Whatever happens between now and the end of the season, there is one certainty; we are going to need to do all the work that we have colossally failed to do so far in strengthening this squad. Do I think we will? That depends what the consequences for the current failure are. There are people at Celtic Park who should be under real pressure at the moment. Not at the end of the campaign, when the outcomes are known. They should be under scrutiny right now.
Yesterday, the dropping of points was made worse by the guy I thought was the man of the match, the scorer of Aberdeen’s goal and later put the ball in the net only to see it correctly knocked off for offside. I think Miovski is a huge talent, and I wrote an article late last year (or early in January, it’s hard to keep track) saying exactly that.
At the time, some in the media speculated that he was not worth what Aberdeen were looking for; a reputed “record between Scottish clubs.” That translates to a mere £4.5 million, which is what we paid Hibs for Scott Brown. Adjusted for inflation that’s a pitifully small number, one that should be well within the reach of our club. It would have been worth it.
Even when you consider that any club in Scotland selling a player to us will add on the fabled £2 million “Celtic premium”, as Hibs wanted to do with John McGinn, you’re still talking about paying around £6 million for a 23-year-old international with huge re-sale potential who scores in big games and can play under pressure. That’s a steal.
Reports – covered by my good friend Paddy Sinat today – that Aberdeen would have been looking for £8-9 million for the guy if we were doing the bidding can be taken with a grain of salt. Because they would never get that from anywhere else and I wonder if they’d get the £5-6 million elsewhere either. They would need to be realistic about this. The only way they’d have got that kind of money was in January. In the summer, they’d have to take less.
So I reckon that £6 million would get us across the line.
Only snobs think we shouldn’t pay that kind of money for an SPFL player.
We will pay that money for an SPFL player in the future, because the stagnant stinking state of this league right now surely cannot last and at some stage the academy systems at other clubs have to start paying off. Scotland was producing world class players when guys were kicking balls around red ash pitches; why can we no longer do it with all the money being spent on developing skills and nurturing talent? At some point the ludicrous Lowland League experiment will end and this game will get real about a youth league once more.
Right now, we can only look at the clubs around us and see if they’ve discovered some gem who we have missed out on. I was never convinced by the big bruisers like Louis Moult, Joel Nouble, Van Der Veen or Lyndon Dykes, very ordinary players who excel in teams who rely on brute strength. I was never a great fan of Shankland, but I did know Leigh Griffiths was born to play for Celtic and as I told him shortly after he signed (I captured him in a Celtic Park corridor, and he looked positively un-nerved by my wild-eyed assurance) that he would score 100 goals for us.
Miovski is so obviously an excellent footballer that immense credit must go to the Aberdeen talent scouts who found him. We could do with their kind of quality in the recruitment sector right now. That they also found Duk means they’re doing something very right. Miovski has great game intelligence. He has good first touch. He moves well. He is alert and he can finish in style. He is exactly the sort of striker we should be looking for.
Frankly, if the choice comes down to the Dane striker, or someone like that, some punt who is going to cost a few quid, and a guy we know can do it here and who can be developed by the right manager into the real thing, I would go for Miovski all day and every day. He proved it again yesterday. It’s too late to get him for this campaign, but for the next one … yeah, if he’s not high up on our target list … well that’s further proof that we have the wrong people compiling it.
I’ve been told that Aberdeen want minium 6 million for him…
That there’s 3 teams hovering about him already other than ourselves who can pay at least double his wages thag he’d receive at parkhead…
Miovski scores yesterday against Celtic no less as well…
He wouldn’t have if he was signed last week –
More piss poor management by Celtic…
Especially as we cannot hiypt a bloody barn door these days –
(Incidentally Shankland scored twice and won Hearts two valuable points yesterday as well)…
Yet more piss poor management by Celtic !
you forget that sevco will now be in the mix and will be able to afford him with the C L money gifted to them by the trojan horse , if the same shams are still in control at celtic expect things to get a lot worse before they get better , however i think it’s gonna get a lot hotter for those in the ” HOT ” seats in the coming weeks , matter of fact i reckon those guys have crossed their very own rubicon this time
Agree 100% He should have been top of our list and if our scouting/recruitment were anyway good, we would have him. Unfortunately we have Lawwell. Like father, like son.
Today should be P45 Day x 2.
It’s obvious why there is no real talent at other SPFL teams. As soon as their best academy players hit 16 a club from down south comes in and signs them. Since Brexit , it’s been happening a lot more.
Even at celtic we have been losing our brightest talents
Miovski is worth the cash. Mobile, has pace, reads the game well. Brendan would improve this guy. Shankland is just not Celtic class. He is slow over 10 yards and always looks a wee bit out of shape to me. He can finish, but in Europe he’d struggle. Leave well alone.
One of the many things that pisses me off about Celtics signing “strategy” is the almost total refusal to sign players from Scottish clubs, unless they’re out of contract, or for pitifully low fees.
We almost never want to see any of our money invested within Scotland, which is in itself so short sighted. If we spend in Scotland, the money goes to develop other clubs here, so raising the standard of opposition, creating a higher level of football, so developing our club by having to play better players every week.
Now yi might say it’s not our responsibility ti help other clubs development, which is true but we would also benefit, who knows, we might even get some teams only playing we 10 men behind the ball…….
HH
I am a big admirer of Miovski and I am certainly no snob, but it wrankles me to be paying over the odds just because of who we are, the Celtic tax? It is not something we should ever encourage and once started it can never be undone, in fact it will continually be expected. We didn’t get him, did we even try, but let sleeping dogs lie, there is no point in flogging a dead horse. This particular episode is over and there is no point in trying to resurrect it, only for his Club to fk us about if given half a chance.
It’s very hard to write this. A treble is possible at Ibrox. The people at Celtic need to realise that is a real possibility. On current form it’s odds on.
Mark b ,I think and fear you could be right here regarding sevco,that manager they have might not be the best on the planet but he is making a decent fist off it, with a lot of the mooch,s dross,if that lot win the league we’re in big trouble because they will spend all their winnings and CL riches to strengthen their team, something this terrible Celtic board have never done,ie build on success we seem to do the opposite.
Ronaldo couldn’t sore goals under Rodger’s
That’s the bottom line.
Dermot wanted him. he should pay him off with his personal funds.
Start Again.
We should have signed Miovski in January. He’s exactly the type of striker we need and young enough to develop into his peak years with the added bonus of potentially trebling our outlay if we sold him on. But no, we get a third choice striker from Norwich on loan. That sums up the current state of our club.
James how come you and I and every other supporter knew we needed a striker, miovski or shankland have a great record in scoring in the SPFL which is what we needed,if we all seen this how come BR, liewell junior or anyone connected with the club couldn’t see this and act on it,does Rodgers not rate these two more than a 3 rd choice Norwich striker.I like many others are at my wits end trying to fathom out what goes on at Celtic.
It is so strange and you could say the same about a goalkeeper. There must be something in this thing about Lawwell trying to help Sevco.