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What We Saw Through The Transfer Window

The general consensus is that Celtic didn’t have one of their better transfer windows, as its difficult to argue that the club emerged stronger from the wheeling and dealing than they were before it. 

Rebus has a look at the issues it raised ….

 

Sufficient euphoria has passed over Sunday to warrant the raising of some serious issues re the transfer window.

As with most things there are causes and effects.

The effects are obvious… no permanent new CBs nor RB, and no John McGinn. There are probably other hidden effects re players who did not hit the headlines. I think most will agree that these “effects” are unsatisfactory.

However, the more important aspects are the “Causes”.

To my mind these fall into three categories:

PL and the Board;

the management team,

the scouting system.

I would include recruitment within the PL/Board category.
Like most, I do not possess all the information, and I also do not trust a lot of the propaganda put out by much of the media. However, we have the benefit of some statements from the manager and we have the results of previous transfer windows to help assess what happened.
There are many failures here but let us confine the chat to three in particular:

The Boyata saga;

the Dembele flounce,

the McGinn disappointment.
The Boyata and CB Situation: 

it seems to have been recognised, early on, that Boyata was likely to be for the off. The objective was to replace him and get the max price that we could for his sale. His performance in the WC enhanced the chance of the latter. Acceptable bids were received for him but the manager appears to have blocked the sale, on the grounds that we did not have a suitable replacement. The Compper option from January had turned into a fiasco that clearly identified that there was something seriously wrong with scouting and target assessment….. a blind man could have seen the dangers because of his age and recent injury history.

So, was he BR’s choice over Schar, or was he foisted onto BR as the cheaper option? In the first case, it reflects badly on BR, and in the latter it illustrates how penny pinching does not produce a quality football team. There have been many examples of the latter over other transfer windows. Whether Boyata’s inclusion vs AEK would have made a difference, possibly, but that is left with the Gods of chance. Certainly, a performing Boyata would have made the team stronger. The real problem here is not Boyata in or out, it is the failure to plan for the obvious…that Boyata needed to be replaced in the January window. Any investigation needs to focus on what went wrong with recruiting a CB in January, 2018. Incidentally, a mini version of this issue continued in the last window by which time it was known that Compper was not the answer. Jack Hendry, at best, was going to be a development project, who, apparently, could also play RB.
So, in summary, an appropriate plan was in place to manage our assets(Boyata) and to replace him, strategically. The problem was in the implementation of the plan.
The Dembele Flounce 
There are similarities and differences in this situation. Firstly, it was well understood that, eventually, Moussa would move on. The timing on it was the issue. The last minute bid by Lyon (and at least one other club) created a similar situation to that of Boyata. Namely, we would lose a key player without having an adequate replacement. BR, initially reacted in the same way as he did with Boyata, he refused to sell the player. We all know what happened next.
I have a certain sympathy for all involved in this situation because of the last minute nature of it. However, is it such a surprise that clubs make last minute bids for players, especially good players? Had scouting identified a list of replacements for Dembele? Edouard is a different type of player from an out and out striker like Dembele so he is not a replacement. Griff brings something to the table but, again, his fitness is an issue and he does not provide the out ball. In addition, BR said he wants to go with three strikers.
With Boyata, a plan was put into place but implemented poorly. However, with Dembele there seems to have been no plan to replace him…simply to hope that he did not go this window.
What should have happened here? Firstly, unless a key player has developed a deep love for the club, after two years we should be planning to sell him on at a time of our choosing. There are ways of letting other clubs know that a player is available earlier in the window. If we do this, we have a chance of getting a replacement in a timely manner. Celtic are a selling club and that means that it needs to have an excellent scouting system in place to generate replacements….there is a lot of scope for recruiting quality at fees less than what we received for Dembele.
The McGinn Disappointment 
Although it could be argued that the midfield is our strongest area of the team, in my view the McGinn outcome is the most disappointing. Why? BR answered this himself by indicating that it is important for a club like Celtic to have succession planning. It is no coincidence that the players that are most likely to stay long term are Scottish…..CalMac, KT, JF and, of course, SB. These players “get” the club so it is important to recruit domestically to acquire replacements. The proviso is that such recruits need to be quality. McGinn was head and shoulders above anything else in the SPL at his position(s). To lose him to England was a bitter and surprising blow. The story is really one of a gamble that failed.
We all know McGinn’s background and his desire to join the club. BR was in regular touch with the player over the last months. Hibs overvalued the player at 4-5 million but would accept less. We eventually placed a top bid of around 2 million just before the wheels came off the situation. The gamble was that Hibs would eventually accept our bid as we neared the end of our transfer window, or they would lose the player to us for a couple of hundred thousand in January. Our backup position was that if all else failed, McGInn would sign a pre-contract in January and all would be well.
The player eventually joined Villa for around 2.75 million and better wages than we could offer.
So, in summary, we lost the player for the want of 750,000 and possibly wages saved by keeping him off the wages account for three or four months. An example where holding a club to ransom, backfired badly. Now, any accountant worth his/her salt will watch the pennies, but in this case we had lots of funds and we were buying the future of the club. I suspect there have been other examples where this style of brinkmanship has resulted in us losing players for the want of less than a million. The impact is that we move down the target list to attempt to get a lower priority(cheaper?) player. This kind of brinkmanship is unlikely to be successful most of the time. Clubs get to know this way of operating very quickly, and, for quality players, they have other buyers.
So, what can be concluded from the above? We do not get to know the list of targets for obvious reasons but it is clear that our business model requires that we have a scouting network large enough and sharp enough to continually identify targets. Up to date target lists need to be available at all times to address situations like Dembele and Boyata. Secondly, we need to be prepared to sell our top players to our schedule and not to that of the players. This may be unpopular with the fans but it is necessary to satisfy both accounting and footballing objectives. Thirdly, either our negotiation strategy has to become more varied or those implementing it have to change. Domestically we have a lot of clout but blackmailing tactics probably only work in the short term. Negotiating with a foreign club is a whole different ball game.
For the future, the first step is realising that we have these types of problem. Only then can we hope to develop solutions.
Rebus

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BJF
5 years ago

Rebus damn it you summed up Boysta and Fembellevso well
you left no wriggle room for comment. Thank goodness you were a bit of the mark about McGinn. My take is as follows: Firstly we lost McGinn primarily because he didn’t want to come enough, if it had been a big deal for him he would have waited to January, end of May at worst but probably January. Hibs were determined not to sell him to us. Thirdly you agree he would have just been a squad player, he would not have been first choice ahead of Brown, Ntcham, McGregor or Forrest. You are right about the quality he is and perhaps like Griff he won’t srttle and will come sometime but next season he will be in the Premiership. Anyway just my thoughts.

Monti
5 years ago
Reply to  BJF

BJF,
John McGinn DID want to come to Celtic, it was Peter Lawwell’s protracted haggling that cost us the player.
McGinn met with Brendan after last seasons Scottish cup final, hosted the player at his home & Brendan & John were both content that McGinn would soon be a Celtic player, Lawwell fucked it up, it’s that simple.

BJF
5 years ago

Oops Boyata.

D'Fhinnein Mick
5 years ago

REBUS

Alternatively,PL could stick to his strengths. Deciding who is fit to play for Celtic,and whether the costs involved are VFM,is clearly not his forte.

BR,like every manager before him,has a budget. It should not be any business of PL how that budget is spent,his role is to sign the players requested.

He has failed in this time after time. Players bought who were never good enough,and had their careers wrecked as a consequence. Managers resigning due to intolerable interference. Upper tiers of the stadium covered in embarrassing banners.

Still here,still with ever-increasing emoluments. The highest paid employee in the history of our club. I must get a photo of him on my wall,maybe from SHOOT!!! or summat.

Honest hoops
5 years ago

The only thing I would highlight is 19m for dembele, also 5m for armstrong, 24m in and we paid 9m for Eddie so that leaves 15m in the prawn sandwich appreciation soceity coffers , that’s a good bit of business in thier eyes, whilst we look at it as a beautiful football club but to them it’s a business…very sad…no ambition from them..

Rebus67
5 years ago
Reply to  Honest hoops

HH,

Yes, we could have and should have spent significant money in the window. I hope that their is an inquest into why we failed to do that.

Rebus

Rebus67
5 years ago
Reply to  Rebus67

Their = there!!

My English teacher, Mrs MCNab would turn in her grave.

Rebus

SteveNaive
5 years ago

Excellent well balanced piece Rebus.

Rebus67
5 years ago

BJF,

I think that McGinn would have been more than a squad player for us. He would have been part of the squad for sure, but he would have played in a variety of games, given the schedule we have.

My concerns are two fold…firstly, we should be able to recruit the cream of the SPL, especially someone with Celtic leanings. This type of player gives us the Browns of the future. Secondly, the longer a negotiation goes on the more likely it is that the target becomes fed up with the process. If another offer comes in, then he will be receptive to it. BR said this when he went to the media initially. Perhaps, Hibs were reluctant to sell to us…I do not know…but realty should have kicked in when they realised he was determined to come to us and we met their price.

Rebus

jpm 88
5 years ago
Reply to  Rebus67

Rebus 67 ,

the whole point is we didn’t ” meet their price ” until it was too late .

Many were posting on various sites that if Hibs wouldn’t accept one of our low-ball bids then we should leave them hanging either till end of window or even beyond .
A lot of folk thought it very clever of us .

Problem came when someone else nipped in with acceptable bid , and our bluff had been called .
Then it was panic stations ; match bid and John will come to us .
Too late , he was already agreeing terms with Villa by that point.

These are the inherent risks when you play brinkmanship .
(Didn’t we fanny about all summer 2016 re – Sinclair )

Personally I think when BR targets a player and he’s ” in budget ” BR expects , ( and I concur ) that the player should be secured -as soon as – !

According to PhilMac , we had already had a warning of what was later to transpire with McGinn ; with regards to the Italian RB , who we apparently lost last minute after ” lengthy negotiations “.

Maybe some folk at the club are too slow to learn .
As Ive said before either they should up their game to BR standards – or move over for those who will/can .

jpm 88
5 years ago
Reply to  jpm 88

Just a thought , immediately before the Villa bid Lennon said he was “surprised” no bid had come in from England ; don’t suppose he was trying to ” tip us the wink” was he 😉

rebus67
5 years ago
Reply to  jpm 88

jpm,

I cannot disagree with anything you posted. Try harder!

Have a good evening,

Rebus

Monti
5 years ago

This ‘ he’d only be a squad player ‘ shite is pish.
Callum McGregor would have been regarded as a ‘squad player’ not so long ago, look at him now.
It’s up to the individual player to push himself then perform when he get’s his chance.
McGinn would have played regularly for Celtic…..eventually.

Maryhillbhoy
5 years ago
Reply to  Monti

Monti there were many faults with Celtics behaviour/tactics in the transfer window but Peter Lawwell did not sign a contract with Villa McGinn did as was his absolute workers right to do so of course. Celtic met the asking price and he chose to go to Birmingham rather than Glasgow and to be honest I am thinking that if I never see him mentioned on our sites again it will be too fkn soon!

Monti
5 years ago
Reply to  Maryhillbhoy

Maryhillbhoy,
We shall agree to disagree on this one m8.
If Lawwell had ‘ met ‘ McGinn’s fee earlier, Villa wouldn’t have been an option for the player.

jpm 88
5 years ago
Reply to  Maryhillbhoy

Maryhillbhoy

it’s my understanding by the time we matched the Villa bid , he was already down there agreeing terms ; if there’s concrete evidence to the contrary then I stand to be corrected .

jpm 88
5 years ago
Reply to  Monti

Monti ,

” squad player ” – says who ?

Bottom line BR wanted him , if he’s “in budget ” GET HIM !
Then BR will decide where and when and how often he plays him ;

so yes Monti it is as you say PISH 😉

BJF
5 years ago

Rebus, I understand that dragging out a process can get a young person fed up but Monti’s point missed my argument, he may have wanted to come to Cektic a bit but if it was as important to him as it would have been to , says a Tierney, he was in his own hands and he could have waited a few months. Anyway he is a super player and I hope one way or another he makes his way to Celtic. I still think we will get a good year out of Mulumbu.

Monti
5 years ago
Reply to  BJF

” A good year out of Mulumbu “?
Or 10 out of McGinn?

BJF
5 years ago

Celtic not Cektic or maybe should be Cektic, flaming boat WiFi!

Spidey101
5 years ago

For what it’s worth (not much) my view on the transfer window and recent events.

Looking back, we’ll see 2018 as perhaps our worst year in terms of squad management. January was awful – Comperr was a replacement for Boyata who we all expected would leave after the World Cup and Musonda a replacement for Rogic who we all expected would leave after the World Cup. Hendry was a project – I’ll come back to him later. Both Comperr and Musonda were spectacular failures meaning we had to rethink for summer.

By summer, Rogic had re-signed (albeit just before the World Cup started so cutting it fine) and after what seemed like a bit of a faff, Eddy was signed permanently. It’s likely Eddy was seen as Dembele’s replacement when we inevitably sold him next summer – Lyon and MD’s behaviour put paid to that plan. We also knew Armstrong (after the faff of last summer, but to be fair he did sign and extension meaning we got a fair price, so hat tip to the guy) and Roberts would leave.

We also had the shambolic handling of the KT to Everton rumours. The handling suggests there was some truth in it, but we managed to hold onto him rather than selling for £20-30m as reported.

Brendan identified McGinn as a replacement for the Hair – a driving runner who would be a good plan B in tight games and would grow in his time here. Many of us disagreed with his potential signing or suitability for Celtic – I wanted him to come, which I’ll explain later) It didn’t happen anyway, as we all know.

He also, by some accounts, identified Schar as a replacement for Boyata, but we were too slow, he had a good World Cup, and Newcastle threw silly wages at him. Picini was identified for a right back slot – various accounts abound for what happened there…

All of which meant Brendan’s top 3 targets were missed. Given out shambolic centre half compliment – Jozo seems shell shocked or has packed it in, Comperrs a disaster, and Hendry is raw – it’s unsurprising that Brendan refused to sell Boyata, at least not before CL qualifiers were over (which would mirror what we did with Van Dijk). Boyata’s tantrum (and Brendan’s assumption Boyata would be fine with it) cost us big time there.

We ended the window having made Eddy and Bain’s loan signing permanent, bringing Izzy back, signing Arzani (Man City link), Benkovic (who the club had tracked since signing Jozo) and Mulumbu (who we all knew from West Brom days and played against us last season).

The result of all this was, in my view, a breakdown in two key relationships. Firstly, between Brendan and PL. Brendan is irked that PL failed to deliver the 3 players he wanted, while PL sees Brendan obstructing a potential £40m income from sales of KT and Boyata. I’m not sure that relationship can be repaired…

Equally worryingly, the relationship between Brendan and Congerton/the scouting department seems to have broken down, with our signings being proven at the club (Eddy, Bain, Izzy), tracked by the previous scouting team (Benkovic), part of our link with Man City (Arzani) or identified as doing well in games against us (Mulumbu, Morgan). That limits our options quite considerably, which is a worry when out strategy relies in part on buying potential to sell on at a profit.

That’s not the only risk to the strategy as a result of this window. While we’ve seen the Wanyamas, Van Dijks, etc come in for a couple of years and move on, equally important has been what I would call the “core”. A group of solid professionals who are here for 4-5 years, “get” Celtic, and form the “core” of the team and squad. That’s Broony, Izzy, KT, Lustig, Gordon, CalMac, Forrest, Griff. Some of those aren’t getting any younger and we need to refresh the “core” as well as the potentials.

This year saw the start of that – Hendry was seen as “next generation core”, alongside Bain, Morgan, Mikey Johnson. The key addition in that respect would have been McGinn. So, while Paul67 is right that McGinn may not have made much difference to our CL qualification, or been anything more than a squad player this year, he potentially would have been pivotal to what we do going forward, and I think that’s why Brendan was so disappointed when that fell through.

All in all, that leads to a disappointing window – both in the immediate term and in our hopes of getting 10. It was the beginning of a disconnect between the club and fans. Further issues have arisen that have exacerbated that disconnect:

Poor alignment between the Football and Retail sides of the business – for example the “buy like Celtic” adverts that came out soon after the McGinn deal failed (leading to jokes around “I’ll offer £1 for that £60 top. No? How about half now, half when I’ve worn it 100 times?”);
Poor social media/comms on transfer deadline day – not announcing Benkovic until 11:45 when he had spent the day training, etc. Announcing Okoflex on 1 September, etc;
The club’s response to the crush on Sunday – fans expect Celtic to provide a safe environment to watch the match, the club failed to do so;
And even the euphoria of the win on Sunday has been dampened by the club’s response to the McGregor compliance review (ie deafening silence).

So, instead of being prepared to go for 8 in a row and optimistic about 10 (and indeed 13 so we reach the sacred 55 before them – that’ll really sicken them), we’re now in a situation where the club is lacking leadership and direction at a crucial juncture, with fans and club divided and a failure of strategy to improve the team.

Instead, we’re relying on the “core” plus Eddy and Ntcham to deliver another title. Brendan can probably see us to another title, but longer term we have issues – Broony is getting on (and continually playing through injury, we have a load of players out of contract (the core of Broony, Lustig, Forrest) next summer with no sign of movement on extending those contracts (nor any movement on Griff’s extension which has tumbled on for ages) and limited confidence we can identify and recruit sufficient replacements/additions.

I’m generally an optimist, but I can’t help fear this is the season we blew the chance of ten and let them back into things. This season is pivotal – we need to clear the deadwood (we have 33 players – around 1/3 of those have no future with us either because they aren’t good enough or will leave of their own volition) and refresh the “core”. We need to start working together again. We need to review our strategy and how we deliver against the strategy. We need to all get back to pulling in the same direction. Above all, we need leadership at club level! Dermot Desmond demonstrates leadership every so often (appointing MON after the Dalglish/Barnes debacle) appointing Brendan after the semi-final disaster, but leaves alone when things seem to be going well and it unravels until he intervenes…Dermot, in the extremely unlikely event you read this, it’s unravelling…

Gav
5 years ago
Reply to  Spidey101

When it comes to the ETims annual poster awards (which dont yet exist in any true sense of the word – so a wee suggestion there
from me – The Timmys? – taking back the word an all that), I would say that our friendly neighberhood arachnid should be a contender in a few categories for that post:

Post of the Season
The Paul McConville Plain English Award
The Bob Crampsey Award for Talking Sense When All Else is Abject Pish
The Ian Archer Award for Getting Them Telt

I’m sure we could come up with a few other categories before the boredom of international week is over and we get back to the real thing

Monti
5 years ago
Reply to  Gav

The Craig Whyte Scoop awards

Spidey101
5 years ago

For what it’s worth (not much) my view on the transfer window and recent events.

Looking back, we’ll see 2018 as perhaps our worst year in terms of squad management. January was awful – Comperr was a replacement for Boyata who we all expected would leave after the World Cup and Musonda a replacement for Rogic who we all expected would leave after the World Cup. Hendry was a project – I’ll come back to him later. Both Comperr and Musonda were spectacular failures meaning we had to rethink for summer.

By summer, Rogic had re-signed (albeit just before the World Cup started so cutting it fine) and after what seemed like a bit of a faff, Eddy was signed permanently. It’s likely Eddy was seen as Dembele’s replacement when we inevitably sold him next summer – Lyon and MD’s behaviour put paid to that plan. We also knew Armstrong (after the faff of last summer, but to be fair he did sign and extension meaning we got a fair price, so hat tip to the guy) and Roberts would leave.

We also had the shambolic handling of the KT to Everton rumours. The handling suggests there was some truth in it, but we managed to hold onto him rather than selling for £20-30m as reported.

Brendan identified McGinn as a replacement for the Hair – a driving runner who would be a good plan B in tight games and would grow in his time here. Many of us disagreed with his potential signing or suitability for Celtic – I wanted him to come, which I’ll explain later) It didn’t happen anyway, as we all know.

He also, by some accounts, identified Schar as a replacement for Boyata, but we were too slow, he had a good World Cup, and Newcastle threw silly wages at him. Picini was identified for a right back slot – various accounts abound for what happened there…

All of which meant Brendan’s top 3 targets were missed. Given out shambolic centre half compliment – Jozo seems shell shocked or has packed it in, Comperrs a disaster, and Hendry is raw – it’s unsurprising that Brendan refused to sell Boyata, at least not before CL qualifiers were over (which would mirror what we did with Van Dijk). Boyata’s tantrum (and Brendan’s assumption Boyata would be fine with it) cost us big time there.

We ended the window having made Eddy and Bain’s loan signing permanent, bringing Izzy back, signing Arzani (Man City link), Benkovic (who the club had tracked since signing Jozo) and Mulumbu (who we all knew from West Brom days and played against us last season).

The result of all this was, in my view, a breakdown in two key relationships. Firstly, between Brendan and PL. Brendan is irked that PL failed to deliver the 3 players he wanted, while PL sees Brendan obstructing a potential £40m income from sales of KT and Boyata. I’m not sure that relationship can be repaired…

Equally worryingly, the relationship between Brendan and Congerton/the scouting department seems to have broken down, with our signings being proven at the club (Eddy, Bain, Izzy), tracked by the previous scouting team (Benkovic), part of our link with Man City (Arzani) or identified as doing well in games against us (Mulumbu, Morgan). That limits our options quite considerably, which is a worry when out strategy relies in part on buying potential to sell on at a profit.

That’s not the only risk to the strategy as a result of this window. While we’ve seen the Wanyamas, Van Dijks, etc come in for a couple of years and move on, equally important has been what I would call the “core”. A group of solid professionals who are here for 4-5 years, “get” Celtic, and form the “core” of the team and squad. That’s Broony, Izzy, KT, Lustig, Gordon, CalMac, Forrest, Griff. Some of those aren’t getting any younger and we need to refresh the “core” as well as the potentials.

This year saw the start of that – Hendry was seen as “next generation core”, alongside Bain, Morgan, Mikey Johnson. The key addition in that respect would have been McGinn. So, while Paul67 is right that McGinn may not have made much difference to our CL qualification, or been anything more than a squad player this year, he potentially would have been pivotal to what we do going forward, and I think that’s why Brendan was so disappointed when that fell through.

All in all, that leads to a disappointing window – both in the immediate term and in our hopes of getting 10. It was the beginning of a disconnect between the club and fans. Further issues have arisen that have exacerbated that disconnect:

Poor alignment between the Football and Retail sides of the business – for example the “buy like Celtic” adverts that came out soon after the McGinn deal failed (leading to jokes around “I’ll offer £1 for that £60 top. No? How about half now, half when I’ve worn it 100 times?”);
Poor social media/comms on transfer deadline day – not announcing Benkovic until 11:45 when he had spent the day training, etc. Announcing Okoflex on 1 September, etc;
The club’s response to the crush on Sunday – fans expect Celtic to provide a safe environment to watch the match, the club failed to do so;
And even the euphoria of the win on Sunday has been dampened by the club’s response to the McGregor compliance review (ie deafening silence).

So, instead of being prepared to go for 8 in a row and optimistic about 10 (and indeed 13 so we reach the sacred 55 before them – that’ll really sicken them), we’re now in a situation where the club is lacking leadership and direction at a crucial juncture, with fans and club divided and a failure of strategy to improve the team.

Instead, we’re relying on the “core” plus Eddy and Ntcham to deliver another title. Brendan can probably see us to another title, but longer term we have issues – Broony is getting on (and continually playing through injury, we have a load of players out of contract (the core of Broony, Lustig, Forrest) next summer with no sign of movement on extending those contracts (nor any movement on Griff’s extension which has tumbled on for ages) and limited confidence we can identify and recruit sufficient replacements/additions.

I’m generally an optimist, but I can’t help fear this is the season we blew the chance of ten and let them back into things. This season is pivotal – we need to clear the deadwood (we have 33 players – around 1/3 of those have no future with us either because they aren’t good enough or will leave of their own volition) and refresh the “core”. We need to start working together again. We need to review our strategy and how we deliver against the strategy. We need to all get back to pulling in the same direction. Above all, we need leadership at club level! Dermot Desmond demonstrates leadership every so often (appointing MON after the Dalglish/Barnes debacle) appointing Brendan after the semi-final disaster, but leaves alone when things seem to be going well and it unravels until he intervenes…Dermot, in the extremely unlikely event you read this, it’s unravelling…

rebus67
5 years ago
Reply to  Spidey101

Spidey,

Good post. I think the breakdown(if it exists) between BR and PL is the immediate concern. Finding replacements for stalwarts will be difficult and BR has thought about this with his comments on succession.

Forrest will stay but, as you say, we need a leader to eventually replace Brown.

Rebus

Monti
5 years ago
Reply to  rebus67

Kouassi?
Cough 😉

5 years ago

I reckon Lawell would leave most of the junky salesman at the Barras flummoxed and happy they didn’t sell to the bastard.
McGinn is good enough a supporter of the club and a perfect fit
Granted we’ve an over surplus of midfielders but McGinn is one of the best midfielders in the country and his stock will rise. If guys like Ross McCormack can go for 12 million then McGinn is worth 20 million or will be. Lawell is a fucking Shylock and needs to move with the times

Rebus67
5 years ago
Reply to  Iancelt67

Ian,

McGinn was the best midfielder outside of Celtic, IMHO.

You are correct his stock will rise in the next year, and, he will probably be out of reach, plus the wages.

What is alarming is that despite a lot of background work, we failed to get him.

However, it is past time for us to move on from this…..learn from it, but let it go now.

Rebus

Rob O'Keeffe
5 years ago
Reply to  Iancelt67

Ian,PL takes some amount of flak.However,is DD a billionaire? How much does he love Celtic? If I was as wealthy as DD,Celtic would be WorldClass in everything,that’s for sure.
As for McGinn,didn’t exactly make it clear he would crawl over broken glass to join us!
Celtic have been presented with 6 available,affordable,similar type players to McGinn and only followed up,casually,on 2.
The fans are being fleeced and should open their eyes.The plan is just to stay ahead of the “chasing” pack and let the 10 in a row Brigade keep most of the pressure off…..biscuit anyone?

Monti
5 years ago
Reply to  Rob O'Keeffe

I prefer a ‘ Taxi ‘ 😉

Rebus67
5 years ago

We could examine each and every signing over the last two windows but let us use Compper as an example,
.
Who identified him? Who signed him?

Let’s guess that Congerton identified him. Presumably BR approved signing him? If not, the situation is worse than feared. PL would be happy to negotiate the deal because it is not much money…about a million.

Did noone ask what is his injury record like, given his age? A quick research would show he was high risk.

This simply should not have happened and someone needs to be accountable.

Rebus

Rob O'Keeffe
5 years ago
Reply to  Rebus67

Rebus,Mike identified him as a German international…..it’s all his fault….not Lee cos he’s Brendan’s pal…..

5 years ago

Think he’s at it rebus. Sees Celtic as a gravy train plenty of them around. Probably put in some decent shifts as a younger man and duped whoever makes these deals. Maybe collusion and backhanders afoot

Rob O'Keeffe
5 years ago

Speaking of injuries,could Celtic confirm that Dembele(The Flouncer) has absolutely no record of missing games through hamstring injuries….Signed Worried Guy Who Signed Him at Lyon….mammy,daddy….

jpm 88
5 years ago

Currently all ” Champion of Europe ” clubs i.e. clubs who have won the European Cup/CL automatically , should they win their league , qualify for the CL proper ; that is all but three – Red Star Belgrade- Steau Bucharest and Celtic .

These three “Champions of Europe ” are penalised purely due to their geographical location .

Would’t it add to the prestige of the tournament and the kudos of winning it if Uefa saw fit to exempt all previous winners , should they win their league of coarse , from having to play qualifiers for the tournament they have won ?

Maybe if PL takes time off from his ” director of Football ” duties he could use his European contacts to subtly lobby for such a change .

jpm 88
5 years ago
Reply to  jpm 88

CS

not necessarily ; they did implement the “champions route ” making it fairer for clubs in Celtic’s position , meaning we no longer have to face the likes of Arsenal in qualifiers .

In reality , don’t see it happening , though as I’ve never seen the proposition mentioned , or raised if you will , maybe it’s one of those ” if you don’t ask you never get ” situations .

BJF
5 years ago

Spidey good points thoughtfully put , maybe don’t agree with all your points but most of them, they were put over thoughtfully with facts we’ll marshalled. I think we are all concerned Brendan might feel he has had enough and be off in the summer. Dermot could rescue it if he wanted to.

Monti
5 years ago
Reply to  BJF

Why does DD have to rescue anything?
So on one hand you think it’s ” a rekief we didn’t qualify for the CL group stage ” but you want Dermot to ” rescue ” something?

Scary that anyone is relieved at not making the CL….fucking scary.

Monti
5 years ago
Reply to  Monti

Relief

Monti
5 years ago

Where’s the new deals for Forrest & Griffiths?
We wouldn’t ve dragging our heels would we?

” world class in everything we do ”

Cough cough

Mike
5 years ago

Only by looking back can we learn and try not to make the same mistakes again and mistakes were made. I prefer to look forward, learning from past mistakes and to repair the strategy on transfers.
One thing is apparent, the break down in the relationship with Lawwell and Rodgers, this fracture must be repaired, I have no doubt that there will be a meeting between Rodgers, Lawwell and Desmond, to sort it all out. Firstly we sort out the structure and define who does what and where the lines are crossed, make certain it doesn’t happen again. There has to be a line between the football department and the administration, budgets have to be agreed on wages and the amount of players coming in and out within that budget. I want to say this… That the club should not have millions of pounds in the bank, loans must be paid of, players who have no future released and money raised through transfers must go back into the football department. We are not a bank, the supporters pays millions into the club and they are the ones who should be repaid by seeing the team improve. It looks like the scouting department is useless, the players identified are not much use, that too has to be looked at, we cannot afford to make mistakes like Commper. So the football department under Rodgers should have its budget and stick to it unless a special player is identified within a reasonable cost. Lawwell should have no say in player purchase, that is Rodgers responsibility, if Lawwell is negligent in player pursuit he must be answerable to Desmond. I had thought that from Rodgers arrival that he had total responsibility for the playing department and had a direct line to Desmond, like O’Neill. So for me its the learning of mistakes made and a clear sense of where we are going with clear boundaries and responsibilities. One club, one road, the AGM is in November, question time at Celtic park.

Rebus67
5 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Mike,

I have a feeling but no evidence that PL feels threatened by a high profile manager. If a manager becomes too successful, he works to assert his authority via the budget. Mowbray and Deila were exactly the correct appointments as far as he was concerned. Neither were assertive in their positions.

Strachan was brought in to control the salary budget, so he was liked at first. Lennon was not a high profile manager at appointment.

It seems that PL, who is excellent at managing the finances, wants more control than that. However, I fear that there is not a good understanding within the club of the real relationship between the football and financial sides of the business.

Just opinions of mine and could be totally off the mark.

Rebus

SteveNaive
5 years ago

Well argued Rebus. Mc Ginny agent’ job is to get him the best deal. Short term he did that and his wishes ( and that of Celtic) were secondary. Longer term I suspect that Villa may not be the best move for him but maybe he just sees the money. EPL has loads of players, better than him, who have stayed at their clubs this season when they should be asking for moves for more game time. He may be back at us yet.

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