on. That being the case we should’ve had players scouted and I’m talking players that were achievable in getting. I’m not for a second having a go at brendan or Celtic for letting him leave as the way he reportedly conducted himself at the end was out of order but brendan has always maintained he wants 3 strikers at the club and that along with the griffiths situation has left us in a pickle.

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