The wait goes on. No news is good news some say. At other times its just no news, and no news can mean a lot of things.
We know the club has to be busy; it cannot possibly be as indolent as it appears to be right now, but in certain areas we know we’re going to be doing some waiting, and as Tom Petty so brilliantly put it, “the waiting is the hardest part.”
Brendan Rodgers wants Adam Idah. We know this.
We also know that he will not stand around and wait forever for him; there has to be another player on his list as an alternative. But with Oh on the way out the door we know that we need to bring in more than one forward player, and we also know that there is an obvious candidate on our own doorstep.
Bojan Miovski of Aberdeen, who was expected to have lots of suitors in this window.
How many concrete stories have emerged to demonstrate this? None. There is alleged interest from Bologna; they watch Scottish football more closely than other clubs, and it has worked out well for them. In spite of this, no offer has arrived.
You can set whatever price you want when you have a seller’s market; when loads of clubs are sniffing around a player you have a chance of sparking the auction.
But remember that little story I told about the Hitler Diaries; when Stern had various bidders they set the price. When the bidders all walked away as a result of their greed, Rupert Murdoch was able to come in and close the deal for much less than he’d initially offered.
Whatever Aberdeen want for Miovski may be too much. It may have scared away other potential buyers.
That means they may have to settle for less. Even if it’s Celtic writing the cheque.
Miovski is a great candidate for all the reasons we’ve talked about before. He’s obviously an emerging talent. He’s in his mid 20’s, he’s a full international, he has the technical skills to slot perfectly into our team and we’ve seen that he has an eye for goal.
Even in a poor Aberdeen team it is clear that he is a footballer with some quality.
Aberdeen need to be realistic. They need to be. This is not a debate. They cannot demand silly money just to spite us, or to appease a section of their fan-base which does not want to sell to another Scottish club. They won’t get crazy money for him no matter who the buyer is, and the simple truth, if they are going to lose him, is that our cash is as good as anyone’s. If their manager gets to reinvest it, everyone wins out of this.
There will be a list of strikers who’ve been looked at by the club. There has to be. The manager knows what his priorities are, after all, but the money coming in from Oh and Haksabanovic could be put directly towards signing a player we already know all about and who meets some of the characteristics that the manager craves.
We have to get our decisions right, and that’s a fact. But Miovski looks like a no-risk deal at the right price.
That’s the key. At the right price.
We should be asking the question. We should be testing their resolve.
And if a deal is there to be done, we should do it.
It’s going to be the usual wait until the last minute, I don’t believe Brendan is running things.
I agree. I’ve been an advocate for Miovski to be signed for some time. He looks an all round better player than Idah and would challenge Kyogo a lot more. Good touch, good in the air, good link up and seems a no brainer for me. And we know he will score goals in the league. At 24 there is also room for improvement.
No matter who they are if clubs keep you hanging around celtic must cool off on interest and move on, historically we’ve been left scrambling about in last throws of deadline day, some have worked out well others not so,
Are the board waiting for all STH to be renewed before they give Rodgers transfer money once again the fans are being taken for a ride but they’ll not be getting my money until this board are ousted.
I also think Miovski would suit us and there’ll be absolutely no problem offering him much higher wages than he’s on now. If he hears we’re interested (if we are), I’m sure he’ll make it clear he wants to come to CP so it really shouldn’t be too difficult. Of course, if we had a decent Director of Football working alongside Brendan we’d already have done some serious business. (Lawwell, just go, you’re years past your ‘sell-by’ date, about 20 of them!)
But surely a top ‘keeper has to come 1st and soon as he’ll need some time to get to know his team-mates and all the general craic around our club. Same again, if we had a proper DoF instead of a dumb bean-counter then this would already have been done.
Come on Celtic, show willing, FFS!
Maybe Aberdeen don’t want to sell, so they are entitled to put any price on him. Just like we are doing with O’Riley.
I said I’d wait until the 1st of July before panic about the lack of signings, that John Kennedy interview upped the anxiety. Why not try to sign Miovski and Idah, we can get Miovski and if Idah falls through we can look elsewhere without the threat of being extremely short in a key area. I couldn’t believe when Kennedy suggested we might not have a new keeper for the US trip.
Today’s the day that the bank of Celtic will close its books on the financial year 2023/24. Chances are those financial numbers will show a healthy set of figures. Turnover, profit, and cash at bank will all probably achieve the PLC set KPI’s. Hefty bonuses will be heading into the back pockets of both Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay. Desmond and Lawwell exchanging virtual high 5’s.
An analysis of the turnover will show that the Celtic support contribute around 70% of the total figure. It would be nice if the income for the year was split into two figures : 1. Cash from the support; 2. Cash from other sources.
That is not how PLC’s report their revenue. Terms like Revenue from Stadium Operations are used instead. That covered £10.5m of the 2022/23 revenue. In reality that is just another term for Cash From Fans.
The PLC suits will tell you that it is not easy running a profitable football club in a small country like Scotland. But when 55,000 Celtic fans stump up their hard earned for season tickets, with thousands more on a waiting list willing to do the same, the truth is it would take complete imbeciles to make a mess of running the operation.
Twelve months ago Brendan Rodgers (mk2) arrived to pick up the reins of running the team. He asked for pace and power to take the side that Ange left in an upward trajectory. The Model said no. Here’s a random batch of projects, just use them to beat R2ngers to the title. That is all that is required. Europe is merely an Autumn money making exercise, passports will not be required after Christmas.
So here we are again. Requiring pace and power, or let’s just call them quality footballers. In any position, all over the park. Just sign quality proven footballers, Celtic. Even if that means paying slightly over the odds in fees and wages, as the SPFL will not be the easiest sell for player, family, and agent.
If the Euro’s have shown us anything, it is that there are loads of very good footballers out there. Plenty with pace, power, energy, and no little skill.
Only complete imbeciles would dare repeat the summer 2023 recruitment strategy.
Brilliant post James – And all so very very true indeed !
Agree James, a lot of readers have said the same in their replies , a no brainer , we’ve seen what he can do so should be a serious target, the Oh transfer fee cost should be almost that deal for miovski covered , would be a great signing, even lawwell couldn’t argue , almost like a player trade .
I think he is the better option right now we know the player look wott he has done since his time at Aberdeen he scored 40+ goal over 2 years so he can tacke a chance right foot or left & the head wott more do you won’t he holds the ball up brings other players onto the ball he not greedy good player for his age perfect wore celtic get him???????????????????????????? £6.5 mil then tommy Conway for £2.5 mil strikers sorted hail hail ?????????????
What ? Are we going to wait and go through another Mcginn saga,or Eddie Howe,how long are Celtic willing to be strung along for ,we can’t wait for Idah either.There has got to be other strikers available somewhere and while we’re at it how much is unreasonable for a proven goal scorer like miovski,I can see the point on holding back for shankland because he’s not as good but we should maybe even buy him to prevent sevco getting him.
Coming down is the hardest thing – Tom Petty, Learning to Fly. What happened to your research there ?
Get both…
We need 2 Strikers anyway and it’s not as if we can’t afford it.
Now that would be some statement.