Right now, out of ourselves and Ibrox, they are having the better transfer window. It does not translate into anything more than bragging rights at the end of the day, but if it works for them then it will obviously translate into points they’d otherwise not have won.
They knew what their priorities were going into this, and moving out one non-scoring striker to bring in another might not seem like a great move, but Silva has gone right into their team whereas Lammers was not going to be a big game player for them at any time. It wouldn’t have taken much for him to be an upgrade.
On the left of the pitch they’ve signed a left back. We would never have signed that guy and I would have been very unhappy if we had, but they know what they have to do. They have two internationals in that position and they’re trying to move out at least one of them for a bit of money in this window and his replacement is very nearly in the door.
They’ve gone out and bought a midfielder. Did they need one of those? They have injuries and players out of contract in the summer, so this is the kind of advance planning Ange did in his first January window knowing Bitton and Rogic were going to go. I have no idea whether this guy is any good, and whilst I knew they weren’t spending £4 million on him in this window, with them being skint, they aren’t paying until the summer … that’s a massive gamble, but their club is at least willing to roll the dice and gamble, especially with what’s at stake.
So overall, so far, they’ve had a revenue neutral window which leaves them stronger at the top of the end of the park, in a sense, although the injury to Sima is a disaster. But they have enough depth up there to cover for that against the SPFL level sides.
It’s obvious what they are saving their money for; a proper move for Lawrence Shankland, which I now think is a certainty and one which Hearts won’t fight terribly hard. If they manage to do that they’ll have accomplished exactly what it was they set out to before the window opened, and that one thing above all, bringing in a guy who will score enough goals to get them past most teams in the SPFL, which is all we had to do at the same time.
And that’s the risk now. That’s the gamble. I’m not suggesting we should have gone out and signed Shankland, because I don’t think he’s the next-level player we need, but the facts are that Shankland will score goals in Glasgow for whichever side signs him and that those goals might be the difference between winning this title and that big pot of money and not.
Our own board’s remit is to arm us as well as it can for that fight. It has not.
It failed in the summer and so far it has manifestly failed this month. The excuses are all a bunch of bullshit. They’ve had months to plan this and get it right and they are now trying to blow smoke to cover for a massive strategic failure.
If we’re putting all our chips on Kyogo’s goals to see us through this title race we’re taking a huge and unpardonable gamble.
If that shoulder of his goes we won’t see him again this season and if that happens as Shankland is banging in goals across the city, we’re in big trouble
If they sign him and we fail to bring a forward in, they will have emerged from the window obviously strengthened in the one area where we currently need a player most.
And those who say January is a hard time to bring in players are going to look like absolute fools when across town they’ve brought in an EPL striker, a promising midfielder and the top scorer in the SPFL at the same time as we’ve dragged our feet.
If that’s the outcome, this title race will go to the wire.
It is so, so unnecessary and so, so stupid. It is a damning indictment on the “head of recruitment” and those who gave him the gig. It is an unforgivable disgrace and I just pray that we are not all paying the highest possible price for it when the season ends.
Falling asleep at the wheel part 2
An absolute disgrace of a transfer window we will not win the league even if they don’t sign Shankland, Brendan is part of the problem as he is letting those above him dictate who comes in, he will be away shortly.
I’ve just read on the BBC that Celtic have no plans to sign anyone else in this window. If that is true, in, withe the exception of the 10IAR year, the most important title to win in recent years, it’s is utterly shambolic. I would lay the blame for this on the board, recruitment team and Rodgers – for not insisting on reinforcements. Every Celtic fan can see the areas that clearly need strengthening. If they can’t, or can but refuse to do anything about it, they should be removed from their positions immediately.
The only concern regarding the currents is that their signings – purely by the law of averages – would have to be an improvement on the dross they had. Coupling our inactivity with the bias of officials, especially VAR, this could be a tough title to win. Far more so than it should have been.
This has happened b4 and we refuse to change. Why? The only thing that makes sense to me is its deliberate. Why do we never buy when we can afford it? Are lawwell and Co trying to help that lot? I wish Mr heated driveway would gtf and let us try and improve.
We keep talking about “next level” players as if Celtic aspire to having a right good go at the Champions League. They never do.
As such, Celtic absolutely should have went for Shankland and publicly so, offering Hearts the kind of money the huns can not afford. It would be a win win. If he didn’t want to sign for Celtuc then he’d be stuck because Hearts can not be seen to be accepting a lowball offer paid up over 5 years in ginger boatils when they had a proper offer on the table.
The Celtic Board have a responsibility to their customers. Let’s make that distinction because they certainly do. All we are to them is customers. And what do customers do when they get pissed about?
£70m in the bank and a guy who’s job it is to recruit players into the Celtic squad. And right now Cetic are being shown up by a club that we should so easily be able to keep at arms length.
Celtic have ’til midnight on Thursday to turn this sorry situation around. If all we see coming in the door are more punts (like Kuhn), project no hopers or second rate bench warmers then the Celtic board better pray it is good enough to win the League. Because, if it isn’t
If they win this league and gain the riches from the champions league i fear it is us that could be left trailing behind them as say what you like about the people that run that club,but the one thing they do is put the playing side first….they are willing to take risks when they are skint so imagine if they had £50…£60 million from champions league…..this could and should have never even been a possibility if the powers that be at paradise had did the job of arming our manager with proper players capable of going straight into our first team…our board is a joke
Celtic will lose this title by design to keep ibrox in the picture just like they did by decimating our defence to deny us the 10
Peter Lawwell is the “head of recruitment”, since his son is there to do what daddy tells him to.
In effect this means doing everything on the cheap and hoping that it somehow all works out in the end.
If it doesn’t, so what, he’s still laughing all the way to the bank.
I’m glad I no longer contribute to these charlatans in any way.
“Lawwell & Son” need to go, pure and simple. . PL’s planet sized ego serves no purpose at all for this club. Should never have been allowed near the club again. And the nepotistic failure of Lawwell Jr to provide any level of upgrading to the team is a close 2nd place in terms of apocalyptic shooting both feet failure.
Hun helping board,that allowed the huns to keep cheating its own team,rigged to keep the huns afloat
Project signings is the name of the game last window & this and the biggest of all has been Mark Lawwell—totally unqualified for the position he holds, Daddy’s puppet, as Celtic continue to be the gift that keeps on giving for the Lawwell family and other board members. Us supporters are being taken as mugs and since Ange left we have been in a managed decline. Rodgers been talking about quality signings the next level etc etc is he complicit in this current shit show that has been the last 2 transfer windows?
The Celtic board won’t change how they run Celtic they will just keep doing the same thing that’s been successful up to now you won’t see any players they buy costing to much and any manager employed will go with that system so all this talk about the goal keeper from Liverpool is all bull not a chance Celtic will pay what is being quoted might get him on loan but that will cost millions .And today’s match pretty poor performance all I can say Celtic fans paying to watch spl football get a very poor deal paying to watch that football.