Ibrox likes trying to piggy back on the lessons we’ve learned, so here’s a good one for them. If they think that the answer to a successful summer is moving on some of the dreck which clogs up their squad right now they are in for a big surprise. As we’ve discovered from previous efforts that is much easier said than done.
Transfer business is never simple.
If you have a squad full of filler you want shot of, you need to have willing buyers for it and when it came to moving on the likes of Bolingoli, Ajeti, Barkas and others we didn’t have a whole lot of luck the first time we tried.
Some will point out, correctly, that we’ve still not moved some of these guys on yet; Barkas and Ajeti are still, technically, Celtic players and big money has been wasted on both of them. But of course, it helps if you’re financially robust enough to take that hit.
A chunk of their squad is almost out of contract, and there are reports about some of them having already decided to move on. That will cut the wage bill somewhat, but it won’t bring in any cash on its own. The wage bill cut would be welcomed at their club but of course a lot of these guys are key squad players and so will have to be replaced.
There will still be a lot of dead wood at that club, players in the squad who don’t play every week and, in fact, who are lucky to get games at all. The media seems to think – clinging to an ancient fantasy here – that they will be able to move these guys on and even get fees for some of them, but that’s a forlorn hope and one, in fact, they’ve bought into before.
We’re a much more robust club than they are, and we can’t do that as quickly or as readily as we’d want at times. Nobody at Parkhead will welcome the headache of trying to find another loan deal or whatever for Barkas. Ajeti is even less likely to be coming back to trumpets and fanfare; he might be one of the most disappointing signings we’ve made in decades.
They are going to face the same problem, and perhaps worse, trying to move on the likes of Colak if he doesn’t fancy it, and why should he?
An overweight ned is walking into the team in front of him every week, and when that guy is not in the team – I was going to say when he’s not fit, but when is he ever fit in the way our club would understand it? – they have played Sakala and the other injury prone forward Roofe first. A Van Bronckhorst signing, Beale just does not rate him at all and that’s obvious.
But the two are very much stuck with each other, and that’s equally true of the likes of Matondo. When you look at Ross Wilson’s record – and let’s do that just for a laugh – you see just how absolutely appalling it is.
Hagi. Kamberi. McLaughlin. Bassey. Balogun. Itten. Roofe. Zungu. Wright. Simpson. Ofoborh. Lundstram. Sakala. Bacuna. Sands. Souttar. Diallo. Ramsey. Colak. Lawrence. Matondo. Tillman. Davies. Ridvan. Cantwell. Raskin.
That’s a lot of players. A whole lot of them, and many of them aren’t even at the club any longer. One Ibrox fan yesterday tried to do a list of the successes … it is painfully funny.
Hagi, who has been injured for what seems like a lifetime.
Bassey, who netted them some money at least but isn’t going to help them now.
Colak, see above. Can’t get a game ahead of Mad Dog.
Lawrence, for God’s sake. He has played nine games for them. Nine.
Tillman, arguable but he’s going to cost them a bomb to keep.
Davies, the kind of signing who managers get sacked for sanctioning as the weekend proved.
Ridvan, who has played less than Lawrence.
Cantwell and Raskin, who are basically just in the door so how they can be branded “successful” signings is insane.
Lundstram, who looks like what I always thought he was; a cardboard hard-man with not an ounce of football in him.
Finally Sakala who alone of that lot looks half decent.
If these are the “success stories” then you know that you’re looking at a car-crash of serious proportions, and a lot of people needing moved on.
The Mooch sat in front of the media today and said that it will be a summer of change, and that the club will very soon decide who it wants to retain and who it wants to move on.
This is sheer nonsense of course as some of those they want to keep won’t be staying and some of those they want to ship out won’t be going … as usual he is living in his own fantasy world.
He and Ross Wilson are under real pressure here.
For once they’d do well to have Celtic foremost in their thoughts. We are better at this than they are, and even our record of moving on those we don’t want any longer is patchy at best, which shows how tough it is to do.
The biggest takeaway when I heard their press conference is that they’re still talking about and thinking about the cup final last weekend. They have a match in two days, but the ones they’re mentally focused on are the one 5 days ago and the next one against us in April. I’ll be very surprised if they don’t drop points this weekend or get knocked out or the cup next weekend.
Replacements at Ibrox will be of the ‘out of contract’ variety.
Ibrox is a total mess…..Great innit!
I hate reading articles about that sack of Kents but I know you feel you’ve got to do it.
The low to mid range financial markets in which we and the scum club deal is a bit of a jungle – you can find beauty and the beast. They can wipe you out if vulnerable. We do, I agree, have a better foundation to handle the successes and the losses. That highlights two things – the strength of our fan base and the two cheeks on the Lawwell creature. One faced towards a model of securing financial stability, the other intent on increasing his power and control of the territory he viewed as his. He was, credit is due, good at the financial aspect of this responsibility but clearly not when the other cheek was turned and faced the other way. He thought he was king of the jungle and we as “his following”.
Lawwell got too involved in the football bringing in Lennon as a patsy manager. One whom he thought would be controlled by him on the football front and for which he could also receive adulation with successes whilst staring away and isolating him from the scapegoating of fans should it go tits up as it did.
Therein lies the difference between us and them; our following took matters in our hands and proactively expressed our distain. We had enough about us to see a collective light through the darkening green of the trees, the others are still blinded by the red, white and blue of the unionist mist.
We forced out the two faced financially successful but greedy grabbing dictator and that failed model. They thought after the Murray minted coin producing club died a new criminal tax cheating king would rise from the ashes. Both models failed to devastating effect they still haven’t learned that they need to grab the bull shit by the horns and stop the sheepishly follow following on. If they’re not careful the silly billys will have no club to follow again. They need to quit with following the failed stanch unionist beliefs but even now at heart they still look to their King.
If they have to have another selling of shares to raise £1million pounds,for what I do not know,it shows that they must be in financial difficulty.Where is the funds coming from to reinvigorate their team,season ticket money? Then what do they use for the upkeep of the stadium? From what I can see the future looks bleak.
The mooch will make the same mistake as Walter Smith in his last season, told a rake of players they were getting the boot, they virtually downed tools.
Why do you call them “ Ibrox “ .
Are you afraid ?
You write recently a rather long piece about Celtic refusing to acknowledge that are a continuation of the old club … yet on Celtic TV they continue to call them the same as the dead club .
You deliberately avoid it by calling them “ Ibrox “
Call them Sevco , James .. or therangers , that’s who they are , I can only assume you are intimidated by not writing the truth , and in a way feeding into the continuation myth
As I have said before James, you are beginning to sound like the worst elements of their support. I have enjoyed this week as much as any Celtic supporter. I have a wee gander at some of their podcasts and what I have taken from them is they realise where they are and some (although grudgingly) give us some credit they mostly are angry at what they rightly see as a general mismanagement of their club much the same as we felt when our board made the mistake of giving the job to Lennon. My point is we don’t need to be continually focused on them they will make an arse of it anyway and as long as we don’t get complacent again we can go for the ten again and I’m serious even if it’s not 10 we would inflict the biggest blow to them possible to them when we overtake their total honours tally because I can assure you right now that’s what is giving them the fear.
To facilitate a revamp of the sevco squad this summer,
what they really need at Ibrox…
is a warchest!
[Preferably with several millions in it – rather than IOU’s.]
🙂
I love this.
Shraudanfue anyone