Whatever happened in the last 48 hours, we should all be happy about it. Whether it was the outpouring of obvious, unrestrained, anger in Celtic cyberspace or whether it Brendan himself finally slamming a fist down on Lawwell’s desk and demanding he get someone, we’re on the verge of completing the signing of Kolo Toure today.
We’re entitled to ask questions about this one, by the way.
He’s been available, on a free, for many months now. There was no pesky club side to deal with, so of course no transfer fee. Yes other clubs might have been interested, but when we decided to move forward, decisively, we closed it. What motivated the club to put it’s back into this and not earlier in the week, I wonder?
Anyway, be thankful (I will not use the word grateful) for small mercies.
Anyway, Kolo Toure is exactly what we’re looking for here, and I hope he’s fit enough to go into the team because we need, badly, his kind of experience we badly need in a crucial area of the pitch. The guys playing alongside him will learn more in one year than they would in ten playing beside lesser footballers of limited pedigree.
This move will work out well. Ignore the naysayers who are telling us the guy isn’t fit; he’s a proper athlete and has been playing in a top league for years.
His signing shouldn’t distract us from the truth though. We need more players in, at least one more in central defence for starters.
Toure won’t play on Wednesday; the manager says he wants a signing made for tomorrow.
He couldn’t make it clearer. He needs this, and the board had better deliver on.
We fly out tomorrow.
Rumours have linked us with a loan move for an attacking midfielder; even if we were in the market for one of those, Brendan should be allowed the stability of building a side without loanees. I sing this song every year, and of course we usually end up with at least one top drawer player here … Roberts being this year’s.
But I don’t believe loan deals are good for a club.
They leave you with uncertainty, and even if they work they create frustration, such as that we’re feeling over Roberts right now; no matter how well he does for us, no matter how much he likes Celtic and we like him, the chances are that we’ll never be able to sign him up on a permanent deal.
Nevertheless, new bodies are needed and they have to be delivered. The club can move forward under Brendan; there’s no doubt about that at all. Yesterday was another exercise in the tactical flexibility that we so badly missed under Deila, as wedded as he was to his system.
We played well, in spite of lacking the personnel in key areas.
I am confident about the season ahead, but the board’s lamentable failure to back the manager thus far is causing a lot of consternation amongst the support.
It is important to keep our forward momentum going.
Another signing by the time the team leaves tomorrow would help that process.
Anything less and we’re gambling.
Unfortunately, we have a history of doing just that.
Just as I published this the news has broken that Kolo has signed a one year deal.
Welcome to Celtic, big man.