Owen Beck, the Liverpool youth player, has returned to Dundee on loan for the rest of the season. I think Celtic fans are entitled to know if this is yet another humiliation for our out-of-his-depth head of recruitment? Because it rather looks like it might be.
Owen Beck was touted for a move to Celtic.
It is alleged that what scuppered that move was that he played a single game for Liverpool, thereby ruling it out.
Now, if we were interested in Owen Beck and determined to get a deal done, under normal circumstances you’d think we’d not have let that happen. We’d have spoken to the club and made it clear that a deal was only possible if he didn’t play for them.
But Celtic thinks these things are better left until the last day of the window, to generate easy headlines and to save some money on wages. This is Lawwell MO we’ve come to recognise.
If we failed to make one simple phone call and get one simple assurance to that end, then isn’t that just an utter disaster?
The media will be all over this story, and that’s just one of the questions they will be asking. But they shouldn’t have to ask it, since it’s partly our responsibility as fan media to ask it. If Beck is now subsequently lined up as our key target in the summer, what’s that going to tell us about the board’s utter failure here?
They can’t hide from this, if they’ve screwed this up we’re going to find out about it, we’re going to know. And the manager, of course, knows already.
Some sites are already spinning this as “Celtic’s move being hindered by FIFA and UEFA regulations.” That’s not true.
If we really made the move for this guy and wanted this guy the only people who have hindered Celtic are Celtic, because we didn’t make Liverpool the offer that would have stopped them giving this guy the handful of minutes in their team which ruled out the move.
Bad enough that Dundee got the left back they wanted whilst we’re still fumbling about.
Worse, by far, if they got the left back we wanted.
I don’t know whether Beck is the next big thing or not.
I don’t know whether the club’s interest in Beck was real or if it was just an internet rumour.
But the media does know, and people inside Celtic do know, and people inside Dundee know, and at least some of these stories came from them, and their version of it was that he left their club to tie up the move to Celtic Park.
You can choose to believe that or not, but that story was doing the rounds.
I think there was interest from us. He fits the profile perfectly and nobody can doubt he’s been watched and scouted enough to make a determination. That he’s on the cusp of the Anfield first team anyway is an indication of some talent.
So is it possible that we just dragged our feet?
Is it possible that arrogance and complacency were the reasons we didn’t even get that most fundamental guarantee from Anfield that the guy wouldn’t be selected in lieu of our offer?
Was this yet another John McGinn style screw up?
This one stinks of ineptitude and I’ve thought that since the news that he played for Liverpool in the League Cup, the game which scrapped the idea of us moving for him.
Because it would have been simple to do our business in a professional enough manner that he’d never been in the pool that night … this stinks of foot dragging and basic incompetence.
And you know what? I hope I’m wrong.
I hope the club does have a left back lined up and it blows all our supposition out of the water.
Because if we can’t even get stuff like this right, if we’re inept to this degree, I’m terrified for the rest of this campaign.
Peter liewell and John Mcginn saga spring to mind,it amazes me we’re still top of the league and sevco right on our coat tails ,the amount of bad decisions liewell and the board have made over the years is incredible, we’re lucky that sevco are pretty poor as well ,but at least their board try to back there manager, even dipping into their own pockets,can you imagine liewell and desmond doing that ,all they do is take money out.one more thing if sevco gamble and buy shankland he could very well be the difference between them and us winning the league because he has proved that he can score against spfl diddy teams and he will certainly score for sevco given the help they get from the M I B.
Do you think Liverpool will say ok we won’t play him if Celtic asked?
Arrogance.
I think Lawwell & Son will surprise the nay-sayers and still pull off a major surprise towards the end of this transfer window – perhaps not the left-back, centre-forward and goalkeeper the so-called experts all say we need, but possibly a scrum-half, a fast-bowler and a quarter-back…..
Liverpool pulled him back because they were struggling for players and wanted to play him in the cup games you fud
What sort of fee could Liverpool have been looking for, that’s if we were interested?
My guess is it would have been far higher than we would have been prepared to pay?
Until we actually hear anything regarding the potential money involved, then it remains a non storey?
Course we should expect the Scottish hun scum cheerleaders to make something out of it, but weren’t the scum also interested in beck?
Beck still remains unproven as such, and having a good game against Maeda in a battle he won against ourselves, hardly means we were fully interested either?
Looked a very promising prospect of a player, and could well understand if Liverpool are using Dundee to help his development also, especially as they couldn’t use the loan system elsewhere by all accounts?
Its a disgrace , its also telling that brendan did not look surprised one bit when he was told beck took the field.
Ring ring , hello , jurge its brendan, brendan! How ru ? The house is spotless i promise u but where are we on Beck? We ready?.
Why am calling jurge am over this crap, look can you do us a favor during the cup game …
There is more to this .
Right now would he play before GT. He is a young boy, unproven, does he make us better straight away, ifs, buts and maybes.
Very strange that they would put the lad on for 4 mins and scupper any chance of going to Celtic. It must have been deliberate and Sevco’s tentacles stretch a long way. If not them then perhaps Lawwell’s attitude annoyed them. Either way there seems no logical reason for it apart from shafting Celtic.
That’s one hell of a lot speculation about someone who would have been at best another ‘project’….
A guy on the cusp of the Liverpool first team is NOT a project.
Think it might have more to do with us not playing Nat Phillips and him going back early. Klopp pulled the rug out from under us on that one. Likely Liverpool have named a price and we’ve said no because of his lack of first team experience.
John McGinn choose not to sign for us so can we let the sob stories about him end
.
I know the full story and that’s miles from being accurate.
If the rumours are true ML fecked this deal up and disrespected Klopp then the owner of that should be hunted
Nonsense James. You have a determination to wholly put the responsibility on PL and that is not the whole story and is misguiding. HPL could have paid the extra cash Hibs wanted no doubt but If McGinn wanted to sign for us and nothing was going to stop him from doing so he would have signed for us. No one held a gun to his head.
At worst he could have waited until the summer if he really wanted to but didn’t. He chose no to sign for us and decided to sign on at Villa and that was 100% his choice.
Did the same thing not happen when Gordon Strachan wanted to sign Steve Fletcher but big Pete liewell put the kaboosh on that as well.
I’m gonna give them the benefit of the doubt but it’s a big doubt with their history in transfer windows, but there’s still a wee tiny bit to go yet in it so I’ll wait and see what if anything they do before being a keyboard nutcase…
On a slightly different topic – Just see on TV there that The Celtic Ghirls we’re beaten by Glasgow City and The Sevco ones won away to Aberdeen so that League is slip sliding away to Sevco –
This one for the guys team had fcukin better not – or else they’ll be verbal hell to pay for these old grey guys !
Watched this guy when he was with Dundee and have been sayin for a while, imo he’s definitely worth signin. If the board have messed this up they’re an embarrassment. Wonder what we’re gonnae end up with, if anythin in the next 4 days.
A boy who got 10 minutes in a cup tie did we not have a player from Liverpool who played numerous premier league and cup ties for them and look how good he was was enough said .
IF we do sign anyone else before the window shuts,
is this just further proof that recruitment is just not working?
The positions we needed to recruit for – including LB before GT got injured –
were well kown, well before January 1st.
Why were targets not approached before then?
There has been a total lack of rumours about potential targets,
which ‘could’ suggest that recruitment is just not happening,
[or being conducted with incredible secrecy?]
The only rationale, imo, for bringing in players this late in the window
is to either force the cheapest deal possible, [an old PL favourite ploy],
OR, it’s simply a reaction.
A reaction to GT’s injury, a reaction to grumbling support, perhaps even
a reaction to BR’s grumbling behind the scenes [if he is] ?
Our club should not be scrabbling about for players on the last days
of the window. It looks cheap, amateurish and slapdash.
Will be surprised if we get anyone – and certainly not getting ‘quality’! 🙁