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The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of January Transfer Windows At Celtic Park.

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Celtic fans are expectant as we move towards the January transfer window; but how confident should we really be?

I reckon it’ll be a good one, but compared to what?

What exactly is our record in the January window, and what kind of impact did it have on the title race and our hopes overall?

Some of these were underwhelming windows which ended in good years … and yet arguably the most ambitious of them ended in disaster.

This is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of our January windows in recent years.

2018: This Year Was A Strange One …

I was generally satisfied at the end of this one, believe it or not. We had specific areas we needed to address, most notably central defence, and we went out and bought in Hendry and Compper. We brought in young Scott Bain on loan too, and we agreed a summer deal for Lewis Morgan.

We also brought in the marquee footballer, Charley Musonda. He was going to be the star of the show that season and this one.

It was not perfect but I have to admit that I did come out of it with a degree of optimism … which may have been misplaced.

Because Hendry has not been the player we hoped for and Compper has been an unmitigated disaster. We have yet to see the best of Morgan and Scott Bain has been in and out of the team and has never let us down.

The worst of it, perhaps, was the way the Musonda deal went pear-shaped. The reasons why aren’t clear but there was clearly an attitude problem and that affected his game time.

For all that, the double-treble was secured so all in all it wasn’t half bad.

2017: The Eboue Enigma Doesn’t Halt The Invincibles March

A strange one this; in Brendan’s first season we were cruising, unbeaten at that point (and we finished unbeaten; that never gets old that, does it?) and so there wasn’t much need for a drastic, radical, rebuilding job. Good job too because we didn’t get one. We brought in a single player – Kouassi Eboue – and he has been one of the oddest signings in recent years. He cost us a cool £3 million, and was never more than a project player.

The club has high hopes for him, but he hasn’t exactly set the heather on fire.

Not that it mattered.

We finished that domestic campaign as The Invicibles.

So no harm done!

2016: Patrick Roberts “Jets In” And Stays For Two Years

The Patrick Roberts window, so there’s that for a start. In Ronny’s second, and last, season, we brought in the sensational English winger on an 18 month loan that proved to be a masterstroke. The guy just lit up the games and gave us all a huge lift, and the fact that he was to play in Brendan’s first season was also vital to the team.

It was the window when Erik Sviatchenko was brought to the club too, for a £1.5 million fee. He did a fine job whilst he was here, and I was sad to see him go when he did. And it was the window when, for reasons known only to Ronny, we brought in the hugely ineffectual Colin Kazim Richards. It was an inexcusable signing; he offered us nothing at all.

The club famously got to the Scottish Cup semi-final that year, and our lack of firepower on the day was evident. We lost to Sevco on penalty kicks, giving their fans their one day in the sun against us. Yes, they went on to lose the final against Hibs (during the same window, we let Stokes got on loan to the Easter Road club; that changed history) but that window is one that still makes you bite your nails in frustration at what might have been.

Light at the end of the tunnel? It might also, inadvertently, have given us Brendan Rodgers.

2015: Made In Dundee

Ronny’s first season in charge, and we were actually playing some splendid football and looking as if we were hungry and ready for anything.

The summer window had been entirely underwhelming, and in the winter one we let go of Beram Kayal so it wasn’t looking good until the final day when we swooped for Dundee Utd duo Gary Mackay Steven and Stuart Armstrong.

It seemed, then and now, like a pretty weak way to prepare for a Europa League knockout double header against Inter Milan, but we actually gave a good account of ourselves in those games. And of course we stormed to a league title, and secured the League Cup as well. We did lose the Scottish Cup, in a controversial semi against Inverness, where – and let’s not beat around the bush – we were cheated out of a potential treble.

Both the Dundee Utd boys were to do us a good turn that season and Armstrong went on to become an important part of the Invincible team before falling out of favour the following year and leaving at the start of this summer.

2014: Commeth The Hour, Commeth Scotland’s Best Striker

Neil Lennon’s final season, and we won the title but collapsed in Europe and were knocked out of both cup competitions before we even got to a stage with the word “final” in it. Bound to have been a disappointing January window, then, right?

Oddly enough, no, because it was the window when we finally realised that Scotland’s best striker was sitting rotting away on the Wolves bench, and bought Leigh Griffiths. He has never been anything other than a phenomenal signing. And equally good for us when he was on his game was Stefan Johansen, who came in for £2 million and impressed us all with good displays and goals to boot. I always enjoyed watching him and was only surprised we didn’t get more money for him when he eventually left us.

We also signed a player called Hólmbert Friðjónsson, for £100,000. If you’re asking “Who the Hell is he?” you’re not the only one. I had to Google him. He’s an Icelandic striker who barely featured for us and didn’t score a single goal.

We loaned him to Bronby and then cut him loose. He went on to Iceland where he became a regular scorer for Stjarnan and from there to Aalesund in Norway, where, actually, he’s been prolific. At 25, he’s now on the verge of full national team recognition.

During that same window one particular nightmare did come to an end; we terminated the contract of one Mo Bangura.

Thank God for small mercies.

2013: The Tom Rogic Window … And Not Much Else

Underwhelming this one, to say the least, except for one thing … of the four players we brought in one of them has gone on to be an absolutely sensational footballer, so before writing off any of our signings remember his name; this was the Tom Rogic window.

We signed him from Australian club Central Coast Mariners for £400,000 … it was the only cash we spent.

Our other signings that window were a guy called Colin McCade – we got him on a free from an Irish team and not a word has been heard of him since – and two loanees, neither of whom will be more than a footnote in history if even that; Rami Gershon, a left back from Israel and Viktor Noring, a stand-in goalie.

To say these are unimpressive is to put it mildly.

And yet … this window didn’t harm us one bit.

We won the league at a walk, we got to the League Cup semi-final and we won the Scottish Cup.

So not a disaster although I remember moaning about it a lot at the time.

2012: Lustig Joins For The Party As Rangers Falls Into The Abyss

The Year The Rangers died! A window which was memorable only for being their last one ever, but for making it clear to their fans that the slide into the abyss had begun when they had to punt their leading goal-scorer for a pittance.

Because ours wasn’t that great either.

We spent zero pounds and zero pence.

We brought in three players, one of them on loan.

The first of the two signings was Rabiu Ibrahim, not exactly a household name either then or now, and who played exactly one game for us before moving to Kilmarnock where he played sixteen in the league. Useless.

Of the other permanent signing, I can say more nice things. It was Mikael Lustig.

Naturally, we’re no longer complaining about that one … the loanee? Pavel Brozek, a Polish striker who played a handful of games and scored no goals. Brilliant.

Our parsimony in these windows really is ridiculous, right?

2011: Kris Commons Can’t Turn Around A Dismal League Campaign

A Scottish Cup.

That was our take from this season, and although the two key signings in that window were to have a big impact on our future – Kris Commons and Tony Watt – it didn’t seem particularly impressive then or now. A curiousity from that season; we had also signed, on free contracts, outside of the window, Olivier Kapo (who?) and Freddie Ljundberg (why?).

So I guess you could add them to the January “spend” if you wanted to, not that it mattered.

These were the Dark Days … Rangers went on to win their third title on the bounce, when we should have had a hand around their throat.

We famously lost this title due to a shocking night in Inverness.

An underwhelming winter window could have partially been excused though by the way we went about our business in the summer that same year, it was far more impressive even if it proved, ultimately, not to be enough.

2010: Robbie Keane … And A Bunch Of Others. To No Avail.

A season that started with Mowbray in the dugout and finished up with Lenny there instead. There’s nothing nice to say about any of it except that when it became clear that we were in dire straits the board went out and did something positive. The same applied to the winter window.

Yes, this was the year of Keano.

Robbie, not Roy.

It was also the last window where we showed anything like imagination and vision; it is, in fact, the perfect prototype for the one we’re about to enter. With the league looking like a distant prospect, the club decided to splash the cash and perhaps start building for the future.

And lo how we spent, and what excellent footballers we signed.

Not only was Keane brought to the club on the last day of the window, but he was joined that day but other signings; Diomansy Kamara, a winger/striker on loan from Fulham; Edson Braffheid, a Dutch international by God, on loan from Bayern Munich and a kid called Paul Slane.

But that wasn’t even the half of it, because we spent money too.

Before those guys arrived we’d already bought Morten Rasmussen for £1.3 million from Bronby, fellow Scandinavian Thomas Rogne, we had paid £2 million for Jos Hooiveld and, drum roll, £2.1 million for Ki Sung Young.

Eight signings, and a lot of money spent. That’s what you call a winter window.

And we got sod all for it.

No trophies folks.

None.

A disaster in every way.

2009: The Darkness: The Willo Flood Window

There’s a reason we’re ending on this one; this is the window where we handed our title to Rangers on a plate, when four-in-a-row looked on. In doing so, we gave them time they ought not to have had. Such was their financial position that any title we won in that period would have killed them before Whyte even came along.

This was the window where we should have put the boot on their throats and pressed down.

Instead, we signed Willo Flood.

And believe it or not, he was the most memorable of the three signings we made in that one.

The other two were Filip and Patrick Twardzik.

A lot of our young fans are saying “Who?” but actually those two kids were very talented and there was a while there when we thought we might see one or both of them make it. In the end though, none of the three was particularly impressive … and Rangers got three more years.

It was the window of which Peter Lawwell famously said; “Steven Fletcher will be etched on my tombstone” after Celtic failed to sign the then-Hibs striker.

Into This One Then …

This is an important one, of course, because this summer was an absolute nightmare and big things have been promised in public and private about it.

We have to show an appropriate level of ambition for the manager, and convince people we’re heading somewhere good.

The prospect of a Willo Flood situation – where we make a huge mistake and hand some small advantage to Ibrox – cannot be overlooked and so I do not expect any mistakes on that level. The manager has promised backing and I do believe he’ll get it. He has to.

Because if this goes wrong, as the summer did, then Peter Lawwell is no longer going to have worry about being known for Steven Fletcher.

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