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Is This Going To End As The “No Luck” Window?

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I’m a firm believer that in this life you make your own luck, and that’s why I am loathe to make any suggestion that if we fail to get a big signing over the line today that  it will have anything to do with that fact. But some things can’t be denied and one of those is that in classic terms that part of luck which does depend on fate or whatever has gone against us badly.

Take the talks we were having with Manchester City over one or more deals. Those came to a shuddering, juddering halt the minute we drew them in the Champions League. The odds on that were about 8/1. We were 50/50 to get an English team in our group and there were four possible sides we could have got. Not out of sight odds, but you wouldn’t have slapped the mortgage payments on them, would you?

Whatever talks we were having with Everton about McCarthy appear to have stalled. Yes, only yesterday I thought we still might get that one over the line, but I also said that no player is any good to us sitting on the bench. James’ injury pretty much closes the book on that one.

Will we revisit it?

Like with the City negotiations – especially those over Roberts – all we can do is wait and see, but events just went against us as far as these deals went.

Today there are reports that Jozo Simunovic isn’t going to Torino.

Reports that he failed his Torino medical originated at The Record, and the BBC has flatly denied them. Nevertheless, even they have said something’s clearly not right here, so a deal that looked on now might be off, and the £3.75 million that gave us that extra leeway will have gone by the boards with that news. This isn’t to say the manager doesn’t still have money; he most certainly does, especially with Johansen departing. But this was extra, and there would have bene no excuse not to spend it.

Negotiations are ongoing with several players, both in and out of the club.

Rumours that we’re going to let go Armstrong are, I hope, just that. He’s still got a shot at being the lynchpin of our midfield in the future and I’d hate to think Brendan had no faith. Ambrose, yes, you’d allow him to leave and probably Mackay Steven with him.

I expect the Celtic Park fax machine to be working all day long. I expect there to be at least one signing. But it seems clear that a large part of the plan depended on bringing in at least one top player – possibly on a loan deal – only to find that circumstances changed on us at the worst possible moment. It’s what happens sometimes.

As I suspected, we’re probably not going to see the full scope of Brendan’s plan for a while. It’ll be the January window before we get a better idea of it … but someone should sign today and as far as I’m being told it’s one we’ll be happy with.

Stay tuned good people!

In Brendan We Trust!

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