I don’t think that is a controversial point of view on Planet Fitba that Celtic will keep very few clean sheets this season.
In keeping with the club’s charitable roots, it looks like they will give a goal scoring opportunity to just about anyone.
It is also no secret that the Hoops manager is raging at the club for failing to land him the players that he had identified.
As with most large organisations, failure is an orphan and no one wants to put their hands up to expensive errors.
For example, I am in possession of two conflicting narratives on why Cristiano Piccini is not a Celtic player.
In one of them, the current Celtic CEO does not come out well.
For the avoidance of doubt, I don’t know which of them is true.
It is one of those annoying instances when two equally well-placed sources are telling you mutually exclusive stories.
Infuriating…
The strange thing is that Celtic should not be in the malaise that is currently engulfing him.
At the start of this window, Brendan Rodgers was told that he has £20m of a transfer budget.
Approximately £8m (€9m) of that has gone on Odsonne Édouard.
That should leave more than enough to sign a competent centre-half.
Of course, that presupposes that the person conducting the negotiations does not treat it like as an opportunity to preen.
I’m told that after the McGinn debacle that such self-indulgent horse trading is now verboten.
Of course, it would be a tragedy is such missteps were to result in the withholding of a six-figure bonus.
However, I’m sure that won’t happen.
Although Brendan Rodgers is clearly irked at how this transfer window has gone so far he is not free of blame on the recruitment front.
Marvin Compper was his choice last January, as was Charlie Musonda.
Both have proved to be expensive failures.
It was told recently that the Chelsea winger cost Celtic approximately £480k per match during his loan spell with the Scottish champions.
The enigma that is Compper could prove even more expensive for Celtic and both of these players were chosen and sanctioned by Rodgers.
It was recently pointed out to the Irishman that he could have had Fabian Schär last January, but Rodgers opted for Compper instead.
I’m fairly convinced that the blame for the McGinn saga cannot be placed at the door of the man from Antrim.
Although Celtic have money in the bank what they definitely are short of now is time.
The transfer window will close next week and agents and clubs will know of the situation that the Scottish champions find themselves in.
Moreover, the chaps in the Blue Room will be hoping that the Rodgers has to go with the backline that he currently has.
Celtic have sleepily stumbled into a situation where the basket of assets have reason to believe that they have a chance this season.
I was on my way to the game when I heard on the radio that Boyata was playing…
I immediately turned the car around …and came home.
Feck that for a game of soldiers.
He’s not fit to wear the shirt…I’m disgusted by this decision.
I’m sorry you feel that way TV.Question is,what are you gonna do if he’s not punted before the window slams shut ? A one man Boyata boycott ? HH
Why not go and support the TEAM that you support instead,together,united,we will get through this bad patch KTF
Another good piece Phil and so on it. I can see the ibrox side putting up a brick wall against Celtic and then breaking up the park and causing all sorts of problems. It would appear that the very recent experience of being dissapointed at Celtic putting just five instead of 7 or 8 past them are now gone. How things have changed in just a matter of months
Not sure why my earlier post hasn’t appeared, but my basic question for Phil is whether the reported sit down between Desmond, Lawwell and Rogers ever took place?
If it hasn’t, then why not? If it has, how come there still appears to be friction between PL and BR? Think fans need, and have a right, to know what is going on! Thanks.
I don’t think it’s all a coincidence. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the Celtic board would prefer a more competitive league. Perhaps by letting us go backwards enough to allow the basket of assets the opportunity to catch up.
No matter what the fans want the two boards are in cahoots and always have been. The whole fan base has been built on the rivalry.
In response to your article I would comment as follows…
I saw my first game at Celtic Park in 1957…and have been a regular since then.
That doesn’t give me the right to know more than anyone else…but it gives me a helluva head start on a lot of people.
First up…This current shambles isn’t new…its in our DNA.
We have this wonderful inability to build on our successes…and we always end up shooting ourselves in the foot…and mouth.
The present situation is just a repeat of many I’ve witnessed over the years…and once again the big question is…Who’s to blame?
Well its obvious that there are faults on both sides…but BR should not be exempt from criticism. Some of his “buys” have been awful…and that needs to be addressed.
As for PL…He is the acknowledged guardian of the Biscuit Tin…but this shouldn’t mean that he is allowed to undermine the Manager just for the sake it…as some of your articles seem to imply.
And if that is the case…then its time for DD to step in and crack their heads together.
However, as I said in a previous post…I don’t give a toss who’s to blame…just get it sorted.
And we can argue all day about “money out” and ” money in”…but the bottom line is…we are in a tremendously healthy financial position…and yet we still manage to make an arse of it.
Does all this affect the players…and is it responsible for our current lack of form?
Well I say…no it doesn’t.
We can debate all day about our slow build up…our overpassing…the poor final ball…and dreadful finishing…but that’s got feck all to do with the politics…its the coaching that causes that.
As far as I can see…the players still work very hard…its just the final third that leaves a lot to be desired.
But I’ll end on a happy note…I forecast that we will blow Hamilton away tomorrow…and get back to winning ways.
(Now where’s that tin helmet…?)
the final third, what about the first third ?
The first third is of course a problem…but… Once again the stats show 70% possession against Hamilton…and in Scotland that’s quite normal for us…Thus giving our defence a relatively easy time.
But when we only score one goal (again) from this amount of possession…I would argue that domestically at least…we have a far bigger problem in the final third than in the first…and it needs sorting.
Just my opinion.
Phil, Your own piece tells why PL has not jumped at signing Brendan’s choices. He has not been that great in the transfer market so far, with more than half his signing proving to be duds. While he is nowhere near the disaster C Levein has been in this department, his track record leaves a lot to be desired. As for McGinn, I can’t see all the hype for him and can’t really see where he would fit in to Celtic’s midfield ( unless as an early replacement for Brown.). Rodgers has done well taking Celtic to three trebles but anyone could have done so with Celtic’s resources. Maybe need to dig a bit deeper to find the true reason players are not being signed before vilifying PL as he can’t suddenly go from a great CO to a fool.
There was a time when Celtic scouted the world, identified young upcoming players and brought them in without spending alot of money in the process.
Look at the players we signed in the 2010-11 season for a total 10.2m.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010–11_Celtic_F.C._season
For some reason we seem to have abandoned this model completely to either spend big in a market we cant compete in or develop other teams young players.
Here is the reason…
Lee Congerton.
I don’t think it is time to push the panic button yet, but I think it is time that Dermot Desmond sorted out the apparent differences between the CEO and the manager which are having a severely detrimental effect on both players and fans.
Why are we trying to self destruct? The only people in Scotland who can hurt Celtic are the people at Celtic, so let’s stop giving the opposition any comfort, help or hope and get back to what we do best – playing football. HH
hear hear
How much responsibility does Lee Congerton have in all this? Surely as Head of Recruitment it would appear he is doing a terrible job and should be sacked?
But if he identified the 2 or 3 big targets that Brendan wanted and passed them onto PIstol Pete to fire blanks rather than getting the deals done.
If his targets are signed and don’t perform then, yes, he should carry the can for that but he shouldn’t for other people’s impotence.
So either way you look at it his position and relevance is useless. Either he is not identifying suitable recruits or is identifying possible recruits that come to nothing,
Yes we spent money on Edouard, but we also got roughly the same money for 2 players who left,