Yesterday I got one of those crazy emails I sometimes get on this site. You know the kind I mean—the ones I occasionally come on here to talk about. Well, this was one of them, and that’s why I’m on here talking about it now.
It was from an Ibrox fan who sounds very confident that his club has finally gotten it right. According to him, they’ve started down the road to some form of credibility. Basically, the email boiled down to one question: Are we scared yet?
And I really didn’t know how to answer that, because it’s such an absurd question. It pays no heed to anything I’ve written on this blog in the past, or that any of us on this side of the divide have said. It’s disconnected from reality.
It doesn’t seem that long ago since the Ibrox club went out and bought serial disasters like Sam Lammers and a bunch of other overpriced misfits in one chaotic summer window. I remember it vividly. Those guys were supposed to be world-beaters, the team that would storm the league, destroy Scottish football, and sink us in the process.
Well, that didn’t quite work out, did it? They didn’t come in and do anything significant. In fact, it was one of the most embarrassing transfer windows in their recent history—and it’s the one that got Michael Beale the sack.
There’s always buzz around Ibrox signings. There’s always confidence. Overconfidence is probably the better word. It’s the oft-heard wisdom, the one we repeat every year: they always win the pre-season cup. There’s always hype about the new players. Always. That’s been a fact of life for as long as I’ve been watching them and writing about them. There’s always this wild overabundance of people insisting that the latest squad is brilliant, that this is the one.
And then, inevitably, it unravels on the pitch. That’s the long and short of it.
They made another signing yesterday. And as I’ve already said, it’s obvious what their plan is—they’re building for physicality. They’re filling the squad with six-foot-plus players and planning to battle and claw their way to victory.
If that’s the standard they’re aiming for, then fine. But anyone who believes they’ve spent £6 million in the last week is the kind of person who would buy the Kingston Bridge a hundred times over.
Let me repeat what I’ve said before: there is no way the defender from Peterborough cost them £3.5 million. That is preposterous. There is no way they paid that kind of money for Appelgarth either. That’s a £2 million player, if that.
And now we hear they want to buy three more wingers. For what possible reason? They still have Rabbi Matondo. They still have Oscar Cortés, who they’ve just paid money to secure permanently. What are they even doing?
This all looks like heavy transfer activity. But we’ve seen this before—a scramble to fill the squad, a rush to make up the numbers. The reality is that most of these players are available for modest sums, and some of them are going there for very little in terms of wages as well.
The thing that interests me is this: now they’ve got to gel these guys into a coherent unit. That takes time. That’s complex. And there is no guarantee they’ll manage it. I’ve seen Ibrox sides far more capable on paper than this one—and we still came out of those seasons as champions.
More than anything else, the more money they spend, the deeper the hole they dig. If they can’t make sales, they can play all the financial sleight-of-hand tricks they like. They can try to keep it off the SFA’s radar. But UEFA will ask to see the books. And unless they bring in some serious cash in outgoings, they are gambling—big time—on this Champions League qualification campaign.
So, the easy answer to the question—Are we scared yet?—is no. I’m not worried about them. I’m worried about us. I’m worried about what we do—or what we don’t do. And that’s the concern I take into every Celtic transfer window. It’s the only real concern we on this side of the city should have.
I still expect that we’ll do serious business. I still expect we’ll spend serious money. And when we do, it won’t be on English League One or Championship journeymen.
What I need, frankly, is one of those automated email replies for this time of year. One of those set-it-and-forget-it templates. Type in some keywords—“new era,” “world beaters,” “are you scared yet?”—and boom, automatic response sent. That way I’ll never have to bother replying to these muppets again.
These are the same fans who, not so long ago, were talking about signing Jordan Henderson. Luka Modri?. Plucking gems from the Real Madrid youth academy with Ancelotti’s boy at the helm.
It’s quite the comedown from all that to getting excited over Luton and Peterborough players. And that’s the most amazing part of getting an email like this. Are they trying to convince me?
Or are they just trying to convince themselves?
Are Aasgaard and Rothwell any better than Lawrence and Hagi? Probably about the same. Is Fernandez better than Balogun? No. Aarons on loan will probably do well but no option to buy which is fine since they haven’t been able to afford the previous 2 seasons loan signings, Cerny and Sima. Is Aaron’s better than Cerny? No. That leaves Cameron and Cortes as the ‘improvements’, surprisingly I’m not terrified and I’m honestly not convinced they’ll even finish in the top two.
If that’s the claim the sevco board are making regarding the cost of these signings why didn’t they use that fantasy cash to buy cerny?
Guaranteed this is to look good to appease the klanbase , the money they claim to have spent on these transfers will also include the wages in total for how long their contracts are .
If not this board are madder that the previous, spending money they don’t have .
James i have to admit i don’t agree with all of your material , but when it come’s to the football there are few better than you to outline the realities and your research is second to none , it must come as a compliment to you when some silly billies go out of their way to deter you or try to frighten you away from commenting on the rot and realities the pain they have to contend with daily , you have them on the boil and it brings a smile to one’s chops .
Whatever about aasgaard and rothwell the fernandez guy was slaughtered on ssb on friday night , the guy they brought on to give a run down on fernandez even apologized that he had nothing positive to say about him , it was embarrassing really , keep up the good work bringing the truth to the innocent knuckle draggers , after all the truth is bitter , it only hurts once as they say !!! chortle
Well, we will find out in just over two weeks time how good they are when they play in their first CL qualifier, they really don’t have a lot of time to get their act together do they?. So they can build themselves up as much as they want until then, and until reality smacks them right in the coupon. I can foresee much weeping and gnashing of teeth and the 69’ers getting dogs abuse from them as the true picture of where they stand emerges.
Sevco are a irrelevant to us the media are digging up ex ebt zombies to big up Buddha Martin saying he will be successful and they will compete against there rivals st mirren Motherwell Kilmarnock and maybe challenge the bigger clubs Hibs Aberdeen smelly fearts but they have no relevance to GLASGOW CELTIC???.sevco are a wee tuppenny happeny new 13 year old club/team FACT.
Its the same for us every bloody year, high expectation in a window. Has it not sunk in yet? . Celtic dont do bling. What we rely on is a top shelf manager to get blood from stone.
Its the same very year. Aided and abetted by the media with words like “understood to be £4.5M”, Swooped, Building up the squad. All the usual p1sh.
Let them do it.
We deal in the real world and hopefully business end with UCL.
Typical hun mindset. It’s always about negative emotions with them: fear hate envy etc.
They are to be pitied.
They really are the wretched of the earth. ( with apologies to Franz Fanon)
Thank you God for making me a TIM!
James how they are managing to bring players at a rapid speed without offloading the dross that’s there just now is mind-boggling,the debt must piling it up.
I think the huns are going to have to hide a couple of players somewhere and say they got cash for them, which I wouldn’t be beyond the new board. I also think there are still some crooks hanging around in there from older boards. Anyway don’t buy your auto reply from the same tech people supplying the huns analytics or you’ll end up on a list with Kneecap and Bob Vylan
I don’t think for one minute they are irrelevant seven points out of twelve against us and penalties in the league cup are a warning that we need to get some dig installed especially in midfield. The first game at ibrox will tell if we have learned anything.
I don’t think they can possibly be so bad against ‘the rest’ again surely…
And given that they’ve restricted us to 1 point outta 9 against them in 2025 means we could be in trouble if we don’t improve or have a Plan B far less a Plan C to Z either !
Same unmerited, hype, boasts and predictions we get every pre season. Absolutely agree they’re goin for the physicality approach this time and we would be wise, tae strengthen and have especially our mid area prepared for that. No just for our games against them, for the rest as well. First and foremost Europe.