Celtic started the defence of their title yesterday.
The only issue for the champions was the injury to Olivier Ntcham.
That flagged up the concern among many of the Parkhead faithful about that lack of activity in the transfer market.
I spoke to a Celtic source yesterday and he admitted that the recruitment timescale had not worked out as planned.
He said that the club had expected to have had another two players in at this stage to join record signing Odsonne Édouard.
He told me that he still expected “two or three deals to be done after the EPL squads are announced”.
What he then described to me was a sort of domino effect of excluded players looking for new clubs.
The picture painted for me is one where the manager is in total charge of the recruitment.
For example, if Brendan wants Paddy Roberts as a signing then the money is there and the fee has been agreed.
I feel for John McGinn in the long-running saga with Hibernian.
It wasn’t the lad or his representatives who TWICE moved the goalposts during the negotiations.
Neither, for the avoidance of doubt, was it Celtic.
When the summer transfer window closes the champions will have the strongest squad in Scotland even if there are no more new acquisitions.
However, the two Irishmen who are steering the club want the team to evolve into an even more formidable machine.
John McGinn would be a Celtic player now if they were willing to pay the market rate and not take scraps (or, as you put it, a “domino effect of excluded players looking for new clubs”).
John McGinn is one of the first names on the Scotland team sheet, in a way that Stuart Armstrong even was not, and by definition he is far from being an excluded player looking for a new club.
Pay up or leave other well-run clubs like Hibernian alone, and spare us your sob stories thank you.
Very well said.
I don’t agree with your take on the transfer situation…
We are vulnerable in certain areas…and it needs addressed.
Its all very well having a squad to handle Scottish teams…but that’s not the yardstick…it’s Europe…and we’re still not good enough to mount serious challenges there.
Never mind bringing Roberts back…get a good quality Centre back…and cover for KT.
Celtic have a problem and it’s one they have had for a long time. Do they spend big on players simply to play in Europe, or do they just stick with players who are well capable of winning the domestic honours?
Don’t see the point of having a team full of top flight players, who will then hardly break sweat winning the Scottish league. However the rest are slowing improving, but that can only be good for Celtic, as they need competition to sharpen them for the lottery of the Champions league.
i also feel for John McGinn and am disappointed how little Celtic value him. I hope Hibs keep him for the season and then let him go for nothing. What Celtic are offering is a bit like the Sky TV money – it’s so paltry you’re better off without it.
Hibs won’t earn close to £2m in tv revenue this season. Personally, I believe that £2m for a player that Celtic could conceivably pick up in January for a quarter of that, or free come May is an excellent offer.
Petrie is playing a stupid game. Hibs will be the losers.
Hibs won’t earn close to £2m in tv revenue this season. Personally, I believe that £2m for a player that Celtic could conceivably pick up in January for a quarter of that, or free come May is an excellent offer.
Petrie is playing a stupid game. Hibs will be the losers.
For a player in the last year of his contract , the rumoured deal (a couple of million + Scott Allan ) was more than fair . Hibs could do more with that deal than losing him for nothing . He’s not going to win Hibs any silverware ( no disrespect Hibees) this season .
Celtic value him at £2m, with a player thrown in. So say £2.5m for a player in the last year of his contract.
For me he’s a great buy and would bring something different to the squad.
Petrie is in a pissing fight with Lawwell, one he won’t win.
If McGinn wants to go to Celtic he will hang on and sign a pre contract in January or will move for a fraction of the current offer.
Lennon won’t be happy as no doubt he could spend the £2m wisely.
Somebody at Hibs is moving the goalposts as Phil has said, Celtic are correct to call their bluff and not pay more than they think he is worth.
If it was my decision I would wait until January and sign him on a pre-contract.
Rod Petrie and all that.
As i have said, if SJM wants to leave Hibs then all he has to do is submit a transfer request. As far as i know that hasn’t happened, and i don’t see it happening either. It’s obvious SJM wants a decent deal first for Hibs who gave him his chance on a bigger stage and his other favourite club St Mirren. I get the impression that most Celtic fans,(yourself included Phil) are under the impression that all celtic have to do is snap their fingers and players will come running to your club. I have a strong feeling that if SJM doesn’t leave Hibs in this window then he may just sign a small extension to his current contract. Where would that leave Celtic in the pecking order.
Very well said
Only a very bitter man would cut off his nose to spite his face. McGinn can be picked up as soon as his contract is up and Hibs will be worse off for it. Celtic have been very good to Hibs in recent seasons by loaning them decent players that have helped their cause but this farce will be remembered. Mr Petrie, don’t ask Santa for handkerchiefs this year as you don’t have a nose to blow into them. HH
Your superiority complex and sense of entitlement reminds me of supporters of a 6-year old club across the city.
How is his a farce? I thought £7m for Armstrong was farcical! Does it not occur to you that he might be worth more to Hibs to hold on to for the season? Finishing second rather than fourth is worth approximately £500k. Europa League play offs net an extra £300k plus matchday revenue and tv. In short, Hibs could earn an extra million holding on to him and when a third of any fee goes to St Mirren then the £2m Celts are offering to buy him for is simply not worth it. It makes no economic sense to Hibs. It’s not all about Celtic you know!
It’s not about superiority or sense of entitlement as we all know that Petrie would be happy to sell McGinn to anyone else but Celtic. McGinn is hardly going to be as successful at Hibs as he could be at Celtic, unfortunately. A player is only worth what someone is willing to pay and although he’s a Celtic fan and I’d like to see him at Paradise, the money on offer from the south must be very alluring and I wouldn’t blame McGinn if he went for the money instead of the glory. HH
Ah well, another dull Monday morning uplifted by Ibrox Noise’s take on yesterdays game at Pittodrie.
Not unusual for fans to claim they were playing against 12 men, but Newco faced up to 13 yesterday!
Aberdeen, the ref and the crowd, no less.
I see that throwing objects at opposition players taking corners is now the norm for the Bears with little sign of police wading in to snatch the offenders.
Stevie G already moaning about years of decisions made against his new club.
Presumably within that genre will be the decision by the football authorities to put Oldco down the divisions for no reason at all, just pure spite.
He probably has no idea that the previous entity is being liquidated and that his current paymaster is a Newco, a club/company/ thingy hastily put together that has lost money from day 1 and continues to do even more so on his watch.
None of that will be on the Level 5 script he’s been handed.
This is going to be a difficult season if the moaning after yesterday’s game is to be the norm.
This season is critical and if Gerrard/King cannot shift the balance of power then 9 and 10 IAR will be a formality.
Just read that eejit Gannon’s article today.
Quote: ‘the media didn’t give Pedro a hard time because of some anti Rangers agenda.’
Talk about rewriting history. He and his media mates were wetting themselves as Pedro brought in a raft of Portoguese and Mexican super stars. 55 was a certainty.
Anyone with a brain knew after a few weeks that he was a disaster in waiting and 7 months was 6 too many.
Difficult I suppose to see the wood for the trees when the blue blinkers are on.
Not one of our media has commented on the financial impact of hiring Gerrard added to the long list of known negatives blowing in the wind and soon coming home to roost.
With Gerrard’s post match comments today he’s obviously gone native, didn’t take him long.
Next thing the haters will be getting it.
Just in the door and he’s claiming that the referee fraternity in Scotland are cheating his team.
Oh really Stevie, you have no idea what you are talking about. Perhaps listening too much to Gary Mac?
You are the manager of a club/company/thingy one European result away from a financial crisis.
Who will you be blaming for that?
Morelos is an accident waiting to happen and though his sending off may have been on the soft side there are numerous other incidents where the ref has failed to show him the red card. He’s a petulant no mark that has shown today how easy it is to wind him up and get him red carded.
Gerrards substitutions misfired with Kent and Ejaria out of their depth.
A similar performance on the 2nd September will see a Pedro or Murty type result and a substantial gap opening up between the Champions and the club/company/thingy playing out of Ibrox.
The Bears are lifted by comments from Barasic, the Osijek captain, that he would love to play for them.
However, despite the claims of one fan that the club is cash rich at the moment, a minimum of £5m would be required to get the Croat club to the table, and the largest portion of that would be up front, with no unlikely CL add ons included.
The distress signals are already flying with the £200k joke offer for Lafferty.
If the short term loans due for repayment in June have been paid off then ST monies must be close to exhaustion already.
Add in the forecast cash shortfall for the current year noted in last year’s audited accounts, the lack of merchandising income, paying off players and management staff, King’s expensive love affair with the courts, and not least the £4m due to Close Bros in February, a swollen payroll, King left as the banker of last resort who claims to be skint, or not, depending on his audience, and a veritable financial crisis is incoming.
Off course you won’t see or hear any of this in the blue facing media, nor will stab, Croats and Rangers fans appear in the same sentence.
King has other issues with TOP/COS that may also impact on matters Ibrox.
The mystery billionaire better pop up soon before the fat lady sings again.
Except he is now in Glasgow for a medical. Meanwhile, we may well miss McGinn entirely.
To be fair I am getting a wee bit tired of the same stuff that Sevco are over spending, any time now they are going to close the doors on the big hoose etc… etc.. etc… I don;t see any signs of it nor do I see any let up in their spending … all the while were fiddling while Rome burns… as “Rokewood” says it looks we’re missing out on McGinn, our defence looks shaky at best, apart from broonie we have little if any aggression in midfield, that’s what Sevco are going to bring to the party aggression and tempo. We need to be able to meet this challenge first time out… not once we’ve been shocked by a defeat.
You might have stated similar sentiments in 2011 about the old Rangers…
You may well be right there Phil, and I really do hope you are, but I start to think maybe we’re all wishful thinking and the reality should be attended too rather than the possibility.
If you build a squad good enough for Europe and the rest will take care of itself.
Brendan is in charge of the Transfers if they are within Budget. If not he can bring forward future Budgets, but, he cannot sign whoever he wants as that is over Budget. The club also has budget for Capital projects
The comment about Hibs moving the goalposts doesn’t mean a great deal if you don’t expand on what you know. It really is very simple, if Celtic want him badly enough now they need to pay what Hibs are asking for. Celtic are not helping themselves with their parsimony……
Quite right. Hibs haven’t moved any goalposts. They have stated their price and stuck to it.
You’re Celtic’s PR man. You claim to be a rebel but you I’ll always knees down for the capitalists Lawwell and Ashley
You’re Celtic’s PR man. You claim to be a rebel but you I’ll always knees down for the capitalists Lawwell and Ashley
Thing is LWB, when you run your club the right way, the truth is your PR man.
Makes life so much smoother…
There’s nothing wrong with being a capitalist – just ask Dave King…
ON SECOND THOUGHT…
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