Let me tell you a story.
In 1983, the German publication Stern thought they had a scoop on their hands. One of their investigators had turned up a series of hand-written journals which he and his mysterious source claimed were the authentic diaries of Adolf Hitler.
To their later embarrassment, they eventually discovered they had bought crude forgeries.
But in April that year, when things were at fever-pitch and they thought they had the real deal, they tried to sell the international syndication rights by opening up a bidding war between Newsweek and Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday Times.
Murdoch came to the table with the first serious bid, one of $2.5 million.
Stern went back to Newsweek and said that they would not accept from them less than $3 million.
When they agreed, and Murdoch upped his own bid that seemed to be that. Stern got greedy though. They called both parties back into a meeting and said the price was now more than $4.25 million.
At that point both buyers left the room and refused to negotiate.
Murdoch came back in days later, with no interest on the horizon, and he secured the US rights for $800,000 and the UK rights for $400,000. Other outlets spent a few hundred grand apiece for some limited rights, and Newsweek ran a series of articles based on the extracts they had seen, without paying a penny for exclusivity.
It is a classic example of how an attempt to start a “bidding war” can blow up in your face.
Every single one of us, just about, is broadly agreed that Adam Idah is worth £6 million.
Adam Idah is not worth £8 million.
At £8 million there are alternatives. We have seen what Adam Idah can do in a Celtic shirt, but we also know that he was in the Norwich reserve team when we took him on loan.
Reports that they will demand as much as £8 million for him are probably rubbish. I personally have my doubts that any club in their position would make a demand of that size. If they don’t want him, they will offer him for sale, but that will depend on only two things; first, is what is the limit of Celtic’s interest and second, what can they get for him without it?
I do not believe any English club is going to pay £8 million for Idah. There might be clubs who are interested, and even clubs interested enough to make bids. But Norwich should not think that they can use us as their lever to start a bidding war.
Because we’ll walk away at higher than £6 million, and if we’re not in the bidding then the question becomes what’s a Norwich reserve with a couple of good months in the SPFL really worth south of the border? Once we walk away, is there still a £6 million starting point?
Norwich can net a nice sum from us if they decide to cut Adam loose. But they need to be realistic about it. They need to show the proper respect to our position, not take advantage of it. He was a hero for six months, but there will be other heroes and they should remember that this isn’t about sentiment, this is about money, and our priorities and there will be options beyond Adam, as there must have been in January when we had to go for him.
We face the same dilemma about Mikey Johnston. There is a limit on what people will pay for him if we decide to move him on, and we need to be careful not to overplay the hand.
That’s an apt phrase, because this is high stakes poker, and sometimes you have to be willing to play that game, and high stakes poker is a risky business. We have to be careful, but we know our pot limit and we know when the game’s not worth the candle.
I wonder if others at the table do.
I think Idah would be worth up to 8m . He showed what he can do and would fit straight back in to the squad ! He will defo get better snd we will get a tidy profit when he eventually goes !!! I’d prefer to get him for less but if we need to push an extra few quid at players we know will improve us then it’s time to start paying and build a strong squad !
The CL money should be used to enhance the squad and Celtic need to raise the stakes if needed !
As for MJ , if we get 3m we should rip their arm off !
I don’t think he’s worth £6M, never mind 8. Personally I feel that our collective judgement is being distorted because of the cup final winner.
Also, I’ll be amazed if we get £6M for Mikey Johnston.
The world has gone mad.
Completely agree with this.
He put in one good match-length performance (at Rugby Park). The cup final goal is completely influencing the overwhelming recency bias. His overall stats are remarkably similar to Oh’s. I can’t shake the feeling that a well-run modern football club with a well-run modern scouting operation should have better identified targets for £8m. He’s a not-very-good English Championship player and a not-very-good Irish international.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d have him in the squad: he fits, he’s up for it, the manager likes him etc.
But, we’re not really a well-run club and we certainly don’t have a mature football operation and so ultimately it will just come down to whether or not the manager wants that money spent on him or on another target (or other targets).
£6m for Johnston would be crazy. Absolutely beyond belief.
Is Damien a celtic supporter.
Yes. My season ticket is in Section 438 in the Jock Stein stand, upper. I’ve had that ticket for 11 seasons. I’ve previously had season tickets in the North stand and in (what became) the Lisbon Lions stand.
There is not a single opinion I’ve expressed above that I haven’t heard expressed by many other Celtic fans.
It’s the market down south and Johnstone is a player and players of his now proven ability will command a £5million fee no problem as crazy as it seems but if you look back we were paying Shane Duffy £50k per week and he was the worse central defender I have seen in a Celtic jersey in 57 years,as for Idah he was struggling down south and got theopportunity to play at a lower level which he accepted and did good but again in an overpriced market i think £5 or £6 million is his limit and if tjey play hard ball maybe we should go for the Aberdeen boy.
Down here in England players with little skill will go for many millions”up in Scotland it’s a different world the boy did well but I would think to get him back on loan with a fixed option to buy”would make more sense. We can then see how he really is over a full season .As we know a forward that can score goals can demand a big transfer fee and he is only 23.
8 Mill for Idah is doable,
7 Mill incoming for Frimpong
Incoming money has no bearing on what we are prepared to pay for Idah, he is worth what he is worth and it is not negotiable from a Celtic point of view. There are plenty more pebbles on the beach.
These two deals have to linked, we can over value MJ and they can over value Idah, then we can agree to a swap where we give MJ and I would say no more than £3m. We can all tell the press the deal was worth £100m for all the difference it makes.
Would be ideal if they wanted MJ who has proven himself at that level. Then the transaction is a good potential for both clubs without significant outlay on either side
Forget about idah there’s plenty better players out there
Tbh ah wouldnae pay above 5 mill for him. He’s showed some good potential in the closin games and ah think BR could be somebody tae bring out his best.That remains tae be seen. Tho anythin above 5 mill is too much of a gamble for him imo.
A former manager called Idah a compromise joint. Norwich fans claim he was injury prone for
five or six years. At this moment, Rodgers should be driving through Perth to do a bit of
early Christmas shopping at Aberdeen. Let Norwich know that there is a far better player in
the North of Bonnie Scotland than there is in their reserves. Tell them that they will give them
two million for him, payable by giving them a battalion of dross from the Celtic “reserves fund”.
Finish the call by the words…..”take it or leave it. It`s the best you will get for a clydesdale”.
Hope it’s all a smokescreen and we’re really going for Bojan Miovski.
Why quibble over 2-3 million for a player who WANTS to be here, has hit the ground running in his loan spell, who is young enough with his peak years ahead of him and will only will get better and we could potentially build a team around..Offer Norwich 10 million to shut them up(of course we have the money our tightwad owners have it falling out of their pockets) its a gamble worth taking as i believe he will shoot the lights out and be worth 20-30 million in a few years and we will get the money back, at worst break even on the deal.