Earlier on, I did a piece on Bosun Lawal and how he is the loanee I am most looking forward to seeing return to Celtic Park at the end of his loan spell. Having him back in training, so the manager can get a proper look at him, opens up the possibility that perhaps the engine room rebuild is not as big as some of us have said that it is.
This is especially true when it comes to the growing stature of Daniel Kelly, who is the latest of our academy players to rise to the first team squad. He looks very promising indeed, and if there’s a real player there that would be the best thing to happen to the club since the emergence of Callum McGregor or Kieran Tierney.
Celtic fans expect big signings this summer. We expect at least one of them in midfield. But if these two are good enough, then there’s no need for us to do any more than make the Bernardo deal permanent, if that’s the plan as some seem to believe, and you have to wonder if, aside from the possibility of losing O’Riley, that it’s enough.
Fans, by and large, won’t simply accept that though.
But one person could change that and set us right on how good these guys are; Brendan Rodgers himself. In order to do that he has to come out and talk to us. He doesn’t have to go into mega detail, because there are probably things going on behind the scenes we’re not privy to, but he could confirm some things to us that would give us the sense that he is following a plan instead of “taking” what other people give him to work with.
If Rodgers tells us, yes, that Lawal and Kelly are part of his plans for the next campaign and that both of them will feature regularly in the team then I think all of us would accept that and look forward to seeing them in the side over the summer warm-up matches. We know we’re going to have to prioritise certain areas for spending … that’s the kind of thing Rodgers could clear up for us simply by getting in front of the fans and being honest.
This would be smart stuff. The summer was characterised by a complete absence of clear information, and that white noise was filled with all sorts of stories which led fans to expect – not without reason – that we were on the brink of bringing in really quality. It is now pretty apparent that the club was never going to embark on that path at all, that Rodgers hadn’t been promised any such thing and that it was a lot of hot air.
That can’t happen again. The boss should prioritise not only the areas where he thinks we need it most but also in putting that information in front of supporters, and letting us understand what the process is and where we should expect there to be business done. The man will know most of this already, and he’ll have made up his mind about who is going out to accommodate his new signings. If we’re not already far down the planning road something is really wrong at the club and the board aren’t the only ones who should be held to account.
I don’t care how it is done. An interview with the club’s official channel would an obvious option, although I suspect that some of the tougher questions wouldn’t not come up there. The mainstream media cannot be trusted, and we all know that, as they would attempt to sensationalise anything that he said, so my own preference would be a full Q&A with fan media. I would certainly want to attend and I have a selection of questions I’d like to put to him.
The utter incoherence of the summer was staggering, and all the worse for the fact that some of the mistakes were so glaring, and the roadblocks so obvious that it was embarrassing that either nobody thought of them or didn’t think they were important. In a window where most of us thought we had to fortify ourselves against losing players to the Asian Cup we signed three more footballers eligible to play in the competition; absolute madness, and a sure sign that those in charge of the process simply did not know what the Hell they were doing.
But a lot could have been made easier by simple communication between the club and the fans, and that was another lamentable failure on the part of those who were running things. Similarly, they could have done a much better job of talking to us in January.
Fans just want to know that there is a plan in place this time, and not the football equivalent of throwing stuff at a wall to see if some of it sticks. Without proper lines of communication the fans are guessing all over again, and the media and others will lead a lot of our supporters down the garden path in believing we’re doing stuff we’re not, or that we’re not doing stuff when actually we are. This club operates far too much in dead silence.
So the manager should fill the space – and it’s a big space – where the communication strategy should be. Not with weekly updates of anything like that, but a one-off warts and all session which gives us some kind of framework to which we can anchor our expectations. That is not a controversial suggestion. It is not too much to ask.
You cannot be serious Lawal plays in league 1 ,3 places from the bottom,with all due respect Kelly is a grt prospect very hard to see him fitting into that role nxt season,we need experienced players ready to hit the ground running, am not suggesting Celtic breaks the bank but their is plenty of money available to back BR properly.We are all sweating n worryingif we can get over the line due to poor management n penny pinching
Why can’t I be serious? O’Riley and Hooper came from League One.
Don’t be such a snob.
Well said James. Sometimes gems exist and when our scouts and managers are on the same page it works.
Not being funny but when is the right time to bleed the younger players in? Kenny Dalgliesh,paul mostly,keiran tierney and james forrest to jame a few players who broke into the team as young lads. If your good enough then your old enough.
Well said James. Sometimes gems exist and when our scouts and managers are on the same page it works.
We will need to replace players like Riley,Hatate if they go with guys who should be challenging staight away for a 1st team spot and also a decent established international goalkeeper to replace Hart same goes for left back,centre half and last but not least a striker
James
In order to try to even compete at champions league level we need half a dozen top players and that’s with keeping all of our best players.
The 2 you mentioned can maybe expect a few run outs domestically against the lower league teams.
However we are crying out for quality.
There is simply no excuse for the board not to do this.
The Championship in England is highly competitive, highly unforgiving and highly dramatic throughout the season so it is, however I’m not sure if too many players from there would fancy The Laughing Stock of world football that is The SPFL and it’s governing body…
But Celtic being Scotland’s most successful club would probably be the exception to them refusing to try Scotland…
Some decent players can be sourced from down there and even Sevco managed it with Butland and that’s probably the only legal reason that they’re anywhere near us –
And of course all the illegal dark arts and skullduggery from The Cheats with Whistles, Flags and Moniters !
I think we should sign the boy McCowan from Dundee, a natural successor to McGregor.
He will run all day and muck in throughout the slog of the November to March winter matches. I genuinely believe he could develop into a fantastic player.
His team mate Dodgson is a good player too. (On loan from Burnley I believe).
Sometimes we look at the exotic options instead of those closer to home.
I like Bernardo, but he’s another languid and talented purist when sometimes in this league you really need some dig. If we keep O’Riley then it’s two cheeks of the same magnificent bottom! A bit like Rogic and Bitton!
The “take us to the next level in Europe” angle can still be appeased with local talent who follow instructions and run their guts out. Every time we try to go toe to toe with the big boys at beautiful football we get ripped
apart.
Lawal, Kelly, and the addition of McCowan is a far more attractive proposition than Holm, Kwon and the rest of the absolute duds we have hosed fortunes on.
We have unearthed gems before from lower leagues and other Scottish clubs. We must continue to do so.
The immediate and first priority is to win the league every year. I understand we must raise our coefficient in Europe. The last time we succeeded at that was Strachan and Lenny’s teams. Sometimes not the prettiest to watch. Who remembers that when we were qualifying for knock out stages after Christmas though?
The pretty stuff leads to embarrassing humiliations in Europe because, try as we might, we will never be on the same level as the European big boys.
Anyway, let’s hear it for the Bhoys!
Interesting name mate, I’ll have to check that out.
But you know where I stand on Scottish talent; we should always have a core of those guys at the club, in the team.
Hi James
He’s the peroxide blond fella (a bit like Lenny from his Leicester days!)
He played well against us, but was more impressive against Sevco and they kicked and elbowed lumps out of him. He got up and went at them again and again.
I’m sure he’s 26, and hails from Greenock/Port Glasgow.
I’d have him at Celtic Park in a heartbeat.
I think this boy could be a superstar in our team.
You’re correct MCG! I’ve known Luke since he was six through his family who are all Celtic through and through. His uncle John-Paul Dow was also at Celtic, and his nephew Jude Dow is with Celtic youths at a very young age.
He’s MOM in nearly every game Dundee play, as he controls the midfield where he creates and scores plenty of goals and runs his heart out. With better players around him I’m certain he’d fit right into the Celtic team.
James all due respect but you cant be serious anyone suggesting we only need bosun and daniel plus a keeper to round out a CL quality team are off their heads .
You have to know we need at least , the very least 5 top quality CL ready players come on .