Atalanta have had another bid kicked out for Matt O’Riley, and while you have to admire their persistence, you also have to admire our board’s resistance.
As the offers gradually creep up to what Celtic want for the player, other names have come into the frame to replace him, which suggests he’s for the off.
Whether he wants to be or not.
As the player joined Celtic for next to nothing, and he’s quite savvy, it will have occured to the board that he might well try to see his contract out and leave for the same sort of money as he arrived, which wouldn’t please anyone, and matbe that’s in the back of their mind.
The next name comes from Lawwell lapdog Stephen McGowan in the Daily Mail…
Celtic have identified Lausanne’s Alvyn Sanches as a candidate to replace coveted midfielder Matt O’Riley.
Europa League holders Atalanta had their latest bid for the Danish international kicked out last night, an offer of £21.5million plus £2m add-ons rejected.
Celtic are holding out for a deal which shatters their previous record sales of £25million for Kieran Tierney and Jota, to Arsenal and Al-Ittihad, respectively.
Competition for £4.3m-rated Swiss under-21 international Sanches stems from Nice, Club Bruges, Anderlecht and Burnley. Keen to take the next step in his career, the 21-year-old is expected to leave Switzerland before the close of the window.
Celtic have also been linked with £10m-rated Belgian wonderkid Arne Engels.
A late contender for Belgium’s Euro 2024 squad, the 20-year-old has impressed with Bundesliga side Augsburg.
Unusually for the Mail, there is no mention of all these foreigners coming over here and taking our jobs, but they do throw in a mention for a local lad….
As Mail Sport reported last week, the Parkhead side have also compiled reports on Dundee forward Luke McCowan, but have yet to firm up any interest with Hibs having already tested the Dens Park club’s resolve to keep the 26-year-old.
….but stopped short of allowing him to rant about how his prospects of a successful career have been impeded by freedom of movement and so on, which for some reason doesn’t seem to apply to football.
Even less reliable than the Mail, sports website HITC reports that Celtic scouted Hammarby forward Bazoumana Toure back in July, and he scored, so who knows what could happen?
Not them, obviously, they said the player is not for sale and it would take £7m to buy him.
Meanwhile, Adam Idah seems pleased to be a Celt after all the brouhaha, as he revealed he , like Paulo Bernardo, left his stuff in storage in Glasgow over the summer.
However, both players have been unable to contact the chap who stored it for them, and they also report disappointment in that he didn’t watch their motor either despite getting ten shiny shillings to do so.
Idah spoke to the Record, but he’ll learn.
“Mum’s so proud of me, buzzing. She’s dying to get over for the games now, so she’s loving life. She came to quite a few games and obviously she came over for the cup final, so that was a big one for her. She says it herself – she’s never seen me as happy playing football as when I came here, so she’s delighted.
“How many times did I watch that goal back? I can’t even count now. I was constantly watching it. It’s the same feeling the whole time – getting goosebumps.
“I think everyone’s so proud of me. Back home they’ve never seen me smile so much as when I’ve been at Celtic. I think everyone’s delighted for me and they just want me to go and enjoy football again.
“You just feel free here. I know people say there’s a lot of pressure and of course there is pressure, but I don’t really feel it. The reception I got from the fans is amazing. I’ve never experienced anything like that and it motivates me more to score more goals.
“The connection I have with the club, not just the players and the staff, but the fans make a big difference. I probably didn’t have the best treatment at Norwich with the fans, I didn’t have that connection, and it does make a difference.”
He does seem to have “got it “…as he continues…
“The craziest one… I was in LA and there was a group of Celtic fans down on the boulevard. I was a bit shocked with that.
“Eight o’clock in the morning and there’s Celtic fans everywhere. It was a bit of a new thing to get used to because you haven’t really been identified like that in a place like that. It’s a strange one. Even going back home, obviously everyone knows me back home.
“But now that I’ve been at Celtic, it’s like I’m a new man when I go home, which is pretty strange. But it’s been fantastic. I say it all the time, the fans here have been amazing to me. The reaction I got, the welcome, has been top class. It’s time for me to repay that now.”
Wait till he finds out those guys in LA had funded their trip by selling some stuff they promised someone they’d look after for him.
Whilst all is rosy in our own garden, or at least rosier, over the ence the neighbours are in a spot of bother.
Up to the point where they’re closing the curtains and shouting
“Ah’m no’ in ”
every time someone comes to the door.
With Champions League money now off the income list, the money due to Elite after an unsuccessful court case has to be found from somewhere, and it appears the delaying tactics aren’t working… from STV, who usually try to put a spin on bad news from that place
Last week, lawyers told Lord Braid that a deal had been agreed between parties in “the last minute of stoppage time.” No sum was disclosed.
However lawyers in the matter returned to court on Thursday to tell Lord Braid that the matter hadn’t yet settled.
Elite’s lawyer David Thomson KC said the deal agreed between the firm and Rangers had to be put in writing.
He said that a draft agreement had been given to lawyers acting for Rangers but that the Glasgow club hadn’t given any instructions to their lawyers about the agreement.
The advocate acting for Rangers, Gavin MacColl KC, told the court that the draft contained things that hadn’t been agreed between parties last week.
He told Lord Braid that the proposed agreement didn’t “reflect the bargain” made between parties last week.
Lord Braid told the lawyers that they had a two-week deadline to settle the action.
He told them that the matter would call in court next Tuesday to see if matters had been resolved.
He added: “Given that the parties seem to be agreed that settlement has been agreed then it should easily be capable to get the settlement over the line in the next few days.
“I don’t know where the fault lies.
“I will continue the case until next Tuesday at 9am and expect all involved – parties and solicitors – to show 110% commitment as it were to getting this over the line by then.
“I hope we are not having the same discussion next Tuesday.”
This is a lot more serious than it seems at first glance. Courts can freeze assets and bank accounts……
Rumours are circulating that there will be a big announcement from the club/company today, and whilst no one can be sure what it will be, if there is one, it cannot be good news.
For them, that is.
Ionis Hagi has played 99 games for them, when he starts his 100th, his wages jump by 10k or so a week, which explains why he’s been in the B team.
That’s not significant in itself, but looking at the wider picture it points to an era of austerity….presumably as a last gasp attempt to stave off administration, which will force them to cut costs and sell players.
Their support have come up with a couple of ideas to help, so they can save their club this time and not just pretend they did like last time.
A virtual season ticket, where you can be “a friend of Rangers “.
Am i alone in thinking that this was posted by a board member ?
I’ve got a better idea for that club/company.
Sell season books for Hampden…maybe £200 each.
Valid until they finally return to Ibrox.
But in order to sell them to the gullibillies, they will have to come out and tell the truth.
So that we can sit back and have a chuckle as they squirm and admit they are waist deep in the big muddy, with no visible signs of climbing out.
If the support don’t want to lose another club, they’ll rally round and chip in to preserve their history.
It may be a little hard for them to swallow, but if they don’t , they’re about to crash and burn again.
And this time, they might not find the authorities so lenient.
Still, whilst there’s bad news in abundance for the bad guys, it’s not looking good for the good guys either, as the Sun tries to put a dampener on our season…..
Well, not only would we qualify from that group, but a live recording of the fans singing at Celtic Park will win the Eurovision Song contest next summer.
And although that’s unlikely, the diary is still talking less shite than that rag.
Anyway, it’s Friday, and on Friday’s we nominate and award the title of
As usual, there are a few to choose from, but the field is quite narrow, as they all seem to have a connection with a plucky new club/company on the southern side of the city.
To achieve such exalted status requires knobbery above and beyond the day to day knobbery that we’ve come to expect in all aspects of life.
And here he is….from a live broadcast at Sky Sports…
This is what it looks like when your team is slapped by reality as “rangers ” conceded twice against Dynamo Kiev.
He then said;
“Rangers aren’t in a good place.
“Rangers fans are used to watching them dominate Scottish football – right now it looks like Celtic will dominate for a long time. The word project has been used about Rangers. I can tell you Rangers as a football club has never been a project and never will be, they need to win.
Six titles this century….only one since 2011.
The last time they dominated was over thirty years ago.
And it killed them.
In truth, Rangers fans are used to having smoke blown up their arses and it’s “peepil ” like Boyd that are doing it.
This weeks Etims Knob Of The Week is Kris Boyd, in case you hadn’t guessed
Yesterday, we had this…
Caption: Defeats on the field of battle, no ammunition, a poorly built fortress, do you think an orange uniform would distract the foot soldiers?
Today….
It’s not the first time, and won’t be the last
KOTW, shooty in.
It should be without him.
Caption
“ I’ve put your name down for a virtual season ticket “
Caption
“Ah don’t care if yours is this big Sammy, it still won’t beat Kris Boyd fur knob o’ the week”
Caption: fuck! I’ve tripped on this stupid dress
Great to see you back home early from Europe dear. And the schools are no even back yet!!
I’d have been home sooner but this guy saw my uniform, handed me this stick and asked me if I’d lead off the parade. How was I to know they weren’t allowed through Drumcree?
Caption
The fatted calf thinking,
“What’s all the commotion “
Young William returns from the virtual match, just in time to save his blow-up girlfriend from floating away.
Caption: Welcome to Hampden, your the fifth person to appear and the game is 20 minutes in!
Whatever you do, don’t mention administration to Phil McGullible, he seems to think he has the copyright on all comments Sevco and beyond. Have a read at his reply to one of the comments in his latest pukework, the guy treats his staunchpups the same as Sevco does, he has more in common with them than with Celtic, amazing he seems to have the inside track on all things staunch (I think he’s one of them)….it’s a bad day when John James is actually right about him- #boycottphilmcgullible.
Incredible!
He calls his reader ‘stupid’ after indicating that ‘Admin 2 is imminent’ for the last 10 years now he’s perpetually deriding his readers for using a moniker rather than their real name on the internet.
Still not as bad as that other Celtic blogger who has now taken to calling his readers d1ckheads, @rseholes and w@nkers, and who was doing that long before being threatened by Peter Lawwell’s legal team, which he could have claimed as a form of slight mitigation once one of them takes him to court.
Incredible!
He calls his reader ‘stupid’ after indicating that ‘Admin 2 is imminent’ for the last 10 years now he’s perpetually deriding his readers for being ‘bravely anonymous’ for using a moniker rather than their real name on the internet when it’s been long known that he himself went under various aliases IN THE REAL WORLD when younger …
The mark of a man who cannot be trusted, I think he’s a member of The Fabian Society myself, the same as his hero Orwell/Blair.
Knob of the Week- Phil McGullible, why? See his most recent post…
Haven’t read him for ages… his “so called” NUJ card that he flaunts .. even though the photo would never be accepted by any entity … I know .. I have a Portuguese press card .. just gives the lack of truth to his pieces … if I want to read pish then I come here and read the diary
I have to say, for all his all faults, and they are many, is how he’s supposedly a proud member of the NUJ yet has never, and will never, answer the question as to why his colleagues in this ‘National Union of Journalists’ allow the same club lie to be perpetuated without question.
Isn’t it the job of any and every journalist to ‘ask questions to power’, as he keeps telling us?
I mean, it’s not like the media don’t know Rangers died so why do the journalists accept the big cover up?
And why does he ban those who ask him these questions?
I used to like his work but it has become clear to me that he’s an obnoxious self obsessed individual with more than a hint of the narcissist about him.
His only redeeming factor now is that he hasn’t yet resorted to insulting his readers with ghastly pejorative street terms like ‘d ick head’, as another Celtic blogger has been doing now for years, despite his acolytes being an audience of pensioners, some who give the impression of serious illness or dementia.
Even the Follow Follow admins don’t talk to their readers like that.
I read his articles, i think he’s a decent writer but you are absolutely correct about narcissism. Look up the defined traits of one and he ticks a lot of the boxes. He scores even higher as a sociopath. Ive been on the end if his snobbery and snarkyness a few times too. He does seem to have good intel, inside track, and he annoys the fuck out the huns so I rate the work but not the man.
Caption: Billy’s delight on his return home soon turned sour as he recalled only having one kid when he left.
They’re shite and they know they are, even Boyd admitted on Tuesday they could have played all night and not scored, which means he’s starting to see the truth that’s staring him in the face.
And it’s for that reason I’d have given KOTW to the BBC for having no less than FIVE ex Huns, all recipients of EBTs or DOS, tax cheats, on their ‘neutral’ channel covering Tuesday’s game and expecting a party, not realising that the party would be all ours, at their expense.
In other news, if Celtic sign this guy from Galicia and Engels to replace O’Riley we’d have an attacking midfield of Mark Lênin & Engels.
We’d still need a forward thinking left winger though!
On the ludicrous Virtual Season Ticket, at least it’s not as wack as the Hun who posted back when the new club was just a cub the idea of installing a ladies hair salon inside Ibrox and getting Lorenzo Amoruso to ‘do the rounds’, as it were, while the men watch the fitba …
’They’re all bloody crackpots.
Emily, I’ve only time for a quicky, I’ve Armed Forces day to attend at Ibrox…… ERM , Hampden
Caption:
’Billy’ You’re alive!’
’Aye, doll, but Rangers died and these are the corpse’s claes I’m wearing.’
Caption:
Faither: ‘That’s the soup taker hame!’
So if my rudimentary maths is correct he thinks that 500 a pop and he expects to raise 20 M .. that would be an additional 40 000 gullible fools who would simply give the club in exchange for a friend’s of Sevco email. So where exactly are all these Billy’s and Wilhaminas gonna come from exactly? As their old Chairman remarked the Sevco diaspora is not as extensive as they once thought.
timmy returns home in triumph after conning the zombies wae his virtual season ticket wheeze
Caption: ” Billy!!! I can’t believe you’re back from the war…I’ve not seen you for ten years, come and meet your children…8 year old Molly and 4 year old Billy junior!!”
Caption…
Oh darling , a new table cover and I hope that’s not a gun in your pocket …
Who really thinks Sevco are incurring all of this upheaval, financial losses, and inconvenience, just furra benefits that a poxy 6 hunner seats will bring?
You survived the abseiling from hampdens roof
Sounds still a bit apart, which means, ideally, we keep him for another year or, the nightmare, he’s sold right at the end of the window.
Aye, ye do and did you change your name from Baird when you were called to the Bar?
So, who’s the big fool telling them to push on?
Caption “When Johnny comes marching home again, Hurrah, hurrah!” Finally the end of the Hampden campaign 2024-
Missed this the first time round, his agent must be a Tim.
right you, get up them stairs and get me pumped!
Caption
“ Todd, Todd Cantwell…you’re back!!
Can’t be bothered with all the media hype these days but Brendan’s ‘it’s a Rangers thing’ is one for the ages.
I know it’s been a while honey, but forget 69 let’s do 67 instead
Caption#2
The year is 1914….
“You’re home darling…how was the shipyard today!”
CAPTION
“Welcome home Sammy….all that time in the shipyards and you’re home safe and sound”…..
Why was my comment put in moderation then not approved please?
It will probably turn up next week!
Constant for me
To save money, sevco are offering fans the chance to be construction workers as well as stewards; no previous experience required.
Woman to man: “FFS, have you walked all the way from China? Where’s our steel beam? We were promised one this big.
Man:”I did have it, I promise, but I sold it to a nice Russian war-lord, in return for these magic money tree beans, in my hat”…
Caption
C@ntwell in his dreams, as the old guy waits spade in hand to chop his head off.
Love the virtual, shame about their reality, the four horsemen of the apocalypse