Big Bad John Hartson is one of my favourite pundits, and that’s why I never have a bad word to say about the guy. I am not about to change that today, although I will disagree with him slightly. On a podcast the other night he said that we should accept any big bid we get for our key players, so as to equip Brendan Rodgers with the funds for his rebuild.
That’s not necessary though. If we get an offer and the player himself wants to go, and we feel that it would best for the cohesion of the squad to let him go then that’s a different story. But this selling our top assets just because we get a decent offer is for the birds. That’s a practice that needs to come to a screeching halt. And the idea that we need to fund the summer rebuild by selling people doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. In fact, we’ve got plenty of money.
Not only are we sitting on that vast cash surplus, but the boss has just secured us the Champions League bounty to end them all; if anyone at Celtic claims that we’re somehow poverty stricken that person should be chased. The boss will have to get rid of a lot of deadwood from the wage bill, but that’s down to those who second-guessed his needs last summer and got it badly wrong. These people cannot be permitted to jeopardise this one.
We need perhaps four quality signings in key positions and some squad players. But we cannot be back in a place where the team which finishes this campaign is even close to the side that starts the next one. Hart is gone. Greg Taylor cannot be a first choice. Nor can Liam Scales. If we don’t have a better backup player than Oh something is wrong and we will require, at a minimum, one player for the left of the attack and one for the right.
Yes, it’s going to cost. Of course it is. But if we had done the job right last summer, we wouldn’t have this rebuild to do right now. I trust that when it is complete the team will be in a vastly better state than it is in at the moment; it is shameful that the manager has had to complete this title race with what is effectively last year’s team, minus so many top players.
Rodgers has done his bit. He has proved that he can succeed even when he’s been hamstrung by those above him at the club. He has triumphed in spite of them. What they do next will decide how they are viewed forevermore. They can learn from last summer’s disastrous mistakes or they can continue to make them; it will be for the last time.
Feel for Greg Taylor, a good honest, dedicated player that seems to get overly criticised in my opinion. For me the right back is a major weakness and teams are sussing this out and attacking us down that flank. Johnston had another mare on Saturday and is simply not good enough
Dan, Taylor is too flippin wee to be a good defender, and that has been the case since the day we bought him. His effort is commendable, but we need more than that from him.
Dan you’re right about Johnston – don’t know whether its just “second season syndrome” but he’s been a shadow of himself the whole year (not just last Saturday!) and he needs to buck his ideas up next season or I’d happily sell him. GT was effective under Ange’s system/style but his physical size and lack of strength mean he’s a huge weakness which everybody is able to exploit. I wouldn’t bin him as I agree he does 100% every game – happy for him to be our back-up for matches where its obvious we won’t be tested defensively much and/or games that are aren’t likely to be too physical but we need bigger, stronger and better as our first choice LB
I wonder if they try these things at training but why not put him in the midfield instead of Hitate who Brenden agrees gives the ball away too much, and put Scales back to left back. Maybe Ralston beside Carter vickers but for god’s sake stop the backs going into the midfield and getting out of position. It is alright with 11 men behind the ball but no use in Europe. Why not try Idah and Kyogo together. Experiment.
The bottom line is Hart doesn’t command his area so corners are always a threat.
Hi James
Now that BR has done what looked unlikely at Christmas – the real focus needs to return to the lack of leadership from the board. Like British Generals their tactics if you could call them that are about fighting the last war. A combination and arrogance has almost cost them. Dermot Desmond needs to bring the same business ruthlessness that kick started the Irish Financial Services Centre to Celtic Park. I cannot imagine that the poor quality of senior team and an under performing board would be tolerated in any other of his business. We need a boardroom clearout as much as a flawed project player clearout. The new season and the access to cash allows the club to build some real momentum and start to have real ambitions in Europe
you’re so right james….BR won the league DESPITE the lawwell and the board…
i didn’t oppose BR’s return…and several times thru the season i did question the “elite coach” description…but what he has achieved with what is effectively another mans team and the arrogant pricks upstairs is really excellent…although i really still can’t understand why he returned, accepting the above…
however, the danger, as always with celtic fc, is…”we won the league with minimal expenditure…we have the pot of gold…we’re not gonna make any kind of impact on europe-no matter how much we spend-so why bother excessive expenditure ? ”
to date, that has been the board’s attitude…i’ll wager, they feel VINDICATED for their lack of spending now…..
well done BR and fuck the board.
Please sign a natural striker in Miovski.
Send Idah back to Norwich. Scales is mediocre,
Agreed mate (about Scales and Idah). Not sure about Miovski. Brilliant player but not sure he would play second fiddle to Kyogo.
Scales is being played out of position. He is a left back and the fact that his performances have dipped since coming back from Aberdeen tells you something isn’t right.
Buy Miovski but play him alongside Kyogo.
To compete in the cl we need 9 players.kidding yourself on if you think we can keep any player if a bid comes in.they are mercenaries and go where the money is
Sadly they certainly are as you say Micheal mercenaries…
As for competing in The ‘Champions’ League it’s simply from my point of view a mercenaries competition that is in my opinion rigged for the super rich and we are as much whipping boys in that as Clachnacuddin FC would be in The Scottish Cup v Celtic…
I think that even if we spent the £67 million in the bank we simply wouldn’t even scratch the surface with that and really The Europa League is our level though we ought to go far in The Europa Conference League although I obviously hope that we’re never in it as that would be the result of losing our title as CHAMPIONS…
That said – I’m just bloody glad that we are almost there and Sevco are not !
No doubt. but can anyone explain how Sebco managed to get to a European final and only lost on penalties with their squad?
Hatate , Matt will go . Big bucks come in Maeda is a possibility of leaving too . It’s the natural order for players especially foreign players . The buisness of football Celtic are at the very top in Europe , we do exceedingly good with all that hampers our progression .
Most of the article is opinion and guess work. There was a missed opportunity at the January window to strengthen for the next CL campaign, given that the last campaign,, in particular our Spanish drubbing, broke the hearts and confidence of a naive but improving team. A few weeks isn’t going to be enough for even a couple of Messis or Mbappes to settle in and positively effect our tournament.
However, you miss the main point. To sell our best midfielder and replace him with equal quality will cost just as much, or require less cash and the usual shot in the dark with fingers crossed. So we shouldn’t be selling if we want significant improvement in Europe.
100% James. If Matt wants to go then we should cash in. But if he’s happy to stay then give that boy a new contract that ties him to Celtic. He’s CL quality IMO.
We need a seismic overhaul of our playing staff retention and recruitment policies.
As you have pointed out in the past, it’s long overdue that Celtic act like the world class operation that they claim to be.
My rangers daft neighbor repeated to me last night, should never have been a penalty ! Like that changed the course of the game. Moaned about the ref, honestly they are stuck on the narrative set to them by their stupid board, hypocrites the lot of them. Fleecing their fans for years.
Contrary to I’m sticking with Oh and Yang ,as for Idah 3or 4 chances to put at least one off them in net ,6 million for him from Norwich I don’t think so,but that’s my opinion.
As you say James, if a player wants to leave, fair enough. Big Peter and the rest of the PLC can stick ‘The Model’ where the sun don’t shine. We should be attempting to hold on to our best players, as a matter of course. Player continuity matters in football.
Hail Hail.
They don’t need to sell – but will.
Desmond and Lawwell aren’t going to turn down an offer for any player, let alone one that could bring in upwards of 20 million.
If those two imposters have made any serious attempt at making Celtic a serious football club over the last 20 years I must have missed the memo.
MOR’s transfer will be the sum total spent in the transfer market this summer. We’ve seen too many underwhelming transfer windows from Lawwell to think otherwise.
All monies made from the champions league, shirt sales, plus any other incom chiselled from the fans will be salted away and used for bonuses to reward our esteemed “custodians” on the board for a job well done.
We can’t be getting too far ahead of the silly billies, can we?
Correct we don’t need to sell anyone, other than the ones who are surplus to requirements. Greg Taylor should definitely be one of them, but Scales, who you mention, should be his ready made replacement, the big man has not been given a new contract for nothing.
Good point Johnny and I agree about Scales being given a new contract…put him at left back!
Matt … hope he stays but money will talk as his game fell away a bit when Athletico showed interest…
For me and after Saturday Hatate would be no huge loss as he has been like that since his return from injury
Scales at left back, you’re seriously having a giraffe. Yes he might win a few headers at the back stick but his passing is atrocious. Sevco let him carry the ball out of defence knowing full well that he’d get a nosebleed going past half way. Every attempted pass was either over hit, under hit or given to the opposition. Scales is not the option for left back!!!!
Hatate’s missed TWENTY ONE LEAGUE games in three different spells this year – that’s more than half a season for goodness sake. Nobody returns to their natural levels immediately after the interrupted season he’s had. Calmac missed just THREE league games and everybody pointed out how off the pace he was until last week vs Hearts. Cut him some slack – he’s still our most direct midfielder and he’s more than earned the benefit of the doubt from his previous 18months at the club. Let’s see after pre-season whether he’s regressed or he just needed more time than he’s had to get back to full fitness and more importantly match sharpness.
I can never understand how selling a top player to purchase an inferior one is strengthening the team. To have a strong team is to keep your best players and use the cash in the bank to
strengthen. The money paid for the likes of Kyogo, Maeda, O`Riley and Hatate will have
appreciated more with them on the field than the money paid for them would have had it
stayed in the bank. If Celtic spent £20 million wisely in the coming summer window, the assets purchased would probably be worth around £40 million the next year. How many banks will give 100% interest?
Those last seven words James typed there,”it will be for the last time”are really loaded and a huge shot over the bows of the suits.Well said James.With the cash surplus we are sitting on and the revamped champions league money to come,a re run of last summer’s recruitment simply wint be tolerated,end of.
Very true James regarding not having to sell, but weighing up the pros and cons of maybe having an unsettled player whose value could drop if his form dips again. It may be scant consolation but the additional CL money should mean that the board can hold firm for the maximum / true market value for any player. In MOR’s case, rightly or wrongly I wondered if Atletico were hoping they could be getting a cut-price version of Jude Bellingham. The board shouldn’t just swoon and fall over as soon as they see a £20m offer (and they didn’t in January), they should demand the going rate for such an effective player, even at CL level.
Well said…why should we be selling our top stars unless they want to leave. O’Riley would benefit from at least one more season at Celtic ! His accolades are very well deserved, but he still has a lot to learn. Hopefully it’s with us !
We have money and it needs to be spent wisely and on the requisite quality, for us to progress as we should be !