There is only one thing worse than the Celtic board letting us down by failing to sign a striker to replace Kyogo—and that would be making an underwhelming signing. A signing that leaves fans frustrated, even angry, at the sheer lack of ambition. A signing that demonstrates a shocking lack of foresight.
If we sign no one at all, that would be bad. Really bad. That would stink to high heaven. But in some ways, it would be even worse to bring in a Ross Stewart type. Or Lawrence Shankland.
Not that I think either of those things will happen, but a signing on that level—someone who immediately invites comparisons with Kyogo and leaves fans thinking, “We’ve replaced a next-level striker, the best we’ve had since Larsson, with this guy? Are you kidding me?”- well you wouldn’t put it past them.
That’s the one thing we cannot afford. Above all else, that’s what we must not do. I know we’re out there talking to various players, and I know we’re trying to get a deal done. But that deal has to stir the blood. It has to make fans believe that this club is trying to improve, not just treading water or, worse, going backwards.
This is where the success of this club becomes an issue.
We have all that money sitting in the bank. It’s not as if it’s disappeared. It’s there. It exists. And because it exists, we’ve put ourselves in a bit of a quandary. Fans already don’t understand why the club is stockpiling so much cash, and that breeds conspiracy theories and wild speculation. Then there’s the corporation tax and whatever else we must be paying—money that, for a football club, is just pissed up against a wall.
I wrote this morning about how the Champions League rewards are so great that we should be aiming for it every season.
But even in a bad year, we’re never going to lose so much money that we need to dip into our reserves. So what exactly is going on with this stockpiling of cash? Those are the kinds of questions fans are entitled to ask. That’s our season ticket money. That’s our shirt money. That’s our merchandising revenue, just sitting there.
And if you look at the accounts, it’s clear that nobody is syphoning off money. The cash is all accounted for. I think our CEO is scandalously overpaid, but we’re not being looted. Nobody’s taking vast sums out of the club. So what’s the purpose of all that money? What good does it do if it’s not visible on the pitch or being sunk into infrastructure that will ultimately improve what happens on the pitch?
Right now, this is a revenue-neutral window. We’ve lost a player, and we’ve gained a player. We brought in the left-sided attacker we wanted, but we lost our star striker. And he has to be replaced. It’s as simple as that.
I know it bothers this board immensely that we might spend more than we earn in a window. So what? This is a football club, not a for-profit enterprise.
This whole window looks slapdash and thrown together at the last minute. And the problem with that is it doesn’t even matter whether it is or isn’t—because the perception stinks. And if we reinforce that perception with some underwhelming signing—some cheap loan deal that makes fans want to bang their heads against the wall—then what message does that send? A cheap option to replace the best striker we’ve had in decades? That’s a problem.
The loss of a high-quality player demands the signing of a high-quality replacement. That’s not cheap, and it’s not supposed to be cheap. We got £10 million for our 30-something striker. If we have to spend £10 million on a guy in his early 20s, that’s a bargain by comparison. And if the scouting is solid, the numbers look good, and the data is promising, then frankly, we need to stop messing around and pay what the guy is worth. Get it done. And if it costs more to do it now, then that’s the price we pay for being weak when it came to letting our own striker go.
In a couple of days, we’ll know. But for those who think the real danger is not signing anyone, I’d say—guess again. The real danger is signing someone who makes us feel even worse than if we’d brought in nobody at all.
And we’ve all heard the rumours. The kind that make you roll your eyes.
If we all acknowledge—and we do—that Kyogo was a special player, then the only acceptable replacement is another special player. That’s a tall order. But maybe the club should have thought of that before they let him go.
Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group via Getty Images
Aye and if these stories that the Brondby striker deal has ‘fallen through’, then it looks like we’ll end up with another last minute ‘prospect loan’ striker signin. If that happens, ah don’t know how it can be any clearer, that this board have nae real ambition for Europe except pickin up the millions for qualifyin. Keep ahead of the ibrox club and rake the big money in. Just hope they’re no about tae jeopardise the rest of our season. Would be mad tae think it couldnae happen either.
Prepare ourselves for –
“We tried but clubs don’t want to sell in this window”
“We tried, we really really did, but it’s the most difficult window of the two”
“We tried, they said no thanks, but we’ll have plenty to spend in the summer for sure”
“We’ll learn from this window and right the wrongs in the summer”
And I’ve actually got the gall to say it’s only Liars that live and die for Liebrox !
Our Japanese Talisman is gone, am I disappointed yes, angry! No, I wish him all the success and good luck for his future.
His goals saved us many times.