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Celtic’s Massive Squad Rebuild Is Miraculous In Part Because Of The Cash Involved.

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As the full-time whistle blew at Tynecastle the other night, the full shape of what Ange has done started, finally, to come properly into focus. When you consider the team we took to that ground at the start of the season and the one which left at the end of that game you see just how complete, and remarkable, that transformation has been.

Fourteen players took the field for Celtic at some stage in the game.

Just four of them played in that match.

It is astonishing to consider that, and the credit for it belongs to the manager and to those at Celtic who have given him this kind of backing.

A report this morning counted up the cost of this rebuild. Ange has signed a slew of players at what you might think is enormous expense. Indeed, I thought when I initially saw the size of the job he had in front of him that it was outright impossible except with the sort of transfer spent that we’ve never seen in our lives as Celtic fans.

In fact, the total cost of the job has been just shy of £23 million. Which to my mind is both incredible and an absolute credit to all involved. How is it possible that we’ve built a cup winning, title challenging team for that sort of money in the modern game?

First, you have to give immense credit to Ange for being able to spot a player. The Japanese footballers all look superb; indeed, Kyogo has already proved to be one of the most astute pieces of business in our recent history. The whole rebuild has been done in a manner that is markedly different from any other we’ve done. It’s been nearly flawless.

The second thing you have to realise is that although that’s a huge outlay for a Scottish club we have, in fact, spent very little money that we didn’t bring in from outgoing transfers.

Quite simply, the sales of Ajer and Edouard are what has paid for this rebuild.

And that, my friends, is quite incredible and it is this ability to sell players on for big profits which marks us out as different from the club across the city and makes their own summer rebuild to come – and it will be extensive, with so many players both out of contract and entering their final year. We were able to self-fund this whole thing.

The more you look at it, the more you see that our summer and winter windows have been an absolute triumph. We are unarguably stronger, as a club, than we were this time last year and that ought to have been nearly undoable without breaking the bank.

Yet we’ll probably emerge from a £23 million spend in profit for this campaign.

That is extraordinary and should send shockwaves through our rivals.

We really are light years in front of them when it comes to this stuff.

It’s why we’ll regain our crown.

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  • Fat8mike says:

    Took gerrard 40+ signings and 3 years to get anywhere near a trophy, and even then it required a massive catastrophe of a season on our part.. given the ceo disappeared and he brought nobody else in as backroom staff the blame would lie at anges door if it went wrong. What a way to back yourself. Deserves all the credit he’s getting here. Trophy no.2 is on its way

  • jrm63 says:

    Good times seemingly lie ahead. Unfortunately, it is not just the Celtic-minded who will be impressed by what has been achieved in a very short space of time. That is inevitable I suppose.

  • John S says:

    Manager can clearly spot a player. The Board got the business spot-on.

  • Tam Campbell says:

    Takes a guy from the other side of the world to reinstate football the Glasgow Celtic way and credit (grudgingly) to the board for finally waking up and smelling the coffee, but, had they had their way…. Anyway, Ange seems intent on a legacy not a quick fix, and I , for one , am all in.

    • Roonsa says:

      Well stated Tam. But I would say that point will never be realised till the legacy is in place. The lure of the EPL cash cow is too great for most. We trusted in Rodgers who ran at the first whiff of interest from England. He had his reasons, I know, but it was inevitable regrdless.

      I do, however, see Ange as a more principled man. He stayed in Japan till the last possible moment even though we needed him here sooner. That shows integrity – something I don’t think you could ever credit Rodgers with.

  • Roonsa says:

    Celtic have done everything we could have expected of them this season given the circumstances. There is one hurdle left to clear – beating the huns. I reckon it is imperative we do that on Wednesday and we must beat Dundee Utd today.

    If we can reduce the gap to 1pt (assuming the huns win today and I believe they will) then it’s game on. Defeat and I reckon the League is done – that lot are grinding out too many results and I don’t see them dropping 8 points more than us before the end of the season if they win on Wednesday. A draw will not be the end but it leaves them, in my view, with a large psychological advantage – we must prove that we can beat them.

    As for Giakoumakis, I remain unconvinced. But that’s not his fault – he’s hardly kicked a baw for Celtic. If he can help us topple the Arabs n huns then we might not be in a rush to see Kyogo or Daizen back. And that would be a good thing.

    It’s crunch time Celtic. It’s time to show this shower a cheating cunts what we’re all about.

    Mon the Hoops!

  • Martin H. says:

    Ange has done a remarkable job for a guy we were a wee bit sceptical about when he was appointed has everybody on board including the board.

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