Celtic edged past lower league opposition last night with two of the new guys making an appearance.
I thought that Oliver Burke looked somewhat out of sorts as a press-ganged centre forward, but he is an undoubted talent.
However, Timothy Weah made an instant impact when he was brought off the bench.
Both are loan deals and I’m sure they will do well while they are at Celtic.
However, it isn’t a long-term solution and no can pretend that it is.
At the start of this transfer window, many Celtic supporters wanted and indeed expected that the board would back the manager and bring in several established names on a permanent basis.
Instead, the “Project Management” model appears to be still the dominant model at Celtic.
As ever with the fortunes of any football club, it is instructive to follow the money.
A well-placed source told me last week that the upper tier of the wage structure at Celtic was “becoming a bit crowded”.
I asked him to explain what this meant in real terms.
“We are close to the situation where we will need to get group stages of the Champions League two seasons out of every three”.
I think I can see a problem with that scenario.
For the avoidance of doubt, my source is well positioned to have an accurate view on these matters.
What is self-evident is that, so far, the “Dembélé money” has not been spent during this window.
Of course, there is always something of a lull in every transfer window.
Any business that is already agreed can happen as soon as it is legally possible to formally sign the paperwork.
Then as the clock ticks down at the other end last minute deals become possible.
Vakoun Issouf Bayo is a permanent signing and he comes highly recommended by his compatriot Kolo Touré and also by Ľubomír Moravčík.
The latter saw the kid in action in the Slovakian league.
Now, the young Ivorian might be a huge hit in the Hoops.
However, he is still within the “Project Management” model.
Once this window is closed it will be clear if Brendan Rodgers has been fully backed or not.
Are “projects” good enough to retain the title?
Discover more from Phil Mac Giolla Bháin
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
There are several issue that need to be taken into consideration before simply chucking Transfer fees into the Transfer Window.
The first is we have a bloated squad with numerous bad signings who have contributed little bit at ecosting plenty.
The second is we have a final payment of £6.25m to meet with the Co-Operative Bank as a final payment to out Long Term Loan set up with the Bank.
Then there is the issue of Tax which many seem to either ignore or forget about when we make large sums of money from player trading.
The more you make the more you pay.
Our wage bill at present is huge by Celtic standards in fact it has increased by over 45% since Lenny and Deilas tenures.
It is unsustainable if we do t qualify for Champions League regularly.
It is not the end of the world if we don’t however.
Player trading has been a tidy earner in recent years and the sale of say Ntcham to Porto plus this run in the Europa could offset most of the losses by not qualifying for the big League this Season.
Brendan is culpable for bringing in many of the surplus players so he’s not really in a position to be calling the shots on any proposed moves for big signings.
Édouard may or may not prove to be a lucrative signing time will tell of £9m was that well spent.
To continually produce the Transfer windfalls of the likes of Wanyama ,Forster ,Van Dijk or Dembele you first have to source these players and pay the right money from the off.
We have no option other than to continue with this process because as we all know Qualification for the big money pit is getting more and more difficult by the Season as UEFA find even more ridiculous ways in which to weed out the lesser fancied League Champions.
Brendan was aware of all of this when he came.
So he really is in no position to complain when it continues to be this way.
Like it or not he will not be here forever or even the the long term that was never in his plans regardless of what he has said.
He came to Celtic to repair his CV and of course enjoy the ride.
2-1 Killie. So looking forward to your next piece Phil
Hi Phil….
Just wondering if you have any insight or info into Mr Kings deadline for a share purchase announcement tomorrow?
His required actions have been clearly prescribed by court and to a strict calendar, but of course there’s been not a hint from any party just what the situation is.. not that the media would report anything that compromises the iBrokes feelgood vibe at present.
That’s also assuming (who would?) that he’s got the funds in place already and intends to actually comply rather than ‘appear to comply’.
I’m sure we’ll all know the answer by 5pm tomorrow… could be fun !
Hopefully you will have your own take on the proceedings.
Incidentally, I noticed that another blogger… with the (self declared) best and most reliable sources available is wanting a £25 subscription (eeer donation!) for 12 months access to his one column Scottish football digest! ?@&£
Neither are my ‘cup-of-tea’ but I recently noticed a £2 a month offer for online access to both the NY times AND the Guardian.. £24 for a whole year…
Now let me just mull that one over …
I’m fully aware of the Friday deadline apropos Mr King and the Takeover Panel.
This site has always been and will always be free to view.
And equally importantly….
Free to respond/comment.
Tomorrow might be interesting !
Desmond and Lawell have done an excellent job at Celtic. We are lucky to have them.
Phil – do ALL journalists have a drink problem, or is it just the “journalists” at the Daily Retard?
I only pose this question because this morning, they are running a “story” about Nice about to offer “rangers” £8 million for MoreOrLess, to – wait for it – be the replacement for MARIO BALOTELLI!!
I’m now on the Amazon website, looking for industrial-strength Tenapants….
MARIO BALOTELLI, FFS!! What’s wrong with these people?!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wages too high? And yet Lawwell receives a £2 million quid bonus?
Hendry, Gamboa, Arzani, Hayes, Allan, De vries, Benyu, Mulumbu, Compper and Kouassi.
10 1st team players who are essentially “hangers on”.
If this lot cost £80k per week, that’s £4 million a year for a combined total of about 3 games (I made those numbers up, but I don’t think it’s far off)
That’s 4 £20k per week players, or 1 Defoe 🙂
More excuses from our well run club?
Probably a lot higher than that .The sooner people realise how badly our club is being run ,the better.I have been going on about the wage bill for a long time and it is way too high.Unsustainable in my opinion without C.L. money and if we don’t qualify next season,we will be in big trouble.Oh,and we still have a title to win.
I’m hoping (genuinely… rather than trusting) like most Celtic fans right now, that the ‘window’ is not finished for us yet and there WILL be a serious addition to deal with defensive failings.
As we know now – Sevco are going ‘all in’ on it this season. They feel they’ve improved their hand while Celtic give the usual “develop for the future” soundbites that is their easy to read ‘tell’ to the rest of the SPL that we are there for the taking this season.
The talk and desire to get the mythical ‘10’ was that it was a cast iron certainty 6 months ago … now it is a maybe along with the equally never to be repeated (if done) triple treble.
The fact is that you can’t get to 10 unless you get to nine first … and before that eight!
If we had gone into this window 6+ points ahead as we more than should have, thereveould have been no spending by Sevco in this window. They would have folded for the season and saved their ‘going for 55’ pish for next season.
Instead Celtic gave them exactly what they wanted in the space of 90 badly managed minutes. The potential 6 point lead became zero points, we lost at home, gave the bragging rights to a club that doesn’t deserve to exist and with that the green light to ‘go for broke’
Going broke may we’ll be what happens to them in the summer but that is not important to them. Stopping Celtic getting to 10 titles … even stopping a second run of 9… that matters to them more than anything and quite clearly a lot more than achieving it matters to the Celtic PLC board.
(Does PLC mean Peter Lawell’s Club?)
Stop us at 7 in a row. ‘Go Admin’. Shed cost and debts. Start again. The rule makers have made it even easier for the ‘Third Rainjuurz’ to reincarnate without having to go on a ‘journey’ or bear any financial penalties.
Celtic PLC has its agenda though and this cannot be strayed from. No sign of any Defensive upgrades.. but we’ll fire up the disco lights for a far from well attended cup game against Sevcos vile lower leagues relations.
Hotel and museum on the way as well… ask Any supporter what they’d rather have!
A historic and never to be repeated ‘treble treble’ and 10 in-a-row? But an overcrowded trophy room at CP to display it…
Or a wonderful museum full of memorabilia and awards but with a rather depressingly empty corner where History should be residing?
Perhaps the biscuit tin could go there instead. It must be big enough to fill the space where 5 or more extra trophies should be!
As already said… for Sevco it matters not a bit if they implode after 25th May 2019… or if they watch Celtic or another club win the league the season after. They will have reached their promised land of 55 titles and most importantly stopped Celtic.
For Celtic , should they fail to reach 8 titles the repercussions for the entire club will be seismic and just what the Scottish sports media doctor ordered.
There’s been a lot of discussion about Brendan Rodgers being offski in the summer. If Celtic don’t win the league it will be a certainty whether it’s his own decision or that of the PLC.
This will just be the start. With the treble treble and TIAR gone, players who felt a desire to be part of something special will quickly see their future elsewhere. KT, Jamesy, Rogic, McGreggor and others will be gone. Some maybe following BR elsewhere.
The impact on the team and club as a whole will be catastrophic. Season Ticket sales will surely take a hammering and no doubt other remaining player assets like Edouard would be sold . Etc etc
But hey! Hopefully the hotel and museum will press on!
For the so called ‘money men’ at Celtic not to see this coming is gross negligence… but of course is no surprise as it seems to be the current business model as far as genuine investment in the future of the club goes..
Developing young players on loan for 6 months for the benefit of their parent club is NOT investment in Celtics future.
I genuinely believe that if Celtic DO win this season then they will forge on and make the 10.
But as we all know … you have to get to 8 first!
Everything really is in the balance this season. Sevco (despite their business ineptitude) know it..
Time for Celtic PLC to wake up and realise it as well.
How’d we lose at home (6th paragraph)? We lost at Ibrox.
Off topic….but…
If Broony needed to prove to the recent doubters about his ability….they should have watched him on Saturday.
He was outstanding….even allowing for the opposition.
If he goes…he’ll be a huge loss.
A true Celtic legend.
I watched some YouTube on young Bayo, even came up with a terrace tune (I won’t offend your ears by publishing here) for him. Two footed and a good head, runs off the ball and looks sharp. Hopefully we don’t face Farryesque barriers to his permit. Ollie looked out of sorts but some good running and pink up play with huge potential.
Master Weah, wow. 18 years old, wow. Hungry, humble, awed by fans and like Benkovic looked head and shoulders above the opposing side. This boy looks special. Remember, we score more than the opposition we win, we look stronger up front than ever this year now.
Anthony Ralston turned in another fine performance, do we really need an RB? Gutzman turning in at Arbroath awaiting a deal. My only concern this window is DB leaving for a massive cash boost and no one to fill that space. Although, we have Bitton back and young Ajer coming on leaps and bounds too. So there’s project manager but also project faith, something my Dad taught me on the terraces of the jungle.
One season, Huns are all in remember, 25th cut of date share offer looming, Ashley’s tanks doing the blitzkrieg manoeuvring ready to roll, old men loan deals breaking their bank. I think the poker phrase full tilt is apt.
I personally think PL, DD and co know DK is tilt and we, in my opinion, hold the cards.
HH
The future takes two forms in football. Long term and short term. To give long term “projects” the time to mature, the short term has to be successfully negotiated. I’m thinking 10 in a row here. We lose Benkovic and Boyata at the end of the season. It is remotely possible that we might keep one of them. It’s even more remotely possible that we might keep both. If, however, I was a gambling man, I would give good odds that come the start of the CL qualifiers both will be a distant memory. Their places will NOT be adequately filled by “project” players. We must have AT LEAST TWO reasonably experienced CB’s signed, sealed and delivered, for the first day of pre-season training, or we can kiss the CL goodbye for another season. Right now, we seem to me, to be a bit like a driver looking two sets of traffic lights ahead, instead of looking at the ones he’s sitting at. It’s a crash waiting to happen.
Incidentally, I’m actually starting to hate the very word “project”!
Yes,I wondered if anyone else had felt this ennui of lacklustre tranfer action,where loan deals give the impression of activity when in reality it is simply a stop gap,fending off the fans worst fears,for a while at least.
It may also be the fact that it is the January tranfer window and not the main preseason transfer window.Time alone will tell.
My own feeling is that I am now making excuses BEFORE the window even ends,’Celticesque’ if you like,and that cannot be a good thing.
The last two windows have been a disgrace for a Club of our stature,and it is unthinkable that the same could happen again.FINGER OOT CELTIC‼️
Thanks Phil,enjoyed your work,Lang may yir lum reek⭐️🍀✅💚
I presume it’s not lost on anyone at Celtic park that the Scottish Cup Final is on 25th May. Based on the assumption that Celtic can retain the title, might be a nice date to create another piece of history. I know it’s a mammoth task, but a few experienced signings just now might just swing it in our favour. Here’s hoping.
Agreed.
Two seasoned professionals now would be a huge post.
Players with little or no resale value who would smash it for 18 months or so.
However, that would mean breaking with the “Project Management” model.
And that ain’t gonny happen anytime soon Phil.
Bear in mind that there will be no gathering at Celtic Park after the Scottish Cup Final as that is also the day that we have rented out the stadium for the egg chasing final.
Burke may be a talent – I would not use the descriptor undoubted yet. He looked sluggish and it was hard to believe that he was ever a winger. However, the last player I described as sluggish after his debut was Brian McClair. He was, and then he wasn’t.
To be fair….It was the guy’s first meaningful game in over 6 months.
He did look sluggish…I agree….but when match sharp…I think he’ll be a big asset.
Here’s hoping anyway.
As for Brian McClair…..now there was a player…and a half.
Alex Ferguson said he was the best signing he ever made.
Shifting to the centre may work out for him. He is 6.3 and reputed to be mobile. I saw McClair make his debut and he must have put on two yards with the training at Celtic. A change in position did the Swede a power of good. I take your point about debuts – remember Larsson’s first touch in a Celtic shirt, it was some pass to Chico Charnley
And his first Manchester United signing (if I’m not mistaken).
Despite all the press prior to the loan deal I couldn’t figure out who Timothy Weah was in the prematch warm up, his routine and ball skills were very different, (probably PSG standard).
Very lively when he came on and was desperate to make an impact.
I thought Olly Burke made a good impression, very fast and read the game well, just wish we had both of these guys on contracts.
In any case loans are part of our modern day game and we ought to enjoy them while we can.
As well as the Dembele money, there’s £7m for Armstrong, the same again for VVD sell on plus £1-2m for Izzy etc.
We seem to be meeting our targets (CL 2/3 or 3/5), yet also selling major assets, which is only meant to happen when we fail the target.
The last AGM was instructive; Brendan apologised profusely for the January fiasco but Lawwell said he’d done nothing wrong in the summer despite it being common knowledge that he failed the basic task of completing paperwork, after Rodgers had agreed the signing of major targets.
Sadly, it will be a long time before a chill affects the heated driveway.
I don’t think it’s that direct cause/effect – Celtic need to bank the money when the right offer comes rather than have to shop players around when we have a gap in the finances, because then it looks like a panic sell and we won’t get the full value. Unfortunately the big offers usually happen when the player and the team is doing well, so it can be really disruptive and a pain in the ‘arris but we want to get best value for our players if/when we sell, surely.
Don’t think anyone expects CFC to break the bank on a big signing, and certainly not during a mid-season transfer window.
BUT, it just feels like history repeating itself yet again: rather than invest from a dominant position…go for the cheap option.
There is definitely a happy balance to be found / delivered during this window. I hope.